Beef

Beef on Netflix is a big deal. Created by Lee Sung Jin, the series is a who’s who of Asian-American talent and a show that looks lavish and feels effortlessly cool throughout. Beef brings Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead, Nope) and Ali Wong (most known for her pioneering stand up) together for a ride that takes the Asian-American experience as one of its key themes.

Danny (Yeun) feels the crippling, corroding obligation to provide for his parents on a contractor’s wage, whereas Amy (Wong) is worth millions but still feels jaded in her role as breadwinner. She constantly wrestles with the idea of the nuclear family.

The show’s plot is reminiscent of last year’s Best Picture Nominee: Banshees of Inisherin in that a petty grievance between its two central characters (Danny and Amy are involved in a road rage incident at the very start of the series) escalates to the point of life and death.  

Beef is a show that gets better and better as it goes on. The enigmatic performances of Wong and Yeun and the cool, three dimensional LA world that Sung Jin generates, allow you to sink into the show and enjoy its characters as though you were hanging out with them.

Plot points you thought you’d left behind rear their heads at unexpected moments, working to create a thoughtful and satisfying narrative progression. Danny and Amy begin by hating each other, and tear their lives apart as a means of getting to the bottom of their beef. By the end, the show’s message is to remind us we should love each other. Danny and Amy in particular drive home the point that Asian-Americans, at a time of heightened Asian hate in America, should love each other the most.