The Beast In Me Episode 1 Recap: Did Nile Jarvis Kill Teddy Fenig?

The Beast in Me sounds quite formidable if we go by its title; surely, it gives the illusion of falling down the same rabbit hole as Monster or any other true crime trajectory, but what ensues is a tale about a Pulitzer-winning author and a real estate mogul accused of killing his wife. This is a tale of an uneasy neighbor suddenly moving down the block as uncanny things start taking place. Nile Jarvis, played by Matthew Rhys, is the neighbor, while Claire Danes plays the composed, reluctant, and slightly neurotic author taking an interest in Jarvis’ story. As I had said, the series is initially quite a slow burn, so for this episode recap, we will be just getting acquainted with this quaint neighborhood of Oyster Bay and a day in the life of Aggie Briggs as stranger danger pops up in her life.

Spoilers Ahead

Who is Aggie Briggs?

Aggie Briggs is the author of the book “Sick Puppy: Letters to My Father,” which won her exceptional recognition and a Pulitzer. However, whatever Aggie had—fame, family, fraternity—all seems to be in the past. Currently, she is falling behind on all three. She is struggling with her new book that she is trying to write on Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia, two former Supreme Court jurists with opposing views, and is failing to even pen down a sentence. Her ex-wife, who she mistakenly keeps calling “my wife,” Shelley, and she seems quite tacit in terms of making new connections in the neighborhood. Part of Aggie Briggs’ struggles come from a deep wound of losing her son Cooper; which is later revealed through conversations – between Aggie and Shelley and also Aggie and Nile. A drunken teen called Teddy Fenig caused the accident due to which Cooper lost his life. Oyster Bay seems like a small enough town, and Fenig lives in the same community and is often seen buying beer and strolling down the neighborhood with his friends.Aggie was living her life with her struggles and pain (especially one particular struggle with a sewage issue) and her dog Steve when Nile Jarvis moves into the neighborhood with two formidable dogs, a young wife called Nina Jarvis, and an assistant-handyman Rick, who drops by with a card when the dogs break into her house. Aggie is exalted; however, the next day she receives a cascade of two wines as a token of apology. This makes Aggie even more furious, and she goes to return the bottles and gets introduced to Nile Jarvis.

Who is Nile Jarvis?

Nile Jarvis is famous for all the wrong reasons, but of all of them, the seminal one is the accusation of killing his wife, Madison Jarvis, whose body was never found. Although this accusation remains more of an allegation due to a lack of evidence (or something else altogether that we are yet to discover), his reputation precedes him. Everyone feels obligated to act nice to this potential murderer lest he decide to prowl upon them too. Nile’s family owns the Jarvis Yards in New York, which is a construction company, but it seems like Nile needed a break from all the hush-hush in the city and moved to the suburbs for good. Little does he know that suburbs can get worse in terms of vines, or in his words, “gossip and carnage.” Aggie meets Nile when she goes to return the wine and meets with his current wife, Nina Jarvis. Nile pops from the staircase and absolutely insists that Aggie has a chat with him. This is also regarding a development that he is planning around the society.

What is Nile planning for the neighborhood?

Nile seems like a borderline narcissist who is well aware of his streak, so he conceals it carefully. I am saying this from how he acts like he knows better but, of course, remains humble. This is further affirmed by the fact that he feels responsible for his surroundings and wants to modify changes as soon as he moves into the neighborhood. He wants to build a joggers path in the woods and is asking around for property easement from the neighbors. Aggie receives a notice too, but she decides to put it in the trash since she prefers the woods to remain unpaved. When Nile meets Aggie, he insists that they have a five-minute chat on this, which then turns to various things. This is essentially a narcissist making their way into your life through an entry point, and the conversation, which spans her book, the death of her son, and of course the path, leaves Aggie exasperated. She storms out of Nile’s house and decides to keep her distance for good, until Nile turns up at her door asking for something that she cannot really say no to.

What Happens During Lunch?

Well, Nile comes asking for the most innocent thing—an autograph on the book. The day before, Nile had asked Aggie if she wanted a payout to say yes to the joggers’ path, which left Aggie furious. However, I guess this is Nile’s way of making amends (and also to create an entry point) by turning up at Aggie’s door. Aggie, who was struggling with the plumbing issue, is caught off-guard when Nile asks her to join him for lunch since they got off on the wrong foot. Hesitant at first, Aggie ends up saying yes and joins him at Eleanor’s. The lunch conversation takes up quite a while of the episode. Nile reveals he had grown up in the neighborhood and then moved to the city, and Aggie opens up about her experience for her first book, where she wrote about her father, who is allegedly a con man. However, Nile thinks the book is quite a love letter to her father, and there is a hidden admiration in its pages. While discussing her new project, Nile tells Aggie that no one is interested to know about Ruth Ginsburg and that she should write a book on him instead—full of gossip and carnage. Nile is also extremely conscious about what is going on around him and tells off a woman for clicking their photos at the restaurant. All the while that they are there, Rick, the handyman guy, also sits at a different table.

Who is Brian Abbott?

After Aggie returns home, at night she hears a loud banging at her door. She goes prepared with a knife, only to find a drunk FBI agent at her door with a sense of urgency. The man turns out to be Brian Abbott, who had seen Aggie having lunch with Nile and wanted her to maintain her distance. He does not reveal much, and it seems like he is not at liberty to do so, but as he says, he could not look past his responsibility as a citizen to another citizen. Nile sure sounds like a tricky guy to deal with! When Aggie looks up Brian, he turns out to be legitimate; in fact, he was the lead officer in the Nile Jarvis investigation. I am sure his fears have a lot more substance to them than we see in the first episode. 

Did Nile Kill Teddy Fenig?

When Aggie and Shelly go to visit Cooper’s grave on his death anniversary, Teddy Fenig is there with his mom, placing flowers on the grave. This sets Aggie off, and she has been unable to get this off her mind. During lunch, of course, this becomes one of the things that she rants about to Nile. Nile now knows how to extract the weaknesses out of people, and Aggie walks right into it. After the lunch, the two spot Fennig down the road, which infuriates Aggie. She says that it is a pain to look at him living his life while she rots with agony. Nile listens and takes a note of what she says. The next morning, Aggie gets a call from Shelly, who tells her that Fennig is dead. His body was never found, but he left a suicide note in his car and drowned himself. 

Of course, I also thought what you are thinking—Nile killed Fennig (as a friendly neighborhood favor, perhaps to get that signature for the joggers’ path.) There is no proof of it except for an overbearing feeling of things going wrong in the horrible way and Nile’s self-assured expression as he hears Aggie talk about Fennig. There is definitely a chance that Nile kills Fennig. His words about Aggie having a concealed bloodlust within her flash right through Aggie’s mind as she hears the news of Teddy’s demise. If Nile is a beast on the surface, he is also a willful one. He is not only a reactor but also a catalyst who wants to bring out the beast hidden within every other person, and it seems like Aggie is next in line. While he would certainly make her feel like it was her idea all along, Nile Jarvis is definitely more than he lets on. Episode one ends in the sudden shock of Teddy’s death, and the audience is left puzzled as to whether it is Nile that killed Teddy and why he is trying so hard to be in the good books of Aggie Briggs. Well, except the good book thing may really be literal!

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