‘Beef’ Is One Of The Best TV Shows I’ve Seen In Years

When The Walking Dead killed off Steven Yeun’s character, Glenn, at the start of Season 7 I was—like many TWD fans—pretty upset. Glenn was one of my favorite characters and the way he died was so gruesome and awful, it soured me to the show—especially after the fake-out Glenn death halfway through Season 6.

In retrospect, I’m actually super glad they offed him when they did. The Walking Dead was already showing signs of weakness in Season 6, but it rapidly spiraled in Season 7 and the whole Savior War—which lasted for two painfully long, painfully lousy seasons—pretty much killed the show. Ratings tanked along with the production values and writing.

Yeun has gone on to do bigger and better things since Negan bashed Glenn’s head in with his bat, Lucille, and the actor’s performance in Beef is a reminder that his talent would have been wasted on a show as mediocre as The Walking Dead.

What’s Your Beef?

Beef is the story of two people who get into a road rage incident one sunny afternoon, which leads them down a dark path of reciprocity and revenge.

Danny (Yeun) and Amy (Ali Wong) are not happy people. Danny is a failure at just about everything he attempts and he resents his younger brother, Paul (Young Mazino) and his parents and the world at large. Amy’s successful business and relative wealth has led to material—but not emotional—stability. She resents her stay-at-home husband, George (Joseph Lee) and bristles at almost every human interaction. Both of these people live in a perpetual state of indignation. Life has given them lemons and they have not made lemonade.

So it’s no wonder that they quickly become obsessed with one another. Each becomes, in many ways, the whipping boy for all their problems. Things escalate quickly and go from bad to worse in a series of often hilarious, often quite stressful, confrontations and deceits.

I don’t want to spoil any of it beyond setting up the premise because it’s just so much fun to be surprised. Suffice to say, this show goes in directions I never predicted right up to the end, in one of the most profound, surprising, brilliant series finales I’ve ever seen. Steven Yeun had me in tears at one point during an emotional scene that came out of nowhere. I honestly had no idea what an incredible actor he was until I watched this show.

Ali Wong deserves just as much praise for playing the human equivalent of a ticking time-bomb, always just on the verge of exploding. Everyone in this show is excellent. David Choe’s charismatic criminal, Isaac steals scene after scene. Young Mazino as Danny’s little brother, Paul, brought depth and humanity to the role. The list goes on.

Solid writing, deeply human, flawed characters, a brilliant soundtrack and some of the best episode titles out there all conspire to make this the only show this year that stands a chance against Succession during awards season. If you’re into A24 movies, you should definitely not miss Beef.

What’s In A Name?

Speaking of episode titles, I found each one led me down a new path of discovery. Episode 1 is titled, “The Birds Don’t Sing, They Screech In Pain” which is taken from a quote by filmmaker Werner Herzog from the documentary Burden Of Dreams about the challenging production of Herzog’s film Fitzcarraldo. Herzog, describing the jungle, says:

“The trees here are in misery, and the birds are in misery. I don’t think they – they sing. They just screech in pain.”

A later episode is titled, “I Am Inhabited By A Cry” which is a line taken from the poem Elm by Sylvia Plath. Read the whole poem; it’s darkly beautiful. But the stanza in question reads:

I am inhabited by a cry.

Nightly it flaps out

Looking, with its hooks, for something to love.

Each episode also begins with a piece of very trippy, bizarre artwork that, it turns out, is all created by David Choe. It’s quite remarkable.

In any case, a truly great show with a perfect ending that does not need a second season. I could see this as an anthology series similar to The White Lotus with new characters and stories of ‘beef’ but I really hope we leave Danny and Amy’s story where it ends.