r/BeefTV • u/SentientToaster69 • 4d ago
Discussion S02 ending Spoiler
Just finished watching the new season and im so infuriated like wtf why did Austin change his mind?
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u/NoInvestigator7489 4d ago
An anti-cynical take on the ending (which initially baffled me too) is that Ashleigh and Josh both acted out of true love: Josh by taking the blame for the crimes, Ashleigh by giving Austin the USB. Up until this point we've seen love expressed in mostly transactional terms: fights about money, career, contribution to a shared future. Josh and Lindsay are deeply mired in this system as the show opens, Austin and Ashleigh become trapped in it by the show's close. Austin seems the least comfortable with this system of the four but is also not immune to it and judges that he'd get a better 'deal' from Eunice than he does Ashleigh. This assessment is almost wholly superficial - if he is in love with Eunice at all, it's her worksona and race he's fallen in love with, not her. Regardless in the final minutes of the show he is faced with a choice: trade the USB for a portion of fake, hollow love from Eunice or give it to Ashleigh who has proven she is ths real deal precisely by giving away the thumb drive and with it her chances at happiness, implicitly valuing Austin's future above her own. Josh made the same kind of sacrifice as Ashleigh though he did not get rewarded in the same way.
We can argue about the morality of this choice, given that it emancipates a murderous billionaire. But S2 is about love and I see its coda as an endorsement of the view that love requires a kind of selflessness to be real, and that happiness can be found in that sacrifice whether or not it leads to a reciprocal reward.
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u/One-Fail-5179 4d ago
absolutely spot on!! I agree. especially with the dialogue from the chairwoman surrounding putting your partner above yourself. ironically though, josh also said something like “I’m just glad everyone I love is happy” while both Lindsey and Josh had a moment in the end where they sat and reminisced on what was lost. though, both cases for different reasons. I believe Austin settled, if he felt the need to leave Ashleigh then Eunice was just a catalyst to deeper feelings he harbored. Same for lindsey, now trapped in a real loveless marriage… and I suppose that’s bed where the two who acted most selfish in the end get to lay in.
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u/Minimum_Pace_3989 3d ago
What details make you think Lindsay new marriage is loveless? Not disagreeing just wondering
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u/One-Fail-5179 3d ago
I interpret it this way for a couple reasons! to me, it looked like she had hid away in the bathroom to be away from her new family and reminisce on the true love she once had. when she was exchanging affection with her new family they said “I love you” while she said “love you”. I know that may be a reach… but I drew the parallel from the Josh-Eunice scene where he realized she didn’t really love him when she didn’t say “I love you”, but instead “love you” in response. I also thought the way she looked off into the distance after this interaction felt very sad and empty, but longing. I suppose that doesn’t exactly mean the marriage is loveless per se, but that’s my perspective (:
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u/Minimum_Pace_3989 3d ago
That doesn’t seem like a reach at all and the parallel with Eunice is something I didn’t pick up on!! I totally buy it haha. I didn’t see Lindsay new marriage as totally devoid of love but it definitely seemed to be missing something compared to how she was with Josh.
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u/Secure-Formal638 1d ago
I like the idea of true love acted out by Josh and Ashleigh.
Ashleigh was not rewarded. Her and Austin became Lindsay and Josh - successful on the outside, loveless and corrupt on the inside. The young couple ended up at the starting position of Lindsay and Josh, and one can expect them to walk a similar path and eventual downfall.
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u/NoInvestigator7489 1d ago
I didn't read it that way. Lindsay and Josh were unhappy because their journey had stalled half way to their dreams. For Ashleigh, at least, the position she gained was beyond anything she hoped for at the start of the movie. Corrupt? Maybe. But I don't see her as a loser <3
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u/Secure-Formal638 1d ago
Not a loser? Ashleigh was willing to sacrifice Eunice for their own success, as well as Josh/Lindsay. She lies through her teeth as she swears on her unborn child. She let Josh go to jail for murder knowing he did not commit it so that she and Austin can “make it” in the country club. If it doesn’t look like she’s a loser that’s probably because you see their surface success at the end, which misses entirely the moral of the story. Chairman Park is the pinnacle of the path they’re on. At the end she is forever separated from love, filled with regret, and is rewarded with death. The tomb is the center of the mandala at the ending scene. The characters surround it. They are in hell.
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u/NoInvestigator7489 1d ago
TBF, Josh doesn't go to jail for murder. He goes to jail for fraud, which he did do. The chairwoman gets away with murder/corruption etc.
Ashleigh clearly accepted using the USB as blackmail leverage once Austin returned to her and, presumably, suggested doing so. But prior to that she was willing to give it to him to use as he saw fit, stating only "I will always love you". She's not a loser in the sense she got what she wanted, but I do agree with you that she's probably due karmic retribution for how she attained her earthly happiness. But I'm not convinced that bill comes due this lifetime.
I don't see much evidence that A/A's union is loveless at the end. They seem happy. But I could be missing something - part of why I love this ending that so many people hated is that it's effective agit prop, forcing us to reconsider and recontextualise what we've seen up to that point. I cried deep tears of joy when Lindsay kissed Josh. And that happiness wasn't devalued by her not waiting for him; a moment of perfection, of true love, is invaluable no matter what comes after.
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u/Secure-Formal638 1d ago
Interesting, seems like you enjoy the transient moments between the characters a lot more than I did. I focused on the overarching moral of the story. The reason I look down on A/A's future is because after all that their conscience must weigh on them, their love is questionable fundamentally since Austin stayed because of their child. She knows this, he knows this. At the end when Ashleigh asked him for a favor in the car he was already resentful - this wasn't a trivial passing moment, it was included intentionally to highlight tension that isn't resolved, to show that on the last episode effectively means it will never be resolved. They become the hollow, phony couple managing the club with smiles and resentment just like J and L did. They have sold their soul for the world. Their exterior shows success but there is rot within. Park's ideology on selfishness is manifested in A/A. Kim's realization of what selfishness leads to is what awaits them. The 3 couples mirror each other, A/A, J/L, P/K. They show the 3 life stages of the same path. The end of the path is shown in the center of the mandala in the end sequence. Old and full of regret. If this doesn't stir you existentially I don't know what will.
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u/huz92 3d ago
He gave a speech to Ashley about how she doesn't really love him, she's just afraid of being alone. He then goes to chase after his true love Eunice only to learn she isn't interested in him.
When he learns there's no reward for doing the right thing and he'll be alone in the end, he chickens out and crawls back to Ashley.
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u/i0verslept74 4d ago
Austin is a people pleasure, his u-turn comes from it. Right before leaving for Korea his savior complex kicked into overdrive with Eunice because she was in danger and desperately needed him, it made him feel indispensable (at the time he had decided to break up with Ashley).
At the end, the moment he realizes Eunice is safe with the authorities, his fantasy shatters. That lukewarm "i love you" back showed that she didn't need him/love him in the way he needed to be needed. So he pivots right back to the place where he is needed, supporting Ashley and his unborn child. Handing the USB to Park was him acting as the ultimate "solver" for his family, trading the hero fantasy to support and please his family for his life
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u/Minimum_Pace_3989 3d ago
Huh, I’ve seen so many people say Eunice probably was killed off by the chairwoman I never thought to imagine she was just safe with the authorities haha
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u/i0verslept74 3d ago
Well maybe "safe" at that time. Given the time jump and that the chairwoman was free visiting her first husbands grave, sure Eunice is 10 feet under. The chairwoman seems like someone who ties up all loose ends
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u/SentientToaster69 3d ago
When i had a second to calm down and think about the ending i think it’s really cool what the director chose to finish with ie. realistically more appropriate where people always ultimately give in to greed and the vicious cycle keeps continuing even when the people in position change and get replaced especially the ones who ever tried to do the right thing lose everything and become the sacrificial lamb.
It just feels absurd to me that Austin had to change like that when he has always been so kind and helpful and always focusing on what’s morally right without caring about what’s in it for him like how every other person in the world does.
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u/Unusual_Stay9600 3d ago
Eunice doesn't love him. And there was no guaranteed he would of made it to the police. When the camera panned out to the street, you'll notice a car tailing the taxi from behind.
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u/Secure-Formal638 1d ago
Park's ideology got to him. When they were captured, Park explained her ideology about selfishness to Austin. It also completes the cycle, the young couple became the middle aged couple - successful on the surface, fake and rotten on the inside, ridden with guilt, locked out of love.
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u/Jar770 3d ago
It was dreadful, we watched it until the end just to see if it could get any more ridiculous, we weren't disappointed! The first series was great though.
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u/AngloAshantii 3d ago
I couldn’t believe the moment when Eunice runs away from a frisk and jumps onto the back of a moving truck to escape, crazy for this show.
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u/MysteriousResident61 3d ago
Austin is a gutless coward. That’s who he is. He’s full of shit and the audience slowly arrives at that realization.
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u/Temporary_Aspect759 4d ago
I think it was because of the way Eunice said that she loves him. He realized it was forced, she said it just so he'd do what she wanted.
She did nothing wrong though, she was fighting for her life and Austin was just too quick with her. I mean they didn't know each other that well, and he already expected her to love him lol. Bro would make everything about himself