Several critics have drawn parallels between the events of the series and real life.
“The Beauty satirises our world of Instagram perfection, tweakments and weight-loss jabs, said the Telegraph’s Anita Singh, external in a four-star review. “It is a work of sci-fi, but only in the fine detail.”
Starring opposite Kutcher and Pope in the series is Rebecca Hall, who told the BBC the show draws comparisons to Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, a film adaptation of which she previously starred in.
“This show is bringing up the conversation that if you keep chasing some version of beauty that’s outside of yourself, you may never be satisfied and you might end up going crazy,” she said.
Hall’s character in the show is an FBI agent, tasked with uncovering why some of the most beautiful people around the world are dying gruesomely and randomly.
Paired up with a younger male FBI agent, played by X-Men star Evan Peters, her character faces an internal battle over whether she is attractive enough.
The 43-year-old said starring on the show has made her think about where society is heading.
“There’s this notion that there is a standard we should all go out and buy,” she said. “It’s madness because then we’ll all end up looking exactly the same and then we will immediately pivot to finding something else beautiful.”
The actress concluded that “what’s weird” about society right now is that “if you have enough money you can make yourself look pretty much like anything you want”.