IMAGE: Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan in Beef Season 2.

Key Points

• The second season of Beef transitions from road rage to a class-based conflict set in an elite Southern California country club.
• Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan star as a couple whose volatile domestic disputes trigger a chain of blackmail and manipulation.
• The plot involves a young couple, Austin and Ashley, who attempt to blackmail Josh (Isaac) for a promotion and health insurance.
• The series explores themes of wealth, insecurity, and the desperate machinations of characters trying to climb or maintain their social standing.
• Despite some contrived plot twists, the show remains engaging due to its well-written characters and strong ensemble cast, including Youn Yuh-jung.

The first season of Beef (as in conflict, not cow meat), created by Lee Sung Jin, was instantly relatable. Everybody has experienced road rage, or has heard of how such an episode spiralled out of control.

In the show, a small parking lot accident turns into an endless feud between two people, whose viciousness far outweighs the damage caused by the incident. Since people are constantly finding excuses to quarrel and, maybe, take out their personal rage and frustration on others, it was inevitable that the successful, multiple award-winning Beef be turned into an anthology.

A New Season, A New Feud

The second season has more passive-aggressive venting than outright rage, but it also loses its original edge by venturing into The White Lotus territory, the popular series set in exotic resorts, that derives its humour from class wars.

This time round, the setting of Beef is an elite Southern California country club, Monte Vista Point, where Josh (Oscar Isaac) is the general manager, and his British wife, Lindsay (Carey Mulligan) is an interior designer. They have been married a while and have goals so varied, their temperaments so unmatched, that their domestic fights turn violent.

Blackmail and Corporate Intrigue

One such blow out is witnessed by a young couple, Austin (Charles Melton) and Ashley (Cailee Spaeny), who work at the club but way down the hierarchy. She records the incident on her phone, and then decides to blackmail Josh into giving her a promotion that would offer health insurance -- she has a condition that requires surgery and can't afford it. Her dumb, aspiring physical therapist, half-Korean fiancé goes along, to see what benefits he might derive too.

The club has a new Korean owner, Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung), who demands and gets total deference from her staff, that includes her personal assistant, Eunice (Seoyeon Jang). The visit by the new boss, the uncertainty about the future of their jobs makes everyone jittery, and Josh more so, because he has been skimming money from the club for his own dream B&B enterprise.

Caustic Humour and Character Depth

Lee Sung Jin is the showrunner and director of most of the eight episodes, and his caustic humour decimates the mean-spiritedness of the rich, and the insecurities of wives, who are desperate to retain their looks or be traded in for younger trophy wives, like Ava (Mikaela Hoover), arm candy of Troy, a long-standing member of the club.

Wannabes like Josh, and the club's sleazy Korean tennis coach Woosh (Matthew Kim) are not spared either. Josh's machinations are particularly desperate and pathetic, till the time he displays a semblance of nobility not expected from a hustler.

Chairwoman's husband Dr Kim (Song Kan-ho), a plastic surgeon, has just caused the death of a patient back in Seoul, so the minor and major crises of the characters -- from Ashley's accident to the loss of Lindsay's beloved dog -- eventually take a backseat to Park's corruption and intimidation. The cast lands up in Seoul for a frenzied climax.

A Binge-Worthy Watch

There is a kind of hard-edged soap opera (the kind Nicole Kidman appears in) to the first few episodes, but then the sheer survival instincts of the characters take over, as their manipulations get nasty and frantic.

Even though some of the plot twists are contrived, and the pace starts to flag, what keeps Beef 2 interesting is the well-written characters.

Ashley is the pragmatic, unscrupulous risk-taker. She forges and snoops without a qualm, and some of this rubs off on Austin, who works on his clients with an eye on Google to get instructions.

In a small role, Ava seems to be the kind who has clawed her way into the rarified circles of the Club, and knows what is needed to hold on there.

Visually attractive, with a fine ensemble of American and Korean actors, with Carey Mulligan as usual grabbing acting honours, and Youn Yuh-jung close behind, Beef is not as shocking as the first season with its controlled mayhem, but is binge-worthy all the same.

Beef 2 is streaming on Netflix.

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