Arby’s may have the meats, but Netflix has the Beef. The first season helped put director Jake Schrier on the map to direct Thunderbolts, and now the upcoming X-Men reboot for Marvel. Series creator Lee Sung Jin is also working on the upcoming X-Men film, having created Beef following a lengthy career in TV on shows like Its Always Sunny and Undone. The first season of Beef was unexpected, taking a simple bad day interaction, and showing how that moment would irrevocably change lives forever. The evolution of the first season was really putting its leads through the wringer. People died as a result of their actions, and real life consequences from a rather basic road rage gone wild were what kept people riveted from beginning to end, and critics enthralled by the structure and performances.

So for the second season, how do you top it? First, they tried roping in a more prestigious ensemble, with Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan, alongside the awards friendly Oscar Issac, May/December breakout Charles Melton, and Priscilla’s Kaylee Spany. In a plot that starts out as the haves and have nots, we see Mulligan and Isaac playing Lindsay and Josh, a married couple on the brink, more than happy to put on a show for the public, but growing more exhausted by each other by the second. In the first episode, things get awkward really fast when one of their employees, Ashley (Spany) attempts to return a wallet her boss, Josh, just left at a big party, and she and her boyfriend Asher (Melton), catch Lindsay and Josh in an extreme domestic dispute, which they record on their phone, believing someone may need it later as proof of domestic violence.

But no good deed goes unpunished, and quickly things get awkward, and what started out as a simple kind gesture, launches into blackmail. Asher, an aspiring fitness coach, and Ashley, who has no high school diploma, are poor, and want to start a family, but can’t afford to. Asher gets the idea to use the video as blackmail, getting Ashley a much better job, with benefits, so she can have health insurance.Josh, eager to make sure the video never sees the light of day, is happy to oblige. And what starts out as Beef between the two couples, shifts rather masterfully, as the couple that fought together, starts to look for an exit. Maybe that best and breakfast they always wanted? Meanwhile, Asher is unhappy with his lot, and his relationship with Ashley is strained. She eventually meets the Chairwoman (Youn Yhou Jhong), who recently acquired the country club. For whatever reason, the Chairwoman likes Ashley enough to reveal she can speak English (which she doesn’t let Josh know initially), and Ashley uses this budding friendship to get Asher a gig, albeit lying aobut his qualifications. This is where Ashe’rs arc grows, as he ends up being paired with the Chairwoman’s assistant, Eunice (Seo Yeong Jang), who validates Asher in many ways, and also gives him a glimpse at his own Korean heritage he’s never really known.

The plot continues to get more wild from here, introducing the Chairwoman’s husband as a once great plastic surgeon who now needs a massive cover up, and that cover up is likely going to affect all four of our leads in various ways.The show continues to expertly shift alliances, making friends from foes, and utilizing all it has to tell a story less physically taxing than season 1, but also just as dangerous. Certainly heading into the finale, everyone could be marked for death, and the show could end on a bleak note. Are they running through a desert? no.The show is more interested in exploring wealth and power, and who really ahs it, and who just thinks they do, and how quickly all of that can change. The shows final moments show just how different the lives of our four lead characters are from where they began.

All four of the leads are excellent and likely to earn Emmy nominations. Mulligan has a great episode looking for her lost dog, where she gets to beat the crap out of a dangerous coyote with her momma bear strength. Asher is a bit of a dolt, but feels a lot like what Melton did in May/December, with sort of a manchild who hadn’t really grown up and started adulting. Spaney has an excellent episode around a health crisis, and Isaac really nails the finale. All four should get Emmy nominations.

The audio description, produced by Descriptive Video Works, with primary narration by Andrew Thatcherr was lovely, and definitely pointed out some moments that made my head scratch. For example, in their quest for a child, Asher is seen masturbating to create a sample, but his questioning mind does something that should have invalidated the sample, which the audio description clocked, but later on we find out that it did not. How? And the description was great when Lindsay did a bad bad thing in an airplane bathroom. We were all disgusted, properly. Thatcher’s voice is just nice and relaxed, fitting into this type of a project, which really isn’t defined easily by one specific genre.

Beef continues to attack complex themes, and attract top talent. While Season 1, and the complete off the rails direction it takes is probably my preference, it doesn’t mean the second season isn’t good. There’s a lot to love here. I could probably pull at a few narrative threads, like how the sample worked, or how the bed and breakfast Josh and Lindsay visit is a bit much for anyone, or how the timing of certain vehicles in South Korea was perhaps a bit too convenient. It’s not like I don’t notice little things, and those nitpicky things do drive the scoring down a bit, below what I would have given the first season.

However, Beef maintains core narrative strength, by rotating and mixing up the conflict, and allowing the perspectives to shift as the season progresses. It certainly doesn’t hurt that it has one of the best ensembles of the year.

Fresh: 8.2/10