The Beast in Me–Animal Instincts?
The Beast in Me (2025), a psychological whodunit, is set in Oyster Bay, an affluent suburb in Long Island, where the uber-wealthy play with impunity from law and order. In this drama focused on the dark side of privilege, Aggie Wiggs (Claire Danes), a Pulitzer-Prize-winning author and affluent resident, is still riding the success from a debut novel written years ago. But now she has financial difficulties, struggling to write another bestseller: this time drafting a novel about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in hope of maintaining the successful image she wants to protect. Her breakup from her marriage to artist Shelley Morris (Natalie Morales), who dearly loves her, also adds to her emotional instability. Her young son’s untimely death in a car accident in which Teddy, a drunk teenage driver, was at the wheel adds to her manic obsession and writer’s block. A restraining order for her erratic behavior whenever she sees Teddy in town only underscores her reputation as an impulse-control deficient resident with mental problems.
Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys of “The Americans”), the son of Martin Jarvis (Jonathan Banks of “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul”), a ruthless real estate magnate, moves next door to Aggie with his second wife, Nina (Brittany Snow). Suspected of killing Madison, his first wife, Nile is adamant in his claim that he is wrongly accused. Even Madison’s parents believe in Nile’s innocence. Nina, who formerly worked as Madison’s administrative assistant before marrying Madison’s husband, is a complex character, in terms of her allegiance to Madison and to Nile.
FBI agent Ben Abbot (David Lyons), who has been doggedly pursuing evidence against Nile in his wife’s death, warns Aggie that Nile is not who he seems. Wanting to appease his neighbor and silence gossip about his suspicious past, Nile coaxes Aggie into writing a memoir that refutes the “fake” claims of his potential culpability in Madison’s death. Since Aggie is intent on finding the truth, she quickly agrees to write about Nile.
There are no big twists or sinister backgrounds of characters who are intended to be the red herrings in this slow-burn mystery. Characters are blind-sided at every turn about the assumptions they’ve made of each other. Some want to be loyal to Nile because of his power and others out of fear. At one point Nile goads Aggie, saying both in a sneering but also insightful way that there is a monster within everyone. He understands hers. But does she understand his?
The tone is dark, tense and gothic. The viewer is never quite sure if the characters are honest, lying, or vacillating somewhere in between. Danes plays the usual naive professional, almost annoyingly so, and often unbelievable. How can someone so intelligent and committed to truth-finding, believe statements contradicting other facts? No easy answers and no character reveals for clear understanding of motivation on the part of Aggie, Nina, or Shelley’s saintly acceptance of Aggie’s trials and tribulations. Aggie is written carefully, in some scenes, as a grief-stricken woman untethered to reality. However, Nina especially is not fully developed in order to reflect such courage that she possesses in this drama. Introspection is lacking.
For those viewers who like thrillers with a psychological angst without knowing more about the characters’ mental states, A Beast in Me is entertaining. What makes this eight-episode series watchable at all is Matthew Rhys’s chilling portrayal–part Anthony Hopkins–in a cat-and-mouse game with Claire Danes.
Availability: Netflix