Steven Yeun and Ali Wong have a little parking-lot incident that escalates into an all-out war with a body count in Beef, a new Netflix series that is one of the year’s most addictive TV events.
I started this show the day it came out and finished all 10 episodes less than 24 hours later. It’s one of those shows you just can’t switch off. As the saga of Danny (Yeun) and Amy (Wong) plays out to hilarious and tragic consequences, the tension mounts with each episode. By the time it is finished, you will be exhausted—in an entertaining way.
Danny is a suicidal construction business owner, while Amy is a highly stressed retail biz owner about to sell to a larger entity. After their extended parking-lot encounter, they use social media and the internet to terrorize each other to the point where their actions affect their families, business partners and friends. Many of you will probably relate to the moment that causes the mayhem. People prone to temper tantrums in their cars may dial it down after watching this.
Yeun gets a chance to play a slightly rougher character than usual, although he has the gift of making bad guys likable. Wong truly shines; I expect this is going to open her up to a lot of big roles. David Choe is extremely funny as Danny’s lovable but perhaps evil cousin. The strong supporting cast also includes Maria Bello, Young Mazino and Joseph Lee.
Not surprisingly, this brilliant piece of “out there” entertainment comes from A24, the most reliable studio going today.
Beef is now streaming on Netflix.
I disagree with the critique of this series. It’s poorly acted, poorly written, attempts and high camp fall flat, it’s tastless and after the first 3-4 episodes we stopped watching it.