Main cast: Amy Thasorn Klinnium (Aim-Orn) and Yaimai Shinaradee Anupongpichart (Dao)
Director: Songsak Mongkolthong

Now, a common trope in horror is ladies desperate to be beautiful that they will do anything to achieve their desire, but Asian horror can take this to new heights: whether it’s to eat human flesh or swill or babies, you name it, some movie had had their female protagonist did it.

Beautiful is the episode in this season to push forth that trope, but it feels strangely muted and even stupid at many instances.

Aim-Orn is a new student that feels self conscious about her pimple-marked and rather bland face, especially when she compares herself to Dao, the most popular girl in school that just happens to be in her class too. Dao has the looks and is tapped for a modeling gig, she is popular among both staff and teachers, and really, Aim-Orn wants to be beautiful like her.

She finds a website while surfing the Internet in her creepy dark room. It whispers to her, tempts her to agree to a mysterious offer that will make her beautiful beyond her wildest dreams, and when she presses the agreement button, she immediately gets a knock on her door and a parcel waiting for her.

The parcel contains a lovely perfume bottle with a glowing pink liquid.

Naturally, Aim-Orn drinks the liquid. What, everything leading up to that point has been perfectly normal and not at all suspicious, so what’s the issue?

Lo and behold, she becomes super hot and beautiful the next day, but it naturally comes with a price.

Meanwhile, Dao has been treating Aim-Orn with patronizing niceness all this while, but now that she has been eclipsed in beauty and popularity, she turns bitter and insists that Aim-Orn share with her the secret of Aim-Orn’s beauty or she would show that wretch that Thai pageant girls are complete bitches not to messed with when they are crossed.

First off, I’m going to be petty here, but for an episode all about beauty, the two leading ladies are… well, they are definitely not ugly, but they aren’t drop dead hot either. I doubt in real life people would stop and gawk at them like in this episode. Hence, that’s one strike against taking this episode seriously.

Secondly, I understand that these are high school kids, so maybe they can’t be expected to be sensible, but seriously now. Aim-Orn doesn’t even hesitate to drink the stuff, not even pausing for a second to think, “Wait, everything seems pretty strange!”

Thirdly, there aren’t enough horror elements here, just two robotic leading ladies screaming at one another like they are acting for the first time in their lives and they have no idea what they are doing. The whole thing is rather annoying to watch.

Finally, while I always appreciate that particular monster making an appearance in any horror stuff, the special effects are awful. Why is it lit up like a sad, cheap-looking Christmas decoration? The penultimate scene of the episode is meant to be terrifying, but I end up half-cringing and half-laughing at the unintentional hilarity of the CGI.

So yes, while this episode can be a sight to behold, it’s for all the wrong reasons.