The Beauty (2026) s01e09 Episode Script

1
[tense music playing]
[Jordan, Cooper sigh]
[breathing heavily] Someone
sticks another fucking hood on my head,
- I swear to God
- [Diana] Quiet down, Antonio.
We're all safe now. You can all relax.
Unshackle their wrists, please.
You know, kidnapping is a federal offense.
We're federal agents.
You think I'd go through all of this
if I didn't know who you were?
And who the fuck are you?
I'm Diana. Nice to meet you, Jeremy.
And you're welcome, by the way.
Why are we here?
Oh, no "thank you" for saving your lives?
Well, that's very disappointing.
Oh , but I love this.
Yes. There it is, extreme pupil dilation.
You're having a stress response.
Your body is reacting impulsively,
fight or flight.
Little sweat,
your heart rate is ticking up.
We can mimic it,
but not quite as authentically.
It's very complex.
[sucks teeth] We're bleeding
into confusion now.
You have questions. A lot.
There's fear in there too.
[smacks lips] Apologies.
Sometimes my level of perception
can be a bit off-putting.
I'm something of an expert
in human behaviors.
You have to be
if you're going to build a machine
that can blend in with other humans.
I'm the other side
of this tale of two cities.
My name is Dr. Diana Starling.
Most know me as "The Mother."
Of what? My children, synthetics.
Though [smacks lips] that's
a touchy term. It's cold, clinical.
We've warmed to calling them Deacons.
What does that have to do with us?
You, Agent Madsen, are standing
at the intersection of humanity.
We have much in common,
chiefly, our vested interest
in stopping the man whose actions
brought us here today.
Byron Forst.
Long ago, Byron hedged the big bet
he made on the world of biotech
by creating a robotics division.
This new toy of his,
this transformative drug,
quickly became his new obsession.
He lost interest in my division.
Dr. Lee used living organisms
to effect his change.
Me, I see too many variables
and flaws in organic matter
to accomplish much of anything.
Life was always meant to move beyond
these bags of blood and bones,
and that is what I'm building.
Building what exactly?
The next generation of life
and the bodies that will carry it.
Humanoid machines.
What the fuck?
No, excuse me, Ms. white mama
No disrespect. I just forgot your name.
I done seen this movie
and shit wasn't good.
There's nothing to fear here.
Soon, a Deacon will be in every home,
augmenting and learning
from the human experience.
[scoffs] Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
You dedicated your entire life
to perfecting a line of fucking Roombas?
It's how we merge
with the next phase of life.
Organics and robotics.
[sighs] Think of the life expectancy when
we upload your subconscious to a synthetic
and do away with these messy bodies.
But that's only
if we can stop disaster, of course.
Our survival is only possible
if we stop Byron.
I've had the assistance of his wife
who was very sympathetic towards my cause
and helped me
with my little prison break today.
Stop him from what?
Releasing The Beauty as a pharmaceutical
that every lemming in the world will want.
And that's when he will officially end
my division, the better division,
and I cannot let that happen.
Wait, but I-I didn't take any drug.
Neither did I.
No, you have what appears to be
a version leaked from the lab.
The chance of stopping
the sexually transmitted version
was lost long ago,
but early indications show that,
because of its instability,
it won't survive long in the wild
before burning itself out.
The pure, pharma-derived version
he's planning on selling,
well, that is another story.
Wait, there's a booster?
But that-that would give me
more time, right?
She needs one.
I would temper the enthusiasm.
Data shows that, likely,
it loses efficacy over time.
I should add, I will make every effort
to get you treatments
that do work for all of you.
Extend your lives
stop you from
literally exploding.
Well, that's just if you want to help me.
Tell me when and where.
I'll have tactical on site,
we'll take the fucker down.
You're adorable with your search warrants
and your chain of command.
I'm afraid that plan is a bit
too baroque with our time restraints.
So, what are the options?
I'm guessing a simple assassination.
Yes, that's why I chose you.
You have the skills,
and you understand the stakes.
We have one small window,
we cannot let it close.
Beauty Day is in 48 hours.
If he dies, his plan dies with him.
Well, amen. Good thing I'm here, right?
Get me close enough,
and I'll put a bullet in his head.
He turned on you, threw you away.
You think he's gonna
let you anywhere near him?
I don't even need
to get that close, all right?
I'm a better shot
than any of these motherfuckers.
Thousand yards, easy.
All right, all right.
Well, the much bigger issue,
to be exact and logical, is this.
He knows who all of you are.
And the level of facial recognition
security software he employs,
well, that's just gonna
make it even worse.
What about one of these Deacons?
[sighs] You know,
Byron was always afraid of that,
so he had a mechanism
built into their coding
that makes it impossible,
or at the very least, incredibly difficult
to turn one of his Deacons against him.
Well, get me within a hundred yards
and I'll do it.
Jordan, no. He knows what you look like.
He gave me a death sentence.
I don't really have a lot left to lose,
and to be honest,
I'd quite like my pound of flesh
before I fucking explode.
Hey, don't forget about me.
I'm trying to get my two piece in too--
Wait, wait, wait.
We've known you for three fucking minutes.
How do we know we can trust you?
You should respect my transparency.
No one knows Byron better than me. No one.
Plucked from obscurity
while chatting on a tech Reddit board,
he saw something in me
and gave me the opportunity of a lifetime.
But when I saw the depths
of what he was doing
You simply cannot unsee such things.
Love,
anger,
sadness, jealousy,
the whole spectrum of human emotions
is what makes us special
and so deeply flawed.
And yet for such
terribly vulnerable creatures,
we so often seem to find incredibly
creative ways of destroying ourselves.
Long ago, we became the first species
capable of self-annihilation.
Thus far, we've narrowly avoided it.
If we do not act here,
then I fear the moment will have arrived.
Trust me or not,
is that a gamble you wanna make?
We need a plan.
What tech? What weapons?
Ticktock. Ticktock.
Give it to me.
What? No, that's way too risky.
If I get infected, he won't recognize me.
I can walk right up to him.
I was hoping you'd say that.
Cooper, no.
I'm not letting you do this. No.
- It's the best option.
- It's not safe. It's way too risky.
- You have no idea if it's safe.
- We don't have time.
Jordan.
I can't think of anything worse
than a life without you.
So maybe it's a shorter one,
but at least we do it together.
[breathing heavily]
- It's a big needle.
- Mm-hmm.
Wait.
I'll do it
but not like this.
- [piano playing]
- [Jordan] Thank you.
[patrons chattering]
[Jordan chuckles]
Thank you.
[Jordan] Thank you.
[clears throat]
Uh, I just wanna say something.
Um, just that
When I changed, I was so scared
and uncomfortable in my own skin, but
you made me feel like you'd care for me
and love me no matter what.
[sighs] You saw me
the real me.
You're the only one
that ever has. [scoffs]
[sighs]
So I just-- I want you to know that
when you change,
it's not gonna matter what you look like,
I'm just gonna love you
[inhales deeply]
the same way that I do now.
[breathing shakily]
[tense music playing]
[door lock beeps]
Uh, I-I'll just be a minute.
Of course.
[breathes deeply]
[breathing heavily]
[gagging]
[groans]
[sniffles]
[breathing heavily]
[sniffles]
[sighs]
[breathes deeply]
[footsteps approaching]
Hey.
Hey.
[breathes shakily]
- I'm sorry.
- Jordan. Jordan!
- Jordan. Jordan. Where are you going?
- [panting]
To stop this.
I'll fucking shoot the guy myself.
- No, no, no. Wait, wait.
- [stammers] No, stop.
You cannot expect me to do this.
I cannot just fuck
some deadly virus into you.
- That's insane.
- That's the fucking plan, baby.
What, so it's just up to us
to save the world?
[panting]
["To Build a Home" playing]
[door opens, closes]
[Jordan grunts]
[both breathing deeply]
There is a house built out of stone ♪
[moaning]
Wooden floors, walls and window sills ♪
Tables and chairs worn
By all of the dust ♪
This is a place
Where I don't feel alone ♪
This is a place where I feel at home ♪
[both breathing heavily, moaning]
And I ♪
Built ♪
A home ♪
For you ♪
For me ♪
Until it disappeared ♪
[moaning, panting]
From me ♪
From you ♪
And now ♪
It's time ♪
[laughing]
To leave ♪
And turn ♪
To dust ♪
[song ends]
[eerie music playing]
[gasps]
[breathing shakily]
[grunts]
- [bone cracks]
- [grunts]
- [bones cracking]
- [groaning]
- [grunts]
- Okay.
It's okay. I'm right here, okay?
Oh, you're burning up.
You're okay. Just-Just breathe,
okay? [gasps]
- [bone cracking]
- [screaming]
[grunting]
Hey, Cooper, can can you hear me?
- [cracking]
- [Cooper groaning]
[groans]
- [Jordan] You're okay, baby.
- [grunts]
Water. I need water. [panting]
[panting, grunting]
- [bones cracking]
- [groaning]
- [gasps]
- [grunts]
- [panting]
- [groaning, screaming]
[breathing shakily]
Hey, it's me.
You need to get here now.
It's happening. It's bad.
- [cracking continues]
- [screaming]
- [Cooper groaning, grunting]
- [bones cracking]
[knocking on door]
Shit, he's still going?
Yeah, mine was like a crazy fever.
This just seems way worse.
How long has he been at it?
Hours.
- [Cooper, Antonio grunt]
- Oh.
[groaning]
- Get him to the bed. Get him to the bed.
- Yeah. Come on.
Hold his legs. Hold his legs.
- Come on, grab his arm.
- [Jordan] Okay, okay.
[Antonio] Hold down.
- [groaning]
- [Jordan panting]
[grunts] Oh, shit.
It's worse.
[Antonio] Yeah, way worse.
Hang on, man. Hang in there. We got you.
- Can't we do something?
- [Antonio] No, no, no, no.
We gotta let it run its course.
You gotta let him go through it.
Shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.
It's starting, man.
- Bathroom. Get him in the bathroom.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- Get him in the bathroom.
- Come on.
[Antonio] It's a tighter space,
less room for him to hurt himself.
- You can't just leave him in here. Hey.
- No, no, no. Hey, back up.
- Close it, close it. Close it up.
- [Cooper groans]
- Jordan! Jordan!
- [banging on door]
[screams]
[banging continues]
[grunts, groans]
[panting]
[straining, grunting]
- [sizzling]
- [breathing heavily]
[groaning]
[sizzling continues]
- [bones cracking]
- [gasping]
[groans]
[panting]
[cracking]
[gasps]
[screams]
[gurgling]
[groaning]
[Antonio] Seven.
[Jeremy] Go fish.
Nine.
- Go fish.
- Okay. Damn it.
[clattering]
[gasps]
- Looks like he's struggling to get out.
- Hey. Leave it.
He's gotta come out when he's ready.
[breathing heavily]