Netflix’s ‘Beef’ Is Good at Feeling Bad

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( TV Review [Beef Feels Bad]( But who needs feel-good TV when Steven Yeun and Ali Wong make existential turmoil so compelling? Photo: Netflix There are certain everyday indignities for which there is no justice, no balancing of the karmic scales: rudeness from strangers, wasted time on hold or in a waiting room, casual sexism or racism, getting cut off in line or in traffic. For a person tuned to the frequency of loss rather than gain, the desire to just once get what you think you’re owed can spin out of control quickly, and under those circumstances, a middle finger aimed out a car window can be construed as a declaration of war. Lee Sung Jin’s limited Netflix series Beef uses that gesture to fling us straight into the trenches of modern American malaise with Steven Yeun and Ali Wong on opposite sides of a midlife crisis that blows up into an increasingly violent existential duel. Watching Beef’s ten episodes, which premiere all at once on April 6, is like picking at a scab or pushing on the edge of a bruise — a paradoxically pleasurable sensation of anxiety and satisfaction — and Yeun and Wong’s vibrating, hostile chemistry makes for engaging feel-bad TV that critiques the very notion of inner peace. [Read The Story »]( Devour pop culture with us. [Subscribe now]( for unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. The Latest TV Recaps • [Succession](: Not Serious People • [Saturday Night Live](: Quinta Brunson Teaches How It’s Done • [Party Down](: One Last Ride • [RuPaul’s Drag Race](: Blame It on the Malaise [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [‘We Were Obsessed’ Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda didn’t plan to revisit their 2003 album, Meteora — until he found a lost demo on his hard drive.]( [Justine Lupe’s Willa Is Caught Up in the Fun of Connor’s Delusions The Succession actor gets a “little bit of a Scorpio vibe” from the eldest Roy’s escort turned fiancée.]( [Sarah Sze’s Big Little Things The interstitial worlds of “Timelapse” take over the Guggenheim.]( [What Would Every Succession Character Sing at Karaoke? Logan wouldn’t sing.]( [The Best TV Shows of 2023 (So Far) Only three months in and this is already shaping up to be one of the more interesting TV years in recent memory.]( [Succession Power Rankings: Family Business Who’s up (Roman), who’s down (Kerry), and who’s thriving without love (Connor) after “Rehearsal.”]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Today’s Crossword]( 1-Down, Four Letters: Way for a Disney villain to die, often. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images Vulture Recommends We consume it all so you don’t have to. Listen to [Next Year in Moscow](, a new podcast from The Economist that gives a piercing look into the lives of Russians who have gone into exile following their opposition to their country’s invasion of Ukraine. Critic Nicholas Quah named it one of [the best podcasts of the year (so far)](. [Read more from Vulture]( A weekly newsletter of TV and movie recommendations. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [Get the Newsletter]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](link.nymag.com/manage/588/optout-vulture?email={EMAIL}&hash=39357a76f6d08b16239fd2ffa65e9c6f¶m=vulture-daily) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2023, All rights reserved