A24 and Netflix’s original series, “Beef,” was released on Thursday and I couldn’t help but finish all 10 episodes in less than a day.
I knew I had to watch it when my sister told me comedian and actress Ali Wong was one of the main characters.
Wong plays Amy Lau, a self-made entrepreneur who struggles with being happy, despite having a shit ton of money and a family.
Steven Yeun plays Danny Cho, a small-time construction company owner who lives paycheck to paycheck in hopes of bringing his parents from Korea to Los Angeles.
A24 also produced the 2022 movie, “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” and the two both exemplify traditional Asian families teaching their children the unhealthy behavior of not being vocal about their feelings.
The main concept of the show derives from the very first episode: Lau and Cho getting into a road rage incident.
I absolutely hate slow-burning shows and I appreciate that “Beef” goes straight into the drama.
I love how the show starts off with a funny car chase, but slowly starts getting personal when including Lau and Cho’s obstacles in life.
At first, I thought Lau was a loaded woman who was hungry to get richer, but the show includes a lot of background information on how lonely she feels.
As for Cho, I felt terrible because he has trouble launching his business and making enough money for him and his brother.
The two bump heads a lot because Cho believes Lau is a spoiled woman who’s only out to get him because he’s not financially stable.
You would think that dragging on an encounter would bore you, but “Beef” does an amazing job adding onto the plot without it being random.
The conflict gets worse when the revenge starts involving people from each of the character’s lives, which creates a bigger mess toward the end of the show.
The show keeps viewers interested because of how funny the pranks are between the two.
Lau and Cho try to one up each other and mess with each other’s lives, but it slowly gets more dangerous, as it goes on for weeks.
While they both know the situation should be dropped, they can’t help but resent each other because they both have a lot of self-hate and trauma.
It’s hard to hate either character because despite their malicious actions toward each other, they try to clear their conscience by going to great lengths for their families.
At the end of the show, it’s evident that Lau and Cho have one thing in common: they both believe they’re terrible people who can’t achieve happiness no matter what they do.
I was definitely moved when both characters opened up about their fear of feeling alone even when they hit big milestones.
It’s demonstrated that they’ve done shitty things in their past and are trying to move on, but can’t if they don’t come clean.
The lesson in the show is very relatable because it shows no matter how happy someone seems, there’s always going to be obstacles they are silently battling.
