Sure, couples fight. They might shout at one another, maybe even get a little physical. But no couple would want those moments seen by someone else, let alone filmed. So when Lindsay (Carey Mulligan) charges her drunk husband Josh (Oscar Isaac) with a golf club, the last thing she expects to happen is for her to lock eyes with the camera of Ashley (Cailee Spaeny), one of Josh’s employees. But that is exactly what happens, and Ashley then begins to blackmail Josh and Lindsay with footage of their fight. 

That titular workplace “Beef” kicks off a thoroughly entertaining whirlwind of backstabbing, deception and country club attire in the new season of Netflix’s anthology series. An excellent score by FINNEAS, strong performances, and unexpected humor anchor the show, but somewhat messy storytelling prevents this “Beef” from being perfectly well-done.

As the series begins, Josh works as the general manager of the Monte Vista Country Club in California, charmingly wooing his absurdly wealthy clientele as they golf, sip, and lounge away their $300,000 initiation fees. His serious, independent wife Lindsay, an interior decorator, is re-designing the club in advance of the arrival of Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung), the mastermind Korean billionaire acquiring Monte Vista. All of this occurs as the foolishly goofy Austin (Charles Melton) works part time at the club alongside Ashley, his nervous but dedicated fiancé who staffs the beverage cart. 

The fresh-faced “kids” of the show, Austin and Ashley, are enamored with one another, in perfect contrast to the vitriolic and tenuous marriage between the middle-aged Josh and Lindsay. While those four make up the leads of the show, the B storyline following the apathetic connection between the elderly Chairwoman Park and her second marriage to aging plastic surgeon Dr. Kim (Song Kang-ho) provides a third kind of relationship. 

And that is where the core thematic throughline of “Beef” emerges: While not always explicit, those relationship dynamics are the undercurrent that drive the plot of the show. Spaeny’s riveting performance as Ashley reveals her desire to start a family with Austin and causes her to begin the blackmail; Lindsay’s feelings of inferiority to her husband’s role running the club are exacerbated once Chairwoman Park hates her designs and Lindsay is fired; Dr. Kim’s reliance on Chairwoman Park annoys her once she has to return to Korea and fix his mistakes. 

But while “Beef” has elements of a relationship drama, it is thoroughly comedic, too. Austin in particular is hilarious, stealing scenes with his physical comedy as a workout instructor, “fo sho” drops, and limited literacy, including an inability to tell the difference between the words “mist” and “misc.” And the rest of the cast is funny as well, with Josh’s vinyl-bro dancing, Lindsay’s drunk flirting in a red-light mask, and Chairwoman Park’s act pretending she cannot understand English so she can eavesdrop on club patrons and workers. The excellence of Melton and Spaeny’s performances does not mean that Mulligan and Isaac are delivering poor ones, but despite strong material, Josh and Lindsay’s scenes are less entertaining than their younger counterparts. 

All of this takes place against the backdrop of a very well-crafted show, with James Laxton’s light-filled blurry-background cinematography, Olga Mill’s exquisitely crafted summer attire, and Grace Yun’s exceptional production design building a green-and-blue world of both traditional club lounges and modern Korean skyscrapers. The title designs, created by Benjamin Tuttle and Dylan Vandenberg, delightfully combine medieval portraits and complex episode titles (think “The Increasing Flimsiness of Any Certainties about the Future”) into compelling moments introducing each episode.

As the series progresses, the initial fight video becomes less important and is replaced by increasingly absurd and unwieldy scenarios. As animal and medical issues emerge both in Korea and in the United States, the clever humor starts to take a backseat to drama. 

The rising stakes and stress that surround these characters keep the show interesting, but also increasingly unfocused in the tale “Beef” is trying to tell. Each episode adds more fuel to the flames, but the resulting fire distracts from the core story. After all these conflicts have emerged, the last couple of episodes clumsily flatten them all down. In the penultimate episode, each character rapidly finds out what the others have done, and all the previous secrets come out in the open far too quickly. 

That is not to say that “Beef” is unsatisfying, because the finale does have strong moments including a thrilling one-shot fight scene straight out of a Tarantino film. But, “Beef” struggles under the weight of all the stories it has built up and the audience is left with a clumsy resolution. 

Even if “Beef” never rises to become something excellent, its unexpected humor and fun performances make it still worth checking out. Even though it is certainly no masterpiece and its dramatic moments may miss the mark, the way that these characters devolve into disgust, lying and secret-keeping is thoroughly entertaining. Terrific performances from Melton and Spaeny alongside strong work from Yuh-jung, consistent comedy, and excellent crafts across the board make this “Beef” a prime choice for viewing.