The Birds Don't Sing, They Screech in Pain

Finally something original!!!! Is A24 the lazy studio that knows how to produce original content? My goodness. In a world of do-overs, participation trophies, remakes and plagiarism, Beef is unique. A clear tone, cultural satire, dark humor. And led by two outstanding performances!

As of now I've only seen episode 1. But I'm drawn in. I see myself in the story. Who hasn't had that day where it's just one thing after another. Cut off in traffic, stub your toe, drop and shatter your favorite glass at home. The slow simmer to boil to explosion is played so well by Steven Yeun and Ali Wong. 10/10 would recommend.

OK, one episode down and first impressions:

They really hit the ground running here. You cannot say they did not make it visually interesting very quicky. It's intriguing, I guess because you can't help asking yourself "what cheesed them off so much?" because there has to be something to make their reactions incredibly disproportionate.

I wonder why they're both Korean Americans...maybe it's just a coincidence but it's mentioned in the script. I dare say it will come up later. Maybe I'm more racially prejudiced than I thought but watching these two people from the same community begin what we all know is going to be a feud of sorts sat with me in a very particular way. I mean if they don't look out for each other, who will? White people? My whole family's white so I like to think I'm an authority on them.

But in all seriousness: after the explosive opening we get to see the wider picture on these two individuals. Their circumstances are very different: one is struggling to earn money which he needs for his family, the other is in money but lives that quiet desperation of the petit-bourgeois suburban house-mother slowly watching her own ambitions not happen.

These are clearly two people who could have thoroughly identified with each other and no, not for their common ethnicity (that's racist) but because they both know life is a struggle ("there's always something") but unfortunate events have pitted them against each other.

I suppose that will be the subtext for the next 9 episodes; they realise they're not so different after all and will be love story of sorts. Not a sexual/romantic love story like Frozen but where it's best if they remain platonic, like Ross and Rachael.

Like Transparent, it's so not a comedy but the tone is consistently comedic. Every scene has a caustic undertone but there is still deep empathy for two deeply unlucky but ultimately not hateable characters.

I don't know if I will continue with this. This one episode was well paced and didn't have anything too painful in it but I might just take the ending of this episode as the closest we will get to a happy ending and leave off.

At the moment I like him more than I like her.

After watching the first episode of Beef, I understand why it's generating buzz, but I'm genuinely torn about continuing. There's clearly quality here, but something left me uncertain.

Steven Yeun and Ali Wong deliver strong performances as two strangers whose road rage incident spirals into something darker. The acting is excellent, and the production values are solid with a dark comedic edge many will find appealing.

However, the premise feels like it might be stretched thin over ten episodes.

The road rage escalation, while well-executed, strikes me as potentially exhausting to watch unfold. There's an uncomfortable intensity that makes for draining viewing.

The show has ambitions beyond simple revenge comedy - hints at deeper themes about frustration and modern life. But the first episode left me questioning whether I want to watch two people systematically destroy each other's lives.

It's well-made television I can appreciate objectively, but I'm genuinely 50-50 on whether it matches my viewing preferences. Let's see.

The only thing I want to say is that Bitcoin never went from 20k to 2k. You could have chosen a fictional thing, but btc just never dropped from 20 to 2. It dropped from 17 to 3 or something, but that took over a year. Kind of a stupid review. But that kind of annoyed me a little. Just never occurred that one day it's 20k and next day it was 2. Therefore I would've chosen something else. Other than that Steven Yeun is great as always. And I get breaking bad vibes. Like a well written thing where everyone is committed. That being said I'm looking forward to what will happen in the future. It made me google when the show takes place. End of 2017 it was around 18k and January 2019 it was around 3.5k. And then it just went parabolic. Just saying. Of course it's a. Risky thing. But again. I would've chosen a fictional thing. Instead of misleading.

I wasn't prepared for this to be so devastatingly real so soon. This was great. A fresh blend of comedy and grounded realistic emotion that made for a really entertaining first episode. I have high hopes for this show it's been on my watchlist for a long time now. I love Steven Yeun so much and I think by the tome this is over one of my favorite aspects will be that I was able to watch a show with him and to be able to connect with his profound performance. I'm very glad to be watching a show again.