Season 2 of Your Friends & Neighbors opens with Coop, Mel, Hunter, and Tori vacationing somewhere in Mexico. Mel and Coop are technically not together, but they are not *not* together, which is why Coop is still scoping out women at the bar of the hotel in which the Coopers are staying so that he can get laid. But that plan is unintentionally ruined by Mel after she sits down at the bar with him and starts talking about death, mortality, and whatnot. Coop doesn’t mind that, because fornication with strangers isn’t exactly at the top of his priorities; he does want to spend time with his family because he nearly lost all of them. However, when Mel senses Coop’s true intentions, she chooses to exit the conversation, which seems odd to Coop, because he did everything to make it seem like he was cherishing his chat with his ex-wife and he didn’t blame her for derailing his “other plan.” Anyway, on that note, Coop breaks the fourth wall to give us a brief explainer of Season 1 and what he has been doing ever since he rejected the offer to work with Russell and Bailey. He has gone back to stealing stuff from, well, his friends and neighbors; his friendship with Elena is pretty solid; he has mended his ties with Lu; he has set up an office in Manhattan to convince his, that’s right, friends and neighbors, that he isn’t a murderer, a thief, or a murderer and a thief; his family life is great; his sex life is fantastic; and Samantha is suffering for her sins. But that’s when Owen Ashe rolls into town. Who’s that? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Owen Ashe Enters Westmont Village
Reenie and Samantha (Sam) welcome Ashe to the Levitt household (or what once used to be the Levitt household), because it’s officially on sale. Yes, when Sam isn’t doing community service (as a part of her punishment for pinning the blame of Paul’s death by suicide on Coop), she is doing the job of a realtor. And before she can show off the house to Ashe, he goes on a rant about how horribly designed it is and how it’s just too small for him. It gets to a point where Sam has no choice but to reveal that it’s her house, and that her husband died on the same spot where Ashe is currently standing. Ashe had read about it in the news, and he was surprised to learn that he had started his house hunting in Westmont Village with such a historic site. But instead of judging Sam, Ashe relates with her by revealing that he has had a “couple of brushes with the law” too, and that he has also lost his partner, which does sound troubling.
That disarms Sam, and she opens up about why Reenie chose the tainted Levitt household as the first option for Ashe, and she also talks about how the company that’s employed her isn’t exactly allowing her to do her job because they don’t want a criminal to represent their best properties. If Sam can’t sell houses, she can’t get a promotion; if she can’t get a promotion, she can’t erase the felon label on her head; if she can’t erase the felon label, she can’t sell houses; it’s a toxic cycle that she has been trapped in (because of her own actions) until she loses the motivation to stay employed. Hence, Ashe decides to do Sam a favor and buy the second house, the Bisbee estate, that Reenie “allows” her to sell. While that’s great for Sam, the fact that Ashe says that he’s going to pay $20 million in cash is a major red flag. Who the hell just has $20 million lying around in cash? A criminal (who has probably killed his wife). However, since Ashe is a charmer pro max, nobody is batting an eye.
Barney Knows What Coop Actually Does
Tori meets up with Jeff Pratt, the interviewer from the Princeton Alumni Schools Committee, and the first question that he asks is why she wants to join Princeton. I think Tori senses that Jeff is trying to intimidate her, and she goes for his jugular. Once she has Jeff on the backfoot, Tori reveals that she is joining Princeton to fuel her career in tennis. And on that note, Tori leaves Jeff’s office with a bright grin on her face, knowing full well that she has verbally walloped that geriatric douche. Meanwhile, her dad is seen breaking into the Hemmings’ house, with Elena’s help, of course. Things seem to be going fine, but then Coop drops the uber-expensive pen that he had stolen, and when he goes to retrieve it, he aggravates his back injury and is unable to get back up. Given how the Hemmings are going to come back soon, Coop tells Elena to just leave, and he’ll try and come up with an excuse for why he’s in that house. Elena can’t give up on Coop like that, so she breaks in as well and tries to get Coop back up on his feet.
When they realize that they need more help, they bring in Barney, because he has some idea of the fact that Coop is involved in some kind of shady business to pay Barney his salary for managing Coop’s “business.” But it’s one thing to “have some idea” about the illegal stuff that your friend is doing, and a whole other thing to actually witness it. Naturally, Barney has questions, but Coop and Elena manage to convince him to help them get to Coop’s house first and then get the clarifications out of them. Barney listens to reason and helps Elena transport Coop to his house (I would have loved to see the entire process and not just a cut from the Hemmings’ house to Coop’s place, because it would have been hilarious). After that, Barney goes on a rant, because he’s understandably angry that Coop’s main job is to break, enter, and steal instead of doing a stable job for Russell and Bailey. Once he’s done getting the full picture, he leaves.
Barney Is Humiliated By His Father-In-Law
Mel is seen going on a date with some guy, and it seems like she is having a good time. But when they take off to have sex, Mel suddenly loses interest in him and goes home to hang out with Tori and Hunter. She learns that Hunter is going through a rough patch with Morgan and focuses on consoling him. Tori observes all this and heads to her room. This is just a hunch, but I have a feeling that Hunter is going to turn into a full-blown incel and Tori is going to break ties with her mother; just a hunch. How’s that going to affect their relationship with Coop? We don’t know. What we do know is that Coop is pretty lonely, and that feeling of loneliness has only been exacerbated by his back injury. Barney isn’t coping really well after that night’s event because, in addition to wrapping his head around the fact that his best friend is a cat burglar, he has to face Grace’s father’s ire for mucking it up in Season 1.
Barney assumes that Grace’s father just wants to humiliate him, but the more he talks to him, the more he realizes that he sees Barney as the son he never had. Hence, he wants Barney to move away from the field of asset management and join his company, as it will provide both Grace and Barney with the stability they need. Which is why Barney says that he’ll think about the offer. Going back to Coop, he’s seen enjoying a sauna with “the boys.” Once they are done talking about their respective ailments, they bring up Ashe. This is where we get to know that he’s involved in the shipping business. What does he ship? Everyday items? Guns? People? We don’t know, and neither does anyone in that room, but they are stoked to attend Ashe’s housewarming party. Naturally, the topic of Sam selling the Bisbee estate to Ashe and making a killing comes up. Coop doesn’t have any ill feelings towards her, which is why, when Gordy tries to use Sam earning in the millions despite being a criminal as an example of how America functions, Coop shoots him down by pointing out how that means Trump’s “Make America Great Again” project has failed.
Mel Has Hit Menopause.
Barney gets frisky with Grace, but he is unable to bring his A-game to the field because the thought of him working for her father has killed his libido. So, he advises Grace to stop telling her father to help him with his business; I like the fact that when Barney is talking about how Grace should “perform” in bed, it ends up being a statement of what she’s doing to his ego by getting him to work for her father. The focus of the episode then shifts to Mel meeting up with Ali, at the bar where she performs, to talk about menopause. Yeah, that’s the reason she suddenly lost interest in the guy that she was getting it on with (I assumed it’s because she’s starting to have feelings for Coop again). What’s Ali’s solution for that? Lube; and she just so happens to have a tube of it in her purse, and she gives it away to Mel. I think it’s both funny and educational because this is how I got to know that mental health meds can kill your sex drive. I suppose Ali would have taught us more about that issue, but Mel changes the topic to that of a music gig that’s coming up, courtesy of the music teacher at Mayfield.
Ali thinks it’s a “blind leading the blind” situation, because Mel is unemployed (she’s privileged enough to sit and write a book, because Coop is probably still paying all the bills) and she’s advising Ali how to earn money. Ali isn’t ready for that type of commitment, but later on, she can be seen accepting the gig. Before parting ways, Mel tells Ali not to tell Coop about the menopause. Ali says that menopause isn’t something to be ashamed about, because it’s a natural thing that happens to our bodies. Still, Mel requests that Ali keep that topic on the down low, because she feels that she is getting older and older and Coop is getting more and more beautiful. A smash cut to Coop pumping his body full of meds to deal with the myriad physical issues that he’s dealing with shows that Mel’s assumptions about him are completely wrong. If only they could talk about their physiological problems instead of hiding them or limiting them to sauna room discourse.
Barney Wants to Co-Thief with Coop and Elena
During the closing moments of the episode, we are ushered into Ashe’s new house, which has a very macabre, Eyes Wide Shut vibe to the overall decorations and whatnot. Mel and the ladies can be seen theorizing how the host looks; Suzanne hypothesizes that Ashe is bald and ugly, because he’s clearly overcompensating for something. The topic of Tori and Chelsea’s academic futures comes up, and this is how we learn that Jules has taken Coop’s threat (from the previous season) seriously and sent Chelsea to Duke so that Tori can make a beeline for Princeton. Given how this is a touchy subject, the ladies revert to the matter of Ashe’s physical appearance, and, yes, everyone is understandably flabbergasted by how beautiful he looks. As a long-time fan of James Marsden, I am loving the popularity he is enjoying at this stage of his career. I also have to point out that in Paradise, his closest friend was a character named Samatha (Redmond), and in this show, a character named Samantha (Levitt) is on her way to becoming his best friend. Speaking of Sam, she shows up at Ashe’s housewarming party too, but she doesn’t stay there for too long, because the ladies of Westmont Village don’t want her there. While bidding her goodbye, Ashe reveals that he’s an expert at burning bridges too; I know that he says it in a very charming way, but I think this is another red flag, and everyone should be wary about him. On her way out, Sam runs into Coop, and it seems like even though Coop has forgiven Sam, she is giving him the cold shoulder (even though she’s the one who tried to ruin his life). Speaking of giving each other the cold shoulder, Grace and Barney haven’t mended their ties yet, but when she reveals she’s pregnant, and that’s why she’s been trying to make sure their family is financially stable, Barney’s heart melts.
That said, Coop gets into a tiff with Mel because she got Ali a job without consulting him. Ashe uses that as his entry point to acquaint himself with Coop. Both of them are very vague about their respective jobs, but they do find a middle ground regarding their dynamic with their respective daughters. Ashe then goes to Nick and says that he’s going to invest in his gym business; Barney senses that he needs to intervene, because he’s the one in charge of Nick’s money, and it seems like Ashe agrees to have a chat with him too, but I think Ashe is going to kick him out of the equation and bleed Nick dry. I suppose Barney can foresee that; on top of that, he doesn’t want to work with his father-in-law. However, he has to be a reliable breadearner, which is why, in the ending of episode 1, he approaches Coop and says that he wants in on his breaking-and-entering business model. Coop doesn’t think that’s a good idea, but since Barney is his manager anyway, and he’s seen what he does, Coop doesn’t have a good reason to turn Barney away. Coop is cautiously optimistic about the changes happening to his life in Westmont Village (especially with the entry of Ashe, who looks like a bottomless source of expensive stuff that Coop can sell) because every time he gets too hopeful, things go south.
Courtesy of DMTalkies
