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After its first season launched in 2023, Beef unexpectedly swept up awards at the ceremonies held throughout the year. The season, in which Steve Yeun and Ali Wong towered in their roles, had enabled the series to reach the heights — despite audience expectations being low going in. Not just this duo: every actor across the season managed to make themselves talked about through their performances. It was a production where story and performances elevated each other simultaneously.
Beef Season 2 tries to do many things similarly to the first season, but also attempts many things in a completely different way. I say “attempts” because, if I’m making a comparison at the start of this piece, it is fair to say that we watched a second season that falls behind the first. Of course this is also related, in parallel, to expectations. The second season of Beef — which arrived in our lives so suddenly — requires us to have proportionally higher expectations given its larger budget and expanded cast.
Shifting Charts
Lee Sung-Jin sits in the creative seat of the second season, just as he did in the first. The young director had reached the peak of his career with the first season and begun making a name for himself in the industry. The Korean chemistry in the story having connected with audiences — and their having been culturally nourished by it — had created an opportunity to obtain new flavors. Netflix expanding its resources and continuing with Lee Sung-Jin after the series’ success was one of the expected outcomes.
Even if I said at the start of this piece that I think it falls behind the first season, this does not, of course, mean the season is bad. It’s just that the bar set by the first season placed it at a distinct point among series of its kind. And naturally, an expansion of resources — a larger budget, a wider cast — can also raise expectations for the series.
The way this season differs from the first announces itself first of all through the characters. We step away from Korean culture somewhat and move into a more American world. Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Cailee Spaeny, and Charles Melton bring to life the characters who define the second season’s themes. The season, containing one younger and one more mature couple, is home to the complexity of relationships and the absurdities we could already handle from the first season.
Amidst the Chaos
In the first season, Beef built many of its formulas around cultural conflict. While this state of conflict was already an important factor in the series’ watchability, the screenplay simultaneously managed to focus on the characters’ inner worlds, slowly developing their pasts and the trajectory of their futures. Conflicts and tensions between characters are, once again, definitely one of the main themes of the second season. Criteria such as class differences and living standards again take their place as one of the most fundamental parts of the story Lee Sung-Jin wants to tell.
The theme that the first season wanted to convey, but which I think was missed by viewers beyond a certain point, is more thoroughly examined by the director this season. Although the narrative of the desire to succeed and what one is willing to do for it functioned like the main story in the first season, it of course failed to become the most popular aspect. That, at least, is what I felt. When I started talking to people about Beef, I witnessed that this part was rarely mentioned.
Perhaps the point where this season’s characters most resemble those of the first season is their pasts. The events in their pasts and the point those events have brought them to today… But even though certain similarities exist between them, the series cannot quite reflect the same quality when it comes to character development. The characters’ motivations within the season in particular, and the direction events take, feel somewhat disconnected. As for how satisfying the characters’ journeys are for the viewer — I’m not entirely sure. In the previous season, the characters played by Steve Yeun and Ali Wong had conveyed that motivation to the audience by making them feel every emotion; unfortunately, seeing the same effect here is difficult.
Shining Faces
The second season frequently foregrounds the series’ signature atmosphere on a technical level. Color tones and locations are again carefully and attentively selected. As for performances, it can be said that the series continues in one of the areas where it hasn’t lowered the bar. Personally, I was very impressed with Oscar Isaac, and alongside him, Cailee Spaeny seems poised once again to make herself talked about. The character’s openness to provoking the viewer will especially increase the impact she creates.
Beef again manages to pass with its second season. Frankly, I don’t find this season as impressive as the first, but when you look at general reviews, it still holds very high scores. If you’ve never heard of the series before, I would absolutely recommend watching both seasons in order. On the other hand, if you’re among those who loved the first season, you won’t want to miss this one. Because what you have is a quality continuation season that touches on the same themes from a different angle and articulates its point cleanly.
Netflix needs to give more chances to productions like Beef in order to enrich its platform with content. Such experimental productions raise the quality bar. While the platform has an enormous volume of content, nearly all of them follow repetitive formulas. In an age when content is growing monotonous, works like Beef undoubtedly hold an important place for keeping creativity alive.
To read more articles by Ali Can Bartu Sakarya, click here.
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