Beef season 2 ending explained: Who dies, the time skip and 2 big unanswered questions
You may be surprised by who ends up together...
Beef season 2 ends with a trip to Korea, a bullet to the head, and a big time skip – so, let’s break down everything that happens in the show’s ending.
The first season of Beef (one of the best-ever Netflix shows) focused on a feud between two road-ragers. They were awful to each other, whether it was peeing on carpets or jeopardising each other’s livelihoods.
The second season is (mostly) a war of passive-aggressive jabs. It revolves around Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton), an idealistic, engaged couple who work at an elite country club. When they catch their boss, Josh (Oscar Isaac), in a bad fight with his wife, Lindsay (Carey Mulligan), an attempt at blackmail spirals into chaos.
The ending of Beef season 2 not only concludes their feud, but it also involves a much bigger conspiracy in Korea and a conclusion you may not have expected.
***Warning: spoilers for Beef season 2 ahead***
How does Beef season 2 end?
The finale of Beef season 2 ends with an extremely close call. As Austin, Ashley, and Lindsay arrive in South Korea, Josh finds himself gagged and hanged by one of Chairwoman Park’s (Youn Yuh-jung) associates.
It was the perfect plan: in their eyes, it’d look like Josh killed himself because of how guilty he felt about embezzling money from Monte Vista Point.
However, the scaffolding holding the rope snaps. Josh manages to grab a knife and stab his killer in the neck. Later, he makes it to South Korea to rescue his wife and (begrudgingly) “the kids” – we’ll come back to this.
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Over in South Korea, Eunice (Seoyeon Jang) discreetly hands Austin a USB with incriminating evidence against Park (who’s been covering up another death – don’t worry, we’ll catch you up in another section), before fleeing.
He swallows it, so Park’s security can’t find it. After an uncomfortable dinner, Austin poops it out.
They find an unlikely ally: Dr. Kim (Song Kang-ho), Park’s husband, who’s become disillusioned with their marriage and believes she’ll turn on him, despite her efforts to cover up what he did.
Things don’t go to plan, though. Dr. Kim ends up dead, and Austin, Ashley, and Lindsay leg it. They make it out of the building and onto a busy street, and just when they think they’re going to get away, Josh shows up and gives away their location.
They all end up in Park’s custody. Josh and Lindsay reconcile and agree to throw “the kids” under the bus, while Austin and Ashley finally break up. Oh, also, she gives him back the USB she stole, even though she promised she never took it.
However, there’s some big last-minute twists: Austin gives Park the USB and Josh confesses to everything in exchange for Lindsay’s safety.
Who dies?
Thankfully, nobody from the main quartet dies in the Beef season 2 finale. However, there are two deaths.
Park’s assassin dies in the scuffle with Josh after the unsuccessful attempt to hang him.
Dr. Kim, who had pledged to help Ashley, Austin, and Lindsay, gets shot in the head as they’re trying to escape Park’s building.
Also, Woosh (BM), a relative of Park who works at the club as a tennis coach and skincare salesman, is murdered for cottoning onto Park’s scheme.
Beef season 2 ends with a big time skip
After Josh and Lindsay’s farewell kiss in South Korea, the Beef season 2 finale skips ahead eight years.
By this time, Austin and Ashley have effectively taken Josh and Lindsay’s roles – only Ashley is the general manager, and Austin appears to be the primary caregiver to their child.
They even have a near-identical conversation with Troy (William Fichtner) and his girlfriend, Ava (Mikaela Hoover), agreeing to book a reservation at Lucky’s for them all.
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Meanwhile, we get a short scene with Josh thriving in prison. He’s basically Red from Shawshank Redemption: a friend to everyone and someone who can get anyone anything they want.
In the closing scenes, he’s finally freed from prison.
“I’ve had a lot of time to reflect… I made a lot of mistakes, hurt a lot of people, and life certainly didn’t turn out the way I thought it would,” he says.
“I’m looking forward to the next chapter. Most importantly, I’m really glad that everyone I love is happy.”
Who stays together by the end of Beef season 2?
Despite everything that happens in Beef season 2, Austin and Ashley remain a couple by the end.
Austin had confessed to Ashley that he’d fallen in love with Eunice. However, he had a change of heart at the last possible second, instead choosing to curry favour with Park and secure a future with Ashley.
It is a little depressing, though, as it’s clear they’ve devoted themselves to the life they’re able to have together, rather than each other.
The same can’t be said for Josh and Lindsay, but they arguably have the more romantic ending.
Lindsay told Josh she’d wait for him. Instead, she moved out to the countryside and remarried in his absence.
However, as she watches him say how relieved he is that “everyone [he] loves is happy”, it’s clear she still loves him too. Who knows, maybe she’ll run off and be with him again?
What exactly happened with Chairwoman Park and Dr. Kim?
There’s quite a bit more going on in Beef season 2 compared to the first season, so you should be forgiven if you’ve missed something about Chairwoman Park and Dr. Kim.
Dr. Kim is Park’s second husband (her first husband died of natural causes). He’s a surgeon at Trochos Skin Clinic in Seoul, where he performs cosmetic procedures.
However, after ignoring advice to retire, he accidentally kills a patient.
Fortuitously, this coincides with Park’s discovery that Josh has been embezzling small amounts of money to send to his family in Cuba.
So, she agrees to extend his contract at the club on the condition that he attaches his name to even further embezzlement, with the funds being used to help cover up the death at the clinic.
Obviously, this doesn’t quite go to plan, apart from Josh taking the blame for Park’s scheme.
So, why did Troy call the police on Josh?
In the Beef season 2 finale, Josh asks Troy if they can take his private jet to Seoul. He goes away to “make some calls” and actually phones the local sheriff.
It turns out that Troy had found out about Josh embezzling money, and given that he was the former owner of the club, he had some concerns about its manager stealing money.
It had nothing to do with the man Josh had to kill, nor was it necessarily connected to Chairwoman Park. He just thought Josh was stealing.
Thankfully, Josh snuck to a nearby door to find out what Troy was doing, so he was able to run away before the police arrived. This forced him to turn to Park’s other associates for help, and it’s why he arrives in Korea in handcuffs.
Beef season 2 ending: What happened between Austin and Eunice?
This is the biggest question left to answer after Beef season 2.
Austin and Eunice have a strange connection throughout Beef season 2. It’s clear that she finds him attractive, but she’s (mostly) respectful about his relationship with Ashley – apart from that first PT session.
In the penultimate episode, after discovering that Ashley was directly responsible for Josh and Lindsay’s dog’s death, Austin tells Eunice that he loves her. She doesn’t say it back, but heavily implies she feels the same way.
In the finale, Austin tells Ashley he isn’t in love with her anymore and he wants to be with Eunice. When Ashley gives him the USB, he escapes the building, finds a taxi, and asks to be taken to the police station to meet Eunice.
He phones her and lets her know the news. When he tells Eunice he loves her, she doesn’t say it back at first – but, when she does, there’s some reluctance.
Austin’s smile slowly falls away, and this is when he decides to give the USB back to Park.
Did he detect the false note in her “love you too”? Or did he realise that the life he could have with Ashley would ultimately be better? Maybe it was both, but it’s certainly not a happy ending.
What do the ants mean?
Ants appear in every episode of Beef season 2, crawling over nearby lights, food, and ceilings. But why?
You could make any number of reasonable arguments, but the obvious symbolism is that ants represent hard work, perseverance, and working together for the greater good.
Sandra Ingerman, an author and spiritual healing expert, wrote: “In contemporary spiritual practice, ants often represent the power of small, consistent actions. Their appearance in the home can be a synchronistic reminder that seemingly minor efforts, when consistent, create major transformation.”
Throughout Beef, whenever its couples are aligned on a goal, they achieve it. Whenever they try to do something on their own, it often goes wrong; for example, Ashley accidentally leaving the door open.
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