Netflix’s ‘White Lotus rip-off’ season 2 branded a ‘masterpiece’ in reviews

Reviews for Netflix’s Beef have been mixed for its second season, but some have dubbed its return a “masterpiece”.

Netflix viewers might take issue with the return of one of the platform’s finest programmes.

Beef’s second series starring Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan has been labelled a “White Lotus rip-off” in mixed reviews.

Created by Lee Sung Jin, the hit anthology programme premiered in 2023 with Steven Yeun and Ali Wong in lead roles as two warring motorists.

The gripping concept has now broadened to centre on an intense and complicated rivalry between two couples, with rising talents Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny completing the cast.

This time, events unfold at an upmarket country club where Isaac’s Josh serves as the general manager. Mulligan plays his interior designer wife Lindsay, and they’re compelled to take extreme measures when their Gen Z staff members Austin (portrayed by Melton) and Ashley (Spaeny) catch them engaged in a heated row that nearly becomes physical.

Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny as Austin and Ashley (Image: NETFLIX)

When Austin and Ashley try to blackmail them, their confrontation intensifies until they find themselves caught in a frantic downward spiral, all while being watched by the club’s billionaire proprietor, Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung).

Series one was praised as one of Netflix’s finest new launches of the 2020s and possibly in the streamer’s whole library. But how has the second instalment of Beef been received by critics?

The Guardian offered a lukewarm assessment of the series overall, with a three-star review describing the long-awaited sequel as an “unlovable White Lotus rip-off”. Critics took issue with the characterisation, describing the new cast as “hard to care about” with Ashley in particular taking actions that feel “forced”.

Summing up the season, they concluded: “Overall, Beef feels like an entertaining potboiler rather than the dark march towards truth that the original was. Not enough meat on the bones.”

Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung as the club’s owner Chairwoman Park (Image: NETFLIX)

Variety was even more cutting, labelling Beef’s second season as “overcrowded, unfocused, and unnecessary” in their review.

“Over eight episodes,” it continues, “Beef loses focus and overcrowds this already expanded premise. By the closing credits, season two is no longer mainly about the acrimony between its antiheroes and what it brings out from within them.

“Which begs the question: even if a follow-up allows Lee to attract bigger names and film in far-flung locations (more on that shortly), was Beef ultimately worth turning into a franchise?”

NPR similarly agreed that Beef’s new season is “less well done”, adding: “It also seems like this iteration of Beef struggles with narrative substance on its own; while the exact details of how its story shakes out aren’t easily predictable, some of the emotional novelty has worn off by the time we arrive at any twists.”

Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan play a couple who get caught in a heated row (Image: NETFLIX)

Nevertheless, glowing notices continue to come in for the returning drama, even if Beef’s long-awaited follow-up is falling short of universal praise.

IndieWire enthused in their headline: “Bigger Is Actually Better in Lee Sung Jin’s Searing Netflix Sequel.” Meanwhile, IGN awarded the show a perfect 10/10, branding it a “masterpiece” and declaring: “I was wary that another Beef could punch with the same weight of the idiosyncratic first season, but season two delivers on all fronts.

“With its fantastic performances and a swirling, synthy score from Finneas (who also gets a fun little cameo), Lee Sung Jin’s series remains an untouchable force. Give him 100 beefs, I’ll watch them all.”

Beef season 2 is available to stream on Netflix.