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IT’S BEEN THREE years since the series Beef arrived on Netflix, turning stand-up comedian Ali Wong into a star.
The first season was about two strangers who get entangled in each other’s lives after a road-rage incident, with Steven Yeun (Minari) playing Danny Cho, the other person involved alongside Wong’s character Amy Lau.
It won eight Emmys, including ones for Wong and Yeun.
Now comes season two of Beef, which is available to watch on Netflix.
But what is it all about?
Are we returning to the same characters?
No. Season one was about Danny (Yeun) and Amy (Wong), but it’s an entirely different group of people this time around.
Danny and Amy’s beef in a parking lot spiralled to include everything from catfishing to kidnapping.
This time around we have more central characters and some even bigger names.
So what’s it all about?
We know that the cast includes Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny, so some great established actors alongside up-and comers.
As to the plot, according to Variety:
“Beef” Season 2 will star Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny as a young couple working at a country club, who witness an alarming fight between their boss and his wife, played by Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan. “Minari” Oscar winner Yuh-Jung Youn and “Parasite” star Song Kang-ho round out the cast for this season, which will feature “chess moves of favors and coercion in the elitist world of a country club and its Korean billionaire owner.”
Newly-engaged Ashley Miller (Spaeny) and Austin Davis (Melton) are the lower-level staff at a country club, while the married couple are their General Manager, Joshua Martín (Isaac), and his wife, Lindsay Crane-Martín (Mulligan).
Also involved is the club’s billionaire owner, Chairwoman Park. She’s played by Youn Yuh-jung, a very famous Korean actor who was in Minari with Steven Yeun of season one of Beef. The couples are both vying for her attention, but Park is trying to deal with a scandal involving her second husband, Doctor Kim.
Doctor Kim is played by Song Kang-ho. He’s also Korean acting royalty; he works closely with Bong Joon Ho and has starred in his films like the Oscar-winning Parasite.
What kind of themes can we expect to be explored?
Race and class will most definitely be explored here. The creator of Beef is the Korean-American director and writer Lee Sung-jin.
The South-China Morning Post reports that he aimed to “take some big swings and risks while retaining what is special about the show” for season two.
He also called it a “bridge between East and West”, as it explores the roots of a character who is mixed race. It will also look at intergenerational beef, as Ashley and Austin are Gen Z, while Joshua and Lindsay are Gen X.
While Beef does touch on many serious themes – its first season looked at debt, marriages in crisis, making art, race and parenting – it can also be darkly funny.
It’s a black comedy that isn’t afraid to push things to the extreme, but its characters nonetheless have felt relatable. This combination really worked for the award-winning first season, so Sung-jin is unlikely to change the formula too much for season two.
What’s this about a link between K-Pop and Beef?
Well, director Lee Sung-jin went to Korea to film a music video for RM, a member of the K-Pop band BTS, during the writers’ strike in 2023.
He decided he wanted to shoot in Korea as much as possible after having such a great experience there.
How many episodes are there?
You can watch eight 30-minute episodes on Netflix now.
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