The Beauty - Season 1 (2026) TV Series Review: Ryan Murphy’s Gory, Addictive Satire of Perfection is a Visceral Triumph on FX and Hulu

In the current television landscape of 2026, Ryan Murphy remains a polarizing figure whose name alone guarantees a specific brand of high-gloss, high-concept entertainment. After a few years of mixed critical reception with projects like "Monster: The Ed Gein Story," Murphy has returned to his roots with "The Beauty," an 11-episode series that feels like the spiritual successor to his early plastic surgery drama "Nip/Tuck" spliced with the visceral DNA of "American Horror Story". Co-created with Matthew Hodgson, this FX production, streaming on Hulu and Disney+, is a bold entry into the body horror genre that arrives precisely when our cultural obsession with pharmaceutical shortcuts to physical perfection has reached a fever pitch.

The series boasts a massive, A-list ensemble led by Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall as FBI agents Cooper Madsen and Jordan Bennett. They are joined by a cast that includes Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope, and a synthetic, smarminess-infused performance from Ashton Kutcher as a tech billionaire known only as "The Corporation". The premise is deceptively simple: a revolutionary new drug allows anyone to become a physically flawless version of themselves. However, this "Beauty" comes with a terrifying caveat: it is a sexually transmitted virus that eventually causes its hosts to spontaneously combust. Premiering on January 21, 2026, with a three-episode drop, the show immediately sets out to prove that while beauty might be skin deep, the horror beneath is truly bone-deep.

Narrative Arc and Pacing: The Slow Burn of Spontaneous Combustion

The seasonal arc of "The Beauty" is a fascinating, if sometimes messy, journey that transitions from an international procedural into something far more existential and bizarre. The first few episodes are a bit of a whirlwind, dropping us into a world where the "Beauty" virus is an open secret among the elite before it inevitably spills into the general population. While some critics found the initial pacing a bit languid, I found that the show benefits from this slow reveal, allowing the tension to mount as we realize just how pervasive this "perfect" plague has become.

The series avoids the typical "mid-season slump" by shifting its focus through various lenses. We aren't just following the FBI investigation; the narrative branches out to explore the "aesthetically disadvantaged" and the bioengineers behind the scenes. This "wider net" approach allows the show to tackle themes of vanity, corporate greed, and the "Ozempic culture" of 2026 with an unbothered confidence. However, the back half of the season, particularly around episode 8, "Beautiful Brothers," begins to splinter into so many directions that it can feel like narrative whiplash. While the plotting is dense, it is rarely dull, maintaining a momentum that makes the 11-episode commitment feel justified despite some "streaming bloat" in the subplots.

Character Evolution and Performances: Chemistry Amidst the Chaos

The heartbeat of "The Beauty" lies in its performances, which are uniformly excellent even when the script veers into the absurd. Evan Peters, a longtime Murphy collaborator, steps into a more traditional "action star" role here. His performance as Madsen is grounded and surprisingly sincere, especially in his "Mulder and Scully" style partnership with Rebecca Hall’s Jordan Bennett. Their chemistry is palpable, offering a human anchor to a show that often delights in dehumanizing its characters for the sake of body horror.

Ashton Kutcher is perfectly cast as the villainous "Corporation," channeling a ruthless, Elon Musk-like energy that fits the show’s critique of the 1%. While some might find his performance a bit one-note, his synthetic smarminess is exactly what the role requires. The real standout, however, is Jeremy Pope as Jeremy, a terminally online loner whose transformation offers the most emotional depth of the season. Pope finds layers of vulnerability that go far beyond the dialogue, making his arc one of the most compelling reasons to keep watching. Additionally, Isabella Rossellini steals every scene she is in as Franny Forst, providing a much-needed argument for aging with grace in a world obsessed with artificial youth.

Direction and Production Value: An Opulent, Oozy Spectacle

Visually, "The Beauty" is perhaps the most stylish project Ryan Murphy has ever directed. The cinematography is glossy and expensive, utilizing scenic backdrops from Paris to Rome to emphasize the international scale of the epidemic. The production design effectively contrasts the high-fashion world of Balenciaga runways with the clinical, often grotesque reality of the "beauty births".

The special effects are where the show truly pushes the boundaries of television standards. The body horror is not for the faint of heart; we are treated to prolonged, bone-breaking transformation sequences and graphic "combustions" that leave nothing to the imagination. These moments are well-executed and genuinely shocking, reminiscent of the best works of David Cronenberg or the 2024 film "The Substance". The world-building is immersive, creating a stylized reflection of our own world where the pursuit of beauty is literally a life-or-death gamble.

Trailer The Beauty - Season 1 (2026) TV Series

Soundscape and Atmosphere: The Pulse of Vanity

The sound design in "The Beauty" is integral to its specific mood. The show utilizes licensed music with aggressive brilliance, most notably in the opening sequence featuring The Prodigy’s "Firestarter" as a model goes on a violent rampage through Paris. This choice immediately sets a frantic, adrenalized tone that the series returns to during its high-stakes action beats.

The score is equally effective, blending electronic pulses with more traditional thriller elements to build dread. There is a playful profanity to the soundscape, often using upbeat or classic tracks (like the surprising use of Christopher Cross or Tame Impala) to underscore moments of absolute carnage. This tonal dissonance is a classic Murphy trait, and here it works to highlight the absurdity of the characters' vanity. The sound design during the transformation scenes—full of squelching, cracking, and tearing—is particularly effective at making the viewer's skin crawl.

Strengths and Weaknesses

What works well:

• Spectacular Lead Performances: Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall provide a grounded emotional center, while Jeremy Pope and Isabella Rossellini offer incredible depth.
• Exceptional VFX: The body horror and spontaneous combustion effects are top-tier for a television budget.
• Thriving Mystery: The way the layers of "The Corporation" and the virus's origins are peeled back keeps the audience hooked.
• Relevant Social Satire: The parallels to modern pharmaceutical trends and beauty standards are handled with a sharp, if sometimes glib, edge.
• Thrilling Direction: Ryan Murphy’s episodes, particularly the Paris opening, are some of the most exciting action sequences in his career.

What doesn't work:

• Fragmented Back Half: The later episodes struggle to maintain a coherent focus as the number of subplots increases.
• Surface-Level Themes: While the show raises interesting questions about race, ability, and beauty, it often stops at the "skin-deep" observation rather than diving deep into nuanced commentary.
• Predictable Beats: Some of the horror tropes and "shock" moments feel a bit repetitive by the end of the 11-episode run.
• Inconsistent Tone: The shift from dead-serious procedural to campy satire can occasionally cause emotional whiplash.

Final Verdict: A Gory Good Time for the Bold

Rating: 4/5 stars

"The Beauty" is a series that justifies the time investment for anyone who appreciates the intersection of high-fashion aesthetics and low-budget body horror thrills. It is Ryan Murphy at his most unrestrained, delivering a show that is as addictive as the fictional drug it depicts. While it may lack the intellectual nuance to be a "prestige" masterpiece, it succeeds wildly as a piece of "compulsively watchable pulp".

Fans of "American Horror Story," "The Substance," or "Nip/Tuck" should absolutely binge-watch this season; it offers a modern, high-stakes evolution of those familiar themes with a much larger budget and a sharper visual eye. However, those with weak stomachs or a preference for subtle, slow-burn dramas might find the graphic violence and "bludgeoning" thematic points frustrating or even repulsive. Ultimately, "The Beauty" is a stylized reflection of our own world that throws a million ideas at the wall, and even if not all of them stick, the mess it makes is undeniably captivating.

Watch or Pass? Watch. It is a wild, imperfect, and gory ride that marks a significant return to form for Ryan Murphy and offers one of the most unique sci-fi premises of the year.

The Beauty premiered on January 21, on FX, Hulu, and Hulu on Disney+, with the first three episodes released immediately and the remaining episodes released weekly in the United States.