‘Beef’ Season 2 Opens With 2.4 Million Views on Netflix Top 10, Down Nearly 60% From Season 1

Has it been 3 years? F***!

An anthology should make a large gap *less* relevant because it's not you're relying on people to remain excited about specific characters or story beats. EDIT: I've never heard anyone say they weren't excited about The White Lotus because of the gap between seasons.

It’s not *bound* to but it is a risk

In this case though it was a completely new cast and story so the time waiting shouldn't really matter

It’s weird how that’s the vibe for an anthology show - I just saw “new beef” and went ooh ok, and started watching it

If I had to guess I'd say it's a mix of a couple of factors. One is the 3 year gap between seasons, but also, the fact that it's an anthology a lot of people probably didn't even realize a second season was coming. Then I don't know how good the promotion leading into it was, I knew it was coming and even I didn't realize it was coming this week. I'm interested to see if the numbers go up as word of mouth spreads, or if people just don't care anymore.

I gotta be honest, but they sold a show with fun Asian Americans on a domestic rampage and that stood out. Now it comes back and looks like every other Big Little White Lotus Perfect Strangers

It won't do a thing if it's not marketed, i got zero ads for this. Also, big stars on tv shows is not something that pulls anymore.

First season had near universal acclaim. This season pretty good reviews. A lot of shows are pretty good. Not a lot of shows are great across the board. I think it’s a bigger gulf than you’re representing it as.

They did very little marketing for it and when I went to watch the day it came out, it wasn’t one of the featured shows at the top of the screen. I had to search for it.

Eh people underestimate the pull Steven Yuen has I think

Ehh not really. We’re kinda overestimating the pull of s2 cast. 

The first season's Rotten Tomatoes score is 98% vs 86% for the second season.

The marketing for season 1 seemed more absurdist and crazy which probably piqued more people’s interest. Marketing for s2 seemed to make it more traditional horror suspense.

I’m like 6 episodes in, and it’s mostly pretty good, but I don’t like the cast as much, and the conflict isn’t nearly as clear. The “Beef” is split between multiple 2v2 teams that seem to change, but it’s also kinda 1v1v1v1. Idk. And the whole Korean Chairwoman plot feels like it could be cut completely and nothing would have changed. Idk. Not enjoying as much as Season 1 tbh. Even my rewatch had me sucked in immediately. I’d give S2 like a 7/10.

Story matters more than how big an actor is

It doesn't look or feel like the same show. Even with anthologies, there needs to be some consistent branding.

I didn’t even realize the new season came out until two days ago and binged it all since.

Ya, I was hooked after the first episode of season 1. I wandered off in the middle of the first episode of season 2. Took me 3 tries to see it fully, lost me tho.

I really liked it. Felt like another season of White Lotus.

This was my main sentiment. I enjoyed the first season, but the past few months alone... I saw there was a new season, actors I liked, then I sat there thinking about consuming that much of that type of media* and got kind of down. Opted for a Malcolm In the Middle rewatch and it's been a lot more enjoyable. Don't really feel like watching people yell and scream and fight about stupid trivial differences while laden with sarcastic jokes and depressing real world analogies. Woof.

I love the actors in both seasons, but I think the difference for me was that the characters in S1 were just more likeable. They were bad people, but funny with relatable hopes and redeemable qualities. S2 had some of that but not at the same level

Netflix advertisements is when you log into Netflix.

The only ads I’ve seen are some really cringy Gen Z vs Millennials generational grievance shit here on Listnook, which honestly actively makes me less interested to watch it.

I'm one of the few (apparently - based on the comments here) that decided to opt-in to the emails from Netflix. Did that long ago. I like knowing whats coming and going. They've done a ton of advertising for Beef, in the past few months. Hell, I even got 4 emails about upcoming shows, where Beef was the "headliner" of them, just in the 2 weeks leading up to the release - as well as a dedicated email just for the show, when it went live. They actually do this a lot, for upcoming shows. ...just gotta opt-in to those emails, unless you're very active on socials (which I'm not), where they tend to be far more active with their promotions and such.

I’ve been getting nonstop ads for this online and on social media. They’ve advertised this but probably not to the right people because I was never going to watch this in the first place lol.

This. First I heard of S2 was switching to Netflix yesterday.

It got ridiculous after she body slams the coyote dead. The whole Korean mafia aspect was a bit much.

The ending is bald, it took me a minute but I liked how thought provoking it is. The entire show, Austin is the only one being actually smart, knowledgeable and genuinely kind. You gotta be rooting for him but in the end, he's just another human who choses wealth and power over what is right. She wasn't even actually pregnant at that point, so he really picked siding with the bad guys for a comfortable future, rather than fighting them with the woman he loves. He's just as weak and corruptible as the next guy. And the final scene suggests he's not happy at all because of that.

Yup. This is really it. No one is telling their friends to go watch Beef S2 - everyone was telling their friends to watch Beef S1

This one’s not quite on the same level, also it’s a lot more like White Lotus.

Yeah, it didn't leave me wanting more

It was three or four episodes too long as well.

In my opinion this season is fantastic. I still like the first season more but thoroughly enjoying my watch so far.

The first season was definitely better but I did enjoy this one.

I think you bailed far too soon. It gets quite uneasy and the ending of S2 was a pretty insane turn. But yes can’t deny the White Lotus comparisons due to the country club location.

> The first season was great because it took this minor every day conflict and let it spiral while giving the character involved great development. I thought that's what made it interesting and set it apart, and I expected to get more of that with the second season since there are a lot of ways you could take a premise like that. Don't get me wrong, I do think the second season is great, but it's not really what I was anticipating. I think if you're going to do an anthology show, there has to be some common thread between the seasons like how *White Lotus* is people's squabbles at a resort coming to a head or *Fargo* is average people being pulled into a crime and getting in way over their heads. At this point, I wouldn't really know what to expect from a third season of *Beef*, because "people getting into a fight" - which is basically the only thing the seasons have in common (aside from Koreans being involved) - isn't the most compelling or unique premise for an anthology since that already describes a lot of shows (including Ryan Murphy's *Feud*)

I’m not done with the show yet, and I’m before the halfway point but the blackmail aspects are really just the setup for the relationships of these characters to be attached. It’s moreso about 3 different classes of relationships siphoning off each other. In a way that’s both back and forth. I think the show is pretty cognizant of the comparisons that could be drawn between it and White Lotus (as well as Parasite) and it’s doing enough to differentiate itself at this point for me. I’d say give the first 3 episodes a try. The first episode left me a bit unsatisfied, but after the second it really settled into itself.

same. the first episode felt like it kinda fumbled the catalyst event - less visceral? less relatable maybe? it just didn't hook me.

Season 1 had writing and characters that were very real and not just caricatures of the Asian American experience. It was relatable to different ethnicities as well and relatable, unlike Crazy Rich Asians (which I never really understood bc I was not crazy rich). Sure that had spectacle and showed that casting asians in hollywood had draw, but it seems like right now its mostly Koreans at the forefront of representation and culture and then maybe Japanese people. But in a few years I can see more south east asian representation popping up as more and more travel to those countries due to costs. I am already seeing it a lot more on social media with trends of food and travel tips, so only time will tell with representation in mainstream media

Also Steven Yeun had a large walking dead following which also streams on Netflix 

I'd also say there seems like minimal marketing for this? At least I haven't noticed any interviews from the cast really. I'm a bit surprised they didn't send Cailee Spaeny on some podcasts or something. I also thought the asian representation felt like a core part of season 1, not sure why they didn't keep that going.

Why were you interested in the first one but not this one?

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can you tell me some? I'm dying to watch something new that's good.

Yeah I don't really even usually focus on new shows. I prefer to wait till shows have at least a full season out so I can watch it all in a week. I know Netflix usually puts their shows out all at once but I have many other shows to watch as well. I also rotate through streaming platforms so right now I don't even have Netflix.

I think so…it seems almost every week a streaming service releases six or eight episodes of a series that I would like to watch.

I think this is it. I also think people know that because it’s an anthology, S2 is there for them to pick it up when they have time. It’s not like they need to watch it ASAP to get the next chapter of a story they were previously invested in. They’ll wrap up what they’re watching and then pick up Beef when they get a moment.

 nothing special

Wow what a take

I thought it was significantly worse in every way. The beef didn't really marinate and escalate, and a very tonally different plot took the forefront.

Season 2 is good but nowhere as good as 1. Feels completely different motivation wise

Weird amount of ChatGPT too