Reviews for the second season of Beef have been scathing, with critics branding the Netflix show a White Lotus rip-off. The series, which stars Carey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac as a couple running a luxury country club, has been compared unfavourably to Mike White's anthology series, which debuted five years ago.
The new season follows Josh (Isaac) and Lindsay (Mulligan), a married couple overseeing the club's operations. When employees Austin (Charles Melton) and Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) witness a heated argument between them and capture it on camera, they blackmail the couple for a promotion and health insurance. The plot then expands with additional characters and subplots, leading to what one review calls a 'sprawling' narrative that loses the tension of the original series.
Critics note that while the first season, starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, built to an operatic climax, the second season fails to interrogate its themes—such as racial tension, ageing, and the US healthcare system—satisfactorily. The characters are described as hard to care about, with Lindsay a 'cold, hard spoilt brat' and Josh a 'weak' agglomeration of traits. The show is seen as an entertaining potboiler rather than the dark psychodrama of its predecessor.
The review concludes that Beef season 2 offers little new information, with many of its rich-versus-poor dynamics already covered better by The White Lotus, the first season of Beef, and even some of Nicole Kidman's projects. The show joins a growing trend of dramas exploiting class conflict, but without the nuance or originality of its inspirations.
