I’ve found increasingly with “prestige” television, we’re presented with a view of humanity that is supposed to (when deemed successful) reflect our humanity back at us despite these portrayals so often pushing characters and stories to such extreme as to be unrecognizable to anyone.  (Some recent examples include: a chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin; a hitman turned actor; and whatever The Leftovers is supposed to be.) Roger Ebert believed film was an empathy machine, and surely TV could be understood in the same way. However, these exaggerated stories (usually for supposed comedic effect) are so unrealistic, and over-the-top, for me to ever understand or appreciate the series. (Clearly for some this is what they love, but I’m just presenting my perspective at the jump.)

So when I heard about Beef, a series featuring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun playing two strangers who meet in a road rage incident that escalates into an all out feud, I suspected this show wouldn’t be for me. One of my dear friends wanted to watch the series; however, so I gave it a shot though indeed it ended up even worse than I suspected.

Synopsis: Steven Yeun’s character Danny Cho is a struggling contractor whose life is in the gutter after his family lost their hotel, in part due to his actions. Cho is failing to tread water in life, and the stress has escalated. Ali Wong’s character Amy Lau on the other hand seems to have it all, a wonderful husband, a little girl, a nice house and job; however, she’s sick of having to put on a face and busting her ass (her words) to succeed. She simply wants to sell her business and retire to spend time with her kids, but she’s struggling at keeping that all under the surface. After an encounter between Danny and Amy in a parking lot, the two then go after each other in a wild road rage incident that sees both of them acting out. Increasingly this feud, and their worlds, are tied together as each of them seek to go after the other while struggling with the unhappiness in their lives.

Thoughts on ‘Beef’:

While the premise seems to have loose ties to reality, it’s all out the door by the time the road rage incident begins. Road rage events are real and can lead to confrontation and regretfully violence. We are a gun toting world afterall, and any argument with a gun nearby escalates. Frustration with one’s life is understandable; however, the premises for why these two are so unhappy is frankly too insane to be believed. This is certainly not helped by the caricatures (not characters) this pair are surrounded by, some of whom may hold some blame for their poor position in life. In particular Amy’s husband, George Nakai, a stay-at-home father and failed artist who seems to have been envisioned by a right wing imagining of a liberal Californian, is paper thin and is too unreal to be believed. (Not the fault of Joseph Lee the actor.) Yeun’s cousin too, Isaac Cho, played by the controversial David Choe, is the kind of character you’d only see in the imagination of the Coen Brothers (which is a plus for many, but not this viewer.)

Of course, the side characters begin unmoored from the start; however, the issue at Beef’s core is that Danny and Amy’s journey continues on with little true character motivation driving their actions aside from the knowledge that you can guess from the start if there is a choice to make it’ll be the wrong choice. However, they are set up to be both pitied at times, or perhaps empathized with, yet there’s nothing redeemable for either character. Which means there’s nothing surprising, and certainly nothing interesting, about their journey. Realistically too the series would have ended way earlier with one of their characters’ deaths – for there’s no clear reason why safely driving off-road and erratically in traffic is somehow their only skill.

My only positive I have to say is that I don’t blame this on any of the acting, as I think Wong and Yeun commit as much as they can to the material. Likewise I appreciate this cast is incredibly diverse, especially as it features ethnically Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese actors, which is still far too uncommon especially in the 2020s. For this I’m thankful, and I hope this show’s surprising success keeps this trend going.

However, despite these very few positives, I can’t recommend this series. Yeun in an interview with Colbert said if you like cringe this is for you. Perhaps that’s true, but for me it passes cringe into a miserable television experience in episode one, with no improvement in the series thereafter.