Beef Season 2 Review

Beef (2023-)

Season 2 - 8 episodes (2026 April 16)
Watch Beef on Netflix
Created by: Lee Sung Jin
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Cailee Spaeny, Charles Melton, William Fichtner, Youn Yuh-jung 
Rated: TV-MA
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Plot
A young couple witnesses an alarming fight between their boss and his wife, triggering chess moves of favors and coercion in the elitist world of a country club and its Korean billionaire owner.

Verdict
The narrative pushes people to their breaking point. The season is addictive. It's like watching a train wreck. Everyone is running some kind of scam or cheat, and there's no way the situation doesn't blow up for everyone. In trying to better themselves and their positions, everyone just creates more problems. That builds until the final episode where the line between winners and losers is drawn.
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Review
This season is unrelated to season one; it's a completely different story.

The first few scenes in the initial episode provide sufficient backstory. Country club manager Josh (Oscar Isaac) and his wife Lindsay (Carey Mulligna) argue at home after an event at the club. They fight over his job, the money he spends, and the time he devotes to the job. She argues he wasted her sizable inheritance, and he responds that she lied when she stated money didn't matter. He thinks he has a lot of friends at the club, but she states it's his job to be there and friendly. He'll always be an employee.

They reach the point of both demanding a divorce. While this goes on, two employees that are also engaged, Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton), arrive tasked with returning Josh's wallet that he left. They wander to the back of the house while recording video out of concern and see Josh smashing things with a golf club and raising it towards Lindsay, seemingly ready to strike her. Ashley and Austin wrestle with what to do. There's the stress of what they saw, and then the fact that they'll have to see the couple at work. Do you report the violence as that's the ethical thing or do you ignore it to protect your job? Ashley and Austin leave the wallet on the porch and flee.

E2: Carey Mulligan,  Oscar Isaac play Lindsay, Josh

Josh and Lindsay argue that their fight is typical, though it's certainly not. Austin approaches Lindsay the next day despite he and Ashley agreeing to leave it alone. Lindsay patronizes Austin, stating he doesn't understand as he's too young. We're left wonder if she's in denial or really thinks the fight is normal. Josh confronts Ashley, making sure she won't cause any problems. All of this is on the eve of a new Korean owner, Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung). Josh is willing to do whatever it takes to butter up Park so he keeps his job.

Due to a health issue, Ashley decides she needs insurance. She and Austin agree the world is designed to marginalize people in their position while people like Josh and Lindsay never face any repercussion. Ashley approaches Josh about a promotion which would include insurance, and eventually he agrees. He realizes how bad the video looks. Emboldened, Ashley urges Austin to fake being a physical therapist so he can work at the club full time.

Josh plays the part of this rich club guy, but he's pretending. He's not as rich as the club members, and I wonder if they realize that and mess with him sometimes. They're fake friends that use him to get perks at the club. He's living above his means, and in episode two it looks like he's going to embezzle. Ashley is his opportunity as she's not qualified for her job. She's the perfect scapegoat. He explains the plan to Lindsay just in case the audience didn't pick up on it.

E4: Cailee Spaeny, Charles Melton play Ashley, Austin

Josh and Lindsay plan their bed and breakfast with the money they plan to skim. They visit a similar venue, realizing it's better in every single regard. They realize even more money must be taken. There's no way this situation doesn't blow up for both couples. Then we learn than Chairman Park is facing tax evasion charges and is under scrutiny. That's an issue when her plastic surgeon husband botches an operation and she needs to pay off everyone involved.

In episode three, Austin stumbles onto Josh's embezzlement completely by accident. In turn Park is alerted, and she gives Josh a contract as she plans to use him to solve her own problems with remaining hands off. She's going to use the club to pay off the people involved with her husband's medical malpractice case. Josh won't get the extra cash through embezzling, and now he's illegally paying people off all so he can keep his job.

Episode four takes place at the hospital as Ashley waits to be seen. It showcases everything wrong from the wait to disinterested staff to doctors saying she's fine to then needing immediate surgery. The episode, and the story, are pushing people to their breaking point. Ashley blames Josh for not helping her at the hospital when he could have. She breaks into Josh's house and taints the orange juice for revenge. It's incredibly gross.

E8: Charles Melton, Cailee Spaeny, Carey Mulligan play Austin, Ashley, Lindsay

Episode six jumps ahead one month. So much of this show is about connections and who you know, and the other aspect of it is cheating others to get what you want. Many of these characters act selfishly and succeed while ignoring collateral damage. Episode seven is the setup where everything is undone for the final episode. The last episode delivers. The entire season has been a wild run, but Park wants to tie up loose ends. Both couples have ended up in Korea, and that's not a good thing.

This skips ahead eight years. Ashley and Austin have replaced Josh and Lindsay at the club. We see how replaceable Josh was. The members weren't friends with Josh, they only wanted to take advantage and get free perks. Josh has transferred his general manager skills to prison.

A big help to this season is that it isn't constrained by the first season. It can go in any direction, and it's quite the ride. From the beginning we know the couples have an uneasy alliance borne of necessity, but I didn't expect it to become so toxic.