The Beast in Me Recap: Crisis Management

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Nile Jarvis will likely always be associated with accusations of being a psychopath, and the central question of “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely” is whether Aggie can help him address this. But even more fundamentally, does he want to? Nile’s life hasn’t really suffered since he was accused of his wife’s murder – he’s still successful, wealthy, and married to someone new (who happens to be a close friend and former assistant of his late wife, which is awkward). His only motivation for changing his public image is that his reputation is hurting his business. In today’s world of personal branding, his name attracts unwanted attention. His Manhattan development project, Jarvis Yards, is facing protests from environmental activists and Councilwoman Olivia Benitez, who is also running for mayor.

Aggie learns all of this while meeting Abbott in Central Park, but a lot happens before she can head to Long Island. Let’s rewind to the immediate events following Teddy’s death. That morning, Aggie went to the location where Teddy’s car was discovered. Although the police found a suicide note, Mrs. Fenig doesn’t believe Teddy took his own life. She tells the officers he had travel plans with his girlfriend and seemed happy. When she sees Aggie, she becomes extremely upset, accusing her of getting what she wanted. Aggie flees, feeling the accusation is likely true. Despite wanting to see the Fenigs as villains and herself as the victim, Aggie now shares a bond with Mrs. Fenig – they’ve both lost a son.

Nile is jogging through the woods, seemingly unconcerned with the rough terrain. Aggie catches up to him as she’s driving home, and his calm reaction to the news about Teddy only makes her more suspicious. When he asks how she’s doing, she admits things are complicated, and Nile simply shrugs. Claire Danes’s facial expressions powerfully convey Aggie’s inner turmoil – it’s as if Nile can see her deepest, most critical thoughts. Back home, Aggie calls the New York FBI office, hoping to reach Abbott, but learns he’s absent. She discovers he’s actually in bed with a married colleague, Special Agent Erika Breton. When Abbott answers Aggie’s call, he desperately asks her to forget their encounter, but she can’t. She also suspects Jarvis may be involved in something shady. He insists they can’t discuss it over the phone and arranges a meeting in the park, telling Erika he’s meeting with a source for a different case.

Meeting secretly under a bridge, Aggie fills Abbott in on her past with Teddy. However, Abbott already knows most of it, including details she hasn’t shared, like the time she broke a window at the restaurant where he worked. This makes Mrs. Fenig’s restraining order seem more understandable. Aggie directly links Teddy to the disappearances of Madison Jarvis’s victims and confesses she wanted Teddy to experience pain. Despite this, Abbott – who claims to be unaware of the jogging path and isn’t convinced Nile wanted gratitude that morning – doesn’t believe Nile had a reason to kill Teddy. He also wants to keep his job. He cautions Aggie that sharing this information will make her sound unbelievable, like she’s obsessed with true crime podcasts. But a journalist and an FBI agent have similar problems: once information is leaked, it can’t be taken back. Back at his office, Abbott begins researching Teddy Fenig.

Before returning to Oyster Bay, Aggie visits the protest at Jarvis Yards. She finds Benitez speaking in favor of affordable housing, which the new development puts at risk, and urging people to remember that Nile is responsible for past harm. Back in town, Aggie sees a memorial for Teddy near his workplace, triggering a quick flashback of her throwing the brick. While these short flashbacks aren’t disruptive, they feel unnecessary. Claire Danes powerfully portrays Aggie’s inner turmoil through her expressions and body language. Because we already understand Aggie is deeply haunted by the past, the flashbacks don’t add anything new and feel repetitive.

What’s really captivating is how Aggie keeps recalling Nile’s belief that his story could be a bestseller as she struggles with her own book. Their growing connection feels unexpected and significant. The possibility of writing about Nile finally motivates her to visit Carol in New York – something she rarely does. She confesses she hasn’t written anything yet, despite claiming to have 200 pages, which initially frustrates Carol. But then Aggie pitches her idea: what if she could get Nile to speak on the record? Being neighbors gives her some access, but Nile has also subtly opened up to her, practically offering her the story himself. (She can’t help but wonder if he might even be connected to her son’s murder.) Aggie senses he’s eager to talk, and it’s a huge opportunity for the publisher. Nile has never publicly discussed his past, and with the popularity of true crime, a book or movie could be incredibly successful. Carol is both hopeful, seeing Aggie’s excitement, and worried about her safety. Aggie admits she’s terrified of spending so much time with a murderer. “That’s exactly why it’ll be a good story,” she says.

When Aggie approached Nile to discuss her idea, he was casually eating a whole chicken with his hands while leaning over the counter. She started pressing him about the recent protest at Jarvis Yards and Benitez, questioning why he wasn’t defending himself more. He reluctantly revealed that people believed he had killed his wife, though he claimed he didn’t care what others thought. Aggie directly asked if he’d killed Madison, but he denied it. She argued that talking to her for a book would give him a chance to tell his side of the story, pointing out that silence only allows others to create their own narratives. She warned him that by staying quiet, he was letting people with a vested interest in his downfall, like Benitez, control his image. He cleverly questioned her motives, perhaps having read Janet Malcolm, but she was honest: her current book project was going nowhere, and she needed a compelling new subject. He agreed to consider her proposal. As Aggie walked home, she felt confident she’d made an impact. However, as she neared her house, she heard glass breaking and saw someone fleeing the scene. A car sped away, nearly hitting her, and the occupants yelled an insult at her. She suspected the culprits might be connected to Teddy.

The following morning, Nina Jarvis arrived with a pie as a peace offering for the broken wine bottle. She asked Aggie, who was surprisingly unsettled by Nina’s kindness and beauty, to go for a walk in the woods, and after a moment’s thought, Aggie agreed. While getting ready, Nina spotted a painting by Shelley in the living room and, being an art gallerist, was immediately impressed. Aggie explained that Shelley wasn’t actively trying to sell her work and didn’t take it very seriously. As they left, a security guard from the Jarvis estate watched them go. Once they were in the woods, he picked the lock and entered the house. We don’t know who he is – he hasn’t given his name, though Aggie suspects it’s Rick – or what he’s searching for, but he focused on a bottle of pills found in the nightstand and a piece of paper in Aggie’s office where she’d written Abbott’s name.

I was really captivated by this scene. As Nina and Aggie walked, Nina confessed she was a bit thrown that Nile was even considering her idea, and it made her question if she should be worried. Even though Aggie seemed like a good person, Nina knew the public would be much more interested in a scandalous story. Poor Aggie really didn’t want to be walking, and she actually tripped and hurt her ankle! Nina offered to help, but Aggie quickly got uncomfortable with being touched. Then, out of nowhere, Nina started defending Nile, insisting he wasn’t a bad person and had done everything to protect Madison’s legacy and family – including herself. That’s when it came out that Madison was Nina’s boss and friend. She admitted Madison hadn’t been well, and they’d worked hard to keep that hidden from the press. She was adamant that nothing romantic ever happened between her and Nile before Madison died, and she seemed genuinely okay with the fact that Nile would always love Madison more. It was heartbreaking when she quietly said, “I loved her too.”

Nina seems incredibly honest, but I don’t trust it. Her actions – like when she walked with Aggie and how she watched Nile agree to the book – show she has leverage in their situation. She’s definitely holding something back. Rick seems to know something too, as Aggie nearly caught him spying when she returned home, but he quickly escaped.

That night, Erika confided in Abbott that she was leaving her husband, Frank, emphasizing it wasn’t about him. Abbott offered support, but sensed a distance between them. He almost didn’t answer when he saw Aggie calling, but he did. Aggie immediately said she had important news. Meanwhile, Rick arrived in a vehicle and asked about Frank and the children. He then ordered Erika to get in the car. She protested, saying she was finished with them, but it didn’t matter. Rick’s command was absolute: when he told Erika to get in the car, she did.

Intrusive Thoughts

Some of the visual choices in this episode were a bit much. The shadowy figures in Central Park and the overly close-up shot of Nile eating chicken felt forced, especially when important plot points were happening. It made me wonder why the director, Antonio Campos (who, for the record, is half-Brazilian), didn’t go for a more straightforward approach.

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2025-11-13 17:56