Spoilers for the Beef season 2 ending ahead.
Three years after the first season of Beef landed on Netflix, the second installment of Lee Sung Jin’s revenge anthology has finally arrived.
Where season 1 focused on the beef between struggling contractor Danny Cho (Steven Yeun) and entrepreneur Amy Lau (Ali Wong), season 2 is about couple versus couple—and in some moments, partner versus partner. The result is an examination of romantic relationships that, like so many other zeitgeist-y films and TV shows in pop culture right now (The Drama, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen), asks: How do you know if your partner is right for you? And how far would you go to protect your relationship?
The ambitious second season is set against the inner workings of a Montecito country club and the figures who keep it humming, from the ultrawealthy new owner, Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung), to the frazzled general manager Josh (Oscar Isaac) and his interior designer wife Lindsay (Carey Mulligan), to two employees at the bottom of the totem pole, Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton). To give the illusion of a real club for California’s upper crust, several celebrities make cameos as club guests, including Michael Phelps, Yapay Lee, and Finneas O’Connell, all of whom play snobbish parodies of themselves. (Finneas also composed the soundtrack.)
Charles Melton as Austin and Cailee Spaeny as Ashley.
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Notably, Wong picked up several awards for her performance in season 1 of the dark comedy (a Golden Globe, an Emmy, a SAG Award—the list goes on). Based on the stellar performances from the quartet at the heart of season 2, it’s likely we’ll be hearing a lot about Beef in the run-up to the Emmys later this fall.
The eight-episode second season, which premiered on Netflix on April 16, features many unexpected twists and turns, some of which may have left viewers going, “Wait, what?” (Especially if you were second-screening during the subtitled Korean dialogue.) If that’s you, don’t stress—here’s everything that happened in the Beef season 2 ending.
What actually happens to Whoosh?
Whoosh (played by rapper BM) is questioned by the South Korean authorities after the death of Dr. Kim’s (Song Kang-ho’s) plastic surgery patient. Then, after Ashley flags some suspicious spending at the club, Whoosh puts it together that Chairwoman Park is laundering money through the club in order to cover up Dr. Kim’s malpractice. With this information in hand, he goes to the Chairwoman to ask for a promotion within her company, hinting at his knowledge of the cover-up. The Chairwoman tells him that she will appoint him to a VP position; however, we soon discover she had no intention of actually following through on this promise.
Chairwoman Park kisses Whoosh goodbye. In more ways than one.
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In this same conversation, it’s revealed to the audience that Whoosh is the son of the Chairwoman’s first husband and another woman, giving his relationship with the Chairwoman a slightly familial feel. But as Whoosh leaves her house and heads to his car, he’s struck and killed by a passing car—a hit that was ordered by the Chairwoman herself. Ultimately, Whoosh knew too much; despite his lineage, he couldn’t be trusted.
Later, Eunice hints that Chairwoman Park may have interfered with the American investigation into Whoosh’s death, which is chalked up to a hit-and-run by a drunk driver. The case is quickly closed without resolution.
What happens to Dr. Kim?
In a strange turn of events, Dr. Kim sides with Josh, Lindsay, Austin, and Ashley over his wife, Chairwoman Park, whose elaborate cover-up was turning increasingly violent—especially after Whoosh’s death.
After Josh is abducted at the airport in Seoul, Dr. Kim slips him the keys to his handcuffs and creates a diversion for him to slip out. He then attempts to free Ashley, Lindsay, and Austin from the Trochos clinic. An impressively choreographed fight scene takes place within the halls of the clinic after Dr. Kim admits, in Korean, that he’d rather own up to his malpractice than let Chairwoman Park wreak more havoc, which could potentially have even graver consequences if her meddling is discovered. In the end, however, he is shot in the head and killed. The remaining trio is able to escape after Austin jumps through a glass door.
His death is later reported as a suicide caused by his guilt over the malpractice.
What happens between Lindsay and Josh?
While Lindsay is on the plane to Seoul for the Trochos girls trip with Ava and Ashley, she signs the divorce papers Josh had presented her with before her departure. Those same papers were something of an olive branch from Josh, in which he granted all of her requests and conceded half of his future earnings from his promotion to her. It all seemed to be a moment of post-Bufo clarity.
Following the foursome’s capture, Lindsay and Josh seem more aligned than ever, speaking to each other through the thin walls of the recovery rooms where they’re being held hostage about throwing Austin and Ashley under the bus. When Josh suggests taking the fall for the money laundering—a crime he had been committing before the Chairwoman arrived at the club—Lindsay begs him not to.
Lindsay (Carey Mulligan) and Josh (Oscar Isaac) moments before Josh turns himself in
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Ultimately, Josh falls on his sword. As he’s being escorted into a police car in Seoul, Lindsay jumps a barricade and runs to him, planting a cinematic kiss. They say their “I love you’s” and, for a moment, it seems as though they’ll make it work.
However, in the flash-forward at the end of episode 8, we learn that while Josh was serving his prison sentence, Lindsay’s visits and calls became less and less frequent. Because the divorce papers were signed, she was able to eventually remarry and have a daughter with her new husband. Lindsay watches Josh’s press conference upon his release from prison; it seems clear that despite everything that happened, there’s still love between them.
What happens between Austin and Ashley?
After Austin discovers that Ashley broke into Josh and Lindsay’s home, and that she is the reason their beloved dachshund Burberry escaped and was eaten by a coyote, he feels completely betrayed and makes a plan to leave her while she’s on her girls trip to Seoul.
Just before he can drive off into the sunset, Eunice arrives at his door in a panic. She has found proof of the Chairwoman’s deceit on the iPhone she left behind and is frightened of retaliation. Austin, whose crush on Eunice has only deepened in the wake of Ashley’s betrayal, agrees to go with her to Seoul so that she can deliver the evidence to the Korean authorities.
Eunice is able to download half the Chairwoman’s phone onto a USB drive, which Austin swallows evvel they realize the Chairwoman has figured out his and Eunice’s plan. That night (after the USB has, um, passed), Ashley hides the drive. She lies about it to Austin but eventually forks it over after they’ve been captured by the Chairwoman’s henchmen, and after Austin admitted that he’s no longer in love with her. With the USB in hand, Austin climbs through the ceiling vent to escape and gets into a taxi headed to the police station so he can deliver the evidence. On the phone he tells Eunice he loves her, and she, somewhat reluctantly at first, says it back.
Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung) and her entourage, JB (Jason Jin) and Eunice (Seoyeon Jang)
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The cab doesn’t get too far before Austin has a change of heart, perhaps contemplating what his broke future with Eunice might look like compared with a lifetime with the Chairwoman on his side. He may also be thinking of the embryo that he and Ashley created through IVF. He redirects the cab to the Chairwoman’s home, where he presents the USB to her as a show of loyalty.
Eight years later we see Austin, Ashley, and their son, Ashtin, addressing a crowd of patrons at the club. Ashley is now the general manager. Their life is a near perfect parallel to Josh and Lindsay’s life at the beginning of the series, down to the superficial interaction with Troy and his wife, Ava.
What happens to Eunice?
We last hear from Eunice during Austin’s phone call from the taxi, when he tells her that he is on his way to meet her at the police station with the USB containing the damning information off Chairwoman Park’s phone.
This is the last we hear from Eunice. She may have gone into hiding to avoid the Chairwoman’s wrath, or she may have been taken down—we don’t know. But she definitely dodged a relationship with Austin in the end.
What happened to Ava?
Aside from a brutal slash to her face during the fight scene at Trochos while she was under a general anesthetic, Ava escapes from the surgery clinic in Seoul unscathed and seemingly oblivious to the Chairwoman’s agenda. She and Troy are still together in the flash-forward, and it appears their dynamic is as transactional as ever.
Does Chairwoman Park face any consequences?
In the final scene where Ashley addresses the crowd at the club, she thanks Chairwoman Park for her support, making it clear that she still owns the club and apparently escaped the whole ordeal scot-free.
