This post contains spoilers from The Beauty season 1 episode 3 from this point forward.
The end of the second episode completely shifted our expectations and blew our minds, as Jordan became the latest victim of the Beauty virus. The Beauty season 1 episode 3 opens in New York with Manny (Ben Platt) convincing Brittany (Meghan Trainor) to undergo plastic surgery. They're interrupted by their friend (Amelia Gray Hamlin) who's sick. She begins to sweat and writhe before she throws Brittany out the window and explodes. Some of her blood goes into Manny's eye.
Back in Venice, Cooper is chained up in a courtyard as he explains his attack to the police. They aren't receptive to his explanations and don't believe he isn't up to not good himself. However, he's unchained and escorted out of the courtyard. Meanwhile, The Assassin/Antonio has a man tied upside from the ceiling and threatens him with weapons. He seems to be the man who infected Jordan. Before he can kill the man, Byron Forst gives Antonio a call from his boat in Croatia.
During the call, Byron informs Antonio of another infected person in Indianapolis, but he insists that he needs more help and better assistance. After hanging up, he kills the hanging man with an axe. On the boat, Byron isn't thrilled to engage with his ex-wife Franny (Isabella Rossellini), who tells him that their oldest son Tig relapsed again and is at rehab in Cleveland. He doesn't want to visit their son, and Franny admits that she prays for Byron's death every night. There's no love lost here.
Antonio teams up with Jeremy and reveals a big secret
Antonio speaks to his ex about his son before boarding a private plane. He wires her money, and in exchange, their son believes that his father is dead. It's a strange arrangement but makes sense given his job. Cooper struggles to make contact with Jordan, but he learns that the men he fought were positive for the virus. He's been exposed and get apprehended by a biohazard team on a boat.
In Indianapolis, Antonio breaks into the plastic surgery clinic where Jeremy had his first consultation. He turns off the cameras and stalks through the building with a gun until he finds the doctor sawing apart a dead body. Antonio confronts him about his role in spreading the virus, and he admits that he only provided it to one client: Jeremy. The doctor insists he doesn't know where Jeremy is, prompting Antonio to shoot him in the arm and threaten him into finding Jeremy.
He gives Jeremy call, and he answers while having sex with a woman. The doctor tells Jeremy that he needs a second dose of the virus. When Jeremy reveals his location, Antonio shoots the doctor in the head. Antonio finds Jeremy in his hotel shower. They engage in a fight while Jeremy's still naked and reveals that he's been tasked with eliminating him as a spreader of the virus. When he calls his former sex partner, it's apparent that she has the pre-explosion fever.
Cooper tests negative for the virus, which means that he's being put on an airplane and leaving Italy. That's not what he wants to do since they still haven't found Jordan. Antonio takes Jeremy with him in the car to see Claire, and when Antonio sings "Sailing" by Christopher Cross, Jeremy threatens to jump out of the car. Antonio explains that the world is cruel to "normal" people. When they arrive at Claire's house, they find the empty transformation sack before she sneak attacks Jeremy.
Antonio tries to fight her off and loses track of his gun. Jeremy grabs a heavy pan and hits Claire in the head to death. Even though Jeremy saved his life, Antonio still intends to kill him. Before he pulls the trigger, Jeremy begins crying and refuses to beg for his life. Instead of killing him, Antonio takes Jeremy to dinner and reveals he had an early dosage of the virus that keeps him young. He's actually 65 years old.
He explains that the virus being sexually transmitted is a bug. Antonio seems to have a soft spot for Jeremy because he reminds him of his son. (Could Bryon actually be his son or is he someone we haven't met yet?) He pulls Jeremy in as his protégé. Back at the FBI, Cooper learns more details about the latest human explosion. Those who who tested positive after the woman blew up in New York are being held captive in a room until further instruction.
The Beauty releases new episodes Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on FX and Hulu.