The Beast in Me is the kind of story that will be talked about for many years. It’s a tightly written suspense drama that deals with themes of blame, vengeance, rage, and violence that are part of human nature. It’s a deep examination of those themes in ways that will merit visiting and revisiting by analysts and film scholars.

The Beast in Me features stunning performances from the entire cast, but particularly from Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys. There are 8 episodes in this limited series, with plots on top of plots and numerous important characters.

Let’s see if I can give you a sensible summary, spoiler free, of what the series is about.

Aggie Wiggs (Claire Danes) is a Pulitzer Prize winning writer who hasn’t been able to write for nearly four years. She is grieving the loss of her son in a car accident. She blames the other driver, Teddy (Bubba Weiler) for her son’s death. In the four years since the accident, she and her artist wife Shelley (Natalie Morales) have split up. She spends her time harassing Teddy.

Aggie lives in a crumbling house on Oyster Bay. Raw sewage regularly bubbles up in the bathtub and sink drains but she has no money for repairs.

Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys), his wife Nina (Brittany Snow), a couple of scary dogs, Nile’s uncle Rick (Tim Guinee) and some security people move in next door. Nile’s first wife disappeared several years ago and everyone thinks he killed her, but the body has never been found.

Nile initiates conversations with Aggie, although she doesn’t want them. He convinces her that she should write a book about him, which he claims would help clear his name. He knows a lot about her, including how she feels about Teddy. She starts the book and it’s going great. It examines the shadow side of human nature.

The subplots are thick and rich

Teddy apparently drowns himself, although no body is found.

We look at Nile’s relationship with his father (Jonathan Banks) and his Uncle Rick, the people who taught him how to be ruthless in business.

Aggie gets involved with two different FBI agents who are after Nile. Brian Abbott (David Lyons) and Erika Breton (Hettienne Park) are having an affair. Brian is obsessed with catching Nile. Erika is more worried about her family.

Nina wants to put Shelley in her gallery as a featured artist, a move that would launch Shelley’s career.

A politician, Olivia Benitez (Aleyse Shannon) wants to stop the development project Nile’s and his father have financed to the hilt. She wants to put up affordable housing instead.

Aggie’s editor (Deirdre O’Connell) is after her constantly for new finished pages.

The constant dread from all the characters is that perhaps Nile is a murderer and perhaps he will murder them next.

The series had a creepy vibe. When sewage bubbled up in the bathtub drain, I thought it was going to be a horror series. But it wasn’t a traditional horror story. It was creepy because it was a spine-chilling examination of the worst in us. Not just in Nile, the nominal villain, but in everyone. It’s about what we convince ourselves to believe when we can’t face the truth. It’s about what we do when we think we have good reasons to not do the right thing. It’s about how we protect the people we love when protecting them puts us in bad situations.

Just as in a horror story, this story is a metaphor for the current social order. It’s asking us if we can face the beast and do the right thing. What if the beast is us? What if the beast has money and influence and we have nothing but ourselves?

Gabe Rotter created this series. One woman, Tyne Rafaeli, directed two of the episodes. The others were directed by Antonio Campos. The entire team on The Beast in Me did a brilliant job. It’s on Netflix with every episode available now.