The Beauty

“Ryan Murphy’s last screen offering was the existentially terrible All’s Fair. It was critically panned, as any show that contains the lines: “He owns, like, all of cosmetics”, “You’re the best lawyers in town – maybe the country!” and a fruit basket “lightly brushed with salmonella and faecal matter”, while somehow managing to bypass humour, camp and brio, deserves to be. It got an unprecedented zero rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a no-stars review here on the grounds that it was so-bad-it-was-bad, and has duly been commissioned for a second series. By that measure, Murphy’s new show is a triumph. The Beauty has a plot, structure, characters that often act, react and speak as real human beings might, a sense of what it’s doing and where it’s going and – whisper it – even a touch of commentary on the state of society today.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Having watched 11 episodes (yes, I’m afraid so) I ended up enjoying the ludicrous ride. And this is mainly because it is funny. Certainly it is funnier than The Substance. It is off its rocker. Occasionally it is heavy on the social messages (“some people are perfect just as they are”; “The world is cruel to people who aren’t beautiful”) and one episode edges into questionable taste when the formula turns a young girl with a syndrome that causes children to age and die rapidly into a beatific child with golden hair.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“The Beauty satirises our world of Instagram perfection, tweakments and weight-loss jabs. This fictional wonder drug is a fat-busting cocktail administered by needle; when it reaches the market, it quickly becomes normalised. And so it is in real life. Cheekbones delivered via injectables are a lunchtime appointment away; who would have imagined, even a couple of years ago, that M&S would be selling a range of “nutrient-dense” meals aimed at people on Ozempic and Mounjaro? The Beauty is a work of sci-fi, but only in the fine detail.”
Anita Singh, Telegraph