YMMV / Beef

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • The series flips back on forth on Danny and Amy's points-of-view and how reasonable each character is. Or are they both just as bad? Both just as reasonable?
  • Is George a caring househusband trying to make do with an unreasonable Amy? Is he a privileged dip who doesn't understand the sacrifices and extent Amy had to go through? Is he justified in his affair (or 'emotional entanglement') with Mia behind Amy's back as he felt coldly treated and unappreciated by her?
  • Is Paul an ingrate who doesn't appreciate his brother's sacrifices for him? Is he constantly put down by his brother who claims to care for him but also constantly condescends to him? How much of his stunted behaviour is the result of Danny throwing away his college applications?
• Awesome Music: Despite being set in present times, the series music consists entirely of late 1990s/early 2000s alternative music that is often deliberately ironic to the themes of the show, adding to its pitch black humor
  • The first episode ends with "The Reason" by Hoobastank, a song about forgiving your partner's faults and moving on, which turns out to definitely not be the main conceit of the show.
  • Episode 6 crowns one of the show's only somewhat happy moments Danny sending winnning the church basketball tournament after sending Isaac to prison with "Machinehead" by Bush
  • Episode 9 goes into Tearjerker territory by using "All is Full of Love" by Björk to score Danny and Amy's disastrous reprise of their road rage incident.
  • In addition, many were surprised by Steven Yeun's singing talent when he joins the praise team, making even secular viewers enjoy the church's contemporary Christian music (plus "Drive" by Incubus the first time he picks up the guitar).
  • Danny's first visit to church is scored to "O Come to the Altar", a highly popular contemporary Christian song; many current and past believers have noted that Yeun's performance of a tearful breakdown is a highly accurate depiction of their own responses to corporate worship.
• Ending Fatigue: Episode 9 ends with an intense and deadly shootout that marks the complete ruination of both Danny and Amy's lives. Now both fully at rock bottom, the duo engage in a second rage-fueled car chase (with Amy now the pursuer), this one resulting in the seeming deaths of both protagonists as they drive off a cliff. A downer ending, for sure, but one that brings the story full circle... only there's another episode left. The finale does give a resolution to Danny and Amy's feud and possibly reveals Paul's ultimate fate through a text, but the Bottle Episode doesn't include any other characters (save a brief appearance from George) and is so disconnected from the more grounded tone of the rest of the series that some have speculated that it was all just a Dying Dream.
• Epileptic Trees: Some have speculated that the last episode is a shared Dying Dream for Danny and Amy due to its somewhat surreal editing and story choices. From opening with crows (symbols of death in many cultures) having a conversation over the wreckage of their two cars, the duo's bizarre berry-induced hallucination that leads them to switch bodies, and George seemingly appearing out of nowhere to shoot Danny^note When Danny and Amy have cell reception again, Amy gets a 'Find Your Phone' notification, likely used by George when didn't return home after episode 9. , the events of Episode 10 can be read as an epilogue to the story rather than its conclusion.
• Foe Yay Shipping: Many people probably expect that the miniseries will progress as an enemies-to-lovers story. After all, it's focused on Amy and Danny's obsession with each other (rooted in anger and hate, sure, but still obsession). Plus, Ali Wong and Steven Yeun played a couple in the show Tuca & Bertie, by the same creator. However, Beef mostly avoids making Danny and Amy anything but platonic, and they end up as friends. There are a few moments of attraction when Amy first welcomes Danny into her home (due to her being interrupted while masturbating), and he later himself masturbates to underwear picture she sent to his brother. In both cases, they are unaware of the other's identity.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In episode 4, Danny tells Paul "you wouldn't be here without me". With the reveal that Danny sabotaged Paul's chances of getting into college, that line has a rather dark Double Meaning.
• Jerkass Woobie: Almost every character (save Junie) is a total asshole, but the show does a good job at making them sympathetic by putting everyone through the absolute wringer.
  • Danny has horrible rage issues, commits all sorts of crimes and heinous acts, and is deeply flawed as a brother, but it's hard not to feel bad for him when he finds out that all of his hard work to be a good son and build his family their dream home went up in smoke all due to his insistence on building it himself.
  • Amy is caught in a web of lies and has her own rage issues, but she also worked very hard for her family and clearly loves June dearly and has the Freudian Excuse of generational trauma passed down from her own parents that makes her fear she will never be loved unconditionally. It's thus heartbreaking when her fears are proven to be well-founded, as her decisions lead to her losing her husband, most if not all of her earnings, and custody of her beloved daughter.
  • Paul is lazy and self-centered, but he loves his brother. You thus have to sympathize with his shock when he finds out just how much Danny has ruined his life, even before the start of the series.
  • George has some Jerkass tendencies (emotionally cheating on Amy, offering her surface-level solutions for her mental health struggles), but he clearly is trying his best to do right by his family and is just treated so poorly by almost every person in his life (including his own mother).
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • A rare case of this technically happening before the events of the main story: Episode 8 reveals Danny throwing away Paul's college admissions in an attempt to make the latter dependent on him, as Paul also loses motivation and becomes a deadbeat slacker.
  • Danny crosses the line again when he's unable to accept that his faulty wiring was the cause of the housefire. At first, Paul is so overwhelmed by the wreckage and suspects that Amy committed arson to get back at him for confessing to George, placing the blame on himself. After Danny finds out that he was responsible for what happened, he lies to Paul about it, for which Paul feels so guilty he wishes he was dead. Danny consoles his brother and then goes on to to frame Amy for something she is completely innocent of.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: Much of the good press this miniseries got was obscured by the controversy surrounding David Choe's resurfaced comments on his podcast in which he joked about having committed rape and sexual assault. Although Choe clarified later on that he has never raped or assaulted anyone, it got bad enough that stars Steven Yuen and Ali Wong and creator Lee Sung Jin were also forced to comment on the situation.
• Woobie:
  • Poor June! She was already experiencing anxiety (to the point of picking her skin) in the start of the series, but the stress of the a possible divorce between her parents results in her lashing out at her dog. While she does love her mother, Amy is often absent from June's life due to work, resulting in a mother who isn't the best caretaker for her. Her mother's absence is worsened by escalating marital troubles between her parents. Finally, due to her mother's lack of self-control, she eventually becomes caught up in her mom's conflict when Danny invertedly kidnaps her and she is later held for ransom by Danny's violent cousin. She is safely rescued from the event, but June's worst fears regarding her parents' separation are fulfilled when George forbids any contact between her and Amy following their divorce, for reasons that are too complex to understand at her age. A divorce that is likely exacerbated by George critically shooting Danny, who was actually assisting Amy, at the end of the series.
  • Poor Mia, though microaggressive, she's otherwise a decent person. During the acquisition, most of her cheeriness has faded out and it's implied that her attachment to George is less romance but more a desperate attempt to secure an art connection. If anything, Amy's newfound prosperity as a result of the acquisition made a collateral of her own employees, Mia just being one of its several victims.