- 3 weeks ago
The Beauty Comic Book Recap And Ending Explained
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00:00So as soon as I heard that Hulu's The Beauty had already started trending after its premiere,
00:03I couldn't stop myself from reading the source material because, like all of you, I too have
00:08trust issues with Ryan Murphy. I mean, we know he's going to butcher the narrative, but to
00:12understand the extent of his crimes, one has to pick up the comic books to find out what actually
00:16went down in the books. There are around 30 comic book issues distributed over six volumes,
00:22with stories centered around a world pushed into chaos and carnage, with the introduction of the
00:27beauty virus that makes people look like the best version of themselves, or maybe even better.
00:32In short, it enhances their physical appearance and gives people the confidence they have always
00:37yearned for. As the story begins, more than 60% of the world's population have been infected by the
00:42sexually transmitted virus, and whether they like it or not, they have to live with it because no
00:47one has formulated a cure to reverse the beauty effect. And you see, that's where the real problem
00:53begins. After two years, the world finds out that this physical perfection comes with an expiration
01:00date. At the end of its cycle, this virus burns up the host's body from within, exploding itself like
01:06a firebomb. Yeah, that's what happened with Bella Hadid's character Ruby Rossdale in the first episode
01:12of Hulu's The Beauty. As per the show's timeline, she had been infected by the virus some two years ago,
01:18which matches the expiration date, and therefore explains the reason behind her sudden death.
01:24A spoiler warning for those who haven't watched the series yet.
01:29Meet the Detectives
01:32The show introduces us to two FBI agents, Cooper Madsen and Jordan Bennett, who have been assigned
01:39the responsibility of investigating the mysterious deaths of the beauties across the globe.
01:44And while following a potential lead in Venice, Jordan gets the disease after sleeping with a
01:48beauty who deliberately infected her to stop the agents from investigating the case.
01:53In the comic book, we come across a similar setup, where we are introduced to two beat cops,
01:59Detective Drew Foster and Detective Kara Vaughn.
02:02They lead a newly created task force to solve beauty-related crimes and catch anti-beauty terrorists.
02:09It's a small unit with limited resources, but Foster and Vaughn are doing the best they can.
02:13Also, as the comic book begins, Vaughn is already infected, while Foster gets infected at the end of
02:19the first issue, which may suggest that our agent Cooper may contract the beauty virus sooner or later.
02:25The comic book begins the same way as the Hulu show.
02:28There's a gruesome death on the subway.
02:30A beauty suddenly explodes from within, and Foster and Vaughn are called in to investigate the case.
02:36However, before they can analyze the crime scene, the Center for Disease Control, CDC, takes over the case.
02:43It makes Foster and Vaughn suspect that someone higher up may be trying to cover up the situation.
02:49They sneak into the CDC office, only to find out that there have been 14 more beauty-related deaths in
02:54less than three weeks.
02:56It makes the duo realize that beauty is killing people, but some powerful people in the government
03:01don't want the public to find out the truth.
03:04The Monstrous Pharmaceutical Company
03:09The second issue of the comic book reveals that a powerful politician, Senator Timothy Robeson,
03:14has been pulling the strings to cover up the beauty deaths for a giant pharmaceutical company
03:18called Abercorp, founded by two twin sisters, the Abernathies.
03:23They are the ones who engineered the beauty virus, and it's likely that they didn't want
03:27the people to find out about its deadly side effect, at least not until they had developed
03:32an FDA-approved vaccine to turn people's panic into cash.
03:36Robeson is basically their lapdog who has been paid generously for the cover-up.
03:40When Robeson pays the sisters a visit, they reveal that they already have the cure, but
03:44they won't release it yet.
03:46They want to call out the weak and therefore want to hold back the vaccine for 30 days.
03:51They also ask Robeson if he no longer needs to hide the deaths anymore, and if he can
03:55let the world know the mess they have gotten themselves into.
04:00The Cure
04:02Foster and Vaughn try to blow the whistle to let the world know the problem they are
04:06dealing with.
04:07However, before they can raise the alarm, the duo are attacked by some hired gun sent by CDC's
04:12Deputy Director, Agent Brandon, working for Senator Robeson.
04:17Foster and Vaughn lose their faith in the department and therefore join hands with an
04:21anti-beauty terrorist, Jake Lundy, who claims to have found the cure for the beauty virus.
04:27As soon as Foster and Vaughn arrive at Jake Lundy's hideout, he narrates his story to them.
04:32Back in the day, Jake and Eddie Bennett, an anti-beauty terrorist who was shot dead by Vaughn,
04:38were partners who worked for Abercorp, developing medications and potential cures for
04:42a dozen diseases.
04:45A year ago, Jake and Eddie conducted research by accelerating the life cycle of infected
04:50cells and found out that within 800 days, roughly two years, they superheated and imploded.
04:57The research gave them an idea of what the end stages of beauty looked like.
05:02Their company tasked them with finding a way to slow down the process.
05:06However, during the development of the medication, they came across a potential cure that wipes out
05:11the beauty virus from a host's body, but their findings were instantly buried because
05:15Abercorp didn't want to part ways with their most revolutionary product.
05:20When Jake and Eddie resisted, their research was confiscated, and they were threatened with
05:24legal action.
05:26They didn't have the means to put up a fight with the Goliath, so they simply left the company
05:30and went into hiding, joining the anti-beauty movement as a cover-up to restart their research
05:35from scratch, because they knew that sooner or later the world would need a cure for the
05:39deadly disease, as there was no other way to survive it.
05:44Vaughn volunteers for the first trial
05:49In the present time, Jake wants Foster and Vaughn's help to let people know what's really
05:53happening to them, so they arrange enough resources to start initial trials of the
05:57cure they have created.
05:59Jake is confident that his vaccination will work, but he has no idea how the body is going
06:03to react to the treatment.
06:06Jake explains that the cure is basically a fast-acting, highly communicable flu virus that acts like
06:11back-burning a wildfire.
06:14Once it enters the bloodstream, it starts eradicating the beauty virus before it can kill the host.
06:20However, the beauty virus is likely going to resist the cure, which may have some side
06:25effects on the host, but Jake and Eddie never got the chance to figure out that part.
06:30Foster and Vaughn try to help Jake and his team, so they get some support to start clinical
06:35trials.
06:35But before Foster and Vaughn can get the word out to the public, Senator Robeson sends a ruthless
06:41assassin, Calaveras, to finish them off.
06:44Foster and Vaughn have to abandon their mission and run back to Jake's hideout, where Vaughn
06:49herself decides to take the treatment without bothering about its potential side effects.
06:54A few hours later, Vaughn's body burns from the outside, likely the effect of the backburning
06:59that Jake had explained earlier.
07:01Vaughn no longer looks like a beauty, but she never liked it anyway.
07:05She always hated the way the virus made her look, and now that she has finally gotten
07:10rid of the virus, she isn't recognizable anymore.
07:13But hey, she doesn't mind.
07:15From the inside, she's still the same person she always wanted to be.
07:19Her whole body is covered with irreparable burn marks and scars, but she chooses to wear
07:24that withered skin like a badge of honor.
07:27Her new look reminds her that she's a survivor who went through hell and made her way out of
07:31it. And more importantly, she no longer has to worry about it exploding like a firebomb
07:37like the rest of the beauties out there.
07:41Calaveras is dead.
07:44At the start of the story, Foster's wife Janna had taken the beauty virus, which inevitably
07:48infected him as well after he had sex with his wife.
07:52The next morning, when Foster woke up, he couldn't recognize himself anymore and blamed
07:56Janna for it, leading to an argument between the two, with Janna finally leaving the house.
08:01All this while, Foster had refused to have any contact with Janna because he didn't have
08:06the strength to deal with his personal crisis.
08:09However, in the present time, after Vaughn takes the cure, she encourages Foster to give
08:14her a call, as the world has already been pushed to the brink of chaos, and one never knows which
08:19day is going to be their last.
08:21Vaughn wants Foster to meet her once, as she may still be waiting for his call.
08:25Shortly after Foster leaves the bunker where Vaughn has been injected with the cure, Calaveras
08:30attacks the facility and kills Jake and his men outside the lab.
08:34Well, I think Calaveras should have simply left, but he had an itch to finish the job
08:38and therefore decided to wake up the monster sleeping peacefully in the facility.
08:43The moment he and his men walk inside the lab, Vaughn takes them out one by one, eventually
08:48killing the skull-masked assassin who has been threatening their lives for such a long time.
08:54In the end, Vaughn walks out of the lab, towards the field, to start a new chapter of her life.
09:00In the meantime, Agent Brandon, who had a change of heart and had been helping Foster, Vaughn,
09:05and Jake to develop the cure, finally confronts her paymaster, Senator Robeson.
09:11Robeson tells her that Calaveras is going to bring him the cure and kill the rest of the team,
09:15but Brandon revolts and asks him to call him off.
09:19Robeson refuses, leaving Brandon with no other option than to inject the Senator with the beauty
09:24virus, so he'll suffer the same fate as the rest of the world.
09:28In an impulse, Robeson shoots Brandon and kills her on the spot, while his fate remains unresolved.
09:36Foster takes the cure.
09:40After seeing his wife, Foster heads directly to a crowded airport,
09:43where he injects himself with the vaccine.
09:46Earlier, Jake had explained that this cure was bound to another virus that was highly contagious,
09:51which was why they had to isolate Vaughn in a separate room in the bunker.
09:55So if Foster took this unapproved vaccine in public,
09:58then the flu virus is going to spread like wildfire,
10:01infecting everyone that Foster comes in contact with.
10:05However, we don't know if this cure is going to affect just the beauties,
10:08or if it will have an adverse effect on normal people as well.
10:12I really wanted some answers here, but the comic book ended without shedding light on these details.
10:19Other Stories
10:22The sixth issue, or the first volume, of the comic book is basically the end of the main storyline,
10:28as the world eventually finds the cure to the deadly beauty virus.
10:31The creators of the comic book stated in an interview that they didn't have a lot to discuss after the
10:36cure was found,
10:36which was why the following volumes of the comic book went on exploring other characters set in the same universe.
10:44These stories take place before the world finds a cure for the deadly virus.
10:48In the midst of it, we also have a volume that delves into the past lives of our detective duo,
10:53Foster and Vaughn,
10:55explaining exactly how Vaughn contracted the virus and how the duo became a part of the beauty task force.
11:00And finally, in the last issue of the comic book, All Good Things One-Shot,
11:05the writers finally address the question,
11:07what happened to Foster and Vaughn after they took the vaccine?
11:12Vaughn is back on duty.
11:15The beauty's ending reveals that Vaughn is back to her usual life as a police detective,
11:20while Foster has taken an early retirement and is enjoying his life at sea with his wife, Jana.
11:26As the scene begins, Vaughn is on a call with Foster who tells her that they were hit by a
11:30storm near Chile
11:31that added a couple days to their trip, but there's nothing to worry about.
11:35The duo discuss how the world has changed completely after the beauty was wiped out.
11:40Everything is different, and they don't know if it's for the better or worse, but it is what it is.
11:45The issue also features a flashback sequence,
11:48where Foster opens up to Vaughn and tells her that he's tired of being a detective
11:52and doesn't know if it's what he wants in life.
11:54This is when Vaughn asks her partner what he really wants,
11:57to which Foster replies that he wants to take a boat
12:00and just sail off and never turn back.
12:03So it seems like after taking the cure, Foster finally found his calling
12:07and left the department for those adventurous ones out there.
12:11But even though Foster has been living his life, he asks the same question from Vaughn.
12:16What does she want in life?
12:19Vaughn replies that she always wanted to be a cop.
12:21A damned good one.
12:24The world has indeed become weirder with the beauty gone, and people are different.
12:27But her dreams haven't changed a bit.
12:29She is exactly where she needs to be.
12:32So this is how the story of the two detectives eventually ends.
12:35They are not partners anymore, but they are still friends,
12:38looking out for each other and sharing parts of their lives.
12:42However, if you are still concerned about what happened to Abercorp and their founders,
12:46then I think with the virus finally destroyed, they won't have much to look forward to either.
12:51My best guess is that they might have been charged and arrested for developing a bioweapon
12:55and withholding the cure from the world, which could have saved thousands, if not millions, of lives.
13:02This means if the old sisters are still alive, they might be rotting in some prison cell, counting their days.
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13:17See you at the next one, and for the time being, we are signing off. Bye.
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