Beef star Carey Mulligan on season 2's "gross" revenge scenes: 'I'm disappointed, but I'll do it'

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Beef season 2.

Beef season 2 star Carey Mulligan has addressed a disgusting scene in which her character stoops to a shocking low in order to take revenge on her rival.

The latest episodes of the Netflix comedy-drama follow a new rivalry, this time shared between two couples: the older, middle-class Lindsay (Mulligan) and Josh (Oscar Isaac), and their younger, hard-up employees Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton).

The story begins with Josh and Lindsay being caught in the midst of an alarmingly volatile argument, which threatens to destroy their reputation among the wealthy clients at their country club.

Ashley and Austin attempt to blackmail them with recorded footage of the spat, setting off a chain of events that spirals wildly out of their control.

Indeed, two particularly spiteful acts in Beef season 2 are sure to provoke a strong reaction – read on for spoiler-filled details on both, including Mulligan’s reaction (so long as you have a strong stomach).

In the penultimate episode of Beef season 2, Lindsay discovers that Ashley was responsible for her beloved dog, named Burberry, getting loose and being attacked by coyotes.

The revelation occurs just as it seemed their feud could be cooling, but drives Lindsay to her most extreme action yet.

While aboard a business class flight to Seoul, South Korea, she offers to fetch a cocktail for the distressed Ashley, only to taint the drink in a most unholy way.

Taking it to the airplane bathroom she contaminates the glass and liquid therein with substances smeared off the toilet, before gleefully handing it over and encouraging Ashley to take a big gulp.

In an interview with Radio Times, Mulligan revealed that the shocking moment was a surprise even to her, with showrunner Lee Sung Jin (also known as ‘Sonny’) adding it to the script “quite late in the process”.

“We’d been shooting for a while when Sonny told me that he’d written that,” she recalled, “and I said ‘Oh Sonny, I’m really disappointed in you – but I’ll do it!’

“It was honestly really unpleasant to even shoot because Sonny kept trying to make it worse,” continued Mulligan. “He kept on getting set dressing to put more stuff on the rim of the toilet seat, which I felt was unnecessary.”

Ultimately, Ashley only takes one sip before Lindsay herself throws up in disgust.

Mulligan questioned: “It’s a solid revenge, but if it makes you sick yourself then it’s not really working, is it?”

Co-star Isaac interjected: “That is the idea of revenge, right? It’s like poisoning yourself and expecting the other guy to die.”

To be fair to Lindsay, she’s not the only Beef season 2 character to sink to gutter-level in a moment of fury.

Midway through the season, after undergoing emergency surgery on her uterus due to an ovarian torsion, Ashley contaminates the fruit juice in Lindsay and Josh’s family home with blood from her open wound.

She blames Josh, at least in part, for her medical treatment being delayed, as he chose to withhold the details of an available doctor unless she agreed to delete the blackmail material.

Mulligan had a more positive view of Ashley’s moment of madness, adding that it was “fairly fixed from the beginning” and she “always thought that was so brilliant”.

Beef season 2 is available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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