No. 61 - Beef
Netflix's latest show BEEF is on the table this week as well as a few stray observations.
Going Apeshitt
Throughout watching BEEF, I thought of this quote that gets passed around the internet; “Are you tired of being nice? Don't you just want to go ape shitt?” It sums up the content of the show pretty well. Two people, Amy Lau (Ali Wong) and Danny Cho (Steven Yuen), come into conflict after a road rage incident between them. Their rivalry begins as pranks and vandalism, but it quickly spirals out of control and pulls in their friends and families. Their animosity for each other serves as a rage outlet for the dissatisfaction in their lives, whether it be from economic, societal, racial, or personal issues. It allows them to shed the smiling friendly personas they have to maintain and express a true feeling for once by going apeshit.
Despite of their rage toward each other, the two leads have so much in common. Both Amy and Danny work in jobs where they have to put up with individuals who disrespect them, either with racial microaggressions, passive aggression, and sometimes straight up insults. Even at home their families urge them to not show their discontent. Amy’s husband George stresses that they “owe it to ourselves to be positive” and Danny’s brother George avoids him because he doesn’t want to be “infected” with his depression. As a result, the two of them have to spend so much time being someone else. Amy is given advise suggesting that she do exactly that: “You have to keep up the illusion, people always prefer it to reality. That’s just the way it is.”
While some members of the supporting cast do repress their pain to give a more amicable exterior (one scene comes to mind where a character hides in a coat bag to express her honest ill feelings about someone), some of them seem to be just ignorant to all the pain around or, even worse, don’t care about it. Isaac, Danny’s cousin, is perfectly content with inflicting more pain onto others to get ahead in life while George, who grew up in the home of a successful artist, lives an almost carefree life before Amy and Danny’s beef begins to burn it all down.
The show feels cathartic when both Danny and Amy start taking out their revenge against each other. Their schemes, while madcap and personal, feel more like retribution against an unfair world. As their revenge plots spiral out of control and their lives go up in flames, the series becomes more emotionally affecting. I’ll admit, some sequences hit me so hard I had to pause the show and walk away. This is must-see television.
All 10 episodes of BEEF is available for streaming on Netflix.
Stray Observations
Last week’s Succession is still on my mind and I am waiting with bated breath for the next episode. I considered doing a write-up solely about the last week’s episode, but this tweet just about sums it up (careful, spoilers if you’re not caught up). New episodes of Succession air Sunday nights at 9:00pm EST on HBO.
Through Twitter, I was introduced to the super independent film work of the Japanese YouTuber “FAKE DOCUMENTARY Q” and I immediately was taken with their work. Their low budget horror films leverage the strengths of the found footage genre to make creative and scary pieces. By emphasizing what’s not seen, by of technical limitations or perspective ones, the mystery of the unseen becomes much scarier. Their shorts FILM INFERNO and BASEMENT are specifically worth checking out.
Thanks for reading! I know it’s a short issue this week, but you’re just going to have to live with it. Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share.