Be aware that this story contains spoilers for the Beef Season 2 finale, “It Will Stay This Way and You Will Obey,” so you’ve been warned.
The second season of Beef has finally arrived amid the 2026 TV schedule and, with it, comes yet another diabolical tale about messy people engaged in visceral squabbles. At the center of this season’s story are couples Josh (Oscar Isaac) and Lindsay (Carey Mulligan) & Ashley (Cailee Spaeney) and Austin (Charles Melton). This tale has a lot of twists and turns and, in the finale, there’s even a wild fight scene. CinemaBlend recently spoke to the show’s director – who also helmed Marvel’s Thunderbolts* – and he broke it down for us.
During Season 2’s final installment, Lindsay, Ashley and Austin arrive in Korea. It’s there that the powerful Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung) ultimately wants to prevent them from divulging that she’s laundering money through the Monte Vista Point Country Club, where the trio works. The three find themselves at the Trochos cosmetic clinic, where Park’s husband works, and aim to find a way out. After a chat with Park’s hubby, Dr. Kim – who wants to help turn her in – she discovers the group herself and Lindsay punches her.
This leads to a chaotic chase/fight sequence within the clinic that plays out as Austin, Lindsay and Ashley attempt to escape Park’s security. All three try to defend themselves, and the madness also culminates in Kim being killed (and the group being captured). It’s a wild scene, and I honestly wasn’t expecting Beef to deliver something like it. When I spoke with Jake Schreier – who also directed on Season 1 – about the sequence, he first shared a cool inspiration that series creator/writer Lee Sung Jin had for this part of the finale:
I think from the very beginning of when Sonny started talking about this season, he was like, ‘I don't know where it goes, but I know that there needs to be a sort of our version of an Old Boy fight in a Korean skincare clinic, like, where the skincare instruments are used as weapons. So that was always kind of hanging out there as, like, ‘Alright, well, whatever happens, like, somehow we're getting there,’ and then watching him find a way to weave it there was really fun.
Action junkies can probably understand why Jin would want a fight scene reminiscent of the ones in Park Chan-wook’s acclaimed Oldboy, but making that is easier said than done. As Schreier mentioned in the video above, he enlisted the services of stunt coordinator Chris O’Hara, who worked with the main cast and with the Korean actors. O’Hara even set up a warehouse for the stars to “work through” the scene. One key principle Schreier held onto while making his Marvel movie also helped inform his approach to this fight:
Something we really tried to do in Thunderbolts* was make sure that there was a strong concept driving each of the sequences, that it's not just about punches and fights…. and it relates to where the characters are at. And so this one was very much about, you know, obviously it feels false if our characters were able to kind of out action any guards, but it's sort of because of the circumstances of where they are and their desperation and their willingness to use that. So it wanted to be this very kind of sloppy, character driven fight, you know, and like, really get into the gore of it.
Ideally, action should be driven by story, and that rings true in the much-praised Thunderbolts* and Beef, with the latter being appropriately “sloppy” due to none of the main characters being skilled fighters. They do find ways to defend themselves that don’t feel unfounded, and Schreier even highlighted the fact that Lindsay’s tendency to vomit of gross moments saved her from a knife swipe. Overall, this is a well-done sequence and, despite his experience with films, Scheier wasn’t aiming for something blockbuster-esque:
Yes, I worked on Thunderbolts*, but we're not in this sequence going to outdo a Mission: Impossible sequence. But how can we make it feel like Beef? How can we make it feel like our own, and what are the things we can bring to it, in concept and idea and in performance? Like, [the] incredible moment where Carrie's screaming at Ava, and it's so funny. Like, what are the things we can bring to it, that where we can do something that other people aren't.
Jake Schreier is a very shrewd director, and that’s a major reason why he produces such excellent work. (It’s also one of the reasons I’m excited for the X-Men reboot he’s working on.) Of course, the fight scene is just one of the many reasons Beef Season 2 is worth watching. It’s also chock full of great performances, dark comedy and social commentary. Still, I would indeed call that fight in the clinic a major highlight.
Stream Beef Season 2 now with a Netflix subscription. Those who are already eager for more excellent TV offerings should read up on other A24-produced shows that are coming up.
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