Two people from different worlds make a split decision when they are frustrated and the repercussions haunt them for a year.

Beef starts off quite innocently as Danny (Steven Yeun) tries and fails to return items at a store. While he's sitting in his car in a parking lot, someone in a white SUV (Amy played by Ali Wong) repeatedly honks at him. Danny goes from being frustrated to extremely pissed so he gets into a car chase with the SUV and repeatedly tries to get a glimpse of the driver. The chase ends when the SUV driver almost runs into him and then drives off (but not before giving him the middle finger). Danny takes note of the license plate and drives back home.

At home, we get a glimpse of Danny's life. He's a struggling contractor with a younger brother, Paul (Young Mazino) who he considers a slacker, and parents in Korea who he's trying to bring to the States. Danny cannot stop talking about his car incident with Amy and he will tell anyone who's willing to listen including his cousin, Isaac (David Choe) whose illegal acts were responsible for the decline of Danny's family business. As far as Danny is concerned, his confrontation with the other car is just one more thing that went wrong in his life.



Amy, who lives in the wealthier part of Los Angeles is also wired from the incident but her zen husband, George  (Joseph Lee) calms her down by saying "You've got to start focusing on the positive, okay?". While Amy is forcing herself to heal from the incident, Danny decides to pay $79.99 to find out exactly where Amy lives and he pays a visit. Things escalate pretty quickly when he messes up her house and runs away. Amy quickly takes note of his driver's license and the battle continues.

By the end of the pilot episode, it's a bit unclear how showrunner Lee Sung Jin expects to keep the storyline engaging over a simple road rage incident without stretching it thin. But that wasn't the show's intention and the incident is just an event that links the lives of two characters that would probably never have met otherwise - a springboard to several other events. 

Danny gets lost in his cat-mouse battle with Amy and has a change of heart when he nearly commits an unforgivable act. He finds a semblance of peace - and drama in his ex-girlfriend's church while Amy drowns his Yelp profile with negative reviews. As a result, he starts a new business with his brother, abandons it, and then starts a new one with his criminal cousin, Isaac.

While Danny makes one questionable choice after the other, Amy tries to juggle being a successful businesswoman, her family, her declining physical relationship with her husband and her escalating war with Danny. As the show unravels, it's clear just how similar Danny and Amy are - despite living in two different worlds. Lee Sung Jin's Beef really sheds light on how much a choice or a decision can influence the trajectory of our lives. When Danny pays a visit to Amy's house under the facade of a samaritan contractor, Amy believes him and seems willing to give him a chance at being their contractor - an opportunity that would have opened doors for him in upper LA. Instead, he chooses revenge and his life gets worse.





Over the course of Beef and all the craziness that unravels, we see how situations escalated to life-threatening scales over a split decision. The decision to one-up, the decision to ignore good advice, the decision to take advantage of goodwill and get in bed with a criminal. Danny and Amy (and most of the cast to be fair) are all flawed humans but their backstories and the A+ acting by all characters make the characters more relatable. And making these characters likeable is truly not an easy feat as both Amy and Danny are casually horrible and mean to Paul who’s just a sweet human with an optimistic outlook.

By the penultimate episode, Beef almost becomes unrecognizable (in a good way) due to how dark and increasingly unhinged the story gets. It’s a welcome pace from the barely-put-together shows Netflix and other streaming services are churning out. Messy humans making bad decisions, escalating rage, angsty 90s soundtrack, a few scenes of Steven Yeun singing and lots of artwork - what more could you want?


Beef is currently streaming on Netflix.