beef season 1 is a story about the two leads, danny and amy, two people from widely different backgrounds and economic statuses 'beefing' over road rage. it goes on for a concerning amount of time.
ok so i wasn't originally going to watch this, but netflix's advertising of it AND the fact that i finally recognized both of the lead actors convinced me. i used to be obsessed with the walking dead when i was in middle school (specifically glenn lol), and i liked some of ali wong's comedy specials, so naturally, i had to force everyone else to watch it with me
each episode is about 30 minutes, but they felt longer in a good way. there's a lot of events and character info put into each one, but the pacing is perfect, i think, without anything dragging on too long
the acting was amazing in this series. i hope ali wong and steven yeun win awards for this shit bc it was so so good and they deserve it. my favorite scenes from the both of them was danny's emotional church visit and ali's talk with her therapist. the soundtrack was perfect, and it really enhanced the show. the visuals were great, and the shots never felt boring to me. it was just such a solid show, and i hope the writers, actors, filmers, everyoneeee gets the recognition they deserve. this is prob the best thing i've seen from netflix in recent years
tbh at the start i wasn't expecting much out of it and neither were my brothers. we put it on in the background as noise during a party, and during the middle of it i actually started to pay attention. i think it does a good job of hooking you in the first episode, and all the subsequent episodes are just the two leads fucking with each other. there's a lot of little subplots here and there that go on between both main characters (and others). the show did a good job of fleshing people out and displaying their struggles, which helped a lot with understanding why they do some of the things they do. it made it easier to empathize and not fully hate anyone (except david)
the characters and the things they go through felt so real. danny, especially, really really hurt for me to watch develop and just his overall story. like i'm still so sad thinking abt it. the fact that all his life he just wanted to give his parents a place to relax makes me sad, bc i don't think in the events of the show, or probably his life, he'll ever get that, despite working so hard and constantly busting his ass. his story is upsetting, bc there are so, SO many people out there where that's their reality rn and forever that just want to have financial stability and give back to their parents. and yet they just keep getting older and older and the bills don't stop coming and the work is neverending. everything that danny goes through honestly sucks ass, and i like that at the end he kind of owned up to it and realized he's done shitty things that hurt ppl he loved despite having good intentions. the way that he was so attached to paul and yet constantly sabotaged him and brought him down was so vile. it was honestly really frustrating at times to watch him fuck things up at the end by lying to his brother despite swearing they're gonna be fully open and honest with each other. there's a lot to say about danny and amy; i just talked about danny so much bc everything about his life makes me depressed
moving onto the ending sequence. despite me being sad and not really satisfied, tbh it was how it needed to end. the open-endedness of it is bittersweet and depressing, and it sucks that we're not gonna know exactly what happens to them after the dust settles, but i think it was the right way to do it with a story like that. no definitive answer on if things are going to be okay or not or if they're going to make amends.
better call saul vague ending spoilers: it reminds me a lot of the vibes i got from the ending of better call saul. it's not an exciting, funny, shootout or anything. it's sad and serious and vague. horrible things happen, and it's probably safe to assume that the relationships the main character broke are going to stay broken. we don't know that for sure, or what else is going to happen to everyone, but it still feels right.
also small thing, the visuals rocked. the colors were pleasant to look at and so were all the shots. and the unique art pieces at the beginning of each episode were awesome :)
if there are two more seasons with different characters and stories entirely, i will definitely be there to watch them.
