Beef Review: Anger Mis-Management with Ali Wong and Steven Yeun
Beef is the new 10-part series created by Lee Sung Jin, starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun. Danny Cho (Yeun) is a struggling contractor trying to make enough money to bring his parents to America from Korea. Unfortunately, his good-looking younger brother is too interested in investing in crypto and chasing girls to be of much help, and he encounters set-backs and humiliation at every turn. While Amy Lau (Wong) is a business owner trying to finalise a life-changing deal with the super-rick, but super-demanding Jordon (Maria Bello), and the process is grating to say the least. Her sanctimonious sculptor husband certainly isn’t making things any easier. Then one day, when they are both feeling especially peeved, Danny almost backs his car into Amy’s, which leads to a serious bit of road-rage that both seem to have enjoyed as a way of blowing off steam. From there the situation escalates dangerously.
On the surface Beef is a little like The War of the Roses, the slightly forgotten married couple at war movie directed by Danny DeVito, or a more grounded version of Danny McBride’s demented, but wonderful series Vice Principles. But it is also so much more than that. Beef is about the little things that make us angry when we’re trying to achieve the things that we think we ought to have. For example, when Jordon, the prospective buyer of Amy’s business, aims a mild insult at Amy’s little daughter, Amy can do nothing but smile and swallow the slight. A similar thing happens to Danny, who exists on the opposite end of the social spectrum, when he overhears a customer’s wife say he has bad breath. He needs the work, so he can’t react. Except that they fire him anyway. It’s also about the frustration we feel when we can’t pursue the things we want, because society tells us it will be wrong. Amy’s decent, well meaning, and entirely button-down husband falls into this category. On the surface, he wants Amy to join him in couple’s therapy, and insists upon them fulfilling their absurd bonding exercises, but in private he’s jerking off over bikini pics of another woman.
Essentially the question Beef is asking is…. Where should that anger, and those feelings of frustration go? Do we go to church, do we go to therapy, or do we, and excuse my language here, just go and fuck shit up? This is all very well observed and highly relatable, leading to entanglements and surprises as the plot progresses. Of course, much of the pleasure of Beef is waiting to see how far Danny and Amy are prepared to go as they use each other as a form of full-body primal scream therapy, but it is also a darkly comic drama about the way we chose to live our lives. As Paul, Danny’s layabout, but seemingly happy brother says in a moment of Zen-like wisdom, “Why do you keep trying to live by a set of arbitrary rules? Just live.” Great advice. If only it were that simple.
The two leads are perfectly cast. Ali Wong, as Amy, has a broad, benign looking smile whenever required, but her eyes look frequently bemused by what’s being said to her, and tiny anxious ticks flicker across her face. It’s a jittery masterclass of understated acting. Steven Yeun, on the other hand, delivers a more soulful performance, his emotions ready to burst free as he strives to drag his family up the social ladder, willing to do anything to achieve his aims. Also, absolutely worthy of mention is Young Mazino as Danny’s brother Paul, who manages with effortless charisma, to be infuriatingly lazy, yet likeable, and a lunk-headed idiot who is at the same time the most sensible character in the show.
Beef is a smart, compelling, and edgy drama with much to say about how we live our lives. Just like Amy and Danny, once you start, you’ll find it hard to stop.
