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Even the most extreme cases of road rage typically end on the road. Beef, Netflix’s newest A24-produced series, extends a parking lot dispute between two strangers, Amy (Ali Wong) and Danny (Steven Yeun), into a long-standing feud that ultimately changes the trajectory of their lives.
From the petty beef between Amy and Danny, Lee Sung Jin has spun a wild tale of revenge, intergenerational trauma, and the never-ending quest for happiness. A lot of crazy events are orchestrated by the two parties, which trigger the other to act in retaliation. Here’s our timeline of the craziest things that happened on the first season of Netflix’s new hit, Beef.
Road Rage
The beef—internet slang for feud or dispute—between Amy and Danny is a chance encounter during low points in their lives. Danny’s lack of success in business and his inability to provide for his family drove him to suicide. Meanwhile, Amy is unable to vent her anxieties at work to her overly positive husband.
On the brink of their own breakdowns, Danny almost backing into Amy’s car at a big-box store fuels a car chase through the manicured lawns of Calabasas, Los Angeles. I’ve seen road rage videos on the internet that end with a gun being drawn out, which makes their road rage pretty tame in comparison. But the parking lot incident, which well-adjusted individuals would have brushed off easily, sets up the pettiness that is still to come in Beef.
Danny Marks His Territory at Amy’s House
Amy may have won their road rage but Danny got a bit of information as she fled the scene: her license plate. This led Danny to her home address. He used a helpful handyman ruse to get inside the house and pee all over her immaculate guest bathroom as his first act of revenge.
Amy Catfishes Paul
Now that their identities are known to each other, it’s Amy’s turn to strike. She went to Danny’s address—a motel his family used to own—but found no such luck in tracking him down. So she resorted to other methods.
Here’s when Beef gets even crazier: reviewbombing Danny’s Yelp profile didn’t yield favorable results, so Amy catfished him instead. Using her attractive employee’s photos, she connected with Danny’s business IG, which was actually being handled by his brother Paul (Young Mazino).
Even after realizing she was catfishing the wrong person, Amy continued to send Paul messages until a relationship blossomed. Even after finding out that Kayla doesn’t exist, Paul starts an affair with Amy, unaware that she’s the driver that his brother has beef with.
Amy Vandalizes Danny’s Truck
Due to her conversations with Paul, Amy had information on Danny’s whereabouts. After a fight with her husband George (Joseph Lee), she heads to a bar in K-Town to decompress by vandalizing Danny’s truck. Their beef continues.
Danny and Isaac Steal From the Church
While Danny’s business hasn’t produced much success, he isn’t totally to blame for his family’s misfortune. His parents used to own the motel he now resides in. They had to give it up because of illegal activity that Danny’s cousin, Isaac (David Choe), was conducting in it.
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After some jail time, Isaac is back in the Cho brothers’ lives. Paul doesn’t trust him but Danny is heavily influenced by Isaac. It was Isaac’s idea to propose renovations for the church and pocket the money. The church is an important setting in Beef that inspires Danny to make some changes in his life—but Isaac’s influence on him proves stronger.
Danny Befriends George
Paul falls head over heels for Amy and follows her to Las Vegas, where she’s speaking at a conference. Danny, who is hunting down Paul in Vegas to retrieve his car, stumbles onto the conference. He heckles her from the crowd and tries to flee the scene with Isaac but they both get arrested.
At this halfway point in Beef, their petty feud has involved other people. Paul is the innocent lover boy and Isaac is put on house arrest for running from the Las Vegas officers.
To seek revenge, Danny plots to infiltrate Amy’s life the way she has infiltrated his (though he is still unaware of Paul’s involvement with his archnemesis). He introduces himself to George as Zane, strikes up a friendship with him, and plans to steal valuable artwork from their house with the help of Isaac’s henchmen, Michael and Bobby.
The crazy thing is Danny ends up empathizing with George even though he loathed Amy. He cancels the art theft scheme—but Beef is filled with misguided people. Michael and Bobby invade the house anyway and cause Fumi, George’s mother, to fall down the stairs.
Danny and Amy Escape the Consequences of Their Actions
For a moment in Beef, you’d think Amy and Danny are ready to bury the hatchet. The meet in a parking lot and strike up a deal. Danny will take responsibility for the road rage incident with Amy’s hush money.
But Fumi, desperate to keep her son and Amy together for financial reasons, falsely admits to driving Amy’s car and destroying a neighbor’s property. Amy cancelled the deal with Danny who, in desperation, calls in an anonymous tip that it was Isaac driving his truck.
Danny’s Parents’ House Burns Down
Eight months later, Amy’s business deal with Jordana Forster (Maria Bello) is closed. Isaac is back in jail, so Danny has full control of the renovation project and is even leader of the Praise Team. It seems their stressors are gone and their beef is over.
But when Danny discovers that Paul’s ex is actually Amy, and then the house he built for his parents burns down, it doesn’t take much to convince him that Amy is behind it. Their feud is back on and Beef increases the pace and the stakes for the two anti-heroes.
The investigator concludes that faulty wiring, which he installed himself, actually caused the fire. Unable to take responsibility for his actions, he lies to Paul that it was arson and Amy is the culprit.
To sell his lie, Danny goes to Amy’s house to plant evidence but George, who is already aware that Danny is the person Amy has beef with, attempts to make a citizen’s arrest. The two get into scuffle with Danny coming out the winner and George unconscious. Danny escapes in his truck but soon realizes that Amy’s daughter, June, and her dog are sitting in his back seat.
Isaac and Crew Invade Jordana’s House
Accidentally kidnapping his rival’s daughter is not the biggest of Danny’s worries that day. Isaac, the cousin he pinned the road rage incident on and stole from, is out of prison and has his own beef to settle. June presented an opportunity for Isaac to collect what Danny owes him.
Isaac calls Amy for a $500k ransom, who offers an alternative: come to Jordana Forster’s house and steal valuable artifacts, which are worth way more than half a million. The opportunity is too good for him to pass up. With Michael and Bobby in tow, and Danny, Paul, and June as hostages, Isaac drives up to Jordana’s mountain mansion to collect his payout.
But things go off script when the police surround Jordana’s house. Isaac feels backed into a corner and has a shootout with the cops. Beef goes all out with how some characters meet their fate, while Danny comes clean to Paul about all the destructive things he’s done as the brothers try to escape. In the end, only Paul is able to escape the scene by climbing over a tall wall—but encounters the cops on the other side of it.
Desert Road Rage
With George granted emergency custody of June and Paul presumably dead, Danny and Amy hit rock bottom. The rivals encounter each other on the mountain road as they’re driving away but this time, neither of them have anything left to lose. Their beef has come full circle. They get into a more dramatic car chase that ends with the leads driving their cars off the mountain.
Amy and Danny Need Each Other to Survive
All the insanity that Danny and Amy caused each other has, ironically, led to this moment. The two of them are stuck in the mountain, with injuries and zero supplies to boot. It’s like a sick version of the desert island game, only instead of people you like, you get isolated with the one person you hated the most.
The craziest thing though is that this is the point the two characters in Beef finally feel understood. A hazy episode fueled by poisonous berries forced the two into conversation and, ultimately, a deep connection that they admit they’ve never had with another person before.
The finale of Beef isn’t as action-packed as the other episodes but it’s the most crucial for the characters to realize that what was missing in their lives was a person to call home. Danny’s unhappiness stems from the lack of control and success he aimed for, while Amy’s trauma stems from an inability to communicate with another person. It’s a powerful ending borne out of a petty beef between strangers.
Beef starts out on a silly premise but fuels a crazy, emotional, and somewhat relatable ride by two people who simply wanted to feel seen. There’s nothing more human than that. Catch all the episodes on Netflix.
