This post contains spoilers from The Beauty season 1 episode 2 from this point forward.
The Beauty series premiere episode introduced us to this twisted world, in which a sexually transmitted virus transforms individuals and gives them aesthetically pleasing features. But the virus has also started causing its hosts to get violent and explode. Cooper and Jordan were sent to Venice at the end of episode 1 to investigate a new death connected to the virus. While on a boat ride to their destination, another boat driven by a person in a creepy mask passes them.
Cooper and Jordan arrive at the crime scene wearing protective gear as the Italians fear the virus could be airborne. They approach the bed where a woman's chest has exploded open to reveal her bones and organs. Her body rests in a strange position, and they find an Egyptian hieroglyphic on the wall that stands for "beauty." Obviously, they're inching closer to the truth, though it still remains elusive and multi-layered.
Adding another layer to the story, we meet Antonio (Anthony Ramos), who's working on an assassination for The Corporation (Ashton Kutcher). The man Antonio's tasked with killing stole The Corporation's serum that he saved for himself and his friends. Antonio follows the man in the streets and hits him with a dart that immediately sends him to the ground, foaming at the mouth and dying.
Jordan becomes afflicted by the Beauty virus in episode 2
Cooper and Jordan watch a video of the woman who died that ends with her saying, "Don't do it." They're more puzzled than ever about who would have wanted her dead and why. Suddenly, they receive a call that they're heading to New York City because the assistant editor of Vogue combusted. Jordan tells Cooper that their personal relationship has to stay casual, and Cooper seems disappointed. But they come to some sort of agreement about their relationship that remains in a gray area.
Later that night in Italy, Cooper gets attacked in an alleyway. He tries to run away, but the two men catch up to him, cover his face with a plastic bag, and zip tie his hands together. He's still able to remove the bag and fight the men off. He frees his hands and gets away with the men still in pursuit. He's nearly in the clear when the mean sneak up on him again for another fight. One of the men slices his face with a knife before choking him, but Cooper successfully knocks them out.
He runs up a staircase and appears to be at a dead end when one of the men chases him, but he ties a rope to the man's kneck and jumps off the balcony with him. The man dies and Cooper's safe. Meanwhile, Jordan's still on her date with the man who approached her when Cooper left the bar. They enter a glamorous room and have sex. The man leaves Jordan fast asleep in the bed, and she wakes up later in a massive sweat. Well, she now apparently has the virus.
She chugs a nearby bottle of water, the telltale sign that she's in the midst of transformation. Jordan looks at herself in the mirror as her body snaps and writhes. She contorts on the ground and crawls her way to the bathroom, where she's thrown around from wall to wall and back to the ground. In the morning, she emerges from a sack just like Jeremy. She feels the sticky substance that surrounds her body and screams in horror when she realizes what has happened.
The Beauty releases new episodes Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on FX and Hulu.