Lee Sung Jin on the breakthrough that led him to ‘BEEF’
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. And my guest today is creator, writer, and director Lee Sung-jin. The second season of his Netflix series Beef just earned 16 Emmy nominations, including nominations for writing, directing, and executive producing. Lee says he writes what he knows. And what he keeps returning to are the pressures people carry but rarely talk about, money, class, and the anger we sometimes swallow to get through the day. The idea for season two began when Lee was walking through his neighborhood and heard a couple arguing with each other inside of their home. Later, when he told the story, his younger friends were horrified. Did you call 911, they asked. Friends his own age had almost the opposite reaction.
They shrugged. Lee couldn't stop thinking about that split, what it revealed about what different generations expect from relationships, and what happens when the private lives of one generation collide with the values of another. That became the new season of Beef. Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan play a married couple whose ugliest private fight is secretly recorded by two young employees, Ashley and Austin, played by Kaylee Spaney and Charles Melton. The next morning, Austin comes over and offers Mulligan's character a safe place if she needs it. And she tells him that he's misunderstood the situation.
How old are you?
Twenty-nine.
And how long have you and... What's her name?
Ashley.
Ashley. How long have you and Ashley been going out?
A year and a half. Wow.
So early. Well, you've got a good fight coming. And when it does come, you two are going to be stronger for it.
If I may say this, ma'am, I don't think that's how relationships work.
All right. All I'll say is that all the couples I know that last, they've really had at it, you know. There's actually the ones that don't, where someone's usually hiding something. I mean, not to say that that's your situation with... Ashley. Ashley, but the bad does have to come out somewhere.
Do you understand? The first season of Beef, starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, also grew out of a moment Lee couldn't let go of, a road rage encounter that ended with him following another driver for nearly half an hour. That season won eight Emmys, including Outstanding Limited Series. Before creating Beef, Lee spent years writing for comedies, including It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Silicon Valley. Lee Sung-jin, welcome to Fresh Air and congratulations. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. And I'm just so curious, what was it about your friends' reaction to those people fighting in your neighborhood that really sparked this for you? Well, you know, to be honest, the actual neighbors are older.
They're probably boomers, I think. I It was interesting that the 40-some-year-olds were all defending the boomers.
How did Lee Sung-jin’s neighborhood argument inspire Season 2 of Beef?
And I was trying to examine why that is. And I'm like, oh, no, it's because we're old now. We know what it's like to be in a relationship. Yeah. Yeah, and I thought that, oh, wow, like elder millennials hadn't really seen characters wrestle with the fact that, oh, we're starting to feel and do things that the previous generation did for the first time. And, you know, as someone who's 44, that felt very potent and relevant. And so, yeah, like it just kind of sparked something in me. I also wondered, is there something very specific about midlife at this time period for millennials in particular? Because in this series, Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan, they play Josh and Lindsay, and they're a married couple who Josh actually works for this really swanky country club.
And then the two younger people, they also work there. Josh has a little bit more power because he's a manager, but all of them kind of don't have power.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:50
2
How did Lee Sung-jin’s neighborhood argument inspire Season 2 of Beef?
3:50–24:41
3
What real-life country club experience informed the show’s class and generational themes?
24:41–38:38
4
Which episode of Beef came directly from Lee’s 10+ hour ER experience and why?
38:38–48:21
5
How did Lee’s road rage encounter become the origin story for Season 1’s conflict?
48:21–49:35
Speakers
6 identifiedMore from Fresh Air
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