It’s been almost two weeks now since Lee Sung Jin’s Beef landed on Netflix, meaning many fans have finished binging the critically acclaimed dark comedy.
The series starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun is widely considered to be the streaming service’s best show of 2023 so far.
However, towards the business end of the first season, things got a little gruesome for some viewers.
*Warning – Major spoilers ahead for Beef episode nine*
Beef’s ninth episode sees David Choe’s Isaac taking drastic measures to recuperate the money swindled from him by his brother Danny (Yeun).
Isaac and his accomplices take Amy (Wong), Naomi (Ashley Park) and Jordan (Maria Bello) hostage in the latter’s LA mansion.
Things go awry when Naomi and Jordan make a break for the multi-millionaire’s panic room. Naomi ends up crushing Jordan in the panic room door as she tries to escape her captor.
The result is so gruesome that Isaac’s accomplice ends up vomiting on the floor.
Many fans took to Twitter to share their revolted reactions to the scene.
“Girl, not Jordan & this safe door?! What in the Final Destination?!” one person wrote, referencing the famously gory film franchise.
“Now why they kill Jordan like that ???” Another questioned.
Someone else wrote: “That Jordan scene was so unnecessary [to be honest].”
In an interview with Newsweek, showrunner Lee revealed that the episode was originally going to be even more violent before the show’s producers told him to dial it down.
“I knew that I wanted everything to hit the fan,” Lee said. “We’d been stretching this rubber band for eight episodes now, I knew I needed the thing to snap.
“And truthfully the outline of that episode was, believe it or not, even crazier, with so many more deaths. But it was too much, and Netflix and A24, rightfully, were like ‘you, OK?’ And so we brought it back.”
Beef has aired with some controversy after a 2014 clip from Choe’s now-defunct podcast, DVDASA, resurfaced showing him talking about sexually assaulting a massage therapist.
The 46-year-old later apologised for the comments, claiming that the anecdote was a fabrication for the sake of the show.
On Tuesday (18 April), it was reported that Choe had filed requests to have the podcast clip removed from Twitter, citing copyright infringement.
The Independent has contacted Choe’s representatives for comment.
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