In Netflix's “Beef,” a dark comedy about a road-rage incident that goes off the rails, two drivers, Danny Cho (Steven Yeun) and Amy Lau (Ali Wong), navigate their individual struggles and cultural backgrounds. Despite being from different socioeconomic classes, they share commonalities that lead them down a path of anger and revenge. Through their feud, the show explores the complexity of anger and the motivations that drive it, with each character having unique and fascinating reasons for their unhappiness.
As their battle escalates, Amy and Danny become enmeshed in each other’s lives, and their similarities become clearer. “Beef” develops into something of a love story, except about hate. The series is a raucous story with a generous spin on the truism that the biggest jerk you meet is fighting battles you know nothing about. The series is a dark comedy that explores the complexity of anger and is relevant to current times when people are mad right now, on planes, trains, and automobiles.
“Beef” provides ample evidence of how destructive anger can be, not only in terms of its impact on the individuals involved, but also on those around them. Every unhappy person in the series is unhappy in a different and fascinating way, making it one of the most invigorating, surprising, and insightful debuts of the past year.