I opted not to watch this series when it popped up on Netflix but changed my mind after watching Thunderbolts of all things. Part of the creative team for what must be the best MCU entry in years also worked on Beef and the shared DNA is especially obvious in the very last episode. The series starts off with a bang as a road rage incident between two strangers escalates into a protracted feud. I loved it as a deep dive of two psychologically damaged people who allow a minor incident destroy their lives. I liked it less though when it starts spreading itself too thinly by developing the supporting characters. It’s good but maybe tone down on the crazy escalation and dramatic twists.

After failing to return a hibachi grill at Forsters, a home improvement store, Danny Cho nearly backs his truck into an SUV. The driver of the SUV flips him off, and the resulting car chase results in the destruction of someone’s garden. The SUV’s owner is Amy Lau who is trying to sell her small business to Forsters. She is the breadwinner of the family as her husband George stays at home to create his pottery artwork and desperately wants to be able to spend more time with their daughter June. Meanwhile Danny is a struggling contractor who needs money to buy his Korean parents a home in the US. In a fit of frustration, he looks up the license plate of Amy’s SUV to find her address. He enters her house as a contractor and pranks her by urinating all over her bathroom. The enraged Amy floods his business with fake reviews and tries to catfish Danny using photos of her assistant Mia. But she manages to attract Danny’s younger layabout brother Paul instead.

The premise is fantastic as everyone can recognize how road rage can be both infuriating and completely pointless. Danny and Amy both happen to catch one another at a low point in their respective days and escalating the initial confrontation only makes things worse and worse. It gets better as we learn that both are damaged people carrying deep unresolved trauma. Danny has been buying the Hibachi grills to commit suicide as he is stressed over his mounting financial obligations. Amy has worked hard her whole life to achieve the best grades, to build her business and is now rich by most standards. Yet it’s never enough to stave off the darkness inside her. Both are of course depressed and the show even uses the same language as Thunderbolts in describing it as a void. It gets doubly interesting as a majority of the characters here are Asian American purely by happenstance. Danny’s social circle is mainly made up of Korean-Americans like himself and so he goes to a Korean church. Amy’s parents are Vietnamese migrants and George is Japanese. Asian expectations of filial duty and perfectionism possibly play into the mental issues of both lead characters. But otherwise it’s just a background detail of a plausible cross section of Greater Los Angeles.

So I’m totally on board with it as an in-depth exploration of the mutually destructive psyches of the two leads. But then the show branches out to further develop the people around them as well. That’s fine inasmuch as it’s needed to tell the stories of Amy and Danny. The show though wants to imply that everyone too is somehow damaged in different ways and that’s a harder sell. It turns out the seemingly clean-cut praise leader Edwin in the Korean church too is egoistic and ready to do shady deals if his status is challenged. Amy’s neighbor Naomi and the sister-in-law of the owner of Forsters too is aggressively jostling for social status. It just gets silly when it tries to expand the initial premise so widely. Over and over, the plot goes for surprising twists to raise the stakes and ramp up the drama. No doubt that makes for more entertaining television, but I feel that it diminishes the driving premise of the show which makes it special. The ending is a return to form of sorts and largely satisfying but I wish it kept its focus better along the way there.

I’d still give this a hearty thumbs-up. Both leads deliver great performances, it gets things mostly right and I really enjoyed how it casually showcases the Asian community. I’m also pleased that this has been successful enough that there will be a second season with entirely new characters and what looks like a very promising cast. I’m not sure what grievance will kick off the feud the next time around but I’ll be paying attention.