Summary
Things take a serious turn in the fifth episode as Danny’s revenge plans go badly wrong for everyone involved.
Every show needs one, so “Such Inward Secret Creatures” is the obligatory morning-after-the-night-before episode.
After the whole Las Vegas debacle in Episode 4, Danny is more obsessed with revenge than ever. His plan ends up going haywire, though, producing even more problems for everyone than they had to begin with. And that’s saying something.
Beef Season 1 Episode 5 Recap
The plan starts with befriending George. Danny invents a persona, calling himself Zane, and strikes up a conversation with George while they’re out cycling. He has figured out that Amy married into art money and that her husband should be an easy mark.
How does Danny plan to rip off George?
And they need one. Isaac is on house arrest for crossing state lines and assaulting a police officer, and he blames Danny – and Paul, to be fair, but he’s basically in hiding at this point – for his potentially imminent return to prison. Isaac and his cronies Bobby and Michael need a score, and George might as well be it.
Danny once again infiltrates George’s house, but this time he’s invited. While he’s there he creates a leak in the bathroom that he tells George about. Danny offers to find him a plumber, and texts Bobby and Michael with a shopping list of things they’ll need to break in and swipe George’s father’s artwork.
However, George’s vulnerability endears him to Danny. He’s just a lonely guy without much of an identity of his own. He has grown up in his father’s shadow and now toils in the long one cast by his wife. His art moves Danny, and he calls the job off.
Is George having an affair?
However, Michael and Bobby won’t take no for an answer, so they try to finesse their way into George’s home by turning up on his doorstep and offering to fix the leak. Even George isn’t stupid enough to fall for that, though, and he sends them on their way. When he fixes the leak himself, he calls someone to gloat, and while it initially seems like Amy, it’s at this point we discover that he’s having an affair (of sorts, more later) with Mia.
Worryingly, they’re on “I love you” terms.
What’s going on with Fumi?
“Such Inward Secret Creatures” also concerns itself with Fumi, who has two problems: She’s broke, and she’s lonely. When Amy takes a rain check on their planned lunch after Fumi catches her taking photos of herself in her underwear, Fumi dines alone, and all of her calls to her friends go unanswered. Her accountant delivers the bad news that she’s in serious financial strife, so she decides to go to George’s house while he’s out of town and select some pieces to sell.
This is poorly timed on multiple levels. For one thing, Amy has invited Paul over while George is out of town, and their assurances of no physical intimacy last all of five seconds before they’re having sex all over the house. Paul takes the post-coital opportunity to ask her for a loan, though, and when he implies that getting to where she is shouldn’t be too difficult, she throws him out and they end things on bad terms.
Beef Season 1 Episode 5 Ending Explained
Is Fumi alive?
Later, Fumi sneaks in, disabling the alarm system, and while she’s there Michael and Bobby break in to try and rob the place. She chases them off with a gun, but she ends up falling down the stairs. It isn’t even clear if she’s alive or not at the end of the episode. Assuming she is, some cursory investigation of the security footage isn’t going to do Amy any favors, even if it was disabled – why would she be disabling the security system when she’s home alone?
More to the point, Naomi is continuing to dig into the road rage incident after having started to suspect Amy in Vegas. She’s quickly putting the pieces together with the help of the determined neighbor whose lawn was destroyed in the chase. Things aren’t looking good for anyone as we close out.
You can stream Beef Season 1 Episode 5, “Such Inward Secret Creatures”, exclusively on Netflix.
