Heads up: full spoilers for The Beast in Me below. Netflix dropped the finale on November 13, 2025, and it does not go gentle. The show finally rips open what happened to Madison Jarvis and ties a grim little bow on the Jarvis family legacy — which, surprise, is less legacy and more rot.
The reveal that flips the whole series
All season, Madison vanishing has been the shadow hanging over Nile Jarvis and fueling Aggie Wiggs' obsession. The twist: Madison had been quietly feeding info on Nile's operation to FBI agent Brian Abbott (David Lyons). When Nina tells Nile that Madison talked to Abbott, he snaps. In a brutal flashback, Nile kills Madison and calls the one person he knows will make it disappear: his dad, Martin (Jonathan Banks). Martin and Nile's brother Rick roll in to 'fix' it — clean the scene, bury the truth, keep the empire upright.
That decision is the blueprint for everything that follows. Nile's guilt curdles into more lies and more bodies. He murders Abbott to shut him up. Later, Teddy Fenig's death mirrors Madison's — same playbook, same man trying to keep his house of cards from collapsing.
Nile's last spin, and the moment the floor drops
By the finale, Nile (Matthew Rhys) has framed Aggie Wiggs (Claire Danes) for Teddy's murder. Aggie feels hung out to dry by Agent Erika Breton and decides to turn herself in — but first, she swings by Nina's gallery and lays it all out: Madison, Teddy, Nile. Shaken but focused, Nina goes home and confronts Nile.
What starts as an argument turns into a quiet, ice-cold confession. Nile admits he killed both Madison and Teddy, and even tries to shift some blame onto Nina — like he thought he was doing what she wanted after she told him about Madison talking to Abbott. They end the night in this eerie, faux-peaceful embrace, as if a hug could make any of it normal.
The morning is less poetic. At Nile's press conference, Nina hits send on the insurance policy: the recording of his confession. The FBI swarms. Nile is arrested while Aggie watches from the crowd, drained but finally out from under him.
Later, Nile pleads no contest to everything and gets three consecutive life sentences without parole. Aggie visits him in prison for the book she is finally writing — 'The Beast in Me' — and they talk for three hours. She plans a second visit. It never happens. Rick taps old criminal contacts and makes sure Nile never walks another yard.
The Jarvis playbook: power first, truth nowhere
Martin and Rick didn't invent Nile's monstrosity, but they sure cultivated it. Martin raised his sons on control — survival is power, power beats honesty. So when Nile calls after killing Madison, Martin's response isn't shock; it's logistics. He and Rick stage the cover-up and set the family on a path where every lie demands another lie, every crime another cleanup.
Rick keeps the machine humming even as it eats them. He pushes and manipulates until Martin suffers a stroke. And then Rick makes his bleakest move: he suffocates Martin in the hospital, convinced he's sparing his father the humiliation of watching Nile's crimes blow up the Jarvis name. Finally, once Nile is locked up, Rick finishes the cycle by arranging his brother's death behind bars. It isn't one man's madness — it's an inheritance, and it cashes out ugly.
Aggie Wiggs, chasing redemption into the dark
Aggie's story starts with grief: years after the accident that killed her son Cooper, she is a writer who can't write and a mother living with a permanent ache. She aims that energy at Nile, her neighbor with the polished smile and the cracks he tries to hide. Research turns into fixation. She tells herself she is after the truth, maybe even her own redemption, but Nile is a gravity well — charm, control, violence wearing a good suit.
By the time Aggie realizes how far in she is, Teddy is dead, the FBI is circling, and Nile has planted her as the perfect fall guy. Cornered, she chooses the one lever she has left: she gives everything to Nina. That confession detonates Nile's world and frees Aggie, sort of.
"I loved that final scene because even after he tortured her and betrayed her in the most evil, violent way, she is happy to see him. They have a connection that thrills her, in every sense of the word."
That quote from a Collider interview nails why Aggie's final prison visit is so unsettling. She gets out with a book and her life. She does not get out clean.
The finale in one pass
- Madison secretly works with FBI agent Brian Abbott; Nina tells Nile about it.
- Nile kills Madison, calls Martin; Martin and Rick stage the cover-up.
- Nile murders Abbott, then Teddy Fenig, to keep his facade intact.
- Nile frames Aggie for Teddy; Agent Erika Breton leaves Aggie hanging.
- Aggie tells Nina everything; Nina confronts Nile and records his confession.
- At Nile's press conference, Nina reveals the recording; the FBI arrests him as Aggie watches.
- Nile pleads no contest; sentenced to three life terms without parole.
- Rick suffocates Martin after his stroke and later arranges Nile's prison death.
- Aggie visits Nile for three hours for her book, plans a second visit, then publishes after his death.
So, was it any good?
Critics have been high on this one — lots of praise for Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys chewing through tense, messy scenes, and direction that lets the dread build without getting showy. It is a nasty little story about how families protect monsters until they become one.
The Beast in Me is streaming now on Netflix. If you watched, what moment hit you the hardest — Nina's play at the press conference, Aggie finally pulling the pin, or the blasted-out truth about Madison?