History Series / Beef

* SamusIsAGirl: Danny is mildly surprised to learn the person he got into a road rage incident with is a woman. While he doesn't take physical revenge on her like he was implying he would, he still doesn't his grudge against her.

* CerebusCallBack: The first episode begins with Danny trying to return some hibachi grills and being forced to keep them due to losing the receipts. We later [[spoiler:see him using the grills in a suicide attempt that he doesn't go through with. As the cashier mentions that Danny has bought and returned the hibachi grills three times, this suggests he had bought them twice before for the purpose of killing himself but couldn't go through with it those times either.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Danny attempts suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning in the first episode but doesn't go through with it in the end. It's also implied this is not the first time he's tried to kill himself this way (see CerebusCallBack above).]]

* BlatantLies: Danny tells two false accounts regarding the fateful rage road incident with Amy. When telling Paul, he admits to chasing her down but leaves out the part where he freaked out when it looked like Amy was going to run him over. When telling the story to a client, he claims that he "played it cool", which is far from the truth.

* EscalatingWar: The series starts with a fairly mundane altercation in a store parking lot and escalates into a full blown road rage incident. Over the ensuing series, the two parties involved partake in increasingly elaborate ways of antagonising each other: from petty swipes like Danny peeing on Amy's bathroom floor and Amy vandalizing Danny's car to [[spoiler:a catastrophic home invasion that ends in Amy's divorce and forbidden from contacting June, Paul cutting off Danny, Isaac in prison likely for life, and both Jordan and Michael dead]].

* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Averted. Amy goes to UC Santa Barbara and her friend goes to Chico State. Paul applies to UC Irvine, Merced, Davis, and Santa Cruz.

** While [[spoiler: Amy and Paul's affair]] ends poorly, she is also relieved to hear that Paul survived [[spoiler: the events at Jordan's home]].

* BookEnds: Amy escalates what would have annoying mishap in a parking lot by stopping to flip off Danny while obnoxiously honking her car horn. The series ends with Amy flipping off [[spoiler: a critically injured]] Danny again, albeit with sadness and empathy.

** Amy, whom Danny describes as a "rich bitch from Calabasas", has a large, spacious modern home.

* {{Catfishing}}: Amy catfishes Paul by pretending to be a hot girl (one of her employees) on Instagram. It's so obvious that every single character immediately notes that she's a catfish, but he ignores them. [[spoiler:He also doesn't care when he discovers who Amy really is, if anything becoming ''more'' attracted to her.]]

* DumbassHasAPoint: Paul's not the smartest guy in the world, but he seems to be the more emotionally intelligent bother, assessing Danny as a dude who who has depression and not handling it well, which dooms their chances of maintaining a healthy brotherly relationship, is hard to argue with.

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Amy and Danny dysfunctionally each have one in June and Paul respectively. Both have [[spoiler: neither at the end of the series]].

* MirrorCharacter: The conceit of the story is that besides their [[SlobsVersusSnobs different social classes]] resulting in an EscalatingWar, Danny and Amy are ''extremely'' similar. This is something made clear not just in the identical ways they react to the road rage incident and their rare moments of connection, but also in their backstories: both experienced family drama as a result of their ImmigrantParents and are projecting successful futures to motivate themselves.

* SlobsVersusSnobs: The central conflict: Amy is the wealthy breadwinner of her NuclearFamily, though permanently exhausted by the demands of her beautiful house and busy job. Danny is a handyman who's been unable to get a steadier job since his family lost their motel. They get in a feud.

** The Cho brothers: Despite Paul's ignorance and laziness, he genuinely wanted to pursue college after high school, which Danny finds threatening. He also appears to better understand people than Danny, as seen with his growing relationship with [[spoiler: Amy]] during the series. He also recognizes that aspects about Danny that Danny does not, such as Danny's depression and how his behavior strains the relationship between the two. Like Danny, he also desires to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma he and Danny are faced with, even if it means [[spoiler: ultimately cutting Danny out of his life]]. Danny on the other hand, would figuratively hamstring Paul by [[spoiler: throwing out his college admissions]], ensuring that Paul would be dependant on him.

** Amy and Danny likewise do so [[spoiler:after eating the "elderberries"]].

** While Isaac is a shady character, he does attempt to help out Danny with his plans due to being cousins. Danny [[spoiler: falsely accuses Isaac of being responsible for the road rage incident, landing him Isaac and in jail and stealing his money in the meantime]].

* EscalatingWar: The series starts with a fairly mundane altercation in a store parking lot and escalates into a full blown road rage incident. Over the ensuing series, the two parties involved partake in increasingly elaborate ways of antagonising each other: from petty swipes like Danny peeing on Amy's bathroom floor and Amy vandalizing Danny's car to [[spoiler:a catastrophic home invasion that ends in Amy's divorce, Paul cutting off Danny, Isaac in prison likely for life, and both Jordan and Michael dead]].

* ThickerThanWater: Deconstructed multiple times over the series:

* VivaLasVegas: The characters go to Vegas in episode 4. Amy goes there for a work conference and Paul steals Danny's truck to follow her. Danny and Isaac promptly go as well to get the truck back, since it contains (probably illegal) goods that Isaac needs to sell. The action is primarily limited to Amy's swanky hotel (where Danny and Paul consider gambling and eating from the buffet).

** Amy is revealed to be [[spoiler: estranged from her parents, having not contacting them in years]].
** After Amy's out-of-control grudge with Danny culminates with [[spoiler: June being kidnapped, he files for sole custody of her as part of their divorce]].

* ImportantHaircut: Amy gets her hair cut and colored blonde immediately before re-encountering Danny and [[spoiler: pivoting on her plan to cash out of her company.]]

* SoundtrackDissonance: The first episode ends with "The Reason", a balland rock love song by Music/{{Hoobastank}} that emphasizes someone atoning for their past mistakes and becoming a better person. This plays right after Danny pissed all over Amy's bathroom floors and she shouts expletives while chasing him as he makes his getaway, driving off with smug, unrepentant satisfaction that he just got away with vandalizing someone who slighted him.

* AwfulWeddedLife: Amy and George are married and seemingly happy on the surface, but problems quickly begin arising and push them to enter counseling. She's not satisfied with the sex and his inability to relate to her depression, and he feels that she's emotionally distant due to her focus on her business (and, unbeknownst to him, her feud with Danny). [[spoiler:George is also attracted to Amy's assistant Mia and claims a deep connection with her, and Amy eventually has sex with Danny's brother, Paul. While their relationship seems to improve once the Forsters deal is done, the later revelations of their infidelity and the sheer scale of Amy's dishonesty leads him to ask for a divorce and demand sole custody of their daughter.]]
** Veronica and Edwin, as a minor example since [[spoiler: Veronica never got over Danny]]. A fact that Edwin is aware of.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Danny and Paul's relationship is greatly strained but Paul is worried about Danny's depression. The two are also able to make-up after an incident in Vegas, where the two show off each other's basketball moves in a moment of pure brotherly love. Danny is also relieved to find out that [[spoiler: Paul survived being shot at by the police]].

** Despite George [[spoiler: wanting a divorce with Amy after she reveals she slept with Paul and sole custody of June as result]], he does become worried enough about Amy after the events of the penultimate episode that he uses the 'Find My Phone' app to locate her.
* BitchInSheepsClothing:
** Jordan blatantly but passive-aggressively threatens to plagiarize Amy's business model and invites her to a dinner party in the same conversation.
** Edwin is this to Danny, out of jealousy.
* BigBrotherBully: Zigzagged with Paul and Danny. As a child, [[spoiler: Danny once threatened to stab Paul in the eye when the latter was an infant]]. Danny claims to have Paul's best interests and has looked after him since they were small children, but doesn't seem to be aware of the ways his behavior drives Paul away. Arguably the worst of this behavior manifests in [[spoiler: Danny throwing out Paul's college admissions]]. The reveal of this to Paul drives [[spoiler: him out of Danny's life for good]].

** The canyon house that Danny finally builds for his parents is also this. However, it [[spoiler: it burns down due to his own faulty wiring]].
** A much more minor example: the house that Edwin and Veronica live in.

* ChekhovsGun: A literal example: Amy's gun.

** After Danny unknowingly sees [[spoiler: an image of Amy's butt to sent to Paul]], he seeks to use said photo for these purposes.

** Jordan enjoys using shrooms.

* EscalatingWar: The series starts with a fairly mundane altercation in a store parking lot and escalates into a full blown road rage incident. Over the ensuing series, the two parties involved partake in increasingly elaborate ways of antagonising each other: from petty swipes like Danny peeing on Amy's bathroom floor and Amy vandalizing Danny's car to [[spoiler:a catastrophic home invasion that ends in Amy's divorce, Paul cutting off Danny, Isaac in prison likely for life, both Jordan and Michael dead, and Danny and Paul's parents returning back to Korea]].

* {{Foil}}:
** The Cho brothers: Despite Paul's ignorance and laziness, he genuinely wanted to pursue college after high school, which Danny finds threatening. He also appears to better understand people than Danny, as seen with his growing relationship with [[spoiler: Amy]] during the series. He also recognizes that aspects about Danny that Danny does not, such as Danny's depression and how his behavior strains the relationship between the two. Like Danny, he also desires to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma he and Danny are faced with, even if it means [[spoiler: ultimately cutting Danny out of his life]]. Danny on the other hand, would figuratively hamstring Paul by [[spoiler: throwing out his college admissions]], ensuring that Paul would be dependant on him.
** Edwin and Danny: Edwin is also Korean-American, married to Veronica (Danny's ex), has a family, is the successful leader of a church, lives in a nice house, and only [[spoiler: resorts to minor petty pranks as revenge]]. Danny, however, lives in a small, cluttered apartment with his financially dependant younger brother who he has a strained relationship with, is single for most of the series out of the sentiment that he is not in the position to have a family despite wanting one, has a struggling contracting business due to his ineptitude as one, and ruins any chance of having what Edwin has due to his inability to let of go his pride and anger. Danny, at the very least, manages to be a charismatic church leader and a better basketball player.

** Despite his best efforts, Danny is not the most adept contractor as seen from his reviews on Yelp and his struggling business. This really comes to a head when [[spoiler: the home he builds for his parents burns down to due to faulty wiring]].

* ObnoxiousInLaws: Zigzagged with Fumi. While she makes snide remarks that get under Amy's skin, she keeps the knowledge of Amy's [[spoiler: affair with Paul]] to herself out of sympathy.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: George is rarely ever called by his birth name Joji.
* OutclassedAtTheGym: In the second episode, Danny strains trying to benchpress a certain weight. His more immature younger brother Paul gets under it and starts lifting it with no problem.
* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler:Most of the characters' efforts end up being AllForNothing, in going with the show's commentary on the nature of revenge. However, the one goal amongst the show's cast that was arguably truly selfless--Danny's quest to build his family a house--ends up failing ''not'' because of anything to do with the feud. While Danny initially suspects Amy or even Edwin of committing arson to get revenge on Danny, he learns fairly quickly that the fire had nothing to do with the tangled plot of the show and was merely the result of his own incompetence as a builder.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: Both Amy and George. With [[spoiler: Paul and Mia]] respectively. However, George's remains solely emotional while Amy's escalates beyond that.
** Amy's [[spoiler: father to her mother]]. It's an event that in her life that traumatizes her and contributes to the strained relationship she has with her parents even in the present.