Better Late Than Never: The Beast in Me

 

 

When I saw Matthew Rhys had been nominated for Best Actor in a Limited Series for The Beast in Me by the Critics Choice Awards this past December my reaction was: "maybe I'll check it out." When the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards nominated both Rhys and Claire Danes for acting awards (with the former nominating it for Best Limited Series) 'maybe' became 'definitely. And when I learned it was produced by Howard Gordon my reaction was: "Why didn't I binge watch it the moment it dropped?"

This week, in the aftermath of the Golden Globes, I finally got around to watching the first two episodes. I now have two more reasons that viewers should see it, one more personal then the other. But let's get to the basics first.

If you've been watching TV during the 21^st century you knew that two of the most consistently brilliant actors in the medium are Matthew Rhys and Claire Danes. No matter what project they are in they always bring their A game elevating even lesser material into genius. Both have been nominated for Emmys in the 2020s: Rhys for the title role in HBO's exceptional reimagining of Perry Mason, Danes for her work in Fleishman is in Trouble but they are best know for their work in two of the greatest series of the 2010s. And it is that work that fans of them will be reminded of in subtle ways even as they go into territory they never have.

Danes is known for her work with Howard Gordon on Homeland in which she played Carrie Matheson the bipolar CIA agent whose obsessive personality is only occasionally eclipsed by the evil she is always drawn into hunting, far too often against her will. Carrie was always exceptional at her work but her behavior often drew her into the line of fire against terrorists and her own colleagues multiple times. Never a true antiheroine in the sense that so many of her contemporaries in this decade were she had a long and upsetting history of mistrust and betrayal that led to countless collateral damage for those around her.

Rhys played Philip Jennings in The Americans, the KGB sleeper agent who with his wife  worked on mission in 1980s DC. More involved in covert activities on a regular basis then Carrie was in Homeland he also had far less passion for the work then his wife Elizabeth, reluctantly to put his daughter in harm's way, increasingly uncomfortable with the activities he had to do as the series progressed. Eventually when he was forced to seduce the teenage daughter of a State department agent it was a bridge too far for him and he spent the final season focused almost entirely on one mission. In the final episode of the series he confessed that he'd never been very good at the job he had done to the man he'd spent the entire series fooling.

Rhys and Danes won countless awards for their work (Rhys won one Emmy for The Americans; Danes won two) which was brilliant not just because of their dialogue but for how little they could express in their silence and expressions. Rhys had more opportunities to do this on The Americans, usually in long pauses as he gathered the strength to do something. Danes' chances came far more often in moments of betrayal and surprise as she realized her plans had unraveled and something horrific was going to happen, with her being helpless to stop it.

The chance to see one of the greatest actors and actresses in TV history sharing the screen hasn't been happening as often during the 2020s as it has in the previous decade: one of the few disadvantages of so many of the best dramas and limited series being female driven is that the best scenes have great actresses facing off (Yellowjackets, The Gilded Age et al.) And even in the era of Peak Limited Series it is far too often one gender or the other (True Detective for the guys; the majority of David E. Kelley's work for the woman) You got it  in anthologies like American Crime and Fargo a lot and it'll sometimes happen on The White Lotus but it's become rarer. So the chance to see Danes and Rhys square off is something any fan of TV would relish. And The Beast in Me doesn't disappoint. Its even better than it sounds.

Claire Danes plays Aggie Wiggs, a non-fiction author who's spent the last four years trying to write the follow-up to her best selling first work. A lot's happened since then, most notably the death of her son in what was a hit-and-run that's she never been able to get over emotionally. Aggie lives in a house that is falling apart in Oyster Bay. (As a New Yorker that's my personal connection.) The plumbing is rotting in the first episode and she has to turn the lights out at night to save electricity. Her lover, an artist, left her some time ago most likely over the death of her son. Most gallingly the driver never so much as spent a day in jail for her crime and Aggie never got over. She threw a brick through the window of the restaurant where he worked and a restraining order was filed against her. The idea that the driver might feel remorse for what he's done is something her grief-riddled mind refuses to process when the series begins. She soon has other things to worry about.

Her new neighbor is Nile Jarvis, played by Rhys. Jarvis is a billionaire housing project maker who was controversial long before recent events. His wife disappeared four years ago, leaving no body and a suicide note. An investigation went on for years but no charges were filed. He has moved into Oyster Bay with a security entourage, barking dogs and a new wife (Brittany Snow) who happened to work at the foundation for years in numerous jobs and has now married Nile.

Aggie runs into Nile when barking dogs begin to act ferociously outside her house and the next day there's a loud endless alarm. Nile has made it clear he wants them to tear down the woods for a new jogging path. He's gotten the clearance from all the neighbors who either don't care or are understandably uncomfortable about saying no to a man accused of murder. Aggie is the only holdout.

When they first meet in the opening we get a very clear picture of who Jarvis is and it’s a revelation for anyone whose been watching Rhys for the past two decades (as I have). Rhys has always been known for playing basically troubled people who do bad things or good people who true to do the right thing. As Jarvis he leans into the smug and bloodthirsty character who knows of his reputation but doesn't care. He makes it clear he won't take no for an answer when it comes to what Aggie wants. "Everyone has a price," he says overbearingly.

In the opening episode Danes is equally good in a different way: she's always played strong women even when they were broken, women who could hold their own in a room with a man. From the start we see someone who has never recovered in anyway from the death of her son (it's the fourth anniversary of his burial in the opening) and Aggie is clearly someone who can barely function. When she's in the house with Nile the first time she's clearly repulsed by him if not outright terrified. And that carries over into the next meeting when he shows up the next day insisting that they go to lunch.  We can tell she wants to refuse but she's clearly afraid to say know.

Nile is a fan of her work but he makes it clear in his narcissistic way that he knows better than Aggie about why she wrote her book and what the world wants. He is smug and dismissive of humanity in everything he says, feels clear that he is above the law. When a woman takes a photo of him he demands it back and says if she'd asked he'd have let her. Then he smashes her phone and then sits down to eat.

Aggie eventually finds herself confiding what happened to her son and everything about who did it. She tells him that she has been living exclusively in her home ever since because she can't drive into town and avoid him. Nile is sympathetic and actually seems like a normal person. However when they leave the restaurant they see Teddy and Nile looks at her and then him.

That night the FBI agent who worked the case involving Jarvis ends up drunk in her home. He tries to warn her. "He's not like you and me." The next morning she wakes up and the hit and run driver has disappeared, leaving a suicide note.

In the second episode when Aggie runs into Nile who once again brings up the jogging path, he says he heard about what happened. However the way he talks Aggie and the viewer get the sense he seems to be almost begging her to thank him for his service. That day Aggie calls the FBI agent and meets with him in Central Park where a rally to stop Jarvis Parks is happening. (The politician leading the drive is councilwoman for whom any resemblance to AOC is surely intentional.) The agent tells her to forget it. Aggie doesn't and goes to her publisher with a new book idea and I think we know what's coming.

The story of The Beast in Me may sound familiar but the operative word is 'sounds'. It is not based on a book, TV series or movie or true life figure. For someone who has loved so much of the era of Limited Series I know what a unicorn this is: aside from Adolescence, the last truly original limited series I remember watching was Hulu's The Patient. I know that there have been others I haven't seen that have been critically acclaimed and been nominated for awards but they are few and far between. I don't have to look for a book or real-life events in order to avoid spoilers because this is new material. I can't tell you how refreshing that is even if the plot takes on familiar tropes as it goes on.

And in the first two episodes there are few signs of that. This is closer to a thriller in the sense of the word and there's countless ways we see suspense. There's a scene in the second episode where Aggie ends up going on a run with Nile's wife. She thinks it might be a job interview but it's also an excuse to get her out of the house when one of Nile's bodyguards breaks in and begins to search the place silently, with only the sound of Aggie's dog barking to worry us. By the time she returns to the house the bodyguard is still there and there's a terrifying moment of suspense as we wonder what will happen if one or the other moves.

And much of the thrill comes from watching Rhys and Danes interact. There's a scene where we just watch Nile eating chicken for more than a minute before Aggie enters the hose to pitch him the idea for her book. It's a different dynamic then what we've seen before: Aggie is trying to walk a narrow line between her desire and her disgust. Jarvis clearly knows this and says as much but we also know he's intrigued by the idea simultaneously. We keep looking at their faces which has more reaction shots of them keeping their poker faces. And anyone who's seen Homeland and The Americans know just how great both of these actors are keeping them in stressful situations.

Danes and Rhys are already worthy of Emmy nominations just watching the first two episodes and its impossible not to see them as front-runners the closer we get. Every time we watch this screen you're always wondering what will happen next. And right now my biggest question is, will Nile get that new jogging path? And will any of the characters survive to run on it?

My score: 4.75 stars.