BEEF Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan Dish Retribution Stew

Netflix's second season of BEEF has an all new cast, story and location. What the two seasons have in common, is a harsh look at marriage and social stratification.  This season BEEF smacks of WHITE LOTUS only a much cheaper cut.  Married couple, Josh (Emmy and Golden Globe winner, Oscar Isaac) and Lindsay (Carey Mulligan (three time Acad. Award nominated actor).  Josh is the general manager of an exclusive country club overlooking the Pacific.  Lindsay is an interior decorator who put her design talents on display in the clubhouse.  Their prestigious preening is a carapace that is soon shattered when their physical altercation is captured on the cell phone by a young engaged couple, Austin (Charles Melton) and Ashley (Cailee Spaeny). Austin and Ashley work part-time in service at the club with ambitions for getting a prime seat at the table, i.e. health insurance, better jobs, and paid vacations.  Josh revels in his seemingly self-important position which has him hob-nobbing with the rich and famous.  Lindsay reminds him he is merely staff paid to befriend the members who do not view him as their friend.  When the young couple innocently view Josh and Lindsay fighting, replete with thrown glass and a raised 7 iron, they do what all Gen Z's would do.  They film this ugly scene on their cell but flee when spotted by the sparing couple.  Josh, rightly fearful of what this could do to his job and reputation, intercepts Ashley on the golf course.   Josh tries to ingratiate himself and proffers a bribe for her aligned acquiescence. This in turn inspires Austin and Ashley to conspire and blackmail the Josh and Lindsay using the incriminating footage.  The young couple parlay the footage into an exec. position for Lindsay at the club with a higher salary and health insurance.  The show's setup is enticing and the acting is exceptional; not as brilliantly written as "Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf" or "White Lotus" from which the show takes slices.  Still, there's plenty to relish in terms of marital bliss gone amiss, social climbing, abject behavior and criminal conniving.  As in season one of BEEF, with its appealing premise and perfect cast to enhance a bitter grievance and retribution series.  Alas, stick a fork in season 2.  If you're like me and don't savor acrimony well-done to burnt; you'll be done watching season two, too.