The ending of the A24 and Netflix hit Beef has left a lot of people wanting more and for good reason. The show has already been praised as one of the streaming giant’s best since Squid Game made its debut a year and a half ago and with a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who’s watched the show in full who didn’t enjoy it.
Before we get to how the ending of season 1 played out, let’s take a breath and talk about the odds of a second season getting the green light. While Netflix definitely hasn’t confirmed that season 2 of Beef is already in the works, the good news is that series creator Lee Sung Jin confirmed to Rolling Stone that he’s already got three seasons mapped out.
Considering the amount of enthusiasm for the first season, surely there’s a second season on its way. Right?
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The Ending Of Netflix’s ‘Beef’ Explained
[WARNING: Some light spoilers ahead regarding Beef season 1 — proceed with caution.]
Now, onto the dramatic finale of season 1 of Beef, which followed the story of Danny (Steven Yeun) and Amy (Ali Wong) after a chance road rage meeting brought them together for better and for worse. The season finishes with both Danny and Amy together, with Danny recovering in hospital from a gunshot wound and from accidentally poisoning himself with berries he found in the deserted Malibu hillside.
But what happened to Danny’s younger brother, Paul (Young Mazino)?
The ten-part season concludes its storyline across the final two episodes, beginning with Paul and Danny being held hostage during an attempted robbery by Issac (David Choe) and his criminal friends. During the chaos and confusion, the police arrive and a shootout kicks off, keeping Issac and his crew occupied and giving Paul and Danny the opportunity to escape.
While the brothers are escaping, the depth of Danny’s poor treatment of Paul is revealed as he explains that he threw his younger brother’s college applications away, justifying it by saying he was worried he would lose his companionship with Paul if he left to pursue his studies. There’s a moment of realisation between the pair, with Danny realising how badly he’s treated Paul and telling him to leave him behind, simply saying, “You need to get away from me.”
Paul does exactly that, leaving his brother behind and jumping over a wall, before two gunshots are heard and you’re forced to think that Paul has been gunned down by the police as he attempted to escape the shootout.
In the tenth and final episode, Danny spends much of it believing that his brother has died after fleeing from Issac and the police. It isn’t till later in the episode that Danny finally returns from the arid Malibu heat and receives a message from Paul when his mobile phone service comes back in range.
The message simply reads that Paul is alive, but that he wants nothing to do with Danny any more after the way he’s treated him and that he’s blocking his phone number. Taking the agonising step of cutting his brother out of his life, whom he loved and trusted, is the only step Paul feels like he has left to take after realising the opportunities that Danny prevented him from capitalising on, a decision that Danny only has himself to blame for.
While it’s not yet clear if a season 2 of Beef will be coming to Netflix, it’s worth remembering that if the show picks up where it left off, Paul won’t be aware that Danny was shot by George (Joseph Lee) in the desert and ended up in hospital with critical injuries. If we are blessed with a second season of Beef, following the storyline of Danny attempting to mend his relationship with Paul seems like an obvious one and is set up to be just as engrossing as the storyline of the first season.
All images courtesy of Netflix.
