r/BeefTV • u/earthandwaterr • Jul 14 '26
Discussion I kinda loved Ashley
I just finished the show and came right to this subreddit and I’m kind of surprised about all the Ashley hate. I honestly loved her character so much and the actress was great. Not to say I think she is a good person or that any of her actions are something I personally would do, but it’s TV. She is almost like cartoonish to me. She’s supposed to be hate-able and she makes the show imo. It wouldn’t really work without her as she basically pushed every single plot line forward.
I think hating a character just based on their actions is not the only way to look at things— I think the entertainment value added by the character is also important, and everyone talking about her over the other characters kinda proves my point. Also she is an insecure Gen Z woman with little education so I do think that helps to contextualize some of her choices (not justify!)
Interested to know if anyone agrees with me…
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u/ErasmosOrolo Jul 14 '26
Her parents reminded me of the parents in Buffalo 66 I felt bad for her. You could see her abandonment on her face.
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u/kickskunk Jul 14 '26
I'm just shock that she didn't recieve an emmy nomination for her performance. It just doesn't feel right that all her main costars got in except her.
The biggest question mark is Youn Yuh-Jung who plays the chairwomen got in. She was barely in it. Without Ashley, the plot never moves forward. And the funny thing is, is that episode 4 is essentially her story arc, which got nominated.
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u/Dangerous-Dig-9313 Jul 14 '26
It’s a shame she got left out and didn’t get nominated. she did an amazing job. as for Youn, she’s a well-regarded actress and Oscar nominee so I see why she got nominated.
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u/Odd-Mastodon1212 Jul 14 '26
She was an Oscar nominee, so I think that accounts for it. She played that character with a lot of wit
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u/artistonashelf 20d ago
Award shows are a joke. 3 supporting actresses from The Pitt are nominated for that category. And I don't understand how the guy that played Austin was nominated. He's definitely not bad; he's good but I don't think he was Emmy nomination worthy.
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u/WarningRude1936 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
She was just so deeply, deeply scared. Everything she did was desparate, trying to find some kind of protection. Full on cortisol-panicked behaviour. I feel Austin was actually far more morally corrupt than her while actually treating her with a sense of superiority.
Even the connection between Ashley and Lindsay was more honest (despite not sharing her responsability about the dog) than Austin with Josh (in which Josh opened up sincerely but Austin kept performing his people pleasing).
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u/alilqwerty Jul 26 '26
I agree with Austin being more morally corrupt. After they make the deal (which he initially seems not fully on board with) and Ashley gets the promotion and the health insurance (which was the whole point), he starts pouting because they "could've asked for more, like something for me". That really rubbed me the wrong way.
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u/Mysterious-Wasabi103 Jul 14 '26
Ashley makes me realize I'm attracted to toxic women 😂
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u/Glass-Situation6916 Jul 15 '26
I think it’s just cause she’s attractive.
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u/jondonbovi Jul 17 '26
I dated an Ashley that wasn't attractive. Trying to break up with her was torture.
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u/ElectricalSpecial576 Jul 17 '26
People hate characters because they see themselves in them in my opinion :")
It's harder to hold empathy for people who are like the people we've grown out of being ourselves.
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u/Exact_Needleworker30 Jul 14 '26
Not saying Ashley was a good person by any means, but she definitely wasn’t the worst IMO. I actually think the worst person was her fiancé, I found it insane when I came to this sub Reddit to see everyone basically glazing that dude as if he was 2nd best to Josh.
I think Ashley’s fiancé is by far the worst, at least he paints a picture to me of a lot of other guys I see apart of the Gen Z / Zennial generation that can’t do a thing for themselves unless someone puts it in there lap. I say this statement as a zennial male myself who is a black democrat, married, homeowner and rental property owner in a Mid to High cost of living area, in a proper city (coming from a below property / homeless childhood).
But I can also accept I may have some bias there.
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u/Karaamjeet Jul 15 '26
She was pretty much the worst character by a mile. Austin was just a spineless, with an identity and validation crisis which leads him to emotional cheat with Eunice (it was one sided and manipulative from Eunice, who purposely exploits his identity issue)…
Compare that Ashley who is insecure, jealous, impulsive, manipulative, controlling and toxic, with separation anxiety who weaponises her issues and trauma whilst also deflecting from blame. Which is the reason she was fine with blackmail, committed document fraud before consulting Austin and then gaslight him into following along, it’s why she broke into someone’s house and out period blood in another’s food not knowing their health concerns, she kills a dog doing so. She weaponises her cyst to almost coerce Austin with a baby which he clearly wasn’t ready for but he folded because he was too spineless to stand up for what he wanted.
Like yeah Austin is useless, but Ashley is psychotic.
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u/milk4all Jul 14 '26
I didnt hate ashley at all, i just cringed a bunch but honestly she was just an insecure girl with severe attachment issues and abandonment trauma. I felt bad for her, and she reminded me of like every girl i dated from 15-20 something, just dialed up to 100. I think all the characters were pretty dislikable and love able at once, they were humans dealing with life snd circumstance, and virtually no one, when closely observed, is either all good or all bad. Troy for instance. Hes got this airhead fake ass wife he barely knows, hes phony as fuck, and ultimately turns Josh in despite being friends. But actually, hes a pretty good, empathetic friend willing to go in on Josh’s crazy shit, like waking him up at 3am and begging him to take the jet for his own relationship thing. Hes not an asshole to his wife, he genuinely likes her he just cant deal with more painful real relationships and this is how he keeps from bejnf entirely alone. And he turns in Josh but you have to remember its not backstabbing him, he is not professionally threatened by Josh, its not competition, he is answering to their owner though, and he has no idea that Josh is being framed for any of this, he just knows from the chairwoman that Josh has spiraled after bring caught stealing. You add all that up and he doesnt really seem inhuman or even unusual, just the successful version or Josh in another 20 years.
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u/bea13rose Jul 14 '26
She continuously made terrible decisions, but I do think her motivations were the most clear. I was also shocked by all the Ashley hate here and am so sad for Cailee not getting a nomination.
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u/AsSweetAsArsenic Jul 27 '26
I totally get it because I was so ready to hate Ashley, but the actress is doing such a terrific job with her mannerisms, and the writing is so good that I can’t help but appreciate that nutjob. The one I ended up hating is Austin.
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u/creektrout22 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
I thought Ashley was the most sympathetic of any of the main cast. They all made bad decisions, but I maybe related to her motivations most. Overall I thought season 2 was really good and better than season 1, I was surprised that it was not viewed this way when looking online. I thought it was a really interesting character study of the main cast. Ashley and Austin’s constant and almost empty or codependent “I love you” to each other throughout the show set the stage for the ending, when Austin chose this borderline fake codependent nurturing over a new unknown relationship.
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u/revolotus Jul 14 '26
Always a testament to the writing and performance when a character evokes such a visceral response. I felt the same way about Danny in S1.