BEEF Season 2 Ending Explained: Taking a completely different route from its predecessor, BEEF Season 2 is a tangled web of class conflict, toxic relationships and emotional warfare that slowly makes you question if anything is real. By the time the finale rolls around, the show makes us realise that it’s more about the things that human beings are ready to leave behind to be more in control. It’s a tense watch that often gets under your skin and leaves you distressed.
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BEEF Netflix Cast
Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton, Cailee Spaeny, Seoyeon Jang, Youn Yuh-jung, Song Kang-ho, William Fichtner, Mikaela Hoover, BM
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BEEF 2 Directors
Lee Sung Jin, Jake Schreier, Kitao Sakurai
The anthology series has 8 episodes, each with a runtime of around 30 – 55 minutes.
BEEF Season 2 Ending Explained
What happens in the finale
Season 2 focuses on two couples, the wealthy Josh & Lindsay and the working-class Austin and Ashley. Josh and Lindsay’s tumultuous relationship is hidden well behind a glossy exterior, while Austin and Ashley, newly engaged, find themselves in their honeymoon phase, full of hope. However, they soon get into a spat with one another, which spirals out of control and eventually exposes a huge cover-up at their country club, headed by Chairwoman Park.
In the last episode, we see all four of them travelling to South Korea and being nabbed by Park and her men. While Austin and Eunice try to bring Park to justice by handing over all of the information that they have against her, Josh and Lindsay find their broken relationship coming to a sweeter end as they realise that the entire blame is being put on him.
Relationship collapse
The wealthy couple
Josh and Lindsay’s relationship was already fragile, with their wants and needs clashing with each other constantly. However, it finally breaks under the weight of control and resentment being built over time after their dog dies, with both blaming the other for their carelessness. Unbeknownst to them, it was Ashley who was responsible for Burberry’s death (and a coyote). What was portrayed as stability in front of everyone else was actually a mutual dependency that was hiding a quiet hostility for one another, as they had created a very toxic relationship full of communication issues.
The younger couple
The younger couple, starting off hopeful and full of love and understanding, start to walk down Josh and Lindsay’s path after their ambition leads them into deeply unethical territory. While Austin finds it in himself to stop and reflect on their actions, Ashley, who is desperate for familial attention, refuses to put a stop to going up the ladder, eventually ruining their relationship as a result.
In the end, they are unable to reconcile their differences and turn into the very people whom they hated in the beginning – those who only know how to take advantage of others.
The final outcome
Unfortunately, there is no happy ending here – Austin, who breaks up with Ashley to pursue a relationship with Eunice, is seen married to Ashley and with a son. Ashley is now the General Manager at the club, having taken Josh’s place. Presumably, Austin and Eunice weren’t able to fight against Park, who had already bought the police out. Meanwhile, Josh has been in jail for 8 years, while Lindsay has started a family of her own, something that she has always dreamt of.
What the end really means
The ending showcases how money and power can change the best of people and how we are only a culmination of our lived experiences. When it comes to Ashley and Austin, they could have chosen differently. However, Ashley’s abandonment issues and the excitement of finally going up the ladder by holding leverage over Josh and Lindsay pushed her deeper into something morally bankrupt. Although they saw their future in front of them through the older couple, they found it impossible to stop.
Thus, eventually, they find themselves at the same spot where Lindsay and Josh were in a few years previously – in an unhappy, loveless marriage that is only built on resentment. Only this time, they have a child.
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