The hidden meaning behind Beef’s many ‘shameful’ sex scenes according to Ali Wong

Everyone is obsessed with Beef – the new A24 Netflix series about two strangers, Amy and Danny, who intertwine each other’s lives with fury after becoming embroiled in a spontaneous road rage incident in a Los Angeles car park. And, as part of the power plays and chaos that make up the totally unpredictable plot line, Beef contains a lot of sex scenes.

But, as with The White Lotus scene that exposed Theo James’ giant penis, there’s more to Beef’s sex scenes than just shagging. And lead actress Ali Wong has revealed the many hidden meaning behind all of the humping that made the actor who played Paul (Young Mazino) the internet’s new heartthrob.

The gun scene

In Beef’s first episode, after Amy is chased by Danny in the road rage incident that starts all the drama, she gets a gun out of her safe and masturbates with it to regain power and control over her life – much to the confusion of most of the show’s viewers on Twitter.

“I wouldn’t even call it problematic,” Amy said of the scene to Digital Spy. I would just say it is what it is. But for her, she doesn’t feel comfortable with anybody seeing it, you know?”

Paul’s scene

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There isn’t too much symbolism behind Amy and Paul’s scene where they finally give in to the attraction they feel for each other in a very, very long take. Other than, simply, it’s really hot. “The scene [in question] was probably much more raunchy than intimate,” Young Mazino told Tudum, adding episode five wasn’t as erotic as it was to watch it after Ali shocked him by delivering her line “I want you to spit on it.”

“I remember trying not to laugh,” he said. “The sexiness immediately disappeared.”

The hotel scene

Later in the show, after Amy’s husband has left her, she meets an older man who she’s been playing online chess with at a hotel and asks him to have sex with her – but only with a blanket over her head, which Ali told Digital Spy symbolises the shame Amy is feeling in her life.

“When she says in the finale, ‘I don’t want anybody to see me’ – you know, so many people desperately want to be seen, and she’s like, ‘Oh, no, I really don’t want people to see me’,” Ali explained of her character’s emotions.

“That’s one of those things that she doesn’t want people to see, you know? She’s done something she wouldn’t even tell a best friend, and probably wouldn’t write even in a journal because she’d be too scared of someone reading it and finding out. That’s why she has the blanket over her head.”

Beef is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. Featured image credit via Netflix.