Beef Ending Explained: The Meaning Behind the Netflix Series (2023)

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Is the titular beef settled at the end of Netflix's Beef? Let's get to the bottom of that finale.

Beef Ending Explained: The Meaning Behind the Netflix Series (1)By Alec Bojalad | |

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Beef Ending Explained: The Meaning Behind the Netflix Series (2)

This article contains spoilers for Beef.

Beef. It’s what’s for dinner. It’s also what’s on Netflix right now. The streamer’s latest series is a 10-episode A24-produced drama about a petty feud that completely consumes the lives of two otherwise average American schmoes.

In the show’s first episode, Danny Cho (Steven Yeun) and Amy Lau (Ali Wong)’s respective cars nearly collide in a parking lot. Car horns and middle fingers are subsequently exchanged and suddenly Danny and Amy are engaged in a years-long “beef” that ultimately destroys their lives and the lives of everyone around them.

This show, created by Lee Sung Jin (who is next set to write Marvel’s Thunderbolts), is both a creative screwball comedy and a careful meditation on the human capacity for self destruction. With that in mind, Beef has quite a harrowing tight rope to maneuver through in its final two episodes. In the end, Beef definitively ends one chapter of Danny and Amy’s story while also leaving room for more.

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Here is what you need to know about the ending of Beef.

What Happens in Beef Episode 9?

Every good story about conflict must feature a moment in which it all the consequences finally come home to roost. That moment (and those consequences) arrives for Beef in its penultimate ninth episode. This is a half hour of television so stylized and violent that one could be forgiven for thinking it will all be revealed to be a dream. But it’s not a dream. The utterly preposterous events of “The Great Fabricator” actually happen somehow.

It all begins with Danny’s accidental kidnapping of Amy’s daughter June in episode 8. While Danny is preparing to get June back to her parents before going on the run, his convinced felon cousin Isaac (David Choe) and his goons Michael (Andrew Santino) and Bobby (Rekstizzy) arrive. Isaac has beef with Danny (a recurring theme, you see) for allowing Isaac to falsely take the fall on the original vandalism charges that arose from Amy and Danny’s first road rage incident.

Already with another crime under his belt, Isaac needs a substantial amount of money to fund his defense. He decides to blackmail Amy with her kidnapped daughter for said funds but Amy convinces him to rob her new business partner Jordan Foester’s (Maria Bello) opulent home instead.

It’s at Jordan’s home where everything well and truly goes to shit. Danny and his brother Paul (Young Mazino) are able to get little June away from Bobby but are soon re-captured by Michael and Isaac. As the cops bear down on the location, everyone freaks out. Jordan’s wife Naomi (Ashley Park), who she wooed away from her brother weirdly, rushes to the panic room. Jordan tries to follow her there but Naomi prematurely closes the hatch and the stainless steel doors crush Jordan in half, killing her almost instantly.

Once the police arrive Michael is shot and killed and Isaac is taken in to custody. Danny convinces Paul to leave him and escape by telling him that he sabotaged his life by throwing his college acceptance letters away so that they could stay the “same.” And that’s not even to mention the fact that it was Danny who accidentally burned their parents’ home down with a faulty wiring job. Upon escape, however, it sounds as though Paul is shot by some overzealous police (he’s not thankfully, as Danny discovers later). Meanwhile, Amy is guided out of the war zone and delivered the news that her husband George (Joseph Lee) has already taken June home and will be filing an order of protection against her so she may never see her daughter again.

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(Video) BEEF Netflix Ending Explained

In the end, what started with a simple traffic dispute has resulted in no fewer than two broken families, countless rounds of ammunition spent, property destruction on an apocalyptic scale, multiple arrests, and two moldering corpses.

What Happens in Beef Episode 10?

While episode 9 depicts the ultimate consequences for everyone in Danny and Amy’s orbit, it does not bring the destructive duo together to fully grapple with each other. That moment finally happens in “Figures of Light,” the 10th and final episode of Beef.

Following the madness at Jordan’s, Amy and Danny have a second incident of road rage as Amy pursues Danny down a dark, winding path at night, hoping to capture him and get the police involved. Instead both Danny and Amy’s cars careen off a cliff and they find themselves injured, lost, and annoyingly together as the sun rises the next day.

At this point in the story, as Danny and Amy have to begrudgingly work together to get back home, you might expect that they come to realize that they have more in common than they thought. You’d be right in that expectation but Beef at least goes about brining them together in a satisfyingly novel way. That’s right: it’s hallucination time.

At gunpoint, Amy instructs Danny to fetch them some elderberries to eat. Unfortunately, she is not a gifted botanist and the berries they find make them extremely sick. The psychedelic effects brought on by the marathon puking sessions really open up Amy and Danny’s third eyes and they come to realize they’re just equally broken people looking for external antagonists to take place of their inner demons.

Eventually the duo powers through their illnesses and make it back to civilization. Once there, however, George sees Danny with his hands on his wife and shoots him. Cut to: Amy visiting a non-responsive Danny in the hospital. Cue Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mayonnaise” and roll credits. Show’s over.

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Is the Beef Eventually Squashed in Beef?

Based on that bittersweet ending, I think it’s fair to say that the titular beef in Beef has been squashed…but maybe not for the reason you think. You see, back in the woods when Danny and Amy are having their hallucination sesh, something rather interesting manifests. Danny and Amy find their words getting mixed up with each other’s and before they know if they are speaking on behalf of the other person. Amy’s “dialogue” comes out of Danny’s mouth while Danny’s “dialogue” comes out of Amy’s.

This is all likely due to the effects of the berries and Amy and Danny haven’t literally swapped bodies – though the supernatural is not completely out of the question. The first scene of the final episode actually indulges in some magical realism and provides closed captioning for a murder of crows as they recognize both Danny and Amy and decide that they favor Danny in this matchup because he fed them before.

Regardless of what’s really going on here, it serves as a surprisingly lovely moment of catharsis and self-forgiveness. It also leads to a rather touching exchanging of words:

“If God is everything. Then we’re God. He’s just like us.”
“I think we’re dying.”
“I think so too.”
“I see your life. You poor thing. All you wanted was to not be alone.”
“You don’t have to be ashamed. It’s ok. I see it all. You don’t have to hide. It’s ok.”
“Wow. There’s really nothing after this.”
“We should have done this more often.”
“What a waste.”
“At least we did it once.”

Who says what in that back and forth? It ultimately doesn’t matter because Amy and Danny are one and the same now. At episode’s end, when Amy crawls into a limp Danny’s hospital bed, there are some romantic overtones. But more than anything the action represents her learning how to forgive herself.

Truly, the beef was inside us all along.

(Video) Netflix Beef Season 1 Ending Explained

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All 10 episodes of Beef are available to stream on Netflix now.

(Video) Unpacking BEEF | Inside the Season Finale | Netflix
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Beef Ending Explained: The Meaning Behind the Netflix Series (3)

Written by

Alec Bojalad|@alecbojalad

(Video) BEEF Episode 10 Ending Explained | Netflix | A24

TV Editor at Den of Geek and Television Critics Association member. Based in Cleveland, Ohio. Very upset about various sporting events.

Read more from Alec Bojalad

FAQs

What did the ending of beef mean? ›

After finally seeing each other's perspectives and ending the show's titular beef, Amy and Danny fall in love. Their time in the desert together certainly could be taken that way; they both begin to feel as if the other is the only one who has ever seen them for who they really are.

What happens at the end of beef Netflix? ›

The season ends with Danny and Amy utterly alone, in the hospital, after being strung out on poisonous berries in the deserted Malibu hillside. But, for a brief moment, there's connection and understanding as Amy hugs Danny and he embraces her back to the yearning tones of Smashing Pumpkins' “Mayonaise.”

Will there be season 2 of beef? ›

Beef has not yet been officially renewed for a second season. However, based on its stellar performance on Netflix, a second season could happen.

What happens to Isaac in beef? ›

Amy's coming clean included talking to the police about who was really driving Danny's truck. Subsequently, Isaac is released — hell-bent on revenge against Danny and in desperate need of money to appease the enemies he made behind bars.

Why did beef turn brown? ›

After beef has been refrigerated for about five days, it may turn brown. This darkening is due to oxidation, the chemical changes in myoglobin due to the oxygen content. This is a normal change during refrigerator storage.

What is beef a metaphor for? ›

Coming from the flesh of muscular adult domestic bovines (such as the steer or cow), beef has long been used as a metaphor for strength, substance, or brawn.

What happened after the meat scandal? ›

Roosevelt signed a law regulating foods and drugs on June 30, 1906, the same day he signed the Meat Inspection Act. The Pure Food and Drug Act regulated food additives and prohibited misleading labeling of food and drugs. This law led to the formation of the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

What happens at the end of the story a piece of steak? ›

He knows that had he been able to eat a steak before the fight, the outcome would have been different. Because he has already taken out credit on the loser's share of the purse, he leaves the fight penniless and in despair. The story ends with King crying on his two-mile walk home, as he cannot afford a cab ride.

What happens to the meat on the show The Butcher? ›

According to one contestant, the series provides top-of-the-line and safe equipment for the contestants. An on-screen announcement at the start of each episode states that all meat used in the competition is donated to animal rescue shelters afterward.

Why did beef go up? ›

Meat prices are currently 7.5% higher than this time last year. This is due to several factors from general inflation, which in June climbed to 9.1% — the highest since November 1981 – to labor, fuel, supply chain issues and a drought impacting Texas and midwestern states.

Will beef ever go back down? ›

USDA and agriculture executives said that beef production is expected to decline later in 2023, marking a return to higher beef prices.

How old is the beef? ›

Most cattle don't get past the age of two. American beef comes mostly from steers and heifers slaughtered between 18 and 24 months old. Young cattle are prized for their tenderness and mild flavor.

Did Isaac get resurrected? ›

Isaac was resurrected after the slaughter in the version of medieval Ashkenaz. Spiegel has interpreted this as designed to recast the biblical figures in the context of the Crusades. The Book of Genesis does not tell the age of Isaac at the time.

Did Isaac get revived? ›

Isaac is revived aboard the Orville.

What is the true ending of Isaac? ›

Epilogue (Mom Ending)

Isaac is victorious. The scene then cuts to the real Isaac. Unfortunately, this turns out to be just a story that Isaac has written. Seconds later, the door to Isaac's room bursts open, and Mom appears again with the knife in her hand.

What is meant by freezer burn? ›

Freezer burn happens when frozen foods are exposed to cold, dry air, which causes them to dehydrate as the outer layers lose moisture. One of the most commonly recognized signs of freezer burn is the formation of ice crystals on the outside of food, making it appear frost bitten.

Why is beef brown on the inside? ›

There's even a name for it: myoglobin, which is a protein responsible for the red coloring on the outside of the ground meat. When meat — or even poultry — is packaged, the meat on the outside is exposed to more oxygen. That's why meat turns a bright red color on the outside while the inside remains brown.

What is the brown stuff in beef? ›

Brown patches are not bad and your steaks are still safe to eat as long as there are no other signs of spoilage such as a pungent smell or a slimy texture. The brown patches indicate that the myoglobin in your steaks is reacting with oxygen in the air to form metmyoglobin which is brown in color.

Why is beef an argument? ›

Apparently, it goes back to old London rhyming slang. Londoners used to cry “hot beef!” (rhymes with: “stop thief!”) to raise the alarm in a touch-and-go situation. “Beef” came to be equated with “to shout”, and it evolved from there to represent what we know it as in its modern form.

Why was it called beef? ›

The French referred to cow as boeuf, which then got morphed to today's beef. The French words stuck and that is how we got the word beef and not cow, which makes sense, seeing as how French words tend to litter the English language.

What is the concept of beef? ›

Beef is meat from a cow. It's also a word for a complaint. If you have a beef with someone, you're not sharing a steak, you have a gripe. Just don't beef to a cow; her problems are worse. Beef is a type of meat from cattle.

Why did butchers hang meat? ›

During hanging, the enzymes in the meat make the fibres of the muscles softer and more elastic, which ultimately leads to the meat becoming relaxed and tender.

What is Biden doing to the meat industry? ›

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2023 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the Biden-Harris Administration is investing $9.6 million across the country and taking several other steps to help farmers, ranchers, processors and rural businesses diversify the nation's meat supply.

Which president was responsible for the meat scandal? ›

Theodore Roosevelt on June 30, 1906, that prohibited the sale of adulterated or misbranded livestock and derived products as food and ensured that livestock were slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions.

What is the significance of the ending of the story? ›

The ending is the most important part of a dramatic narrative: The ending is the part of a drama in which the conflict between the story's protagonist and whatever antagonistic force is standing in the way of the protagonist achieving his primary motivating goal comes to a head and is finally resolved.

What is the ending of the story? ›

The ending of a story or novel forms readers' final impression of what they have read. An effective ending seals the readers' satisfaction with your piece. It leaves them thinking and maybe talking about it long after they have finished reading.

What is the ending the final outcome of the story? ›

Denouement is the point in a story in which the conflict is resolved.

Is Butcher the final villain? ›

William J. "Billy" Butcher is the deuteragonist-turned-final antagonist of the controversial comic book series The Boys, the main protagonist of I'm Your Pusher, the third episode of The Boys Presents: Diabolical, and the posthumous overarching protagonist of its sequel-spin-off The Boys: Dear Becky.

Did Butcher become a villain? ›

After the comic version of The Boys shows the death of Homelander and Black Noir (a Homelander clone), Butcher becomes its final antagonist. He kills Frenchie, the Female, and Mother's Milk as they try to stop him from releasing a strain of Compound V that will kill anybody with supe DNA.

Was Butcher a FBI agent? ›

Founder Bill Butcher (b. 1939-d. 2019)

A former FBI agent, Bill Butcher was an entrepreneur, having started up and sold several businesses after leaving the Bureau.

What does beef stand for in slang? ›

Slang. a complaint. an argument or dispute.

Will food prices go down in 2023? ›

Food prices are expected to grow more slowly in 2023 than in 2022 but still at above-historical average rates. In 2023, all food prices are predicted to increase 7.5 percent, with a prediction interval of 5.5 to 9.6 percent.

Will beef become a luxury? ›

Meat, which is currently part of a regular meal for many people, is likely to become a luxury item in the next few decades as more people adopt a plant-based diet to reduce their carbon footprint, she says.

What will replace beef in the future? ›

Plant-based meat analogues, edible insects, and cultured meat are promising major meat alternatives that can be used as protein sources in the future.

Does beef stay in you for years? ›

There are so many myths about meat, including whether it sits in your gut for ages after you eat it. Nothing 'sits' in your gut. Your digestive system is not a recycling centre that carefully separates your food into meat, vegetables, grains and so on and then processes them separately.

What happens to beef after slaughter? ›

Immediately after slaughter, biochemical processes are released in the meat. The lack of oxygen leads to anaerobic glycolysis, in which glycogen and glucose are degraded. This reduces the pH to about 5.6.

What gender is beef? ›

Cattle raised for human consumption are called beef cattle.

Within the beef cattle industry in parts of the United States, the older term beef (plural beeves) is still used to refer to an animal of either gender.

What religion is beef? ›

Cattle are considered sacred in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and in African paganism. Cattle played other major roles in many religions, including those of ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Israel, ancient Rome.

How long do pigs live before slaughter? ›

Pigs are slaughtered after four to seven months. Sows produce around four to seven litters before they become exhausted and are slaughtered at three-to-five years.

Why did God spare Isaac? ›

This points to the greater exchange that happens at the cross, the Son of God in place of humanity. In Jesus, God brings his own promised Son into death and through it. Just like God spares Isaac, God spares humanity because he takes the cross on himself.

What did Isaac say before he died? ›

Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. Now then, get your weapons--your quiver and bow--and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die."

Who buried Isaac when he died? ›

Isaac died at the old age of one hundred and eighty years. His sons, Jacob and Esau, buried him among his kinsmen.

Who did God ask to sacrifice his son? ›

Command to Sacrifice

One day when Isaac was a boy, God came to Abraham and told him to sacrifice Isaac on Mt. Moriah. Though he loved his son dearly, he did not hesitate to obey the Lord.

Does Isaac ever get feelings? ›

Isaac doesn't actually have emotions ...

According to Jackson, it can sometimes be challenging to remember that Isaac doesn't have emotions. "He thinks logically. He only does anything because it makes sense to him, and he is not emotionally driven," Jackson said.

What did Isaac do with his life? ›

Isaac was the only patriarch who stayed in Canaan during his whole life and though once he tried to leave, God told him not to do so. Rabbinic tradition gave the explanation that Isaac was almost sacrificed and anything dedicated as a sacrifice may not leave the Land of Israel.

Why did Isaac stop? ›

Eventually, Isaac began a romantic attraction with Allison Argent, although the two of them didn't get to be together for long. Allison's death at the end of the show's third season sends Isaac into grief, which is when he ultimately leaves.

Is Isaac a boy in binding of Isaac? ›

Isaac is genderfluid, or at least gender confused.

What does faith up to Isaac? ›

"Faith Up" only serves to inform the player that it is linked to Angel Rooms in an unspecified way.

What is the meaning of the ending of the movie First cow? ›

Unfortunately, Cookie injured his head, and can't keep up with Lu as they continue to run from Chief Factor and his henchmen. For a moment, you think that Lu will leave Cookie to die and save himself, but instead, Lu lies down next to Cookie and tells him they will be safe there. With that, the movie ends.

Why is beef hung after slaughter? ›

A: Hanging beef in a cooler (at about 38° F) for at least 10 days is recommended to improve tenderness. This process is called aging. This allows the enzymes in the meat to break down the proteins and improve eating quality. The process would also allow the development of flavors associated with the aging process.

What is the main message from defending beef? ›

In Defending Beef, Hahn Niman argues that cattle are not inherently bad for either the Earth or our own nutritional health. In fact, properly managed livestock play an essential role in maintaining grassland ecosystems by functioning as surrogates for herds of wild ruminants that once covered the globe.

What is the end product of beef? ›

Beef processing: the end product is meat.

Why did the man milk the cow? ›

While it is still speculation, the most likely hypothesis is that desperation and starvation drove early farmers to cow's milk; this is the most widely accepted theory in the historical farming community, although the exact person and reason may be debated.

What did the little boy do to the cow? ›

The little boy offered green grass to the cow. She chewed it. The clever boy began to move to the side of the road with grass in his hand. The cow followed him and thus was moved.

What did the cow refuse to get up? ›

The cow refused to get up because she was in a bad mood.

Why does beef have to rest? ›

When you cut into a very hot piece of meat, all of the liquid is going to come out. If you rest it, it allows everything to relax and redistribute the juices, which creates a more tender, juicier cut," explains Angie Mar, co-owner and executive chef of The Beatrice Inn in New York City.

Why does beef need to rest? ›

The center of the steak becomes supersaturated with liquid—there's more liquid in there than it can hold on to—so when you slice it open, all that extra liquid pours out. By resting the steaks, you allow all that liquid that was forced out of the edges and into the center time to migrate back out to the edges.

Why is beef tied up? ›

Trussing beef before roasting helps retain its shape while it cooks in the oven and stops the meat from spreading. This method can also be used for stuffed and rolled joints of meat to hold them together. The trussing method works by tying a series of interlinked knots to secure the meat in place.

Why is beef important to Georgia? ›

Annual cash receipts total more than $262 million, making cattle the state's sixth largest cash crop. Because cattle are grown in all 159 counties of Georgia, the beef industry has a large impact on the state's economy (estimated at more than $2 billion).

Why is beef important? ›

Beef is an excellent source of protein and supplies 10 essential nutrients including B-vitamins, zinc, and iron that support an active and healthy lifestyle. The nutrients in beef provide our bodies with the strength to thrive throughout all stages of life. Learn more about beef's nutrients below.

Why is beef a necessity? ›

Meats such as chicken, pork, lamb and beef are all rich in protein. Red meat provides us with iron, zinc and B vitamins. Meat is one of the main sources of vitamin B12 in the diet. Food hygiene is important when storing, preparing and cooking meat.

What is the red liquid in beef? ›

What is the liquid coming out of steak? Even the rarest and reddest of steaks is actually bloodless. Instead, what you're looking at is a combination of water, which makes up about 75 per cent of meat, and a protein found in muscle tissue called myoglobin.

What is the red chemical in beef? ›

Myoglobin is a richly pigmented protein. The more myoglobin there is in the cells, the redder, or darker, the meat. When dark meat is cooked, myoglobin's color changes depending on what the meat's interior temperature is. Rare beef is cooked to 140° F, and myoglobin's red color remains unchanged.

What is the liquid in beef? ›

That red liquid is water mixed a protein called myoglobin. See as meat ages, the muscle tissue breaks down – and it doesn't take long. The water and myoglobin cells inside the meat are released and voila, a red blood-like liquid emanates from the meat when it is prepared.

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