by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
Netflix’s award-winning collaboration with A24 is back after a few years with a new Beef to highlight.
In season two, as Netflix describes, “Newly engaged Ashley Miller (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin Davis (Charles Melton) are set against their boss, Joshua Martín (Oscar Isaac), and his spouse, Lindsay Crane-Martín (Carey Mulligan). A single encounter triggers chess moves and manipulations that ripple far beyond the country club where they work.”
In the first season, the inciting road rage incident pits people of relatively similar backgrounds and ages, but there are new aspects at play in season two. Though there was some class aspect to the first season, it’s much starker here — with one couple seemingly well off and the other struggling to make ends meet. There’s also the generational divide at play between an older and younger couple. Isaac and Mulligan are married and putting up a façade, whereas Spaeny and Melton have a seemingly perfect relationship despite their hardships. The way the couples interact and are used as foils to each other was one of my favorite aspects of this season. All four are putting in quality work that we’ve come to expect from them, but Spaeny is the clear standout. To be fair to her co-leads, I’d argue she’s probably given the most to do, but there’s some great moments of facial acting and when an emotional moment needs to be sold, she’s the best salesperson of the bunch.
The beef dynamics aren’t the only adjustment, this season takes on a more expansive scope than the original, which was largely more contained. Though I do think it allowed for some fun moments, the expansiveness I found was largely to this season’s detriment, as I felt it lost the main through line at times. However, I will say this season took a couple episodes to hook me (making your show watchable when it’s light out would have helped), but the reveal at the end of the second episode (which relates to the expansiveness) is what finally locked me in. A tense international plane ride in the penultimate episode was also a true highlight of the season.
Our main trio is aided by some fun supporting performances. William Fichtner is always a fun face to see, and he’s looking like he’s having fun as one of the big players at the club. Youn Yuh-Jung as the billionaire Korean owner of the club, is downright terrifying (and a far cry from her Oscar-winning role in Minari to be sure.) Seoyeon Jang as Eunice, the assistant, hassome fun moments, but wasn’t as realized as it seemed she might be throughout.
Though the cast turns over, there’s a creative through line as the technical aspects of the show continue to be a real strength. Lee Sung Jin returns as creator, showrunner, and executive producer. Jake Schreier, fresh off his Thunderbolts* success, also returns to direct six of eight episodes this season. Multi–Academy Award and Grammy Award–winning artist Finneas O’Connell scores season two, but probably my favorite musical aspect gets credited to music supervisor Jen Malone. There’s a running gag inside Spaeny and Melton’s apartment where one or the other comes home as the other is blaring a song (either by Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, or Zedd) highlighting their mood as the other enters. Sadly, it’s abandoned later in the season.
Though this season of Beef doesn’t quite hit the highs of the first season, I’d take another one of these every few years if Netflix wants to continue making them.
Rating: Liked It
Beef is currently available to stream on Netflix.
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