Beef Season 2 TV Review: Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan reunite in an intense new entry in the anthology series

Plot: Newly-engaged Ashley Miller and Austin Davis, both lower-level staff at a country club, become entangled in the unraveling marriage of their General Manager, Joshua Martín (Oscar Isaac), and his wife, Lindsay Crane-Martín. Through favors and coercion, both couples vie for the approval of the elitist club’s billionaire owner, Chairwoman Park, who struggles to manage her own scandal involving her second husband, Doctor Kim.

Review: The first season of Beef, built as a self-contained limited series, was a critical success and a big hit with audiences. Led by outstanding performances from Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, Lee Sung Jin’s dark comedy chronicled how a hit-and-run accident intertwined the lives of two strangers who then spiraled into a prolonged feud. In the second season, Beef introduces new characters and expands the concept of feuds and fights beyond strangers into a combination of generational, societal, and cultural warfare among three sets of couples connected through an elite country club. Led by Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton, Cailee Spaeny, and Oscar-winning Youn Yuh-jung, Beef maintains the darkest of comedic intentions but does so in a broader and more anxiety-ridden entry in what is quickly becoming the benchmark for contemporary anthology series.

The new volume of Beef opens with a fundraiser at an elite country club run by general manager Josh (Oscar Isaac), who feels successful as he is surrounded by wealthy patrons whom he views as friends. Josh’s wife, Lindsay (Carey Mulligan), longs for their shared plan of opening their own exclusive bed-and-breakfast. A squabble escalates into a major argument, then an altercation, witnessed by Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton), two employees who are also engaged. Recording the escalating fight between Josh and Lindsay, the young couple runs away and contemplates what they should do with the footage they recorded. Over the opening episodes, the twenty-year age gap between the couples becomes fodder for a look at how different relationships appear from the outside, especially between Elder Millennials and Gen Z. The disconnect deepens the divide between the two pairs, and between them, as things quickly get worse for everyone.

While the initial season of Beef centered on Ali Wong and Steven Yeun’s chemistry that pushed them apart and pulled them together, this season benefits from four deeply charismatic performers doing exceptional work. The country club setting provides a White Lotus-esque satire of wealth and excess, with the perspective of employees at two ends of the power spectrum: subservient to the upper one percent. Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan, who previously co-starred in Drive and Inside Llewyn Davis, are brilliant here as two people who have fallen apart and are not sure if they should remain together. The emotional heft of this series is carried by both actors, who deliver some of their best work together. Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton, two of the brightest actors of their generation, are equally impressive as they channel a sense of entitlement and wokeness that begins to crumble as they see where they could end up. Both couples are well-matched with each other and offer a more complicated opposition than we saw in the first season.

In keeping with the Korean heritage of creator Lee Sung Jin, which was pivotal in the first season, this entry adds a third couple: new country club owner Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung) and her second husband, plastic surgeon Dr. Kim (Song Kanh-ho). With the story also set in Seoul, South Korea, we have another generational perspective blended with the cultural differences across the Pacific. The three couples clash in ways far more complex and with higher stakes than we saw in the first season, leading to some truly intense moments. There is a lot going on in this entry of Beef connected to the main narrative that weaves the six primary characters together, but it also makes time for some interesting storytelling. The middle of the series boasts two of the best chapters this season, set away from the country club. One focuses on the search for Burberry, the daschund, and the other within an emergency room. Both are highlights of both seasons of the show. There is also a great extended cast of supporting players, including Mikaela Hoover, rapper BM, and the legendary William Fichtner, who round out the main players.

Series creator Lee Sung Jin, who wrote the first episode and co-wrote the remaining seven with Anna Ouyang Moench, Gene Hong, Madeleine Pron, Ethan Kuperberg, Alex Russell, Carrie Kemper, and Niko Gutierrez-Kovner. The balance of humor, which is pitch black this season, with drama and a whiff of satire, shares the same thematic elements as the first season but combines them in a completely different way. The idea of what a “beef” is remains a rift or conflict, but changing the relationship from strangers to coworkers dramatically changes the stakes. The class warfare element is also a carryover from the first season with wealth and access a major point to the story but one that is much more dangerous this season. It also affords a retinue of celebrity cameos that I won’t spoil here. This season is two episodes shorter than the first but feels more expansive, with all episodes consistently clocking in at over forty-five minutes, and the finale close to an hour. The unique title cards and musical score elevate this season’s high caliber, and the last episode takes audiences on a nail-biting journey.

The two seasons of this series could not be more different, yet they share so much in common that it feels impossible to top this. By bringing together six of the best actors working today in a complex story that connects vastly different characters in a tale full of rage, hate, revenge, death, sex, and more, Lee Sung Jin has chronicled an unfiltered look at what can happen to anyone when they feel what they have is slipping away. Beef remains one of the funniest shows and most well-acted dramas on the air and could now rival The White Lotus as the benchmark for anthology storytelling. Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan should appear opposite each other every few years so we can all watch them get better with age, but Beef shows us another reason we should say the same about Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton. Beef didn’t need a second season, and I am glad the one we got is absolutely distinct from the first. This is a masterful story and another achievement for Lee Sung Jin as a writer and creative talent.

Beef is now streaming on Netflix.