Beef brings a whole new story and cast to season 2. Instead of the road rage we saw in season 1, the second season deals with rage against people with money and power by people with no money and power. Income inequality is the topic of season 2.

Season 2 of Beef is set in an expensive country club. There are characters from every level of income in the story. The broke people hate the richer people and the richer people aren’t sharing.

Meet the characters

On the lowest rung of the economic ladder are Austin Davis (Charles Melton) and Ashley Miller (Cailee Spaeny). They are low-paid hourly workers at the club when the story begins, but they don’t stay that way for long.

Josh Martin (Oscar Isaac) is the club manager. His wife Lindsay (Carey Mulligan) is the interior decorator for the club. They have dreams of opening a bed and breakfast of their own.

The rich people who belong to the club are represented in the story by Ava (Mikaela Hoover) and Troy (William Fichtner).

At the top of this economic food chain is South Korean money run by the ruthless Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung) with the help of her aide Eunice (Seoyeon Jang) and a lot of security. Part of the reason Chairwoman Park bought the club is to find customers for her bungling plastic surgeon husband back in Seoul, Doctor Kim (Song Kang-ho). The tennis coach Woosh (BM) sends club members to the doctor at $40,000 a pop.

The club is also a good place to launder money.

The Plot

One night Austin and Ashley go to their boss’s house to return something. They happen to see Josh and Lindsay in the midst of a violent argument. Ashley films it.

That video can mean better jobs at the club and more money for needed health care. Blackmail is in order.

Josh and Lindsay cave to the blackmail. They decide to do a little illegal skimming from the club on their own.

Everybody is getting more of what they want, but then Chairwoman Park shows up and things go haywire for the dreamers and schemers.

Things get complicated. People fall in love and out of love. Divorces are discussed. Finances are scrutinized. Everyone eventually winds up in South Korea where there is running for your life in the streets and kidnappings galore.

An important part of this series isn’t about money and rage at all. It’s about love and relationships. The dialog is outstanding and thoughtful. The series is well written. It pokes and prods at some important issues in society today, but it also takes a philosophical overview of life and relationships that gets deep on occasion.

Beef was created by Lee Sung Jin, who also created Undone and several other interesting movies and series. I thought season 2 of Beef was as good as season 1, even though it was totally different. You can see the entire season on Netflix.