Published by Mason Oldridge, 20 April 2023
CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Netflix’s highly-acclaimed new dramedy has got people talking - for both the unique tale it spins and the controversy it has found itself at the helm of.
Beef is a truly surreal show, as surreal as the eerie artwork that features in the title cards. It follows down-on-his-luck tradesman Danny and troubled yet successful businesswoman Amy as they are involved in a road rage incident that changes their lives in unexpected ways.
In the first episode, Danny is suicidal and reaches the end of his tether when a white SUV honks at him for nearly reversing into them. Enraged, he follows the car, who continues to provoke him. Danny tracks down the owner (Amy) and, posing as a contractor, urines all over her bathroom. The episode closes with Amy chasing Danny down the street and it appears the rest of the series will simply be the two exacting revenge on each other as a result of them being dissatisfied with their respective lives.
It is in a fashion, though not as one might think. Amy begins an affair with Danny’s brother and Danny befriends Amy’s husband. Dragging their families into the petty rivalry, with some crossed wires and miscommunications thrown in for good measure, puts everyone in danger, culminating in an epic and tense shootout in the penultimate episode, which features one of television’s most gruesome deaths. The path it takes outshines the assumed timeline tenfold,
with an unpredictable ending too following the bizarre final episode.
However, slow pacing in the earlier episodes could see viewers zoning out in scenes of character development. Stick with it though and the latter episodes won’t disappoint.
Overall, Beef is unlike anything seen before and frankly downright weird in the most enjoyable way, with the leads’ occasional comedic performance strengthened by the uneasy atmosphere.
7/10