Here comes that term again, the ‘comedy drama’. I was concerned when I heard about Beef. The dramady label. Ten episodes, half an hour each. It was showing all the red flags. But then I was met with a really promising opening scene.
Two total strangers foster a hatred for one another based on a momentary, everyday encounter.
Danny is already having a bad day when a white SUV pulls out on him while he’s reversing, honking at him aggressively. Danny choses violence. Giving into his road rage, he follows the offending vehicle in a dramatic chase, and leaves the encounter with the SUV’s registration memorised.
An inciting incident is the moment that triggers the story. It’s the call to action, the spark that starts the fire. It should also serve to grab the attention of the audience, acting as a promise of the journey to come. In John Yorke’s book Into The Woods, he sets out the three crucial stages to a good inciting incident:
· The protagonist will be alerted to a world outside their own.
· They will make a decision on how to react to this and pursue a course of action that will precipitate a crisis.
· This will force them to make a decision propelling them into a whole new universe.
-Into The Woods, John Yorke.
Yorke articulated the framework of an effective inciting incident, and writer Lee Sung Jin follows it to the letter. The driver of the white SUV is Amy. Like Danny, she is Korean living in Los Angeles, but she is wealthy and successful with a loving family. She is in the position Danny is striving to get to. So when she cuts Danny off while he’s reversing, their two very different worlds collide. Danny then gives in to his anger, pursuing Amy and thus beginning a feud that will compound to a crisis.
It’s a brilliantly simply concept for a story. Two total strangers foster a hatred for one another based on a momentary, everyday encounter. Danny and Amy go back and forth with each other pulling pranks to get revenge, messing with each other in increasingly elaborate ways. The feud takes a toll on both of their lives, and Lee Sung Jin uses this to explore lots of different areas: family, forgiveness and self-acceptance.
despite the story threatening to spiral chaotically out of control, the writing remains tight throughout and the dialogue is always sharp and convincing.
Towards the end the drama builds to a level that’s difficult to handle. Lee Sung Jin has certainly packed a lot into the five-hour run time. But despite the story threatening to spiral chaotically out of control, the writing remains tight throughout and the dialogue is always sharp and convincing.
The Korean drama has been seeing success with western audiences recently. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite of 2019, and Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Squid Game in 2021 were both truly original and genre bending pieces. Lee Sung Jin follows them nicely, playing with genre and audience expectations in the same way, while exemplifying particular narrative techniques.
Beef is an example of the kind of fresh and experimental new series I want to see more of on streaming services, and it is also a testament to not underestimating the power of the inciting incident.
Comments