Beef Review – Deliciously Deranged!
By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
You know that perfectly hurtful punchline that pops up in your head while you’re having an argument with a friend, family member, or loved one? That one thing you don’t say out loud and keep to yourself, because once those words are out, there’s no knowing how irreparably they could damage your relationship? We all have those moments. So who better to take your unhinged hatred out on than perfect strangers? That’s why you’ll always see even the sweetest and most soft-spoken people swear like gangsters for the first time while they’re driving, cursing their head off at random people for badly maneuvering on the road. And the makers of the 2023 Netflix series, “Beef,” perfectly channel road rage anger in a 10-episode dramedy.
Directed by Lee Sung Jin, the series stars Ali Wong as the successful small business owner Amy Lau, who gets into a road-rage row with a contractor called Danny Cho (Steven Yeun). The incident marks the beginning off a twisted rivalry between the two Asian-Americans who come from very different worlds but have eerily similar personalities.
The first four episodes of “Beef” are braised to perfection, it’s so comically entertaining, you begin to wonder how they are going to sustain the same pitch and pace for 10 wholes episodes. While I love Ali Wong’s stand-up comedy stuff, her acting debut in the Netflix romantic-comedy “Always Be My Maybe” was a bit off a dud. So, I had doubts about “Beef.” However, the show seems to be exclusively written for Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who devour the screen with their riveting portrayals of chaotic characters. Fans who know Steven Yeun from “The Walking Dead” or the more critically acclaimed “Minari” would be thrilled to see the actor take on a role which is a far cry from the “nice guy” roles he is used to playing. Danny is a selfish little passive-aggressive prick and Amy Lau is an excessively repressed bitch with parental baggage that’s common to almost every Asian/Indian kid. They both suffer from childhood insecurities, personal frustrations and an existential crisis they just cannot seem to piece together. Since the lead duo is unpredictably unstable individuals, it helps make all the sudden surprising twists and turns in the script seem believable, even when some of their actions are absolutely insane.
Rather than the usual “rich versus poor” class clash between Amy and Danny, Lee Sung Jin adds more layers to differentiate and accentuate their lives. First, you have the struggling working-class Danny attempting to buy a house for his Korean parents. Then, you have the upper-middle-class Amy Lau hoping to sell off her business to become a multi-millionaire. Finally, there’s the billionaire Jordan (Maria Bello), whom smaller fish like Amy must pander to. So a lot of the episodes have some brilliantly satirical scenes that mock the lives of the super rich and the ‘arsty’ intellectuals. Joseph Lee is hilariously likable as Amy’s handsome home-maker husband George Nakai, who spews motivational non-sense and makes bizarre pottery in his free-time. The most interesting relationship in the show however was of Danny’s relationship with his younger brother Paul Cho (played by Young Mazino). Paul is taller, hunkier and a lot more relaxed, he sits at home playing games all day long and unwittingly gets drawn into the vengeance drama between Danny and Amy.
The mix of interesting supporting characters adds to the overall intrigue, making the series engaging until the very end. In-fact, “Beef” shifts gears completely in the last two episodes. Episode 9 reminded me of the climax of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,” not because of any similarities in the story, but due to the sudden shift in tone, tenor, and the burst of violent excitement. Episode 10 gets very philosophical, slow and comes off as a little tame in comparison to the rest of the series’ runtime but ends on a melancholic note. Lee Sung Jin and team have really hit the ball out of the park with this delectable dark series. Stream it on Netflix.
It’s a 9 on 10 from me.
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