Yep, “Beef” (created by Lee Sung Jin and streaming on Netflix), is edgy alright, but in the best way possible. The first episode alone will get your heart racing like you’ve just finished a 4K—And no, I’m not talking about your retirement account, I’m talking about a marathon. Because, just like “Breaking Bad,” what starts off as a simple, ugly incident continues to morph and escalate through the season, and an army of psychics could never predict each delicious plot twist.
Revenge Fueled by Road Rage
Danny Cho (played by Steven Yeun) is a Korean contractor who’s barely getting by financially, living with his lazy younger brother Paul (Young Mazino) in a run-down apartment. He’s desperate to earn enough money to buy a home for his elderly parents, but finds barriers to his goal in every direction, causing him to become bitter with life. One day, frustrated when he’s unable to return a grill, he starts to back his car out of the store parking lot when he almost collides with the car of an equally frustrated woman named Amy Lau (Ali Wong). Enraged that he almost hit her car, she stops and blocks him from leaving, enraging him even further. She lays on her horn then takes off with him in pursuit, setting in motion a chain of events that will permanently impact them and everyone around them.
There are so many things I love about this show; but primarily, I appreciated how it is fearless in featuring two main characters who were totally awful people. You wouldn’t want to have lunch with these people or even want them to know where you live. Yet they were so enjoyable to watch, especially Ali Wong’s Amy.
Before this, I had only seen Ali Wong’s stand-up specials. Her stand-up is great, but she needs to do more shows and films, because the lady can act. I’ve never seen anyone who can do as many facial expressions as her. It seemed like every episode she contorted her face into a different baker’s dozen of expressions, which made her character Amy come alive. When Amy’s angry, she howls with eye-popping fury, her glasses (which seem as big as she is) nearly exploding from her head from her rage.
A Portrait of Different Lives
When she’s with her husband George (Joseph Lee) and her daughter June (Remy Holt), she can barely contain her frustration at milquetoast George, who doesn’t work, staying at home with their daughter while Amy works day and night at the art gallery she owns, trying to afford a luxurious lifestyle for them while yearning to live a life where she’s free and doesn’t have to work any more. Amy’s frustration with George causes her to twist her mouth into smiles that everyone except George recognizes as forced. I found her so relatable. Who hasn’t longed to be rich and never have to work again? Hell, I’ve already planned all the cities I’m going to tour in Europe when I hit that big sweet lottery jackpot.
Steven Yeun’s Danny is the opposite of Amy in every way. He’s a handyman who enjoys working and wants to make more money but finds it difficult finding work. Oftentimes when he finds work, he gets stiffed on the payment or has to deal with snobby hateful clients. In one scene in the first episode, while Danny’s finishing up a job on a client’s front porch, he can clearly hear the client’s wife yelling that Danny is disgusting and she doesn’t want him around the house any more. His apartment is in a bad section of the city and his younger brother Paul refuses to work, preferring to smoke weed, lift weights, cruise girls and play video games all day and night.
Falling in Love with Two Totally Awful People
Everything always goes right for his brother but nothing works out for Danny. He’s like an adult Charlie Brown if Charlie had self-awareness and a volcano-like temper. Throughout the season, Amy and Danny continue to one-up each other, even ingratiating themselves into each other’s families and inner circles to deliver that final blow of revenge that will leave the other person reeling. At one point, even Danny’s thug cousin, a hardened criminal who has lived more of his life inside of prison than out, gets unwittingly pulled into Danny’s revenge schemes.
What’s hilarious about Amy and Danny is they’re both incredibly petty people, proving that hot tempers and impulsive acts of viciousness aren’t limited to any social class. As you watch the two keep pushing the limits, it’s hard to fathom why they just don’t let it go and live their lives. You realize that both of their lives are so empty that maybe this vendetta against each other has given them a true purpose in life, a chance to finally win at something and wield power in a world where they feel powerless.
After all the rage, violence, anxiety and paranoia, the final episode delivers a perfect denouement, with traces of Ingmar Bergman’s “Persona” and Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” that results in an incredibly touching finale.
At this point, it’s unsure if the show will get another season. If it doesn’t, that’s fine, because what we get in these 10 episodes is a terrific bittersweet treat of a show that will keep your nerves on edge then take you to beautiful and unexpected places in the finale.
“Beef” is currently streaming on Netflix.
