The first season of Beef achieved something that’s rare in Hollywood. A TV series with two Asian American leads that wasn’t about martial arts action or silly stereotype comedy. It was about two regular people who happen to be Asian Americans, and they live regular lives like most Americans. They also have issues, and the show explored those issues. The show won awards and became one of Netflix’s big hits that year. Season two was greenlit, and it’s now streaming on Netflix.

The new season introduced us to some new characters. This includes Josh (Oscar Isaac) and his wife Lindsay (Carey Mulligan). They have been married for over a decade, but their marriage is at a breaking point. Dreams of renovating their property into a bed-and-breakfast have long stalled; the unpainted walls and half-finished work are a constant reminder of their failures. Josh is the general manager of a ritzy country club in Montecito, the well-heeled ocean-side Californian community; members include famous celebrities and very rich and powerful people.

Lindsay does some interior design projects for the club and basically acts as something of a social lubricant with all the wives. Both Josh and Lindsay have access to some of the most powerful people in the world and have ridden in private jets, taken lavish trips all around the world and the country, and partied with celebrities. Despite being friends with the 1%, they’re not one of them. They are staff of the club; they don’t have the wealth or connection to be considered part of the elites.

Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton) are even lower on the social pyramid, working at the club as a beverage cart attendant and casual all-rounder, barely clearing minimum wage and without health insurance. They live half an hour away in the working-class town of Oxnard in a dingy little flat, but they’re in love and tell each other so all the time.

One night, both Ashley and Austin found Josh’s wallet at the club, and they decided to drop it off at his house. When they arrived at Josh’s place, they witnessed an argument between him and Lindsay. The argument was so intense that it looked like Josh was about to strike Lindsay. Josh then saw both Ashley and Austin outside and composed himself. Unfortunately for him, Ashley was recording the whole argument on her phone. Before Josh could explain to them what happened, the young couple sprinted to their car and left his property.

To Ashley, Josh is an old guy and jerk who has everything she’s been denied. She doesn’t know that he’s deep in a financial hole and is constantly treading water just to survive. Now that she has a video of him in a compromising position, she decided to use it to blackmail him. The next morning, she met with Josh in his office and demanded that he promote her to a salaried position with health benefits. Since Josh doesn’t want any of this to get out, he complied and gave her a position that she does not qualify for. Josh has been stealing money from the club, and his plan was to blame everything on Ashley. Josh needs to impress the country club’s new owner, Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung), who hasn’t yet offered him an extension contract to stay as the general manager.

Unlike the first season, when it was about two people trying to bring one another down. This season was about two generations of people who did mean things to one another. So, it’s Gen Zers vs. Millennials. Season 1 was about two people who have a chance to move up in the world but keep sabotaging their own lives. Season 2 is about taking advantage of the situation to move ahead in the world.

There’s also a subplot involving Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh Jung) and her husband, Doctor Kim (Song Kang-ho). Kim is a plastic surgeon in South Korea, and he is in big trouble. Without giving anything away, Josh, Ashley, Lindsay, and Austin became part of this subplot.

When the cast for season 2 was announced, some people were unhappy with the new cast. Many Asian Americans were hoping to see the new season with more Asian cast members, but the show’s creator, Lee Sung Jin, said that he wanted this series to be an anthology. I personally didn’t have any issues with the new cast, but I can understand why some Asian Americans are upset. We don’t get that many hit TV series or movies that focus solely on Asian Americans.

Although some people don’t like the new cast members, I thought they all did a great job. Carey Mulligan and Charles Melton are the two standouts to me. Mulligan’s Lindsay regrets marrying Josh too early and feels she is missing the life she could’ve had if she’d stayed single. Melton’s Austin is a person of limited abilities. He was a college football star, but injuries prevented him from playing professionally. He knows he doesn’t have any other skills to make a good living as an adult and to support Ashley. Also, being half Asian, he realizes that he doesn’t know much about his Asian heritage.

Lee Sung Jin wrote all the episodes, and he also directed a few of them. While some of the episodes didn’t really work, most of them were entertaining. They’re all well shot and directed. Shout-out to composer Finneas O’Connell, who created some haunting yet beautiful music for each episode. He included some songs that I have never heard of in each episode, but I ended up downloading them after I watched the show.

Beef season 2 may not be getting the love that season 1 did, but I still think it’s a great show to binge. If you’re a fan of The Coen Brothers’ earlier work or The White Lotus, then you’ll enjoy both seasons of Beef.