Television Tuesday: "The Beauty," is Ryan Murphy at His Most Delightfully Excessive

"The Beauty," was a comic created by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley. It was at Image for a number of years, and a new iteration is currently at Ignition Press. It follows a virus people want to catch as it is dubbed, "The Beauty," for how it makes people look good...before sometimes they randomly blow up some time later. The latest project from showrunner Ryan Murphy adapts a degree of the comic but is also its own wildly bizarre beast. Murphy has been involved in a ton of shows from, "Nip/Tuck" to, "American Horror Story," "Glee," "American Crime Story," "Pose," and the list goes on. Sometimes Murphy is a bit restrained, and other times his shows are insanely over-the-top. "The Beauty," is Murphy relatively unhinged, but I dig it. This is a show where he makes sure people infected with the virus who have a bad reaction literally blow up into a mess of viscera. He's loaded the show with sex. He has weird moments of dark humor and surreal monologues (one episode features a professional hitman waxing at length about the talent of Christopher Cross and how the fact that he looked like a normal dude doomed his career with the rise of MTV). It's a lot, but I like it.

Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall play FBI agents investigating a number of mysterious deaths that can be traced to a strange new virus--one seemingly made in a lab. As the show goes on, we witness a Phrama CEO (played by Ashton Kutcher to sleazy perfection) who was behind the virus and didn't want it to leak, but when an employee ran off and had sex...well, the fact that you don't always need a shot to be hot and can pass this potentially new cure/disease to others sexually is, "More of a bug than a feature." Hence, a lot of people who shouldn't have The Beauty do, are blowing up, and in the first three episodes, we witness a tug-of-war between those trying to figure out what is going on and those desperate to make sure nobody learns anything until The Beauty is perfected and ready to launch as some kind of treatment you can buy.

As I said, "The Beauty," is Ryan Murphy doing the most. Tons of sex, lots of violence, and the occasional shockingly sharp moment of social commentary. A black man who finds himself infected with The Beauty (played to perfection by Jeremy Pope post-transformation) in one scene discusses how even being made beautiful he still finds himself at a disadvantage in a society that values an ugly white man more than him, with the fact he is good looking, if anything, ampflying stereotypes of his being an attractive man with a, "BBC," and little else to offer in America's culture. The idea that weight loss drugs could be rendered useless by this new drug/virus is touched upon as well, with it clear why The Beauty needs to be kept a secret before it is revealed to the marketplace (not that such a fact excuses all the murdering).

"The Beauty," is set to be 11 episodes total in this first season, and if the first three are any indicator, we are in for one visceral, messy, and sometimes pretty smart and insightful ride. Buckle up, things are going to get fleshy! I rare these first three episodes...5 out of 5 Stars. It airs/unlocks new episodes on Hulu every Tuesday, so I'm eager for the next entry that'll be available today!

"Bradley the Badger," Looks Like a Wild Upcoming Game

At the latest Game Awards, there were plenty of video-games given awards for being fun and new ones were announced as well. One very quirky-looking title was, "Bradley the Badger." It involves a badger named Bradley who is used to fun and lighthearted platform video-games, only to discover his game universe has become a dark, "Bloodborne,"-esque World. Plus, it isn't even finished and he can access secret developer tools to manipulate the game world...and even enters reality (voiced and physically portrayed by Evan Peters). There are also riffs on, "Cyberpunk 2077," "The Last of Us," and probably even more little parodies, along with the wild full motion video segments!

Designed to be, "Part love letter to games, part satire of them," I am quite intrigued by Bradley. I like a good meta experience, and this game seems to have zero fear about not only breaking the fourth wall but ripping it to metaphorical shreds!

Television Tuesday: "American Horror Story: Cult," and the Power of Fear

I previously talked about, "American Horror Story," when I had gotten into it with, "Hotel," and began watching older seasons to catch-up. It feels like it has been forever since that most recent season, (what's that? "Roanoke?" I don't recall such a miserable season ever existing) but later tonight the fifth episode will air of what has been an interesting program so far. "Cult," has focused immensely on politics, with the 2016 election serving as a backdrop for much of the season, the fear and anger that election inspired and continues to foster playing a large role. Clowns have also been involved, because if you want to scare a large number of people using clowns generally seems to do the trick.

"Cult," started out a little so-so, honestly. It was unclear how certain characters seemed to know each other and what their motivations were, the amazing Sarah Paulson was playing a shrieking stereotype of liberals and Evan Peters seemed to be up to something, but just looked like an annoying Men's Right's Activist-boosting Trump-lover. Thankfully, around the 3rd episode of the four that have aired so far it started to become apparent that the whole point of Paulson's character was that for all her liberal posturing it didn't take much effort for her to start morphing into the kind of people she claimed to despise and the fourth episode was amazing as a ton of question marks became answered and Evan Peters' character of Kai was revealed to be something much more terrifying than a bland caricature of a Trump supporter (with Peters' stellar acting help sell the role too).

Evan Peters as Kai.

Kai is someone who isn't a Trump fan per-se. He is a man who sees people have fear, and he wants to use that fear. At first it was confusing why Kai was assembling a group of people who seemed to have little in common in regards to their views, but it has grown obvious. He wants people who are afraid. Billy Eichner is always a treat in any show and his character of a gym- rainer tired of being picked-on by his boss for being gay and suffering from bankruptcy is feeling terrified at the thought he is a failure. Kai sees this and uses it to turn Eichner into a murderer. A black female reporter sick of being judged for her race and gender, full of rage and scared she will never advance at her news station becomes a follower of Kai after he removes an obstacle to her advancement (a younger, cuter, and crueler reporter). A Trump-loving Good ol' boy played by Chaz Bono of all people (whom I did not know was actually such a good actor) is horrified that as a white male who, "Loves pussy," and guns will be told he's the problem with a country he no longer thinks is going the right direction until Kai steps-in to help him, and so on and so on in a stellar fourth episode where flashing-back to the election itself puts a lot in perspective with Kai. It is only a matter of time before his little group clearly becomes the cult promised by this season's title.

The main characters were at first presented as being a married lesbian couple named Ivy and Ally (Paulson plays Ally) but with the focus being put on Kai in last week's episode it is clear that none of these people are the protagonist--the main character is fear. Whether we are witnessing how fear can paralyze us, motivate us, or be twisted by others for nefarious means, fear is the driving force of almost every character we have seen this season on, "American Horror Story," and it is a fitting focal point with just how scary the world seems right now. I'm hesitant to assign a rating to, "American Horror Story: Cult," just yet as for all I know the upcoming fifth episode tonight could continue the positive trend of quality or very well suck. I think once the season wraps I'll post an update to this article with some final thoughts, but for now I'll simply say as long as things continue getting more and more interesting this may be quite the stellar season!

I'll Be At Wizard World This Week!

Wizard World is a convention I have both said very kind and very critical  (but fair) things about. I was unable to go last year due to family matters (like actual family stuff, not the television show) but will be there this year ready to have some fun! I will be hanging-out with some chums from my comic-book discussion club, browsing all the good stuff for sale, meeting comic-makers, and enjoying some good panels/programming events. I don't normally worry much about big-name celebrities at shows but seeing the man I consider the voice of Batman, Kevin Conroy, and the talented Evan Peters will be in attendance does get me pretty pumped.

If you would like to buy tickets for the show you can do so at this link or always pay at the door (it is cheaper to buy entry in advance, however).