A “Fresh” Take on Dating Dangers: Hulu's New Movie with Sebastian Stan & Daisy Edgar-Jones

It’s time to freshen up. On March 4th, 2022, Hulu released their new original film Fresh, which was directed by Mimi Cave. This film is about “the horrors of modern dating seen through one woman’s defiant battle to survive her new boyfriend’s unusual appetite,” says Hulu. I guess you could call this horror-comedy is a “fresh” take on dating in 2022.

The stars of Fresh are Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan, who are no strangers to Hulu originals. Stan plays Tommy Lee in the new mini-series Pam & Tommy, and Edgar-Jones played Marriane in the original series Normal People. We are obsessed with both stars and couldn’t hold in our excitement when we found out they would be in a film together.

Fresh follows Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a young woman navigating the dating world the only way you can nowadays—digitally. At the beginning of the film, she is seen swiping left and right on dating apps similar to Tinder and Hinge in order to find her “perfect match.”

*Spoilers Ahead

She decides to take a chance on Chad (Brett Dier), someone she meets online, but the date doesn’t go so well. He tells her that she would look better if she dressed more feminine, made her pay for her own meal, and took her leftovers—it’s safe to say they just weren’t a match.

While Noa is on the brink of giving up on dating for good, she meets Steve (Sebastian Stan) in a supermarket. He approaches her and convinces her to try a cotton candy grape. Taken aback by his childish, yet charming manner, she obliges and tries one of the grapes.

After the two share a light-hearted conversation, he asks for her phone number, which she gives to him. In complete shock that she actually met someone in person, Noa can’t help but tell her best friend and dating app professional Mollie (Jojo T. Gibbs) all about how adorable he is, but that she is also upset he hasn’t texted her yet.

Moments later, he texts her and asks her to get drinks with him at a bar. Though first dates aren't really her thing, Noa decides to go out with Steve anyway. Over drinks, they get to talking and it’s revealed that Steve is a doctor and that they both have lost parents. Noa also drunkenly admits that she hates dating—though she’s having a great time with him.

At the end of the night, Steve kisses Noa and in the heat of the moment, they decide to go back to her apartment. The two end up having sex even though Steve asks her if it’s too soon. He ends up staying the night and in the morning they cannot help but be giddy over each other.

Obsessing over her night with Steve, Noa calls up Mollie to tell her all about it. She even sends her a cute picture of Steve that she snapped in the morning, proving that he’s real. When Mollie asks her his Instagram so she can stalk him, Noa tells her that he isn’t on social media, to which she replies is a red flag.

However, Noa refuses to listen and tells Mollie not to rain on her “sex parade,” as she calls it. In today’s society, we are warned about the dangers of online dating, but what happened to safety guides for dating in general?

As the movie goes on, Steve and Noa’s relationship progresses. Over dinner, Steve reveals to her that he doesn’t eat animals (keep that in mind) which takes her back a bit considering she’s chowing down short-ribs, but she quickly recovers. The two share a sweet moment dancing around his living room, becoming completely infatuated with one another.

Steve tells her that they should go away together and without a pause, she agrees. However, Mollie is skeptical since their relationship is so fresh—pun intended. But, Noa assures her that everything is completely fine and not to worry.

When the couple arrives at his luxurious house in Cottage Grove, he makes her a drink to unwind from their travels. So it turns out, her “drink” was laced with drugs that make her pass out within minutes. When she wakes up, Noa finds herself in a wood room with handcuffs around her wrists and Steve looking at her with pure evil in his eyes.

Begging him to tell her that this is just some sick joke, he begins to explain to her why he drugged her. Remember when Steve told Noa that he was a doctor? Well, he sure isn’t one that is out here saving lives.

Steve reveals that he performs “surgery” on women where he takes meat from their bodies to sell to wealthy clients and cannibals—like himself. In complete and utter confusion, Noa lets out a mixture of screams and cries, but he aggressively silences her and tells her that it will all be okay.

He closes off by telling her that he likes her and then walks away. After he leaves the room, Noa still cannot believe that this is all real. She continues to cry her heart out until she hears a soft voice from another room.

So it turns out, there were multiple women locked up in Steve’s house and Noa begins talking to a woman named Penny (Andrea Bang). Penny explains to Noa that she has lost track of the days she has been held in captivity and that she feels like her life is chipping away.

After being locked up for a few days—it was Noa’s turn for ‘surgery.’ Steve carried her into his office and begins to remove the fat from her buttock. Noa is unable to walk for several days after that and is left feeling mentally numb.

One night during her recovery, Penny and she got to talking and Noa ends up telling her that she and Steve had sex. Penny exclaims that he never slept with her, which confused Noa considering she came to the ultimatum that this was just his ‘routine.’

For the next several days, Steve checked in on Noa and brought her clothing and magazines. While reading one of the magazines, she found a note from a survivor that read “if you are reading this, he likes you,” and urges whoever has the magazine to stay strong.

From here on out, Noa knew what she had to do in order to escape captivity. Meanwhile, she is plotting her escape, Mollie was not just sitting around. She was continuously texting Noa and quickly realizes that it is not her responding.

She takes matters into her own hands and decides to track down Steve, and it is revealed that he had a wife and children. Mollie attempts to go to Steve’s house and talk to his wife, but it backfires. His wife (Charlotte Le Bon) pretends she has no idea about her husband’s “business,” making him out to be innocent.

Moments later, he walks through the door which frightens Mollie. However, she chooses to stick with her gut and dials Noa. When the Golden Girls ringtone starts chiming, Steve pulls Noa’s phone out of his pocket and his wife hits Mollie over the head with a glass—making her his next victim.

Noa has no idea that she and Mollie are under the same roof for several days, so, she sticks to her plan. She begins to act curious about cannibalism when Steve comes to visit her. She asks him what it tastes like and this immediately intrigues him.

After days of pretending to be interested in his business, he asks her to have dinner with him. What Noa didn’t realize is that the meatballs she was having were actually the body of a girl named Hope. Knowing that she had to play the part Steve wanted, she swallows her pride—literally—and takes a bite out of it.

Noa pretends that she is enjoying the meal (which it is still uncertain if she actually was faking it) and ends up throwing up after dinner. This causes Steve to feel like he truly found the one. He ends up telling her that the first time he ate human meat was when he was 19 years old and now he is a part of a community.

The next day, Steve shows up at Noa’s door with a pink dinner dress, asking her to dine with him once again. She accepts and gets ready for the evening with the new outfit and makeup products he bought her.

Over dinner, or should we say, Melissa, Steve tells Noa that he knew she was different and there was a reason he liked her so much. The two down a bottle of wine over some liver—gross—and Noa reveals that she is confused why she doesn't feel bad eating it.

Though we still don’t know if she was being truthful at this moment, it causes Steve to swoon and not realize that he didn’t have her handcuffed. The two share an intimate kiss while tears streamed down Noa’s cheek. Creating a parallel to the beginning of the movie, she asks him to dance.

Later in the evening, Steve shows her all of the women’s belongings that he has kept. He tells Noa that the clients like to feel close to who they are eating, so they receive hair, images, and other belongings with their meat.

When she asks about where her stuff is, he says that he kept all of her belongings, including the fat from her bottom. Looking at all of these women’s things, Noa sees Mollie’s phone, and the night becomes all the more interesting.

After dancing and “show and tell,” they go up to his room where he thinks they’re about to have sex but is quickly disappointed when she takes a bite out of his genitals. Locking him in his bedroom, Noa runs away and rescues Mollie and Penny. Whilst the girls are trying to leave the house, a bloody Steve emerges from the stairs and a fight breaks out.

It goes back and forth until Mollie hits him over the head, knocking him out (for a bit). The three women manage to get outside before he wakes up, but are unpleasantly surprised when he has a gun. He begins to shoot, crying out to Noa that he’s sorry, but the women keep running and hiding.

During this scene, we are brought to the bathroom where Steve’s wife is showering, she undresses in front of the mirror and it is revealed that she has a prosthetic leg—indicating she is one of his victims.

We are quickly brought back to the woods where Steve is threatening to shoot. Mollie springs out of nowhere, tackling him and causing him to drop his gun. Noa picks it up and shoots him, killing her abuser.

They thought their biggest nightmare was over until Ann shows up. She pretends to be relieved that Noa killed Steve exclaiming “we’re free.” But, quickly switches and begins attempting to choke Noa to death. When Mollie hears her screams, she knew what to do.

Mollie hits Ann over the head with a shovel several times until she is dead. The two best friends share a hug and then a message lights up on Noa’s phone from Chad which reads “U Up?,” creating the perfect full-circle ending.

Mimi Cave’s "fresh” take on modern dating was definitely interesting but nonetheless important. This horror-comedy film serves as a reminder that safety should always be a priority. Though it can be fun to feel spontaneous and carefree, you never truly know someone. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan did a wonderful job bringing this film to life and we can’t wait to see where the future takes them.

If you are curious about dating safety, you can check out this article.

Will you be watching Fresh on Hulu? Leave a comment below.