BEEF | BONUS
Show Notes:
Beef released on Netflix on April 6, 2023 and is an intense and kind of thrilling ride. Movies with Mr. Mario is here to discuss this incredible show.
You can listen to the full episode on Patreon.
Transcript:
Julia: Hey friends, this is pop culture makes me jealous where we analyze pop culture through the lens of race or gender, and sometimes both. I'm your host, Julia Washington, and on today's episode, Mario from movies with Mr. Mario is back and we are discussing the Netflix original Beef.
Julia: Mario, we were just discussing that the last time you were here was White Lotus forever. Long ago. I know. Wait, do you, do you already have a cocktail? Oh,
Mario: it's uh, Shirley Temple. Oh, okay. Shirley Temple. That was good. Say
Julia: I almost had a mo a mimosa this morning and, um, I changed my mind cuz I have a lot of work to do today.
Julia: Um, Mario, for those of who maybe don't remember, is our resident, uh, movie reviewer. He is Movies with Mr. Mario on Instagram. And he rates and reviews movies and he does a really good job. Did you, you reviewed, he reviewed the Mario movie, right? I did. I loved it. I haven't seen it yet. Cause I haven't issue, I, I don't like Chris PR
Mario: in general.
Mario: Yeah. Or just as a voice in general. How do, how do you see Guardians of the Galaxy,
Julia: the soundtrack?
Mario: There's a really good soundtrack for Super Mario. All
Julia: right. Maybe I will. It's fun. Okay. I did buy tickets to see the Margaret movie, like, so I upgraded my, oh, I upgraded my phone recently. Not on purpose, but because my 12 was just like randomly dying.
Julia: Um, and that's not safe because we're dependent on cell phones now cuz Who has a landline? Yeah. And when I transferred, when I redownloaded the Regal app, My account somehow reset, so I have to go in and repurchase the Regal Oh. Um, subscription. But I haven't done that cause I'm so annoyed. Like what You do what?
Mario: You can do it through the app. Yeah, I
Julia: know. I'm just pissed. Oh, okay. Because I have to go and like, add in on my information again and reload a picture and like reload my credit card info and I'm just like, this is already in here. Yeah, just on my other phone, so rude. Anyway, we're here today to talk about beef, the Netflix original.
Julia: Oh, I'm gonna do a quick summary cuz you know, I love to pull those summaries from the Google because Google likes to have likes to people every, everybody Googles. So what does Google say? Yeah, Google literally just says, two strangers get in a road rage incident that brings chaos into their lives. And I just feel like while that's accurate,
Mario: that just touches like barely the circle.
Mario: Yeah.
Julia: That's not, that's not compelling enough for me to tune in. That's literally a Tuesday.
Julia: So it dropped on April 6th, 2023 and the show stars Ali Wong, Steven Ewen, yuewen, I don't know if I ever say his last name. Righten? Yeah, I think it's right. Okay. I apologize if I am mispronouncing it and a whole. Host of other awesome celebrities. So I know, Mario, you watched it pretty quick so we could, uh, have this discussion.
Julia: Yes. I need you, I need you to tell me in your movie, movie and TV critic I what you thought of this show.
Mario: Also just forewarning our, our audience that this is gonna be spoiler filled cause Oh, mm-hmm. We do have to get into some spoilers, so if you watch it yet, watch it first and then come back and listen to us.
Julia: And then come back and listen to us. Yeah. Because if you are new here, we don't hold back. We spoil everything.
Mario: Yes. Um, I actually was in the middle of writing my v review today, cuz I wanted to drop it after we do this. Cause I didn't wanna Yeah. Um, but it was funny because I, I was like in, when I first.
Mario: But then I was like, ah, I don't know if I'm gonna watch it. Like I don't know if it's gonna, if it's gonna really get me. Yeah. And then I was reading the reviews. The reviews were like, oh, it's crazy. Good show. And I was like, ah, alright, maybe I'll try it. And I just put it on my, and then we were didn't when dropped, and then I kind of forgot about it until.
Mario: You had said something and then one of my friends said, oh, I haven't watched beef yet. I was like, no, it's on my thing. And then you were like, oh, let's, let's the, let's do a show on it. So I was like, okay. So I was like, I told my roommates we're watching this show, I'm gonna start it. And they were actually surprisingly like intrigued too.
Mario: So we finished it in. Three and a half days. Nice. Two, about two episodes a night, and then the last, the last night. We binged all the last three, but really good show. Very, if you wanna see a show about acting, Acting. Yes. Like a masterclass of acting. That's how you do it.
Julia: Absolutely. It was brilliantly performed, like insanely good performance.
Julia: Like if this show doesn't get nominated, I will be shocked. Like if Ali Wong doesn't get a nomination, if Steven Yoon doesn't get a, like there's so many amazing, like I just, it was, and you know, I don't do intense shit.
Mario: I know I was watching this show, it's like, how is Julia watching this show?
Julia: And it's like, it's like, it's one of those shows where it's like, this is intense shit, but for some reason I can't stop watching and I need to like, I need more.
Julia: I need more. And it was just, mm-hmm. It was just, Oh my. It was, well
cause
Mario: each, well, because each episode kind of ends on a cliffhanger too. So it's like, wait, what happens? Like we, like we forced ourselves to stop like after a certain episode. Cause we're like, we have to go to bed. We have work tomorrow.
Mario: Yeah. We're all really, we, we can't continue. But
Julia: yeah. And what I also loved is how they brilliantly tied in. How easy miscommunication is, but then also how intentional miscommunication is. Yeah. Right. So we first meet Danny when he is returning some sort of like, I don't know. Is it a portable barbecue or something like that?
Julia: Yeah. And he makes this, he's already in a bad mood. He's already in bad mood. Yeah. And he's having this interaction with this customer service rep and it, you know, we all know returning shit without a receipt is like the greatest egregious offense any of us could ever do apparently. And. Something about a carbon monoxide monitor comes up.
Julia: Yeah. And he's like, I don't have that. And there's just this like quick but heavy pause. But it moves so fast that you're like, oh, that's coming back. This whole scenario is coming back in some way, shape, or form. But you, I don't know when, because that's pointed. That is very, very much like a, he's intentionally using these for.
Julia: The, not the, the for what they're not intended for. And that sets the tone of his day and then he's like in all this distress. And then, you know, cuz it is my biggest pet peeve when people are backing out and they assume they have the right of way. In the state of California you don't. And then it just, it's, and that's a thing we experience every single day.
Julia: Somebody's potentially putting us in a car accident situation and then everyone just flips each other off and then you move on and you live your life. These two did not move on and live their lives. These two EL escalated in a way that it was like, do you guys need therapy? And the answer is yes. Yes.
Mario: Everyone needs
Julia: therapy. Everybody in the show needs therapy because there's so many things like St. Danny's so broken and so desperate to have the American dream and he's willing to do anything and like it's just, it's so heartbreaking.
Mario: What, what was interesting to me is that's in the first five minutes of the whole show is the whole incident.
Mario: Yeah. Yeah. So a nor like, I guess more of an ordinary or different show probably would've set it up a little better. Like show the two different people what they're doing for their day and then leading up to the incident. Whereas we get to the incident right away and we work backwards onto what leads up to the incident, which.
Mario: Only certain shows can do that. Mm-hmm. Like that's one of my, like peeves sometimes is like, they try to do it, like, try to start out an incident and go backwards to fill in all the gaps, but then sometimes I think probably at least 75% of the time it misses because it's forgetting. You know, that's just a writing error.
Mario: They forget about a, you know, something else that happened, but this did it very, very well. Pointing backwards. Yeah, and I think, and sending it all up. And like you said, even with the, like the, like the little barbecues and the carbon monoxide scene, we did know what it was, but we knew it was something different.
Mario: But they did very well working back. On how we got there and all that stuff. Yeah.
Julia: So,
Mario: and we didn't even know, like, we didn't even know the person that he got into was a girl. I mean, if you saw the trailer, like you knew what was going on, but if you went and feel blind, you didn't realize it was a girl.
Mario: Cuz even during the whole incident, he's like, this guy, this guy is doing this, this guy is doing that. This guy ran me off the road and all this stuff. So it's like you automatically assume it's a guy and then you're like, oh, big twist. Oh, it's a girl.
Julia: Big twist. It's Ally Wong. Don't piss her off. Yes. Don't make her mad.
Julia: Yes. Don't pee all over her wood
Mario: floors. Oh my gosh. That incident, I was like, oh my goodness. And, and the song they use and I've seen articles written about the Reason Who By Mistake. Yeah. I was like, oh my gosh. Like, just use that song so perfectly with the Slowmo and him like, and I'm just like, Oh my God, it was great.
Mario: I was laughing so hard.
Julia: It taps into that nostalgia where you're just like, especially like the late nineties, early two thousands. Right? So for us elder millennials or younger gens Xers or just, you know, Anybody who's had that coming of age in the late nineties, early two thousands, it takes you back to a time for me it did anyway, where you're like, oh, life is, you know, got all of this potential and it's so exciting and I'm so excited to be an adult one day cuz I'm tired of my oppressive parents.
Julia: They who probably weren't oppressive, but maybe it felt like they were. And then you grow up and your life is like, stress and adulthood is a scam and you hate it here. Well, may not always hate it here, but like there's, you know, there's moment like the distress that you see in Ali Wong's face or, or Danny's face and, and just the way that everyone sort of interacts with each other.
Julia: You're like, yeah, let Adulthoods a scam, man. They lied to us. And then they play a song like, From Paula Cole or from the Offspring or like, and you're just like, oh, remember the good old dates?
Mario: Oh man, he plays that, was it the Offspring song he plays at the church with the guitar? I,
Julia: yeah, yeah,
Mario: yeah. And I was just like, I was like, oh, Steven, you can sing too. Yeah.
Julia: Cause doesn't, isn't he, doesn't he create music?
Mario: Does he? I don't know. In real life? Yeah. Oh, I don't know. I just know him from the Walking Dead.
Julia: He was in The Walking Dead. Oh, I, you know, I didn't watch The Walking Dead.
Mario: I know he's, he was a big, he was a big star in Walking Dead. There's a lot of memes cuz he dies in a very horrible and horrific way. So there's a lot of memes about it. But, um, and then he's in the new Thunderbolts movie from
Julia: Marvel.
Julia: Oh, that's right for him. That is exciting for him. Oh yeah. I
Mario: didn't know he could sing. I was like, oh, that's cool.
Julia: Let's get into it. Let's get into the beef of it all.
Mario: So they, so they have this incident road rage and it kind of leads into them finding out who each other was and kind of like just one upping their anger.
Mario: And it, yeah, and, and that's what stressed me out. Cause it was like they kept going further and further. I was like, oh my gosh, something's gonna happen you guys. And did you ever see, did you ever see Adam Sandler uncut gems? I haven't
Julia: seen uncut gems. Okay.
Mario: It's the same concept. Like, you know, something bad happens and then it just gets worse and worse and worse, and you're just like, oh my gosh, it stresses you out because you know something's gonna happen.
Mario: And that's what the show did to me. You know, I was like, oh, it's good. Something's happening. Cause something
Julia: has to happen. Yeah. But it, and it's, it's unpredictable. Well for me it was unpredictable on what would happen, right? So it's like, you know, something bad is gonna happen and there's, so then for me, I was like running all the different scenarios in my head of what could be happening next.
Julia: And it was never the right, like it didn't matter how many times I launched a hypothetical in my head on where it was going. I never got it right until the end when I think it's episode nine, when they finally like have the thing they collides. Mm-hmm. Whereas like, oh, this Anyway. Okay. So yes, everything escalates.
Julia: It's all just super intense. Um, I do want to kind of talk about Ali Wong a little bit, her character, because she, you know, they are a wealthy family. Her husband, you know, is the son of this prolific painter or painter, right. Or like artist, we'll just call him an artist. Yeah. Because he designs this chair that is a perfect mold of his spouse's, you know.
Julia: Behind, which is just so hilarious. But then also it's like, that just feels like a very like, High-end art thing to do. So like, Amy's created this business that's, you know, multi-million dollar business that's selling like plants and shit like that. And so their family is, you know, they, they have this exorbitant amount of wealth.
Julia: Like their home is beautiful. She has a very critical, um, mother-in-law, her husband who George is like the, the actor Joseph Lee encapsulates this character very well. Like, If I didn't know that it was an actor, I would believe that George is this floundering son of a prolific artist because he has no talent of his own.
Julia: He's just
Mario: going
Julia: off of his moms. Yeah. And yeah, and he's trying to prove himself and trying to like I. Contribute. But also he loves being a dad, which I do kind of love because we don't see that a lot in television and media where, you know, men actually enjoy being dads and are really good dads. They're usually hands off.
Julia: So I felt, I felt like that was an amazing thing for them to add to the show as well. What did you think of the dynamic between Amy and George?
Mario: So I think they kind of talked about it briefly. It's like you. Because, uh, Amy wasn't always rich. She was, she came from a poor family, right? So she had, she had to work her butt off to get where she was.
Mario: And I think she makes the comments like, you came from money, so it's still a different perspective for you. Whereas I didn't. And I had to work, you know, and especially as a female too, she had to work a lot to get where she was. So like maybe problems or ways she saw things. Her husband didn't see 'em because he came from money and it wasn't a big deal.
Mario: Or, um, even like when they were both rich, like he would say, oh, just get this because we don't need it. Or the nanny thing. She was like, I feel bad having a nanny, like. I feel like I'm not doing anything. He's like, that's what her job is like to him. It wasn't a big deal to her. Even though she did hire her, it was like, I still feel weird because.
Mario: I'm making this woman do all my laundry and all this stuff, and so it's like, even though they were both rich, like there's still that two perspectives that was very interesting and I felt they did clash over throughout the series. Mm-hmm.
Julia: Okay, friends, this is our Patreon bonus episode, so this is all you get. If you haven't joined us on Patreon yet, it's so easy. Just go to patreon.com/pop. Culture makes me jealous. I wanna do a big shout out to our current Patreon pals. Y'all are so fun, and if you are looking for a really great group of people who love entertainment, but also really hate the stereotypes of women in media, this club is for you.
Julia: There's so much about beef we could have discussed, and honestly, there could be an entire multi-part series devoted just to this show because the layers of this show, there's just so much. There's so much. Beef is currently streaming all episodes of season one on Netflix. This show is intense and here's my pro tip, don't make dinner during episode nine.
Julia: Thanks for tuning in y'all. Until next time.
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