#tbim

[69peaches3435]

ꨄ ℒℴ𝓋ℯ 𝒫ℴ𝓉𝒾ℴ𝓃 ꨄ

[gobbelin]

Review: The Beast in Me

The Beast in Me Showrunner: Howard Gordon Genre: Psychological thriller, Crime drama Date finished: 01/01/2026 Overall Rating: 8/10

I thoroughly enjoyed The Beast in Me. I love a thriller and TBiM delivered the complex, bloody goods. The acting was engaging and, at times, deeply affecting.

I have a lot of thoughts on how TBiM frames the nature of evil and its characters in this review. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this theme as well, so let’s chat about it!

Matthew Rhys brought nuance to a character we’ve seen many times before. The cold-blooded killer who deceives those close to him takes a new shape with Rhys, vacillating between stony indifference and careful gentleness. The script is tight, keeping audiences engaged, but not rushing through scenes that require time to sink in. A viewer can’t look away from Rhys’ cold stare directly to camera or Claire Daines’ doe-eyed terror.

The stand out? Brittany Snow.

You can read the rest of my review under the cut!

Snow’s role as current wife to our accused killer is small, but her presence on screen is undeniable. Snow captures, with skill, a complicated character caught between what she wants to believe and what she knows. Even when the script fails this character, leaving Snow with nothing to say, she somehow fills space with a look or a misty eye. Snow’s performance is nuanced, subtle, and powerful.

Were there issues with TBiM? Of course. We live in a moment obsessed with shots that only show a single character, so as to emphasize their emotions. The constant back-and-forth between single shots of two characters in conversation (especially on the phone) was exhausting and sometimes teetered close to pre-primetime network TV rather than a cinematic Netflix thriller. However, for each of these scenes, there was another that captured beautiful lighting design (like our FBI agent and family fixer at the playground) or a powerful revelation (what’s on that flash drive??)

Thematically, TBiM seems very interested in the source of evil in people, positing that the ability and desire to murder and manipulate is born in people. Many people close to our antagonist, Nile, seem to believe he was born a killer. Throughout the series we hear “I knew it from the moment he clawed himself out of his mother,” “there’s something in him,” and “he’s not like us.” This certainly deserves attention, as it serves as the series’ main meat of psychological thriller perspective, but I believe it may not be fully explored here.

Throughout TBiM, Aggie is confronted with the similarities between herself and Nile, whether by her ex-wife or Nile himself. Aggie resists these comparisons, but can’t help but see their accuracy. I believe TBiM set out to draw a nuanced picture of the “nature vs nurture” of evil. However, I think the series fell short of exploring this theme. Instead, we are confronted over and over again with the idea that Nile is only evil due to his nature and Aggie’s nature seems to fall to the background. By hour eight of the series, we have thrown off any nuance on the subject and instead are confronted with a closing scene that stops just short of explicitly confirming this idea to viewers. (No spoilers here)

Does TBiM have the obligation to explore this theme in a nuanced way, or the way I personally would want them to? Of course not. But, in our current social landscape of proliferating beauty influencers and far-right talking heads glorifying a “return” to morals, I’m not sure this messaging is harmless fun as much as confirmation of our baser inclinations around evil, crime, and “the other.”

Perhaps Nile Jarvis was born evil. Was Aggie? Why did their stories end in different ways? Are they the same or was that all just one of Nile’s manipulations? I think the groundwork was there for a nuanced discussion of this topic, but instead the story went for the easy-to-consume, easy-to-digest ending.

Gosh, that’s a lot of criticism for an 8/10 review! Let me be clear - I really enjoyed The Beast in Me. It was thrilling and took great twists and turns along the way. The characters, even minor ones, were fully realized and had complex, intersecting motivations. Overall, though, I think TBiM could have been more and said more and meant more. But, along the way, it was definitely a fun ride.

[satrnliv]

lately so OBSESSED with the tbim mv so I had to make this

[the-beast-inside-me-tbim]

This is the second page of my fan comic, TBIM! I did it today, lmao :’D

Follow me on DeviantArt to always be the first to read TBIM!

| Twitter To see more personal things and strange drafts! OwO

| Instagram I dunno LOL

I hope you enjoy the story! See yaaaaa!!!!

[ninjaofthepurplethings]

Although my little chat with Nobby, excellent gerl that she is, had gone rather well.... apart from the bit where she called me a “shifty-eyed cretin of the lowest order”... I had no stomach for my brunch and told Jeeves to drink it himself.

Boko took the news jolly well. of course... leaping about like something akin to a giraffe pursued by a lion on the African savannah.

Not even a jolly rambunctious rendition of “Oh By Jingo” at the piano lifted the feeling of dread from one’s shoulders. Of course, I felt jolly awful for poor old Boko after the terrible thrashing he got at the hands of that filthy Scot but really it was the thought of my vulture of an Aunt and her current whereabouts that really put a chappie in the doldrums.

PREVIOUS / NEXT??? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  That’s all folks!

[69peaches3435]

𝔗𝒽𝑒 ℬℴ𝓎 𝒾𝓈 ℳ𝒾𝓃𝑒

[69peaches3435]

ꨄ ℒℴ𝓋ℯ 𝒫ℴ𝓉𝒾ℴ𝓃 ꨄ

[ninjaofthepurplethings]

*Jeeves floats off to the kitchen and Bertie groans and stretches*

“I say, bending over a billiards table for three hours makes one’s back ache like the deuces! What-ho, Old Bean, you don’t seem quite yourself. Are you sure you are quite alright, Boko?”

“Oh, you’re a good egg, Bertie, old fellow... but no, this chappie is not all right. One is missing Nobby dreadfully, what what?! *sigh* However, I suppose that some brunch and a Bloody Mary will provide a fortifying boost!”

“Quite so, old thing! Nobby will be back soon I am sure, with news of the dreaded Aunt Agatha!”

“Well, one does hope. One just feels… a bit bally confused when good old Nobby isn’t around, what what!?”

(FROM THE BEGINNING)

PREVIOUS / NEXT