Beef is a 10-episode dark comedy-drama miniseries created by Lee Sung Jin and it is just out on Netflix. I don't always want to write reviews about series because, in the era of consumption, there is just too much movie/series content to share. So I only share when something really 'flicked' my heart. It doesn't feel like the usual dark comedy, or rom-com, or crime series, I don't even know which one genre to choose.
It's about 2 deeply wounded flawed people played by Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, who got involved in a road-rage incident, and that one particular incident consumed their whole lives throughout the series. They got obsessed with each other, took revenge in twisted ways, and escalated into all these bigger problems.
It is dark, entertaining, messy, deep, awakening, stressful, and every weird uncomfortable feeling that I could muster here. I unintentionally played it when I saw it was featured on Netflix and I was hooked on the first episode right away.
I want people to watch this series. I think it is one of the best series on Netflix so far because it touches upon a lot of real-life 'unspoken' issues all around me and it hits deep. Somehow watching this series taught me to empathize with every single messy character in the story, even with their dysfunctional ugliest side being shown - they are not warm lovable characters, mind you. They can be unlikeable but somehow, I can even relate to them, I can feel their pain, and I can understand and empathize with their situation.
There's this scene in one of the episodes, where one of the characters said :
" You don't have to be ashamed. It's okay, I see it all. You don't have to hide it. It's okay",
That's what I feel like saying to the whole characters in the story because there is so much pain in life and suffering is a part of it, you don't know why you are here, why your life is like that, but you are expected to endure and just move forward. It is so hard, life is so hard - and at times, I don't know why people don't vocalize it enough. You know, if only people share deep conversations more, we probably won't feel that lonely going through all this.
Maybe I'm at this lowest phase in life at this moment and watching these messed up people makes me feel seen and understood. Maybe that's why I felt so much when I watched it, I don't know, I need to thoroughly introspect that.
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There are also a lot of interesting things to explore :
- The title of each episode, read here for details
- The artwork that was shown in the intro of every episode
- The sculptures made by Joji
- The choice of songs
The trailer doesn't do justice, just watch the series :
I like that conversation on "heavy lies the crown" between Danny and George. Relate so well with myself. I thought in order to feel good and happy I need to achieve certain things in life but the reality happiness is not up to "things", its all inside us. Hmmm. So relatable.
ReplyDeleteAgree. I think we need to feel the good and the bad to feel content with life, the acceptance that we need to endure it all. No amount of fame, money, pleasures, power or material possessions can promise you constant happiness.
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