BEEF

I remember binge-watching season 1 in about a day. I was a bit with my life so I couldn’t do the same for season 2, but I gotta say season 2 was as good as season 1. The story really drew me in, although I do think the ending was a little be too dramatic (as a Korean, it felt like one of the other K-dramas that over-exaggerates the power of the wealthy—I mean, I’m pretty sure that the jaebols are pretty powerful, but having nearly an army of bodyguards with guns? Idk about that). Nonetheless, the series sends a powerful and realistic message about life: for season 2, particularly about love. Some might interpret the ending as Josh’s rebuttal towards president Park’s argument that love is built on selfish and capitalist premises, but I believe otherwise. I think that even Josh’s decision to leave Lindsay alone is also in a way a selfish choice. He probably realized that Lindsay found a new life and new love, and that confronting it won’t help him. The character change of Ashley and Austin was particularly intriguing to me. Austin was a guy who even cried because a bee died but now he became a guy tolerant to systematic injustice and a literal death of multiple people. The couple succumbed to the “late-stage capitalism” they were so critical about. But perhaps that’s just all of us: ignoring what’s happening around us for our selfish incentive to put ourselves before others. Beef is great because of its philosophical nature. I’ve never watched a series like this, and I hope more seasons get released (I’ll be rewatching season 1 and 2 before then).