The Beast in Me Episode 1 recap: Aggie’s world unravels as a dangerous new neighbor arrives

The Beast in Me dropped on Netflix on November 13, 2025, with all eight episodes landing at once, perfect for anyone who loves a good binge.

Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys lead the cast, and their performances have people talking. The story is intense, the characters feel real, and everything just pulls you in from the start. With Jodie Foster and Conan O'Brien behind the scenes, you can tell the production has some serious weight. It’s already turning heads and feels like a standout among this year’s thrillers.

The Beast in Me follows Aggie Wiggs, a well-known author played by Claire Danes. Her routine gets thrown off when Nile Jarvis moves in next door, a rich neighbor who keeps his secrets close. Aggie is already struggling with personal loss and can’t seem to write, but Nile pulls her into a twisted game she never saw coming.

Right from the first episode of The Beast in Me, you get suspense, mystery, and that uneasy feeling that something isn’t right. We meet important characters, feel the tension build, and get pulled into the puzzles that will shape the whole series.

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The Beast in Me Episode 1 recap – “Sick Puppy”

The Beast in Me kicks off with a wrecked car, sirens screaming in the dark, and Aggie Wiggs (Claire Danes) standing there, dazed and streaked with blood. Her wife, Shelley (Natalie Morales), tears through the chaos, desperate to find their son, Cooper. That night shattered their family. Aggie never really came back from it.

Now, years later, Aggie rattles around alone in the Oyster Bay house they all used to share. She keeps trying to write the sequel to her hit memoir, Sick Puppy, but she can’t get anywhere. The place is falling apart with pipes spitting out brown sludge, and unpaid bills stacking up on the counter.

Aggie is not doing much better herself. Shelley barely picks up the phone, and with the anniversary of Cooper’s death closing in, she keeps her distance even more.

Aggie’s quiet life gets thrown off track when two huge dogs crash into her yard. Right after, their owner shows up: a tense guy with French security in tow. He says his name is Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys), the new neighbor. Aggie figures out pretty fast who he is. He is the real-estate tycoon whose wife, Madison, vanished without a trace. No one ever found a body, but everyone is sure Nile did it.

Nile has been handing out these cheery little letters, asking the neighbors if he can cut a private jogging path through the woods. Aggie has had enough of him already. She doesn’t even bother to read the form and just dumps it straight in the trash.

But it doesn’t end there. Her annoyance spikes when she finds a box of pricey wine on her porch, a “gift” she doesn’t want, and ends up face-to-face with Nile’s brand-new wife, Nina (Brittany Snow).

Later, Nile corners Aggie in his office and turns on the charm. When that gets him nowhere, he tries to push her around, hoping she will sign his easement agreement. She refuses. He ups the ante, offers her cash, and then, in a low blow, brings up her son’s death. Aggie doesn’t budge. She is not signing anything.

In The Beast in Me, Aggie’s grief is still fresh when she shows up at Cooper’s grave. She spots Teddy Fenig, the kid behind the wheel in the crash that took her son, standing there with his mom. Something in Aggie snaps. She lunges at him, yelling that he killed Cooper. Teddy’s family already has a restraining order on her, and Shelley gets there just in time to drag Aggie away. Their marriage fell apart under the strain of Aggie’s anger, but you can see she still loves Shelley, and it hurts.

Back home, Aggie talks with her editor, Carol. Carol tries to be kind, but she is worried that the publisher is losing patience. Aggie is feeling the pressure. She asks if she can get another advance, but Carol says she needs to see some pages first. But Aggie hasn’t written anything yet.

The next morning in The Beast in Me, Nile appears with a copy of Sick Puppy and asks Aggie to sign it. She does, not realizing he might want to use it for the jogging path deal. Then he pushes her to grab lunch with him. Aggie doesn’t really want to, but she goes along with it.

At a crowded neighborhood spot, the two circle each other, sizing each other up. Nile lets slip that he grew up in Oyster Bay. Aggie mentions her latest book, which is about the odd friendship between Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia. Nile brushes it off, almost taunting her, and says she should write about him instead.

Suddenly, a woman snaps a secret photo of Nile. He walks over, calm as ever, and tells her to delete it. She refuses. Without blinking, Nile brings his elbow down on her phone, smashing it. Then he just strolls back to the table, acting like nothing out of the ordinary happened. Aggie can’t believe what she has just seen, shocked, but, weirdly, a little exhilarated.

After dinner, as they head out, they spot Teddy Fenig lingering in front of a shop. Nile watches him with this hard, icy stare, like he is zeroing in on prey. Under his breath, Nile mutters, “It’s not right,” eyes following Teddy as he walks away.

That night, as rain lashes the windows, someone rattles Aggie’s back door, trying to get in. She grabs a knife, heart pounding, but then he flashes an FBI badge. It’s Brian Abbott, the old lead on Nile’s case. He reeks of booze, looks desperate, and spits out a warning: Nile is dangerous. “He is not like us,” Brian mutters, then vanishes into the storm.

By morning in The Beast in Me, Aggie’s phone rings. It’s Shelley, her voice shaking. Teddy Fenig is missing; they found his car abandoned by the beach, and the police think he just walked into the ocean and drowned.

Aggie’s thoughts won’t slow down. Nile’s stare flashes in her mind, along with that sharp comment about how messed up it was that she had to see Teddy every day. She can’t shake the way Nile looked at her. She remembers admitting to Nile that part of her wanted Teddy to hurt, just like she did.

Now, The Beast in Me episode leaves Aggie frozen in front of the mirror. For a second, Nile’s face seems to replace her own. And one question won’t let go:

What did Nile do?

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The Beast in Me dropped on Netflix with all eight episodes landing at once on November 13, 2025.

The critics seem to have liked it. Rotten Tomatoes shows an 85% approval from 33 reviews, and viewers are buzzing about the psychological tension and the performances from Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys.

Over on Metacritic, it’s sitting at 71 out of 100, so, generally, reviewers are into it. A lot of them call it smarter and more layered than an average murder mystery. They are into the way it studies its characters and builds suspense, though a few complain it slides into melodrama here and there.

Claire Danes gets a ton of praise, and some even say it’s her best work since Homeland. And Matthew Rhys nails the part of the complicated antagonist, making the story hit even harder.

The Beast in Me keeps getting called gripping and tense, the kind of thing you can’t stop watching. It has a sharp psychological angle that sets it apart from most thrillers, and the lead performances really hold it all together.