SPOILER ALERT: The following story contains plot details from Season 2 of “Beef,” now streaming on Netflix
Netflix’s “Beef” is back for a second season, and the anthology series is wild, revolving around two couples, Josh (Oscar Isaac) and Lindsay (Carey Mulligan) and Austin (Charles Melton) and Ashley (Cailee Spaeny). One of the most intense scenes comes in Episode 5 when Lindsay’s beloved dog, Burberry, has gone missing after Ashley snuck into their house and accidentally left the back door open. After hours of searching, Lindsay comes upon a coyote attacking Burberry and, without a second thought, kills the coyote with her bare hands.
“That was basically what made me want to do it,” Mulligan says.
Creator Lee Sung Jin had not yet fleshed out all eight episodes of “Beef” when Mulligan sat down with him over Zoom, but there was one thing he knew for certain. Mulligan says, “He was like, ‘but I know exactly what happens in Episode 5.’ He pitched the whole episode around losing the dog and ending with that coyote.”
“Shooting it was kind of crazy,” she adds. “But I was very motivated by the idea of that scene.”
This season of “Beef” takes place at an upscale Montecito country club. Isaac plays the club’s general manager, and Lindsay, is an interior decorator there. Gen Z couple Ashley and Austin work at the club, but are at the lower end of the pay scale.
The “Beef” kicks off when Austin and Ashley witness Josh and Lindsay in a heated, violent argument, and capture it on video, suddenly finding themselves with some leverage to blackmail the older couple. Things quickly spiral into a web of lies, power dynamics and desperation. The conflict between Josh and Lindsay escalates, and the coyote scene marks a turning point for Lindsay and her marriage.
“In that whole time, she had never really figured out anything that she cared about or was particularly good at,” Mulligan says of Lindsay. “I think that was a big part of what I found interesting about her — that with all she had built her life on with this marriage, she didn’t really have an identity that she could hold on to.”
Courtesy of Netflix
Killing the coyote might be an unhinged moment, but Mulligan says: “It’s the realization that the marriage is completely over, and that the only thing in the world that she feels has reciprocal love and understanding for her is this dog. So killing that coyote in defense of the dog is this enormous act of love, but also realizing that you only have that an animal — that you don’t have with people in your life.”
In the next episode, Lindsay has changed. “She cares less about what people think,” Mulligan says. “Much of the first half of the show, she’s being so consumed by how she’s perceived. After she kills the coyote, she’s like, ‘Fuck it. I’ve just got to win somehow. I’ve got to find my path to survival. So I thought it was quite liberating thing for her.”
Before shooting, Isaac sat down with Lee to figure out who Josh is, and where he is in his career and marriage. “We started constructing the character together based on an initial idea of circumstances that happened in the show, and that was it was an incredible thing to do.”
The exploration process with Lee was valuable to both Mulligan and Isaac in working out their respective backstories and understanding who their characters were and what drove them.
When it came to Josh, who appears to be bad with money and desperate to hold on to his youth. Isaac says: “He got this vibe. I’m the young, cool, hip guy — everything’s fine. And then what he does at home, and the tension between those things was really fun to explore.”
Josh’s attempts to achieve that young vibe is reflected at home. He’s got a mancave filled with memorabilia, and even owns a Moog synth that once belonged to his favorite band, Hot Chip. In Episode 2, he plays it — and he’s not great at it. A few episodes later, he’s up on stage, jamming with the band.
Courtesy of Netflix
Who Josh wants to be is also reflected in his hair — yes, that’s a mini-mullet he’s rocking. Issac worked with his hair stylist Tim Nolan who suggested that style. “It’s a perfect thing that again, speaks to somebody that’s trying to hold on to a particular image of youth,” Isaac says. “And one that shows a sense of relaxation and of energy — even though he’s just being strangled the entire time.”
Josh starts stealing money from the club in order to maintain his lifestyle, and hold onto his image. “He cares more about identity and he wants enough money,” Isaac says. “He’s never going to be able to be a member of this club, but this is the closest he can get to it.”
Josh, who’s surrounded by extreme wealth, feels a sense of entitlement — and he’s also been stealing money from his late mother’s bank account, “So he is already smudging the line there out of desperation,” Isaac says.
“He feels he has the right to, like all the rich people, to get his own,” Isaac says. “Whatever that means.”
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