Episode 5 begins exactly where the last episode left off. Cooper drags the unfamiliar Jordan inside and demands to know what happened to the Jordan he knew. To prove herself, she lifts his shirt and gently traces the scar on his chest, explaining it came from Japan—a detail only the real Jordan could know. Convinced at last, Cooper pulls her into a tight embrace.

Meanwhile, in a New York sex club, Antonio and Jeremy keep a close watch on another runner, Nate. They observe Nate engaging with multiple partners at the club, including both a man and a woman. When it’s over, Antonio kills the man.

The following morning, Antonio and Jeremy arrive at Nate’s house and attack him, demanding to know who infected him. In the middle of the assault, Antonio gets a call from Byron. Byron tells him that a live infected person (Manny) is being held at the NIH, and that FBI agent Cooper Madsen is responsible. He adds that Cooper is currently in New York and orders Antonio to handle it.

At a restaurant, Cooper and Jordan talk and catch up. Jordan confesses that at first she enjoyed the attention her new appearance brought, but it didn’t take long for people to start objectifying her, which made her resent it. What she hated most was realizing that she had liked it in the first place. She admits to Cooper that she preferred the way she looked before. Cooper tells her they can’t afford to waste time, worried she could end up exploding like the others. Estimating that she may have only a year-and-a-half to two years left, he insists that she tell no one about what’s happening—or she’ll be locked away in quarantine and treated like a lab rat. He says she’ll stay with him. On the way home, Jordan leans in to kiss Cooper, but he stops her, saying they should wait until they know it’s safe.

Once Cooper and Jordan return home, they notice the door slightly open. Immediately, they both draw their guns. They slowly creep inside, peering room-to-room before finding Nate’s corpse on a bed, his chest entirely carved open. On the wall above him, drawn in blood, is the same cryptic symbol they discovered back in Venice.

From this point onwards, the episode flashes back three years earlier. In a limousine, an older, wrinkled Byron makes a call to a doctor about an upcoming party. Later, he goes home and has dinner with his wife, Franny. Their marriage is clearly unhappy, as they insult each other during the meal. Franny says that chasing beauty her whole life has only trapped her in this current prison. She sets a painting on fire and walks away.

At a mansion, Byron arrives with a group of other elite billionaires. There, Ray, the doctor, presents a drug he calls “The Beauty.” He explains the science behind it, claiming it can completely restructure their DNA and transform them into the perfect versions of themselves.

The billionaires are then led into a private room to take the drug. Ray reaches for a bag near Byron, but Byron insists on keeping it with him. Ray then injects each of them with the syringe before leaving the room. Shortly after, the drug begins to take effect–their bodies twist and contort as they yell out in pain, desperately trying to reach for bottles of water. 

After a few moments, Ray returns to the room and sees five sacs before him. One by one, they begin to emerge, slowly stepping out of their sacs and admiring their new naked bodies in the mirror. But then, in a sudden twist, Byron takes a gun from out his bag, shooting everyone but Ray. 

Now fully dressed, the new Byron walks downstairs to find that his team of assassins have killed everybody else in the mansion. Finishing the job, Byron also shoots the assassins dead. The episode ends as Byron takes Ray out to a helicopter, the mansion burning in flames behind them. 

Episode 5 of The Beauty finds all the various storylines of the different characters finally converging together. When Cooper and Jordan discover Nate’s body in their apartment, it becomes evident that Antonio and Jeremy now represent a serious threat. The latter half of the episode delves into Byron’s backstory, revealing the events that led to his transformation. And though it makes for a clunky episode, Vincent D’Onofrio delivers a compelling performance as the former Byron, helping to further establish Byron as a formidable antagonist. His shocking act of killing his billionaire associates underscores his ruthlessness. Equally revealing is his dinner with his wife, Franny; the contrast between their cold, loveless marriage and the grandeur of their mansion places Byron’s corruption in greater perspective. His pursuit of wealth and beauty comes at the expense of genuine, heartfelt love. Building on this, Franny emerges as perhaps the most fully realized character in the series so far. She reflects that her lifelong pursuit of beauty has been fruitless, leaving her trapped in the prison of this loveless marriage. To her, beauty has become a facade. 

This episode also explores the societal drawbacks of beauty through a conversation between Cooper and Jordan. Jordan admits that she initially enjoyed her enhanced appearance, but once she became a target of objectification, her feelings changed to resentment. Most of all, she hated that she had ever liked it at all. In this honest and vulnerable moment with Cooper, Jordan reveals to the audience how, in a society that treats beauty as social currency, it’s easy to fall victim to the superficiality of it all. That said, the episode explores the social consequences of the pursuit of beauty in several compelling ways. And with Byron, Antonio, and Jeremy now presenting real and immediate threats to Cooper and Jordan, the stakes are set to rise even higher in the next episode.

Rating: 7.5/10

Photos credit: Courtesy of FX Networks