A good revenge story never goes out of style. Even if it starts with something as small as a middle finger after a near-fender bender. Who hasn’t been there? Things heat up in traffic, and before you know it, you’re shouting words that would make Quentin Tarantino blush in a complete stranger. That’s apparently the premise of the upcoming series Beef, with Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead, no) and Ali Wong (Always be my maybe).
The Netflix series comes from the ever-impressive minds at A24 (The Witch, Midsommar, Hereditary). The official synopsis for Beef reads, “Beef” follows the aftermath of a road accident between two strangers. Danny Cho, a failing contractor with a chip on his shoulder, takes on Amy Lau, a self-made entrepreneur with a picturesque life. The growing stakes of their feud unravels their lives and relationships in this darkly comedic and deeply moving series. A trailer for the black comedy/drama recently landed online. Here is a summary of the images.
Everyday anger
The trailer opens with an ethereal rendition of “Today” by the Smashing Pumpkins, as a woman named Amy (Wong) sits behind the wheel of her car in a garage, staring blankly into space. A suspected mate asks her if she’s okay. She hesitates and shows a big fake smile. The trailer then cuts to a man (Yeun) standing next to a pickup truck on a hill, staring at a dismal earnings report on his phone while chewing a cheeseburger and sitting in the hood sobbing. He complains about “rushing his whole life” and nowhere it’s led him, as the shot cuts between his own fake smile and real desperation in private and Amy’s similar situation.
Dodging Danny is parked behind the wheel as the audio degrades to a shrill beep and he makes a white-knuckle fist aimed at his steering wheel. He leaves the scene only to get a seemingly never-ending horn from an approaching car. He yells out the window at the driver, who drives off, stops and throws him out the window. The final straw is Danny throwing the truck into gear and chasing the white SUV that pushed him over the edge he was seemingly living on.
As the iconic Pumpkins riff continues, Danny makes his way through traffic in search of the SUV. He catches up to him, and the driver is no less demented at this point and swerves toward his truck, causing him to jump off a curb into a corner flower bed. He ends up back on the road with the SUV in reverse, flying to his driver’s side. At the end of the crash, Amy is shaken awake and the trailer moves to photos of her “perfect” life with her husband and child, complete with a beautiful house and inground pool. “I’ve got a whole lot I’d like to get back to, but I’m going to find you and take what little you have,” says Amy.
Get knocked loose
Danny is seen next to a bed with numerous illuminated portal grilles in the room, and it dawns on him as he is frantically talking on the phone on the walkway of an apartment complex. It’s Danny’s turn to taunt and mocks Amy about being a simple suburban housewife trapped in a life she hates despite her high society status. Amy is then seen screaming with a gun pointed at her cell phone as her stunned husband enters the room.
Danny is shown rolling down Amy’s stairs with a large hammer, calling himself a ‘dangerous dude’. Footage of his life follows, including him hanging from a tree in what appears to be a parachute, playing pick-up basketball, and grilling with a friend. He continues to warn Amy to leave him alone, as we see him walk in the shadows to her white SUV, dip it in lighter fluid, and strike a match.
Get personal
Danny and some friends run down a hallway to Amy van Wong as she waves a finger at him, and a policeman handcuffs him. In conversation with another woman, a hint of class struggle is suggested with the line, “I just don’t understand what those people are so angry about.” It cuts to a yellow stain on a carpet and hardwood floor and an enraged Amy brandishing a gun and screaming that someone is peeing on her expensive floor.
Yeun is Danny is seen crying in what appears to be a church service, followed by Amy forced to laugh. “You are born, you make choices and suddenly you are here,” says Danny, who is then about to hit someone with a key. The trailer builds up to a flashy mashup of the opponents’ lives and ends with the line, “Maybe normal people are just delusional.” In the end, it ends with a face-to-face confrontation between the two in their respective cars right where it started.
Beef will stream on Netflix on April 6.