Released on April 6, Netflix’s new comedy-thriller series “Beef” follows two strangers who get into a road rage incident and the escalating feud that ensues between them. Touching on themes of mental health and Asian American experience, the show’s study of anger is deeply resonant on a personal and cultural level and succinctly captures our nation’s current state of frustrated existence.
The two main characters seem to have nothing in common. Danny (Steven Yeun) is a contractor struggling to make ends meet, and Amy (Ali Wong) is a successful entrepreneur on the verge of a multi-million dollar deal. Her life is one of modern art pieces and kitchen renovations, and his is one of stress-eating Burger King sandwiches and denied loan requests. While one is living the American dream, the other is being chewed up and spat out by it.
Creator Lee Sung Jin chooses to explore Amy and Danny’s united suffering rather than their class differences. Danny can barely stay afloat, working painstakingly hard to take care of his brother Paul (Young Mazino) and raise funds for his parents to come live in the United States. Amy, too, begins to crack under the pressure of constantly hustling and worries she has sacrificed too much of her connection with her daughter in trying to provide for her. Danny’s problems are more severe, but they share a similar plight. They’re two people on opposite sides of the class divide being consumed by the same bottomless void.
Almost all of the show’s major characters are Asian American. Though their ethnicity is not the focal point, it is certainly integral to the show’s themes. Racial minorities in American society, especially Asian Americans, are expected to be docile and even-tempered. On top of that, Asian culture typically frowns upon displays of emotion, which was the case for our two protagonists in their upbringing. Both of them are second-generation immigrants, and as a result, they are at a greater risk of mental health issues than their parents.
Their occupations also involve a restrictive social performance: Danny has to put on a friendly face for the Ring cameras of his clients, and Amy has to remain calm and collected as part of her sleek business owner persona. Their worlds confine them to a little corner. Expressions of petty rage, however destructive they may be, are the only way these two can give themselves a little more space to exist.
Nowadays, therapy and self-improvement are encouraged as the solution to everything — it’s all about finding healthy coping mechanisms. But as Danny insists in episode seven, “Western therapy doesn’t work on Eastern minds.” Amy’s husband George (Joseph Lee), whose response to Amy’s anger is to encourage her to be more positive, comes nowhere close to helping or understanding her.
The true conflict in “Beef” is between American notions of happiness and the reality of chasing that dream. Early on in the series, Amy mentions her Vietnamese immigrant mother in a conversation with her therapist.
“She told me that the first time she heard birds singing was when she came to America, because during the Vietnam War, they ate all the birds,” she says. “Can you imagine what that does to a person? No birds.”
Amy knows all too well by now that the American dream is really just a never-ending nightmare. The pilot episode’s title, “The Birds Don’t Sing, They Screech In Pain,” speaks to this realization. Crows, a bad omen in Korean culture, become one of the key motifs of the show.
The show’s emotional potency is bolstered by powerful acting performances from the main duo. This is to be expected from the Oscar-nominated Yeun, but Wong surprises audiences in her first dramatic lead role by imbuing her character with near-equal emotional depth.
Each episode’s distinctive title card features a painting by cast member David Choe, who plays Danny’s cousin Isaac. The unsettling artworks and peculiar titles follow the themes explored in the episode and in the story overall. For example, episode two’s title “The Rapture of Being Alive” and the accompanying painting of a woman who appears to be in a mental asylum are both inspired by a quote from writer Joseph Campbell: “our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality.” Danny and Amy’s blossoming rivalry reflects this idea, as indulging in their primal instinct for revenge enables them to feel alive at last.
Though the series suffers from slight pacing issues in the middle stretch, it regains its sense of thematic purpose near the end. It’s one of the better shows of 2023 so far, offering a unique and subversive examination of the human condition.
It’s unclear at the moment whether “Beef” will be renewed for another season. Many fans are eager for another serving, but for others, the ending would be best simply left as is.
Fei Yang is an Arts and Entertainment Intern for the spring 2023 quarter. She can be reached at feiy11@uci.edu.