"BEEF" is a dish best watched in its entirety Because this dark comedy about revenge run amok is engrossing and you won't want to turn it off

This is a wild ride that will make you laugh, gasp, cringe, and think Ali Wong and Steven Yen play two suburbanites who, together and separately, form a toxic connection following a road rage incident It escalates into an all-out feud in which each tries to push the other over the edge to the point of ruining their lives

"BEEF" is the flip side of a romantic comedy With very dark humor and poignant wit, creator Lee Sung Jin explores mental health, the pressure to succeed, class differences, and the Asian American experience

It all adds up to not only one of Netflix's best shows, but one of the best shows on television so far in 2023

This BEEF review contains no spoilers

The quality of BEEF relies heavily on the performances of its cast, especially its leads, Ali Wong and Steven Yeung The two share a crackling chemistry in the (unfortunately few) scenes they share, and they each bring their own unique strengths to their separate stories

Wong is better known for his comedic work, and he is as funny as ever in this film However, her role as Amy, the owner of a successful houseplant business, is truly pathos She is married to a Japanese artist and has a daughter They live in a luxurious house that has recently been renovated And Amy is about to sell her business to a billionaire Nonetheless, Amy is deeply dissatisfied and feels cut off from her family

Yeung has proven her dramatic talents in "Minari," "Burning," "The Walking Dead," and "Nope," and in "BEEF," especially when Danny transforms from a confident and cheerful contractor to a bitter ne'er-do-well with a huge chip on his shoulder, he is just as Wong He is about as jovial as Wong

The rest of the cast is excellent: Joseph Lee as Amy's beta husband George, Young Magino as Danny's free-spirited brother Paul, Ashley Park as Amy's seemingly vulgar friend Naomi, and David Che as Danny's dodgy ex-con cousin Isaac, Patti Yastake as Amy's condescending mother-in-law Fumi, and Maria Bello as compassionate wealthy investor Jordan Forster

They are all caught up in Amy and Danny's conflict, to the detriment of nearly everyone

The plot of "BEEF" is triggered by the most mundane of events: a parking lot encounter between Amy in a white SUV and Danny in a beat-up red truck It happens to people every day, from suburban shopping malls to the streets of Manhattan

Most of the time, people spend their day honking, yelling, and snapping their fingers Amy and Danny are different They follow the streets of their town as fast as they can When Danny loses sight of Amy's car, he splashes the money to find out where she lives What follows is a series of petty and increasingly elaborate schemes to get each other back

These alarming, tentative exchanges are a way to delve into the psychology of Amy and Danny These two are emotionally broken individuals who crumble under different kinds of pressure They are essentially two dogs in a burning house thinking, "This is all right"

Amy juggles work (including courting a potential buyer, Jordan, a caricature of some sort of rich white woman), a strained marriage, and motherhood All Amy wants is to cash out and have a peaceful life, but it's hard to achieve Her inability to control her own life seems to be the reason she continues to flirt with danger in her silly fights with Danny

As for Danny, he is broke and feels tremendous guilt for not providing for his elderly parents No matter how hard he works at his contracting job, it is never enough His "preying on the rich" vendetta against Amy becomes an excuse and cover for his own blunders Why take responsibility for your own life when you can turn the tables on Amy?

Their feud gets ridiculous, especially in the last couple of episodes Amy/Danny has some grievance in her personal life and takes it out on the other person in an insane way, and the other person comes up with an even more over-the-top retaliation I think this vicious cycle could have been repeated once or twice, and the entire show could have been shortened by an hour or so

Still, no matter how outrageous Amy and Danny's actions are, one cannot help but feel sympathy and empathy for them That is a testament to the cleverness of the script There are no villains in this "BEEF," only people trying to do what they do best That's all any of us can do That said, as much as I enjoyed the show, I felt it could have been shortened by an hour

"BEEF" is utterly engrossing from beginning to end, and the 30-minute episodes move along at a relatively brisk pace, so you'll never get bored The leads, Wong and Ye-eun, are dazzling My only complaint is that I would have liked to see more of them on screen together

While the plot may lean toward the absurd, the show keeps its feet on the ground by focusing on human emotions Ultimately, "BEEF" is a tragicomedy in which everyone has an inner rage that sometimes needs to be vented Saying, "This is all right," when one's life is figuratively burning out, does not solve anything It may only fuel inner anger and create destructive feuds, and I hope you will take this aspect of BEEF as a lesson