Beef Season 2 Feels Like A Remake Of An Oscar-Successful Film

This put up comprises spoilers for season 2 of Netflix’s “Beef.”

A cursory look at “Beef” season 2 would possibly give off the impression that Netflix has discovered its model of “White Lotus.” Though this comparability is sound, the latest season of “Beef” evokes an Oscar-winning thriller about financial and sophistication disparity: Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite.”

It’s price noting that a “Parasite” collection has been within the works at HBO since 2020, however we have not heard any contemporary developments since early 2025. “Beef” season 2 helps fill that void fairly effectively. Josh (Oscar Isaac) and his spouse, Lindsay (Carey Mulligan), oversee an unique nation membership in Montecito. They share a poisonous dynamic regardless of issues showing to be pitch-perfect. There’s additionally engaged couple Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton), workers on the Monte Vista Port Nation Membership, who share hire to make ends meet. 

These disparate socioeconomic worlds conflict when the youthful couple unintentionally witnesses a violent battle between Josh and Lindsay, and find yourself recording it. This kicks off a beef between each {couples}, who’re already slowed down by issues of their very own. “Beef” and “Parasite” have extra in widespread than a conflict between the haves and the have-nots, as season 2 illustrates the tiered nature of exploitation that late-stage capitalism encourages. 

Similar to Bong Joon Ho’s Greatest Image winner, “Beef” lays out the codependent relationship between socioeconomic lessons, and the convenience with which the ultra-rich discard these they contemplate “beneath” them. Primary requirements like medical health insurance are bargained through blackmail, and allegiances change on the drop of a hat. Whereas “Parasite” ends by shattering the parable of social mobility, “Beef” affirms that shameless social climbing is just doable in case you’re immoral. 

Ashley and Austin have blackmail materials they will use to damage Josh and Lindsay’s lives, in order that they negotiate greater salaries/advantages on the nation membership. That is just like the best way the working-class household in “Parasite” infiltrates the rich Park household dwelling. They forge paperwork, lie about their accomplishments, and sabotage one other working-class household. Alas, none of this issues ultimately.

Ashley and Austin perform an identical charade, however the blackmail provides one other layer of animosity. Amid this chaos, Josh and Lindsay’s relationship is on its final legs, whereas Ashley and Austin understand that their idealistic notion of affection is nothing however a sham. Regardless of their earnings disparity, each pairs covet larger, higher lives.

As “Beef” unravels its true nature, we understand that Josh/Lindsay aren’t deserving of our ire. Josh remains to be part of the managerial class, on the beck and name of ultra-rich purchasers who use and discard him on a whim. Whereas Lindsay and Josh are extraordinarily flawed, so are Austin and Ashley, who do objectively horrible issues to climb up the social ladder. 

That stated, the worst of the bunch is Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung), the billionaire who owns the nation membership. Seems, her beauty surgeon husband, Kim (Tune Kang-ho, who additionally starred in “Parasite”), unintentionally killed a affected person throughout surgical procedure. Park goes to nice lengths to cowl up this scandal, and the climax proves that the one percenters will goal anybody who would not sit on the similar desk as them. Park justifies her actions by stating that capitalism works resulting from our self-serving natures, and that it will hold thriving so long as we’re alive. That is additionally in keeping with “Parasite”‘s bleak climax, the place the prosperous actively dehumanizes and stays apathetic towards the working class. 

By the top of “Beef,” Josh voluntarily takes the autumn for the scandal, whereas Austin arms over the proof of Park’s wrongdoings to her. Each “beef” that the {couples} have had up to now feels meaningless. Whereas they had been too busy hurting one another, billionaires like Park have been preserving a damaged financial system. For Park, each relationship is a transaction, which is why she will get Kim killed with out regret. It’s tempting to refute Park’s claims about humanity’s egocentric nature, however each character in “Beef” is proof that they’d’ve finished the identical if granted entry to the identical wealth and energy.

Because the lately launched “No Different Selection” underlines, capitalism makes determined fools out of us. Josh and Lindsay’s story started with a dream of opening a mattress and breakfast collectively, whereas Ashley and Austin begin their blackmail as they urgently want medical health insurance. These are sympathetic motivations that morph into morally doubtful ones over time. Austin and Ashley promote their morals to switch Josh and Lindsay on the nation membership ultimately. Whereas this supplies them with stability, how lengthy earlier than this peace will get shattered? Bowing to the system would possibly promise insulation from poverty and struggling, however how lengthy earlier than this bubble bursts?

Justice is not served in “Beef.” This evokes an identical sentiment to “Parasite,” which ends with the false promise of fulfilling an unattainable dream. Capitalism won’t ever permit the working class to meet fundamental wants, which can immediate the need to adjust to a corrupt system. Solely these keen to weed out the competitors can prevail, however just for a second earlier than the system chews them up and throws them out.

“Beef” season 2 is streaming on Netflix.