In “Beef,” a brief episode of road rage escalates into something bigger and badder.
At first, he cant believe it happened.
Then she doubles down and throws out the finger.
Verywell / Netflix
Danny chases her, and she throws garbage at him.
In the end, they both get each others license plates.
Things escalate from there.
Amy scrawls painful graffiti that reads, I am poor and I cant drive all over his truck.
That is the tragedy of “Beef,” a show that doesnt let anyone off the hook.
But why cant Danny and Amy connect?
And how do they help each other heal in the end?
Why Danny and Amy Can’t Seem to Connect
Danny and Amy meet in challenging circumstances.
Normally when someone honks at someone else in a parking lot, it doesnt spiral into a months-long feud.
But Amy and Danny’s initial interaction is primed for this.
Its taken her away from her husband and daughter, June (Remy Holt).
Now shes attempting to sell the business, and thats stressful too.
Thats even as some positive things happen to them too.
Their depression isnt linear; it has its ups and downs.
Their depression doesnt necessarily look like depression in the stereotypical way we think about what depression looks like.
Danny, his emptiness hes trying to fill with some sense of external purpose or accomplishment, claims Raja.
For him, his predominant theme is I dont want to feel alone.
They just arent on the same page.
On Amys part, you just see that theme of shame, Raja observes.
This is true of Amy.
In other words, as Raja claims, their anger ends up becoming a mask for their depression.
It looks like they may never be seen again, but as Raja points out, that doesnt matter.
They even come to the conclusion that they should have done this more often.
They really connect, thanks to the poisonous plants they eat, that they manage to reach this point.
This is the breakthrough they both needed to really understand themselves and each other.
So is Danny right that Western therapy doesnt work on Eastern minds?
But Chan believes work with a therapist cant be done in isolation.
I think they go hand in hand.
