'The Beauty' Episode 4 Recap & Ending Explained: Is Manny A Superhuman?

The Beauty is a sci-fi horror that focuses on a beauty drug that acts almost like a parasite, remaking a person entirely before they burn up so much from the inside that they explode. Yes, it’s essentially The Substance, but minus all the psych and plus sexual transmission. In The Beauty, we follow two FBI agents determined to figure out what’s caused this STD to spread rapidly and if it is, in fact, a bioweapon or simply something that’s gotten people going crazy. However, Rebecca Hall, who plays Jordan, didn’t just transform in the show; her name even disappeared from the credits (but hey, she came back in the end now) because she’s been infected and now looks like a whole new and much younger person. In episode 3, Jordan was missing, so we obviously started to believe she didn’t want to show up in front of Cooper. She was embarrassed of what happened to her and how it all went down. But does she show up again in front of Cooper? What happened to her, and will he be able to save her from exploding? Let’s find out in episode 4.

Spoiler Alert

What Does Cooper Learn From Ashley? 

There are a few main takeaways from the witness, Ashley Sanders, from the fitness section in GQ magazine. For one, the hierarchy at Conde Nast is pretty strict, and he comes in at the bottom because he’s not at Vogue, and he’s also not in any of the cooler categories like fashion. Anyway, jokes aside, he explains how he was actually in love with Harper, the woman who exploded, because she was exceptionally attractive, so much so that you couldn’t look away from her. It appears they were going on dates; they were meeting and hanging out, but on the day she exploded, he worried she had COVID, and so he tried to stay really far away from her, only to get infected anyway. Already you can see the symptoms, but Ashley’s paranoid too, worried he’s going to die. 

Cooper’s playing good cop in this situation to get all the info he needs. Ashley tells Cooper about Manny, the gay guy who is a bit of a creep and would hang around the men’s toilets, but he promises he’s not trying to be homophobic or anything. It’s interesting to note that Ashley’s quite honest, but since we don’t know what kind of guy he really is, we can’t tell if his heightened emotions are making him so honest or if it’s the infection. But if he was already seeing Harper and madly in love with her, did they ever sleep together? Turns out they did, so he should, realistically, already be infected? Cooper doesn’t hesitate to tell a fellow agent that this man is likely positive because of fluid transfer; hence, he’s also sick, despite having been many meters away. Before we know it, Ashley’s taken away, and he starts to run before he’s shot with a tranquilizer (presumably). 

What Happens to Manny?

The next person Cooper meets is Manny, the gay guy who got Harper’s blood in his eye. Manny’s already freaking out and very, very hot because he’s about to transform now. Before Cooper can get any real information out of Manny, he starts to sweat so bad he breaks out of the chains that are binding him to the bed; his bones are breaking, there’s blood coming out of his eyes, and he’s vomiting. All the good stuff, you know? He makes a huge mess in the hospital, running amok and contaminating a lot of things and people with his blood and pieces of his body sloughing off. Also, for some reason, in the middle of all of this, we have to watch a couple of doctors working on the face of a woman who was mauled by a chimp. Hence the title of the episode, I guess. We see them literally put a new face onto her bones before Cooper runs in to find Manny. He’s gone straight into a room where there are skin grafts, but I think it makes sense to call them whole bodysuits—people who were really beautiful but apparently died too soon. According to the doctor, at least. Cooper doesn’t have time to comprehend any of this, because behind one of these glass capsule/chamber-like things is the melting cocoon and then Manny. Manny, who blames Cooper for what’s happened to him. This is the most reactive of the victims we’ve seen so far, because even the people who weren’t expecting it to happen were quite okay after learning they transformed. But for one, Manny doesn’t have a mirror; all he can see or feel is that he’s got bodily fluids covering him and probably thinks he’s dying. 

Manny is super strong now, and runs out of the room, into a freezer-looking type thing. Cooper tries to stop him with his words, but the man is overzealous and runs straight into him, surrounded by cops, only because Cooper says they need him. Now, Cooper’s touching this dude after he’s transformed, like he knows it’s safe. He took off his hazmat suit a long time ago, so I wonder what that would imply for him. But clearly, he’s the guy who’s going to save the day, so I suppose he’ll be fine for the time being. Anyway, Cooper gives Manny a shot strong enough to put a grizzly down, but that doesn’t work either! Turns out this STD even transforms blood cells, helping them regenerate fast enough to keep the victim from being hurt easily. So finally, Cooper tases the guy, and hopefully they’ll be able to restrain him right this time and keep him for test purposes. While someone could be saved using this boost, others could become too strong, making them superhumans, but would they be good or evil? 

What’s Happening With Jeremy? 

Meanwhile, Jeremy and Antonio are in Rome, and Antonio is giving his new apprentice a makeover, because he’s going to keep him by his side now. Apparently, he also needs to be taught how not to exchange bodily fluids during the nasty, so Antonio calls for a girl and watches the whole thing. I don’t know if this is part of the job, but by the sound of it, it might be? Anyway, we don’t actually get to see where the duo is going, just that they’re being summoned. However, we do see Antonio briefly later, getting updated on his treatment alongside Byron. Maybe Jeremy will get this antidote/booster too? Anyway, they were supposed to meet the CDC, though, so I guess we’ll have to wait to find out what that was about. 

What Is Byron Planning? 

Now, back in the lab, Byron shows up to get his monthly dose of “The Beauty” shot. He looks forward to it, apparently, but Ray, his doctor, is deeply concerned about what’s happening in the world because of the drug he is administering and has also worked on from scratch. To make matters worse, instead of slowing down, the man wants to launch the drug on the market on “World Beauty Day,” September 9th. Byron is surprised he was able to keep his drug under wraps for so long, but now it’s time to release it in the market before the black market stuff takes over and things get even harder to handle. Ray brings up something called ignition ketosis, which has been a difficult problem to solve. This is a real thing that messes with body metabolism, but in the show, they multiply that by, like, 100. Also, it seems the virus is mutating itself, and creating new versions that will not be affected by a little booster,  but Byron can not see any wrong; he simply ignores the science, and trudges on in business. 

Byron is certain that the booster is enough to solve the problem, making him more money and solving the problem in the short term. Apparently, even Byron himself isn’t handling the drug too well. Ray is insistent that they do more testing, but Byron has already moved on, and instead of trying to fix the problem, he wants to ramp up production even further (ah, businessmen). Dude’s offering people a non-digital Instagram filter, so I guess there’s really nothing to worry about because it’s just another addiction, eh? People like him will kill for instant gratification without thinking twice that such a medication will actually kill him. Okay, Byron’s final call: watering down the doses, but the price remains the same, which means more purchases and less effect. Wow, we love the magic of the marketplace. 

Who Visits Cooper? 

In the ending of The Beauty episode 4, Cooper returns home after a really long time and tries to get his cat from its babysitter. The cat died two months earlier, and clearly this man has been away for far too long to know what’s actually happening in the world around him. Before he knows it, Cooper’s already suffering from PTSD, imagining Jordan with “chimp face” in his dreams and waking up from it. But finally, what he wakes up to is just as much of a shock. Jordan’s standing right in front of him, but it’s not Jordan at all; she’s a whole new person. Now, with the stakes way higher than ever before, Cooper, who is obviously in love with Jordan, is going to do everything in his power to save her, no? It’s ironic he wished for her not to fall in love with him back in Rome. 

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