Abhiroop Das
Created by Gabe Rotter, Netflix’s ‘The Beast in Me’ tells the story of Agatha Wiggs, a once pathbreaking writer who has withdrawn from the public eye due to a personal tragedy. With a fractured family life and mounting bills, the pressure is on Agatha not just to produce a new work, but to give her burning emotions an outlet. To that end, she makes an unlikely alliance with the neighbor next door, Nile Jarvis, who is infamous for nefarious reasons of his own. The reality behind the legend surrounding him becomes the object of her attention, and before long, a new narrative, richer than anything she has conjured before, begins to take shape. This mystery thriller pits two broken individuals against each other, not just to determine who comes out victorious, but also to reveal the common building factors that unite them. As such, episodes 1 and 2, titled ‘Sick Puppy’ and ‘Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely,’ lay the groundwork for this complex dynamic. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Agatha Wiggs Meets Someone With a Much Darker Past Than Hers
Episode 1 of ‘The Beast in Me’ begins with a flashback to the aftermath of a car crash. A woman, covered in blood, watches over the wreckage in sheer horror. When her partner arrives on the scene, desperately asking about their son, the woman’s scream seemingly confirms the worst. In the present, we learn that the woman, named Agatha Wiggs, is an acclaimed novelist who won a Pulitzer Prize for her debut, Sick Puppy. However, the years since have been marked by a seemingly insurmountable writer’s block, and Agatha finds herself more lost than ever. Out of nowhere, two dogs begin aggressively pounding at her door, surprising both her and her pet dog, Steven. The owner of these dogs turns out to be the new neighbour next door, the infamous Nile Jarvis. More than being a business tycoon, Nile is known for being the alleged murderer of his wife, Madison, and despite the court ruling her death to be a suicide years ago, public opinion is hardly swayed.
Nile’s arrival soon becomes the talk of the community, mainly due to his plan to convert the nearby forest stretch into a jogging path. While Agatha’s entire neighborhood seems to have agreed to the proposal, Agatha answers with a firm no, and this brings her into the spotlight. Following another clash with the Nile’s dogs, she wakes up to a bottle of wine delivered to her doorstep as a present, and that becomes the tipping point. Returning the bottle, however, only ends up pulling Agatha deeper into this quicksand, as she meets both Nile and his wife, Nina Jarvis. Not letting go of this chance encounter, he invites her upstairs, where a discussion about the jogging path takes an ugly turn. As it turns out, Nile believes that Agatha has gone broke since the death of her son, Cooper, and wants money in exchange for agreeing to the construction project. This only infuriates her further, and she storms out of the house.
Nile and Agatha’s Newfound Bond Catches Eyes
Ironically, the day turns out to be Cooper’s death anniversary, and Agatha decides to visit his grave. However, things only get worse from there, as she runs into Teddy Fenig, the person whose car crashed with hers on that fateful day. While he appears to be there with his mother to pay respect, Agatha is overwhelmed with grief and anger, and nearly begins a fight. But she is stopped by her ex-wife, Shelley, who is also there for Cooper, and advises Agatha to move on and find a new outlet for her feelings. The next day, Nile pays Agatha a surprise visit, apologizing for his behaviour in his last exchange. However, it soon becomes apparent that his intentions have hardly changed, as he invites her to lunch at a restaurant and wastes no time in bringing up his redevelopment proposal once again. When she refuses, the conversation shifts to the book she is currently writing, about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s friendship with Antonin Scalia, which Nile declares a snooze.
Instead, Nile suggests that she make his next book about him, as there is enough crunch to the story to get her on the map once again. Although Agatha brushes the idea off, it clearly lingers, as she finds herself cautiously intrigued by his enigmatic personality. As the conversation goes on, she reveals the details of the accident that took Cooper’s life, claiming that Teddy Fenig was drunk at that time, but refused a breathalyzer test until it was safe to do so. On the other hand, Agatha was declared to be unstable, and that still eats away at her psyche to this day. On her way out of the restaurant, she runs into Teddy once again, and this time Nile pays attention, commenting that it is unfair for him to walk free. That night, Agatha is jolted awake by a knock on her door, which turns out to be Detective Brian Abbott, the former lead investigator in the Madison Jarvis’ case. Although Nile is legally off the hook, Brian still keeps an eye on him and warns Agatha against venturing too close.
A Mysterious Death Jolts Agatha Back Into Reality
Confused, Agatha goes back to bed, but the true horror only begins to unfold the following morning, when Shelley rings her up to announce that Teddy Fenig has seemingly killed himself. While the police found his car and clothes by the shore, along with a suicide note, Teddy’s body is yet to be found, and Agatha instinctively believes that Nile is somehow behind this. However, with no proof to back it up, she falls back on her conversation with Detective Abbott and sets up a meeting with him. Brian, who we learn is having an affair with his senior officer, Detective Erika Breton, is secretive about this meeting, given that it is off the record. While he agrees to sneak out a copy of Teddy’s case file, it is clear that he does not fully believe Agatha either. Nile, on the other hand, seems to playfully dance around the act, as he describes Teddy’s passing as karmic retribution, one that should psychologically soothe Agatha on some level.
While Agatha is thoroughly spooked, this strange turn of events sparks a new idea in her mind. Scrapping her entire research on the Ruth Bader Ginsburg storyline, she approaches her publisher with a brand new concept: a book on Nile Jarvis. As the only writer to have ever landed a potential interview with him, Agatha has the upper hand, and her editor greenlights the project with equal parts fear and excitement. Deep down, however, Agatha has bigger reasons for this undertaking, and for that, Nile’s consent to the interviews is essential. Unsurprisingly, he shows interest in the idea of being reintegrated into society, and a series of interviews is set up for the near future. However, not everyone in Nile’s house is equally pleased with this decision, particularly his uncle, Rick, who is also the head of securities. Nina, on the other hand, is elated and invites Agatha for a morning walk the following day.
Agatha Sets Out to Write Her Riskiest Work Yet
As Agatha heads into the forest with Nina, Rick finds his opportunity to break into her house and search for anything that can bring harm to Nile. Although the initial search turns up nothing, her writing room reveals a notepad with Brian Abbott’s name jotted down on it, confirming Rick’s suspicions. Meanwhile, Agatha bonds with her new neighbour over their shared artistic interests. Nina, an art curator who manages the J Kahn Art Gallery, is taken by one particular painting in Agatha’s home, which she reveals to be a piece by Shelley, her ex-wife. Just then, Agatha twists her ankle mid-run, and the duo is forced to a halt. As Nina checks up on the injury, she pivots the discussion to her husband, claiming that Nile is difficult, but not evil. She reveals that she originally worked for Madison and had seen firsthand how much he loved her, which only serves to further entangle the mystery.
Still processing what she has just learned, Agatha fails to realize that Rick is still in the house when she returns, and that oversight provides him with the perfect opportunity for escape. The scene then shifts to the police station, where Erika reveals to Brian that she is leaving her husband. While the two officers are not romantically involved just yet, their relationship gives her the final push to realize that her marriage isn’t working. With things now more awkward than ever, Brian struggles to think of his next step, but is interrupted by a phone call from Agatha, who announces her upcoming collaboration with Nile Jarvis. Although Brian had earlier advised her to maintain her distance, this new development presents a fresh opportunity to uncover Nile’s alleged crimes, and the detective seems all in. Right outside the station, however, Erika is approached by none other than Rick, revealing that she has been his informant all along.
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