Jon Hamm is trying to break good in S2. If only they’d let him
Your Friends and Neighbors (season two) ★★★★
It’s hard not to draw an easy comparison with this drama about an ordinary man’s descent into a life of crime in middle age: indeed Breaking Bad with better or at least more expensive clothes and medicine. But in its second season, hedge fund manager-turned-thief Andrew Cooper (Jon Hamm) is more interested in getting good. If only circumstances allowed this.
Coop’s life has improved somewhat since the low point of the first season, when his friends and neighbors in the upscale Westmont Village (a fictional version of Westchester County north of Manhattan) ostracized him after he was fired from his firm for having an affair with a young co-worker.
With his financial stocks low, his ex-wife Mel (Amanda Peet), two children and a massive monthly maintenance bill on their palatial home to maintain, not to mention his penchant for the finer things in life, what choice did the poor man have but to burglarize the homes of those who rejected him?
But just as things are settling into the new normal — he’s acquitted of murder, his ex Sam (Olivia Munn) is pardoned for framing him, and Mel and Sam even patch things up — a new kid comes to town and threatens to blow everything up again.
Owen Ashe (James Marsden) is a charming, flamboyant, flamboyantly handsome and surprisingly wealthy shipping magnate who quickly snaps up the most expensive house in the area, sweeps Sam off her feet and makes Coop an offer he can’t refuse after he catches her stealing a first edition copy of Edith Wharton’s book. House of Joy.
Ashe steps into Westmont life by hosting lavish parties, spiking her guests’ drinks with MDMA, and carrying herself with extreme self-confidence to match her incredible wealth. As he says about himself, “There is coolness even in my coolness.” As others have noted, he is just like a modern-day Jay Gatsby; He has an equally dark past.
With real estate porn, rolling lawns, designer clothes and luxury cars, there’s a lot to enjoy in this series. And who wouldn’t enjoy seeing the 1 percent shrink a little (except maybe the 1 percent). Hamm’s voice-over narration can be a bit clunky at times; it’s as if the writers have lost faith in the “show-don’t-tell” principle and are trying to make sure we don’t miss the existential crisis affecting our main man. But overall, the series does a good job of balancing comedic excess with the dramatic weight of its core concerns.
But the real question for me is how committed creator Jonathan Tropper and his writing team truly are to these concerns. Boredom, pre-menopause, the relentless pursuit of material success at the expense of personal fulfillment: These are, of course, worthy topics. But it’s hard to feel too sorry for a man whose fall from grace means he has to park his Maserati in the driveway of a really nice rental house instead of the family home he still pays for and longs for.
It truly is the smallest violin piece in the world. But obviously it’s a very expensive thing. It’s probably Stradivarius. No doubt Coop will have his eye on this one.
Your Friends and Neighbors It airs on Apple TV+ on Fridays until June 5.
Find out the next TV series, streaming series and movies to add to your must-watch list. Get the Watch List delivered every Thursday.
