Beef Season 2 Review: A Brilliant, Exciting Follow-Up Shackled by Its Own Franchise

Lee Sung Jin’s original run of Beef was an extraordinary limited series. It was a masterful combination of humor and drama about two strangers whose lives became inexplicably intertwined through a series of escalating personal grievances. It was absolute lightning in a bottle.

Beef Season 2 Review

Today, we see why every superhero movie has to feature an overdose of nostalgia and why so many poor films are shoehorned into already existing franchises. The follow-up project from Jin is now the second season of what Netflix is calling an anthology series. In broad, obvious ways, this new season earns the brand title. However, it feels as if Jin wanted to tackle something completely different.

For financial or perhaps cynical reasons, this new story is held back by a predecessor that worked precisely because of its originality. Due to the inevitable comparisons it faces, Season 2 is a bit of a step down. It has immense individual merit and is a great season of television, but it just doesn’t land with the same sharpness as the first.

We get twice the fun in the form of the feud. This time, the chaos follows two couples. First are the Cranes: Josh (Oscar Isaac), a wealthy but mischievous general manager at a luxury golf course, and Lindsay (Carey Mulligan), his stay-at-home wife and aspiring interior designer. The Cranes maintain an outward appearance of love but are secretly dealing with massive relationship issues. Their problems explode after a young working-class couple, Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton), stumble upon the Cranes during a violent fight. This gives Ashley, a smart and overworked cart girl, and Austin, an affably goofy but emotionally stunted part-time trainer, the leverage to blackmail their bosses.

Throughout the series, these four fall into careful and somewhat rigid boxes. As the cast grows from the first season, each character feels slightly thinner than before, given specific traits designed for the plot rather than naturally occurring. From there, the show evolves into a devastating critique of class warfare. The season introduces an overarching visual and thematic motif of ants and insects getting crushed underfoot, perfectly mirroring the crushing weight of capitalism.

The pressure comes from the very top. Billionaire owner Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung) is a completely dominating force. The way she sticks her thumb down on Josh inevitably trickles down, creating an environment where the wealthy desperately exploit the working class to survive. It highlights a fascinating lack of class solidarity, proving that no matter what, the billionaires are always in control.

While the cinematography and production design are undeniably beautiful, it’s Finneas’s incredible musical contribution that truly elevates the tension. The atmospheric score is stressful, exciting, and wildly diverse, punctuated by brilliant needle drops that tie the chaotic energy together and amplify the show’s darkest moments.

The ensemble cast is universally stellar. Spaeny is effortlessly charming, imbuing Ashley with a scrappiness that makes her a lovable lead. Melton is wickedly funny, managing to be the most stunted of the four while possessing deep emotional complexity. Isaac and Mulligan bring a palpable, volatile excitement to the Cranes. Sometimes it’s just good TV to see a bunch of powerhouse actors running circles around each other. Youn Yuh-jung commands the screen with absolute authority, rounding out an impeccable ensemble.

Is Beef Season 2 worth watching?

However, the series stumbles in its final hours. The finale escalates in a way that threatens to ruin lives, ultimately culminating in a massive time jump. Unlike the first season, which ended on an organic, profoundly impactful note, this leap forward feels like an unearned cop-out. It attempts to do way too much to justify the Beef name, diminishing the tight, thrilling narrative it spent eight episodes building. It’s excellent, riveting TV, but it remains a slightly weaker version of a masterpiece, burdened by an entirely unnecessary legacy.

Season 2 of Beef debuts on Netflix on April 16 at 3:00 AM ET. All eight episodes were provided for review.