People Riding the Unstoppable "Wheel of Desire" [Slate]

Netflix’s "Raging People" Season 2
A Portrait of Capitalism Trapped in a Country Club
A Class Pyramid With No Escape, Interpreted Through the Lens of Samsara

Netflix 'The Angry Men' Season 2 still cuts.

The Netflix series "The Angry People" Season 2 unfolds a multilayered hierarchy set against the backdrop of a California country club. The show meticulously dissects an ecosystem where billionaires, middle-class managers, and lower-class workers are interconnected like a food chain. It presents a reality where capital dominates space, commodifies bodies, and ultimately destroys souls.

Although the country club evokes images of idyllic nature, it is, in fact, a thoroughly managed and controlled artificial construct. Under the guise of membership, the logic of exclusion prevails, and the gap between rich and poor is visualized not simply as a difference in income, but as a clear distinction between members and workers.

Here, Austin (Charles Melton) and Ashley (Cailee Spaeny), who do menial jobs, accidentally witness a fight between general manager Josh (Oscar Isaac) and his wife Lindsay (Carey Mulligan). They capture the incident on their smartphone and use it as leverage for blackmail. While members have capital and legal protection on their side, the only means of resistance available to workers is the ability to record such incidents.

Josh exemplifies the archetype of the middle manager. He remembers members’ names and resolves their issues, earning a reputation as a "fixer" among those above, while motivating and coordinating the staff below. Yet, he himself faces financial ruin and the threat of divorce, leading him to embezzle club funds. His fate resembles that of Sisyphus, endlessly pushing a boulder uphill but never reaching the summit.

Netflix 'The Angry People' Season 2 still cut.

At the pinnacle of this pyramid sits Chairman Park (Youn Yuh-jung), the club’s owner. Even without issuing direct orders, those around her intuitively grasp her intentions and act accordingly. Yet she, too, is embroiled in a private war—she struggles with a medical malpractice incident caused and covered up by her husband, Dr. Kim (Song Kang-ho).

Director Lee Sung-jin juxtaposes two ways in which capital manipulates the body. The American medical system monetizes access to treatment, while the Korean cosmetic surgery industry standardizes and sells ideals of beauty. The essence is the same: the human body is measured and commodified according to the market’s logic.

Chairman Park explains why all human relationships revolve around capitalism: "From the moment you’re born, you cry for your mother’s milk. You think only of yourself, not your mother. Sometimes you might put others first, but only when it’s easy. The world wasn’t designed to work any other way. (...) It’s a system created by nature—a system where I come first. Even love exists within this system."

This is proven through the duality within human nature. Beneath the surface lie what Carl Jung defined as the social mask (persona) and the repressed inner self (shadow). Josh wears the near-perfect mask of a general manager while hiding his violence and greed. Austin and Ashley play the roles of earnest young workers but eventually reveal their capacity for blackmail and betrayal. Each is forced to confront the monsters within themselves that they have long ignored or suppressed within the rigid system, ultimately either breaking down or conforming. In the end, the shadow they tried to suppress devours its master, a self-defeating paradox.

Netflix's "Angry People" Season 2 still cut.

This system is unending. As shown in the final scene, it is an endless cycle. In Buddhism and Hinduism, samsara refers to the wheel of life, where sentient beings who have not achieved enlightenment are trapped in a perpetual cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death. Director Lee skillfully projects this concept onto the capitalist system. Around Chairman Park, couples form a circle, creating a wheel of class and desire. Some rise while others fall, but the wheel itself never stops turning.

Buddha found a way to escape samsara by abandoning greed and attachment. For the characters in this drama, such an option does not exist. As Chairman Park says, the "system created by nature" transcends individual will. The club appears to be a paradise, but in essence, it is a hell where desire begets more desire. An inescapable cycle. Perhaps this is the true portrait of modern capitalism.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.