The Beast in Me

A tense cat-and-mouse thriller that keeps you hooked with its twists, even if it stretches believability toward the end. The pacing makes it easy to binge, and the emotional beats land - especially thanks to Matthew Rhys, who absolutely steals the show as Nile Jarvis. His performance adds unexpected depth and charisma to the chaos, making every scene he's in feel sharper and more unpredictable.

The Beast in Me starts off looking like prestige TV with a pulse: the premise has real teeth, Matthew Rhys delivers a deliciously unhinged vibe, Brittany Snow holds steady, and Jonathan Banks shows up doing what Jonathan Banks does best-being the most reliable menace on screen.

But then the whole thing gets body-checked by Claire Danes' familiar acting tics. The trembling lip, the heavy breaths, the wide-eyed panic-she leans so hard on these mannerisms that they start to feel like the actual plot. For viewers who find that style grating, it's a tough hurdle.

Remove Danes' performance from the equation and you can almost see the genuinely compelling series hiding underneath. As it stands, The Beast in Me is a great show trapped inside a slightly exasperating one.

I enjoyed this but Clare Danes character sounded like she was mid panic attack throughout every episode, which kind of spoilt things a bit. It was very offputting in my opinion. Matthew Rhys's character was suitably creepy.....the chicken scene in particular. Well filmed, well acted overall, I quite enjoyed it.

How can eating a chicken be so terrifying?

I squirmed for the entire scene.

Great performances by the two leads. Nice supporting cast. Rhys is a standout and absolutely steals every scene he is in.

I spent time pondering why Aggie seems to be drawn to this man when everything is screaming "Get as far away as possible!".

Editing, production design ,lighting and sound design are top notch.

It appears that quite a few raters and reviewers take serious issue with Claire Danes character in this mini series. I understand it. During the first half of the first episode I couldn't help but notice that she was playing almost the same personality as her tortured agent in Homeland. But I pressed on and started to really enjoy the tense and blunt interactions between her character and the slick sociopath/psychopath played so well by Matthew Rhys. I really loved the locations as well.

I have only watched the first episode but by the end I wanted to keep watching into the early hours. I just wanted to leave a quick review because there are so many very poor reviews and some very praising reviews. The praising ones aren't fake. I personally look forward to the rest of this show. Try it. You will know by the end of the first episode if it's for you.