At the heart of BEEF Season 2 is Monte Vista Point, a country club upholstered in floral finery, carpeted with lush green lawns, and dotted with pastel athleisure-wearing members. Presiding over the rarefied bubble are Troy (William Fichtner) and Ava (Mikaela Hoover). They’re “the king and queen of Monte Vista Point,” says Lee Sung Jin, BEEF’s Emmy–winning creator.
Troy is a wealthy member with connections to the music industry, whose chalet and private plane have him rubbing elbows with the club’s celebrity clientele. He can’t believe his luck in landing the charming and much younger Ava, who holds court in Dôen frocks and maroon tennis sets. But, Hoover explains, there’s more to her character than her expensive attire.
“I created this backstory: Ava was a romantic and loved Disney movies, and she’d wanted that romantic Prince Charming love since she was a little girl,” says the actor. “She had been disappointed and gotten heartbroken over and over again, to the point that she was like, ‘I don’t need that passionate, incredible love.’ ” Ava just craves security and contentment, both of which flow freely at Troy’s side.
Her husband, however, only sees the fantasy. “He’s so happy about this existence with her that he thinks, ‘I can’t believe I must have done something right in my life because I ended up with someone amazing,’ ” says Fichtner.
Juxtaposed with the other couples — Josh (Oscar Isaac) and Lindsay (Carey Mulligan), and Austin (Charles Melton) and Ashley (Cailee Spaeny), who are at war with each other and themselves — Ava and Troy emerge as an unlikely success story. “In the wrong hands, these two could have felt icky,” says Lee. “It could have felt forced or that we’re trying to play into this age gap. But they feel like a genuine, real couple that love each other and are very confident about what they get out of the relationship.”
Hoover has a long history of portraying lovable characters; she voices ONE PIECE’s adorable reindeer boy Tony Tony Chopper, and also performed facial capture for the role. From the very start of BEEF Season 2, Hoover’s performance discards any of the tired and misogynistic tropes often associated with such a May-December relationship, instead exploring what happens when romance and pragmatism collide. “I don’t think she necessarily settled, but she had to decide: Does she want to keep getting her heart broken, or does she just want to be married and taken care of and have that easier life?” Hoover explains.
Throughout the eight episodes, Ava maintains a wide smile, and in her candy-sweet voice, insists on how grateful and happy she is. “Ava had gone through so much trauma in her life, but she refuses to sit with that,” says Hoover. “I spoke in a higher register because life’s incredible: she has this amazing husband that takes care of her and this beautiful life. If she thought about all the stuff that had happened to her, I think her voice would have been lower.”
With a crestfallen expression here and hesitant response there, though, we glimpse those disappointments obscured by compartmentalization. Take the moment in Episode 7, when she calls Troy to ask him if he’s seen her lucky bracelet. Ava is boarding a flight to South Korea and is clearly worried. But Troy dismisses his wife, hanging up the phone midway through her “I love you.” Ava masks her truer, more complicated wants and needs, and only gives Troy access to her most palatable persona.
For Hoover, who has earned legions of fans voicing Tony Tony Chopper and playing Cat Grant in 2025’s Superman, it was a challenge to play the more people-pleasing side of Ava. “It’s so against my nature to be like, ‘I’ll stay at home and wait for you, honey. Cancel our plans,’ ” says Hoover.
Loosened up by some Xanax, Ava’s happy-go-lucky dam breaks during their plane ride to Trochos Skin Clinic in South Korea. In a daze, she groggily confesses to Lindsay that her “deepest sadness is knowing that when I take my last breath, there will be no one by my side.” In shock, Lindsay looks into Ava’s face, sheathed in a pink face mask, but just as quickly, Ava’s lightning bolt of clarity is gone. Her drugged state steers her in a different, more recognizable direction: “I’ll have a Chinese chicken salad, and a large vanilla cone.” That sounds like a delicious order she might enjoy at Monte Vista Point.
Hoover worked with a movement coach, Julia Crockett, to nail that silly but crushingly real moment: “I couldn’t move my mouth. I was trying to drink through a straw. Julia and I found a way to make it fluid and not cartoony, but grounded,” she explains.
“In the wrong hands, she could have been just sort of like your typical Stepford-wife character in a country club setting,” says Lee. “But there’s this heartbreaking quality to Ava, especially in that scene opposite Carey Mulligan in the finale.”
By upending the airhead second-wife stereotype, Ava becomes a more human, interesting character. Yet she also represents another lens through which the series examines class. Ava’s quick to befriend MVP staff, but makes sure they remember where they fall in the country club pecking order. Early in Season 2, she offhandedly instructs Lindsay to check on their food order, expending more energy than it would take to do so herself. By the end of the finale, Ava turns on Josh and Lindsay as soon as she catches wind of Josh’s embezzlement. When Lindsay appeals to her friend’s sympathy, reminding Ava of all that Josh has done, Ava decisively responds, “That’s his job.”
And Ava continues on in her role, even after suffering a shocking physical trauma in the Season 2 finale. She is the only one already under anesthesia when a fight breaks out at Trochos. Blissfully asleep and unaware of the violence and chaos unfolding around her, Ava does not receive a facelift as promised; instead, her cheek is slashed by a scalpel in the skirmish. However, in Episode 8’s flash-forward epilogue, we see that Ava’s face has mostly healed. She is still Troy’s perfect other half. After all, Ava’s wealth and power can solve anything, even exempting her from the perils of late-stage capitalism that permeate BEEF. Despite all that’s transpired over eight episodes, we leave Troy and Ava just as we found them at the start of the season. Meanwhile, the foursome played by Mulligan, Isaac, Melton, and Spaeny has been forced to make crushing compromises to their identity — including, but not limited to, accepting years of prison time. Maybe Ava’s choice to remain anesthetized by unfeeling wealth isn’t so myopic after all.
Want to hear more from BEEF Season 2’s most surprising character? Listen to Hoover on BEEF: The Official Podcast.
Watch Season 2 of BEEF now on Netflix.
