Newton’s third law of motion states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Opposite forces on Netflix’s Beef Get the opposite reaction on the right side, but equal… well, that’s up for debate.
Danny Cho (Steven Yeun, To be threatened), the opposite conflict, in which anyone on an ordinary day would just have a very annoying encounter with Amy Lau (Ali Wong, American Housewife). Unfortunately for Danny and Amy, on the day their paths cross and there is no – pardon my tongue – effs left to give.
Danny is denied the receipt of less income from the grills, and Amy spends two years trying to sell her business only to be deprived, once again, of the satisfaction of closing the deal. Some cosmic force has placed them in a parking lot outside the business to root their anger at a moment when neither can control their actions.
They almost miss the exit of the lot from the sounds and the bird enters at high speed through the residential streets which, thankfully, are empty of small children or wandering amusements. A few moments of intense road rage should be enough to get this crazy reaction out of their systems. But the outcome, no, Danny and Amy’s feelings are all locked up. What begins as a simple dispute turns into a life-threatening – and life-threatening – concern.
If you’ve ever had one of those days when the slightest exasperation kills you, when even the slightest mistake makes its way to you uncontrollably, it’s at least briefly with Amy and Danny.
Danny is just struggling to make a living as a contractor, trying his best to keep himself wrapped up in bro about getting a house for his elderly parents. Amy simply wants to spend more time selling her wildly successful business to her artistically inclined young daughter. Nor does he intend to use criminal action. And neither Amy nor Danny can fully comprehend the long-term and widespread destruction he can’t achieve when his life after the road rage incident will cause it.
The 10-episode limited series is delightfully dark and twisted and serves as a wild class watch. Beef In a variety of topics, it involves the problems of racism, sexism, porn addiction, catfishes, and infidelity. We also get a little religion, couples therapy, the horrors of investing in Bitcoin, and online sleuthing, with a side of slave manipulation, fraud, and hoplophilia thrown in.
Beef creator, writer, and showrunner Lee Sung Jin admitted the series was inspired by his own experience with Road Rage. “He yelled at me, cursed at me, drove away,” Lee said, describing the fatal encounter with the driver of the white SUV. “And for some reason that day I was like, ‘I’m going to follow you.’
Lee did not continue to pursue the other driver, but the incident sparked the idea of two random people who escalated the situation back to nothing. And with Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as victims/aggressors, Lee’s Beef vain, alternately cheerful, and terrifyingly absurd.
Beef It doesn’t require you to be on the side of either Amy or Danny. The thief is not obvious, and your faith will not only transfer from the event to the event but to the scene. Ali Wong perfectly captures the successful businesswoman who overwhelms her emotions behind a carefully crafted smile and delightful demeanor. George, husband of Amy (Joseph Lee, investigation), is so disconnected from her feelings that when she tries to explain how truly terrified she has been since her first encounter with Danny, he suggests that she return to working out her feelings. This is the same man who wrote his son in memoirs so that he could be himself and who creates cartoon-like sculptures of mental monsters.
Wong is incredible at showing how Amy can transition from calm, cool and controlled, to manic and ruthless within the flow of the scene. Steven Yeun is equal in capturing Danny, who seems to be honest in the ordinary things, from a hard-working contractor to a mad monster. Their shared scenes are infused with anger and disgust and witness the building of their frustration and then the laser-like manner in which they approach each other is fascinating.
With Yeun and Wong in the lead, series creator Lee Sung Jin is serving up a balanced dish that is loaded with showy flavors and appropriately marinated in social issues.
Grade: A
Beef Premieres on Netflix on April 6, 2023. The dark comedy episode stars Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Joseph Lee, Young Mazino, David Choe and Maria Bello.
