Beef is now streaming on Netflix and fans are excited to see what Ali Wong and Steven Yeun are bringing to the table. The series is crafted by Lee Sung Jin, and focuses on the ways that conflict and tension can absolutely envelop people. Danny and Amy are two people on different paths who collide, literally, in the parking lot of a “Wal-Mart-lite” store. Once the almost-crash occurs, Yeun’s contractor is fed-up and decides to pursue the person he was in the road rage confrontation with. From there the story probes some of the listlessness of modern life and the struggles of trying to live your dreams. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then Beef will probably be a fun watch.
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The showrunner for the dark comedy spoke to Today.com about the real-life incident that inspired the show. “For some reason,” Lee said as he recalled the interaction. “I was like, ‘I’ll follow you.’ I justified it (as) ‘I’m commuting home and this person happens to be in front of me and if we go in different directions, I wouldn’t follow them.’ But we happened to be going the same direction home, for like miles and miles,” he recalls, laughing. “It was like 30 to 40 minutes. So I’m sure in his mind … it felt like I was just a wild lunatic stalking him.”
What Themes Are Covered In Beef?
“Here we are in our literal bubbles that you drive around in and very much trapped in our subjective realities,” the director continued. “And so I thought that it’d be fun to explore.”
Lee would continue to probe on how people getting trapped in these parallel realities kind of influences your day-to-day life. Until something dramatic happens to come in and shake the snow globe, you’re just kind of grooving along on the train tracks that we find ourselves on. Sure, we have some say in smaller decisions, but the opportunities that arise can be largely random and hope for advancement can seem so far away at points. That sticking point is the fire under Steven Yeun’s character in the drama.
“I think for a lot of us when when we’re stuck in our status quo, usually something have dramatic has to happen to shake us out of it,” he added, “Whether positive or negative. I think that’s the case with Danny and Amy — they’re so entrenched in in their ways that it took this road rage to shake them out of it, and I think it becomes a scapegoat for for a lot of other things going on in their life.”
Will you be watching Beef this week? Let us know down in the comments!