\n\t\u201cSonny,\u201d as Lee is colloquially known, didn\u2019t take any of this good fortune for granted. He\u2019d made the right show at the right time, and his talent was being recognized. Now Lee just had to do it again. And here\u2019s where the \u201ccurse in disguise\u201d part comes in. Because he now had the pressure of repeating Beef\u2018s near-perfect first season<\/a>, with an all-new story and a completely new cast, and he had no idea how to \u2014 or even if he could \u2014 make lightning strike twice.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tLee Sung Jin (at the Beef Season Two world premiere in L.A.) chose a country club setting for this news season because \u201cit\u2019s a microcosm for society at large.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty Images for Netflix<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019d initially pitched it as an anthology series,\u201d Lee says, over a Zoom call. \u201cNetflix, wisely I think, only picked us up for that first limited run, because it was so personal \u2014 it was based on a real-road rage incident that happened to me. And they didn\u2019t want to do another season unless it was coming from the same spot.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tSo Lee began playing around with a number of possible ideas for a follow-up season. One involved a male doubles tennis team, \u201cand then Challengers came out.\u201d Another was what he describes as \u201ca little more Rear Window-ish,\u201d about two couples who lived next door to each other. There were, Lee admits, a lot of iterations for what a potential Season Two might look like. And none of them felt right. \u201c[Netflix V.P. of Original Series] Jinny Howe kept pushing back,\u201d he says. \u201cI remember her going, \u2018I feel like you\u2019re just trying to do another season of TV. It\u2019s OK if we walk away from this. We can develop something else together.’\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n \n\tThen, one night near Lee\u2019s home in Calabasas, California, a fight broke out \u2014 or, as Lee puts it, a \u201cheated debate\u201d \u2014 between a couple that reverberated around his neighborhood. \u201cAnd it was really fascinating to me to hear everyone\u2019s differing reactions, depending on where they were at in their life,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople I knew who were younger had a very harsh reaction, and were very judgmental. Other people who had been in relationships a long time were sort of like, \u2018Yeah, but, you know\u2026 \u2018 They were making justifications for it. In our youth, we have these expectations and promises we make to ourselves [in relationships]: \u2018Oh, we\u2019ll never do that!\u2019 Then, as you enter midlife, you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s why everyone does it.’\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLee began thinking about the ways that love changes over time, and the way that couples seem to go through the same cycles no matter the circumstances. He also remembered a summer he spent housesitting for friends who were members of the Montecito Club<\/a>. \u201cI was always like, \u2018Country clubs? Gross!’\u201d Lee says, laughing. \u201cI would never be able to afford to go there. But then I\u2019m getting to use their membership privileges every day, and I find myself thinking, \u2018OK, should I look into a membership?\u2019 It\u2019s hard not to give in to the temptations of luxury and comfort. And I noticed how all of the members were either Silent Generation or boomers, and all of the employees were millennials and Gen Z. It\u2019s this microcosm for society at large.\u201d When he mentioned the idea of contrasting the experiences of younger and older couples, set in the class-conscious world of a club, Netflix jumped on it. Lee had found his Beef 2.0.<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n \n\tNow streaming on Netflix, Beef Season Two follows Joshua Mart\u00edn (Oscar Isaac<\/a>) and Lindsay Crane-Mart\u00edn (Carey Mulligan<\/a>). He\u2019s the general manager of an exclusive country club not unlike Montecito, catering to the wealthy and entitled. She\u2019s an interior designer trying to improve her clientele list. They live in a chic house filled with the trappings of a good life, but they\u2019re still struggling financially and their dream of a running a bed-and-breakfast is fading in the rearview mirror. And their marriage is quietly imploding.<\/p>\n \n\tThat is, until the union starts not-so-quietly exploding during a vicious screaming match at their home following a fundraising event. At the exact moment that things threaten to boil over, Austin (Charles Melton<\/a>) and Ashley (Cailee Spaeny<\/a>) show up at the Mart\u00edns\u2019 doorstep. A young, engaged couple who work at the club, they\u2019re still deep in the honeymoon phase of their relationship. But you can already see where the cracks will start. He\u2019s trying to get a career as a personal trainer up and running. She\u2019s sick of scraping by on frozen-pizza dinners and not having proper medical insurance. Both of them long for something bigger than simply making sure club members have fresh ice in their Arnold Palmers.<\/p>\n \n\tAshley and Austin have stopped by their boss\u2019 house to return his lost wallet. Ashley happens to capture the older couple\u2019s \u201cheated debate\u201d on her phone through the window. Realizing these twentysomethings have something on them, Joshua and Lindsay then attempt to keep Austin and Ashley from leaking the video by any means necessary: job promotions, networking connections, dangled offers of concierge health care. Ashley \u2014 ambitious, envious, in over her head \u2014 sees this as an opportunity to level up. Austin \u2014 sweet, devoted, slightly dim-witted \u2014 just wants her to be happy. From there, the beef between the two couples runs the gamut from faux-gentile to downright nasty.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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