I’m not embarrassed to admit that I just got around logging into the family Netflix account maybe a few weeks ago. I already try my best to watch something on Disney+ and Amazon Prime once a week, so I’m not wasting money, so having to keep track of yet another streaming service is just getting a bit too much. I can’t get on the bandwagon of all of the hip and cool Netflix originals like Stranger Things, You, and Wednesday. But, I was totally down to give Beef a try. Starring Steve Yuen and Ali Wong and brought to us by A24?! Yes, please!
A working class handyman and a wealthy home décor businesswoman fall into hate in a parking lot
The first season of Beef comprises of 10 episodes. We start off with understanding how this longstanding beef originates between Danny Cho (Steve Yuen) and Amy Lau (Ali Wong). It’s frightening how a chain of catastrophic and life changing events can occur from a split second, common occurrence. You’re at some big box store parking lot and suddenly there’s a misunderstanding or miscommunication between drivers, and next thing you know, you’re beefing with a stranger for the next year.
In this case, the two strangers forced by kismet to cross paths in a parking lot have almost nothing in common besides the fact that they both decided to drop by the neighborhood Forsters, a cross between a home depot and a Home Sense. Earlier in the day, Danny, a fledgling independent construction contractor and handyman, had gone to Forsters to attempt to return a barbeque and a carbon monoxide detector. He can’t locate his receipt and the cashier isn’t lifting a finger to provide customer service, so Danny grins and bears it and decides to keep the goods without getting his money back.
Upset with what just happened, Danny is about to exit the parking spot in his red pickup truck and that’s when the beef begins. As has probably happened to many people in many a parking lot, Danny nearly gets into a fender bender as he’s attempting to pull out of his spot. A white Mercedes SUV honks at him, but it’s a non-stop honk that in car speak translates to more than just “Watch out!” The honk is followed by a decisive middle finger and that’s just too much for Danny to let go.
Danny has no idea at this point that it’s a woman who gave him the finger. And it’s not a woman who simply shops at Forster’s, but a woman who is about to close a multi-million dollar deal to sell her plant store to Forster’s. It’s a seemingly David vs. Goliath match up. The poor working class guy with no connections and no clout versus the Calabasas home décor queen who lives in a world of fine art and modern yet timeless kitchens. But just because they’re both in different financial and social classes, these two road rage warriors are pretty much both sides of the same coin.
Beef is an analysis of two depressed and rage-filled people
For much of the ten episodes, we switch between Amy and Danny’s lives and it just seems like the same day, different shit for the two. It makes a lot sense that during the finale episode, there’s a scene where the two are dazed and confused after eating a wild berry of some sort, and we don’t know if it’s Danny or Amy talking, but it doesn’t matter as they’re essentially the same person.
There’s so many aspects of Beef that can be talked about and analyzed. Whether it’s the freshness and innovation from its unabashed and unapologetic representation of characters that happen to be of Asian descent to the fast pace of the joy ride we’re on once the beef starts in episode 1, you feel like you’re watching a very long and extended movie versus an episodic television series. But what I’ll focus on here is those responsible for the beef.
Don’t be fooled by the Mulholland Drive-like quirkiness of the semi-realness and otherworldliness of Beef. Beef is definitely real. And brutally honest. Beef is a consequence when well-meaning, and well intending people are forced to fit into boxes and hide who they really are. There are negative and sometimes dangerous side effects to repressing and concealing the truth about ourselves. Sometimes it’s not a problem to put on a smile when you feel like crap. And other times, you’re unknowingly investing in a term deposit filled with all of the shit that pisses you off that will one day mature and explode when you least expect it, like in a Forster’s parking lot.
How Beef shows us the unravelling of Amy and Danny as each episode progresses is so riveting. You start off feeling like this mini spat in a parking lot can be squared away and then maybe some other plot can arise, but you soon realize by the time Amy calls off the “truce” and payment, that there is no goodwill or the possibility of a compromise between these two. The show is called Beef for a reason. And that’s because damaged people who aren’t in a place to accept and forgive themselves, will not be able to find that in others.
Unfortunately as we learn in Season 1, both Amy and Danny have reached their lifetime tolerance levels for pretending to be something they aren’t. And the Beef is helping them to realize this. Amy grew up in a house filled with yelling and resentment. And now she’s stuck in a suburban life where she’s forced to schmooze and smile with clients and investors and deal with a rich mama’s boy who doesn’t have to worry about the fast paced business world she’s trapped in because she’s the one bringing in the money and supporting their lifestyle.
Danny on the other hand, grew up with immigrant Korean parents who have pinned their high hopes on him as if he were a winning lottery ticket. They’re down on their luck after losing their motel business, and it’s on Danny as the oldest son to bring them back to financial solvency. But Danny isn’t even in a position to bring his own self to financial solvency. He lives in a tiny apartment that he shares with his younger brother Paul (Young Mazino). He’s also not talented enough of a handyman or savvy enough of a businessman to secure a consistent clientele. Things are so bad for Danny, he at one point attempts suicide.
You’ll never guess what’s going to happen so just accept that people have beef
What makes Beef so compelling is that when you see broken characters like this, you instinctively want them to get better and you watch each episode hoping for their redemption. The easiest way is for both Amy and Danny to meet in the middle, right? But neither is in the mental state to go there. Things somehow get worse and worse for both Amy and Danny. You’ll be laughing, crying, and gasping for air by the time you finish this season. The twists and turns these characters go through before they literally crash into their rock bottom will be events you never saw coming or could even comprehend can happen. I can see why Marvel Studios has hired Beef creator Lee Sung Jin to re-write Thunderbolts.
If you think you know what Beef is going to be, you’ll need to think again. Once you think you’ve got Amy and Danny’s personalities and motivations locked down, you’re thrown curveballs as the other characters in their orbit begin to step forward with their true intentions. Every character is its own awesomeness, but I have to say Paul, Danny’s younger brother who actually has more brains and inner beauty beneath his lazy millennial façade, and Isaac, the tough convicted cousin with the lucrative black market business played by David Choe are the MVP’s. It’s obvious that Steve Yuen and Ali Wong should be nominated for leading actor Emmy’s, but I hope David Choe and Young Mazino are not overlooked for supporting Emmy’s. The look on Paul’s face when Danny admits to tossing his college admission notices. And Isaac’s ability to go from the chill and cool cousin to sinister criminal boss. That should be enough consideration for an Emmy.
I have no idea how a second season can even begin after how we left off in Season 1. But with Beef being Lee Sung Jin’s hands, I’m sure it’ll be spectacular. Until then, check out Beef which is now available on Netflix.
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