Directed by Tyne Rafaeli and Antonio Campos, The Beast in Me is a well-written series that keeps you hooked throughout its duration. I believe the parameter for judging depth in writing is how the writers treat their subplots, whether they supplement the main plot or serve no real purpose. The sincerity with which the series deals with each and every character is what makes it so impactful. So let’s find out what was happening in the life of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Agatha Wiggs, and how she landed herself in such a huge mess.
Spoiler Alert
What happened to Aggie’s son?
Around 4 years back, Agatha Wiggs, aka Aggie, met with an accident when a drunk Teddy Fenig, one of the residents of Oyster Bay, crashed his car into hers. Aggie survived, but her son, Cooper, died in the accident. Aggie and her partner, Shelley, were traumatized after the incident, and they couldn’t cope with the grief for the longest time. Shelley tried to move on from the past and got better with time, but Aggie couldn’t find a way out of her miserable existence. She had won the Pulitzer just some time before her son had passed away, and she had gotten a lucrative 3-book deal with a leading publishing house. But days turned into months, and she couldn’t pen a single word, as she was just not able to think straight. She blamed Teddy for what had happened, but the reason why she felt so miserable was because she knew that that was not entirely true (a fact that we will discuss later in this article). When a person knows that they are guilty, they try to escape that guilt and make themselves believe that it was not their fault. Acceptance is a difficult thing, probably even more difficult than taking the burden of guilt upon oneself. Aggie created a narrative for herself that absolved her of her sins and made her feel that she was not at fault. But the truth was that, deep down, she knew what exactly had happened that day, a fact that haunted her and made her nights sleepless.
Shelley and Aggie separated soon after that incident, as the trauma had widened the rift that already existed between them. The couple had their own differences, and Shelley felt that she was being taken for granted in the relationship. Shelley loved Aggie, but at times the latter was quite selfish in her approach, and that made Shelley feel disrespected. Shelley sacrificed everything for Aggie’s career, and she did whatever she could to make sure that the latter got what she wanted. But even after all the effort she put in, Aggie just didn’t seem to be satisfied.
What happened to Teddy Fenig?
One fine day, Aggie got to know that the famous real estate mogul Nile Jarvis had shifted into the house just adjacent to hers, and apparently he wanted to construct a jogging path in the woods nearby. Aggie didn’t like the idea of a man like Nile coming to their neighborhood and trying to take over the area. While all the people in the neighborhood gave their consent for him to build the jogging path, Aggie refused to even respond to his letter. Nile Jarvis was the kind of man who just couldn’t take no for an answer, and so he tried to convince Aggie to agree to his proposal. In fact, Nile was way too imposing for Aggie’s liking. He was a manipulator, an intimidating one in fact, who was just so stubborn in his approach that often it felt like he was being threatening. Nile literally forced Aggie to have lunch with him, and it was there for the very first time that Aggie noticed the man had a really violent side to him. Nile saw that a few customers, sitting at the restaurant, were clicking pictures of him secretly, and so he went there and broke her phone. He then came and resumed conversation with Aggie as if nothing had happened. That day after lunch, Aggie saw Teddy Fenig on the streets, and she told Nile who he was. Nile saw something in Aggie’s eyes, and then the very next day, we got to know that the boy had apparently taken his own life. Teddy left his belongings and a suicide note at the beach, and he just vanished into thin air. His body wasn’t found, which made Aggie a bit suspicious, majorly because it was the exact manner in which Nile’s ex-wife, Madison, had disappeared back in the day. But what Aggie didn’t understand was why he would kill or kidnap Teddy, as he didn’t have any motive to do so. Aggie and Nile were not such good friends that he would take the risk of killing another man just because he had done something to wrong her. Aggie’s suspicions strengthened even more when an FBI agent, Brian Abbott, paid her a visit in the middle of the night and told her to stay away from Nile Jarvis. What this meant was that even that FBI agent believed that Nile had a role to play in his wife’s disappearance. The town blamed Aggie for Teddy’s dissapearance/murder, but the police had no option but to classify it as a suicide since there was no evidence that proved otherwise.
Why did Nile kill agent Brian Abbott?
Aggie got in touch with Brian Abbott, and she told him that she believed that Nile Jarvis had something to do with Teddy’s disappearance. Back in the day, Abbott was pretty close to Madison, and he could never accept the fact that she had taken her life. Aggie decided that she would offer to write Nile Jarvis’ biography, to get an opportunity to know his secrets and make him feel that she was on his team. A city council member, Olivia Benitez, was protesting against the construction of Jarvis Yard (a housing scheme that was supposed to bring a huge amount of revenue for Jarvis’ company), and Nile knew that in order to shut her down, he needed to create a narrative that favored him. Though it had never been proven that Nile had a role to play in Madison’s death, it was impossible for him to stop people from making their own conspiracy theories. Considering every aspect, Nile agreed to let Aggie write his biography, not knowing that she was secretly conspiring with Brian Abbott. Nile was supposed to attend a party organized by his father, Martin, and he asked Aggie to accompany him so that she could have a chat with his old man. Aggie realized that she could use the opportunity to her advantage, and so she told Abbott to break into Nile’s house and try to find any evidence that linked him to Madison’s murder. Brian made a huge discovery, so big that he didn’t even tell Aggie about it since he felt that it would put her life in jeopardy. Brian recovered a pendrive from Nile’s house on which he found a link to a live stream. Brian discovered that Teddy was still alive and Nile had kept him in captivity. Meanwhile, Aggie tried to talk to Madison’s parents, hoping that they would tell her something that she didn’t know already. But they too supported Nile, and in fact, they mocked how the media cooked up stories without knowing how much their son-in-law loved their daughter.
Brian couldn’t resist his impulse, and he ended up confronting Nile. Nile very subtly confessed that he’d had a role to play in Madison’s death too, but before Brian could do anything about it, Nile beat him to death. Aggie, for the longest time, had no clue that Abbott had died, and so she tried to contact him. Nile had Abbott’s burner phone on him, and so he read the messages and got to know that Aggie was still in touch with him, and apparently she had found some groundbreaking evidence that could prove Nile’s guilt. Nile knew at that moment that he would have to remove Aggie from his way, even if it meant pinning the blame of Teddy’s death on her.
Who killed Madison? And why?
Through a flashback sequence, we got to know that around 2018, due to a spike in interest rates, the Jarvis family was facing a real shortage of money. It was at that moment that James Ingram, Madison’s father, pitched in and gave 200 million dollars to Nile. It was for that reason that James didn’t speak a word against Nile when Aggie came to meet him. The Ingram family’s entire funds were tried to Jarvis Yard and they needed to maintain a good relationship with the Jarvis family. But Christopher Ingram, Madison’s younger brother, was itching to speak the truth, since he wanted justice for his sister. Aggie found out that the suicide note, which proved to be one of the most significant pieces of evidence because of which the police concluded that Madison’s death was a suicide, was apparently written by Madison a couple of years before she had been killed. Madison kept a bird journal in which she had written those words, and after that she had tried taking her own life. But fortunately she was saved, and she was put on medication. Madison feared Nile, and she knew that the man had the potential to kill her. She desperately wanted a divorce, but she knew that Nile wouldn’t give her that. So, Madison got in touch with Brian Abbott, and she started leaking information about the family’s secret deals.
Nina, Nile’s current wife, worked as Madison’s assistant at that point in time, and she had a fair idea about her deteriorating health. Nina knew that Madison was not taking her medication and that she was meeting somebody secretly. It was on the basis of Madison’s information that Abbott conducted a raid on his private jet and found a huge amount of cash hidden inside it. Madison hoped that Abbott would find a way to link that black money to Nile and put him behind bars. But unfortunately that didn’t happen. Ryder, one of Nile’s employees, took all the blame upon himself, and the bureau had no other option but to shut the case and consider Nile innocent.
For the longest time, Nile suspected that it was Nina who was the snitch, and he even talked to Madison about it. But then one day Nina saw Madison meeting Abbott. Nina and Madison had an argument, as the former was not happy with her job, and she wanted to switch in search of better opportunities. Madison was in a miserable state at that point in time, and she said some really mean words to Nina, as she was not happy that she was leaving her. That night, Nile confronted Nina, and the latter got infuriated when he blamed her for leaking information to Abbott. Nina told Nile about Madison’s secret meetings with Abbott, and that’s when all hell broke loose. Nile went to meet Madison and caught her just before she was trying to leave the city. Nile killed Madison in cold blood, and then later his uncle, Rick, and his father, Martin, took charge of things and made sure that the FBI didn’t get any evidence to prove Nile’s involvement.
Was Aggie able to expose Nile Jarvis?
Once Nile got to know that Aggie had found out that Madison’s suicide note was planted at the scene by him, he started laying a trap for her. Nile killed Teddy and planted his dead body at Aggie’s residence. He then called the police and told them that he suspected Aggie was up to something. Aggie ran away from her house, and she tried to contact Erika, Abbott’s senior at the Bureau, as she was the only one who knew that Nile was guilty. Erika, back in the day, was contacted by Rick, who had offered her to get her husband’s name cleared in a negligence case if she helped him get information on Abbott and keep track of his movements. Erika agreed at that moment, not knowing the consequences. Rick paid a visit to Erika once again, and he threatened her to stop helping Aggie if she wanted her family to be safe. Aggie was left stranded, and so she decided to take a risk. She paid a visit to Nina and told her that she needed to hear her out, as she was innocent. Aggie told Nina that she had not killed Teddy, it was her husband who was behind it. Aggie stated that, for years she had run away from taking accountability for her own actions. She said that for years she blamed Teddy for drunk driving, but she was equally responsible, if not more so, for her son’s demise. Aggie was on a call, and Cooper was constantly disturbing her. She turned back to scold Cooper when Teddy’s car came and crashed into hers. Aggie told Nina that she had called the police and told them about her whereabouts, and so it was up to her to expose Nile. Aggie went to Nina because she saw how Nile disrespected her. She also felt that Nina had always known the truth about whatever had happened with Madison, but still she chose to harbor her illusions. That night, Nina confronted Nile, and he confessed that it was he who had killed Madison and even Teddy. Nile told Nina that she was an opportunist who always wanted to take Madison’s position. He told her that he gave her just what she wanted because she was too scared to cross the line herself. Nile made it pretty clear that Madison’s death was on both of them. Nina recorded that conversation she had with Nile and later handed it over to the FBI. Nile got arrested and got three consecutive life sentences for the crimes he had committed. Aggie was able to prove her innocence, and she was acquitted on all charges. Aggie completed her biography, which she titled “The Beast in Me,” and people once again fell in love with her perspective and her writing.
Who killed Nile Jarvis? And why?
Uncle Rick, who loved his elder brother, Martin, never really loved Nile Jarvis. He believed that Nile was sick and that he was suffering from some kind of bipolar disorder. Rick believed that, for the past 30 years, Nile had been trying to destroy his father’s legacy. Every time Martin went and rescued his son from some problem, Nile got himself into another mess. Rick always cleaned up Nile’s mess, and often he didn’t tell his brother the entire details, as he knew how disturbed it made him. But after the entire Abbott and Teddy affair, Martin was sick and tired of his son. In that rage, he suffered a stroke and was admitted to the hospital. After Nina exposed Nile, Rick felt that his brother didn’t deserve to see what was happening. Rick killed his brother, and according to him, it was an act of mercy. He then gave himself up to the police and used his contacts to get Nile killed in the prison. Rick wanted revenge on Nile and he considered him responsible for his brother’s demise.
Aggie wrote in her book about how Nile took the vengeance that people cradled within themselves and channeled it to commit acts of violence. Now, be it Aggie or Nina, they all harbored certain evil intentions. Obviously, they weren’t psychotic enough to act upon them, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t entertain the thought. Like Nina, who aspired to be in Madison’s place, and though she always knew what happened to Maddy, she chose to manipulate herself and make herself believe in the lie that Nile wanted her to. She treasured the life she had, and in a way she did sell her soul for maintaining her status. Aggie realized that vengeance was like a wound that never healed. To break the cycle, one needed to forgive themselves and others whom they held responsible. Aggie considered herself responsible, to some degree, for whatever had happened. Acceptance gave her peace, and she could finally forgive herself and move ahead in life.
