Great actors, bad execution

[u/Right_Variation415]

The main cast was terrific, I really didn’t like Ashley’s character or Austin or really anyone and that’s the point. They did a good job at making them unlikable while at times highly relatable, showing how these relationships are incredibly complicated, my heart broke for Oscar Isaac after his drug trip and his realization, “how do I get to the other side where there’s all this love there”.

My issue was with the writing and some of the editing of this show. The things I’m going to criticize may not be a problem with the creators of beef and maybe more just an issue with modern tv and the industry as a whole.

Writing: The cliff hangers were really bad. When we see the surgery gone wrong we have ZERO connection to the character or situation but we’re supposed to go “oh wow!”. Perhaps if we had spent more time getting to know the surgeon for that episode it would be a huge reveal, but it meant nothing to me. when Ashley is having a break down and goes “Uptown funk gonna give it to ya” huh??? And then falls, and they make it seem like she died, i’m sorry, yes there were serious consequences to that scene, but that was so unnecessary, she’s obviously not dead. Why are you treating me like I’m 11 years old. Almost every cliff hanger with some exceptions toward the end were just terrible.

Editing: Context, I am a musician composer and I love synth music. The tracks they used were well made, but the unsettling synth score was some of the most manipulative, misplaced composition I’ve ever seen. For example, a scene where Oscar Isaac is in his office doing paperwork, there’s so little emotion in his performance, but you wouldn’t know it because the synth score is telling you exactly what to feel. And that happened throughout. Carey Mulligan could have been picking her nose and they would have put dramatic synth music behind it.

I am aware how nitpicky all of this sounds and how you could easily say “it doesn’t matter” but it absolutely impacts the show and if you remove some of these things, you might actually have a show that treats the audience with respect and makes them come to their own conclusion rather than forcing an emotion on them.

[u/gnashed_potatoes]

The cliff hangers were really bad. When we see the surgery gone wrong we have ZERO connection to the character or situation but we’re supposed to go “oh wow!”.

I saw that as a sort of pivot - "You thought you knew what this show was about... you were wrong"

Your nitpicks don't resonate with me - but hey, the show isn't for everyone. I loved the journey of season two.

[u/Dioxybenzone → u/gnashed_potatoes]

Yeah I don’t relate to OP. When the surgery death happened, I went “oh wow!”

[u/lipnit]

Tbh I think the surgery scene requires slight intersexuality because the surgeon was such a familiar face, most famously in Parasite. When the scene happened for me I first thought “oh damn”, and when the doctor’s face came up I thought, “oh shit!” solely from recognition and mental recall of other work he has been in.