In the Season 2 premiere of “Your Friends and Neighbors,” Cooper (Jon Hamm) is hanging with the boys at the club — the country club. Sitting in a sauna, shooting the shit about their social lives, one of the fellas tries to punctuate his point about how unfair life can be by closing with, “That’s America for ya.” After a brief lull, Cooper quips, “I thought your guy was trying to make it great again?”
Everyone laughs, even after the de facto group leader reminds them there’s no talking politics at the club, and the episode rolls smoothly forward. But here, amid this inconsequential banter, a locked door swings open: Where the debut season of Jonathan Tropper’s Apple drama introduced ideas that could form a damning critique of its wealthy, immoral, and misguided central subjects, Season 2 makes it clear that’s not an argument “Your Friends and Neighbors” wants to make.
Yes, it’s aware of those criticisms. It recognizes that some viewers may see a half-dozen rich dudes laughing off one of their own’s allegiance to a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless, and treasonous administration, and those viewers may never be able to sympathize with their personal struggles, such as they are. But that awareness can also make it easier to get on board. After all, Cooper is our hero, and Cooper is literally robbing these men. Sure, he’s also their friend, but the way he phrases his sauna-room joke illustrates a critical distance between them.
He doesn’t say, “I thought our guy was trying to make [America] great again.” He doesn’t even say, “I thought the president was trying to make America great again.” He says, “your guy,” meaning, “not my guy.” And that, for a show like this, is enough. As long as Coop stays on the side of the angels (or at least avoids siding with obvious devils), we can believe he has a moral center hiding somewhere within his money-shaded soul, thus allowing us to invest just enough in his mid-life crisis drama to appreciate its twists, turns, and takeaways — especially now that they’re fun.
“Your Friends and Neighbors” Season 2 starts with Cooper winding down a vacation with his kids and ex-wife, Mel (Amanda Peet). Having beaten last season’s murder rap (brought on by his ex-girlfriend, Sam, played by Olivia Munn), Coop has a new lease on life. He’s enjoying being single. He’s enjoying time with his friends. He’s even enjoying time with Mel, despite the occasional argument rooted in their shared obliviousness to her renewed feelings for him.
That, however, is one of the few areas in which Coop is kept in the dark. Season 2’s increased self-awareness is mirrored in its protagonist’s wake-up call. He’s still robbing his rich friends’ houses, but a) he seems to know it’s a more honest way to make a buck than his former career in high-finance, b) he’s working hand in gloved hand with Elena (Aimee Carrero), a full-time housekeeper who actually needs the money they’re making by selling forgotten trinkets on the black market, and c) he likes what he’s doing, he’s not sure why, and he’s willing to admit to both.
These choices help to keep Coop relatable as he guzzles $20,000 cocktails, rents an office in midtown Manhattan for fun, and parties on a super-yacht big enough to make Logan Roy blush. His sense of humor is quite a benefit, as well. After an overly mopey Season 1, letting our series lead actually take pleasure in a life that most people can only dream about is a smart shift, but Tropper also gives Coop two distinct, disparate, and clarifying obstacles.
The first is James Marsden. As Owen Ash, a man of mysterious yet immense wealth who moves into Coop’s neighborhood and starts raising hell, the prince of an actor quickly makes clear why it’s so satisfying that he’s suddenly everywhere. Tasked with walking a fine line between intimidating antagonist and friendly foil, Marsden plays Ash like a live-wire that’s always about to blow. Some of his irrepressible energy stems from the steady stream of uppers he’s swigging, snorting, or injecting into his body, but even a rich douchebag’s drug habits have layers here. Ash is a rocket ship that can’t be reined in, and watching the restrained, comparably rational Coop try to lasso him is reliably entertaining.
He also helps to frame Coop as the good guy, which leads us to the second hurdle: death. No, there’s never a moment in Season 2 where you think the lead of Jon Hamm’s Apple show may actually get killed off; “Your Friends and Neighbors” isn’t playing in the Safdie brothers’ sandbox, where Coop would just keep digging himself a deeper and deeper hole until he ends up burying himself. Instead, death is an existential threat, manifested by another relatable trope: Coop’s bad back.
During the first robbery of the season, a muscle spasm traps our hero on the floor of the house he’s trying to flee. Not only does this force him to ask for help from a friend big enough to carry him to safety (which also means including this very fun friend in all future schemes), but it introduces a recurring reminder: He’s too old for this shit. And no one plays a man fighting against the inevitable passage of time like Jon Hamm. (In another welcome nod to Don Draper, “Your Friends and Neighbors” doubles down on Coop’s love of old movies by sending him to the Metrograph whenever he’s trying to kill time in the city.)
So how long can he keep it up? How long should he keep it up? And will he find his way out of the mess he’s in before it’s too late? These are broad, familiar questions — on TV or off of it — but that’s OK. At its core, “Your Friends and Neighbors” is a conventional show consisting of conventional pleasures. It’s not pretending to be anything else, be it a sneaky evisceration of America’s aristocrats or a tragic acknowledgment of just how much the rich can get away with in a country run by a felon. Might those shows be stronger, smarter, or more appropriate in the current climate? Sure, but the one we’ve got works on its own merits.
Today’s programming slates is overstuffed with wealth porn, and I say that as someone who enjoys plenty of those shows. This one, though, is better off for playing it straight. Sometimes it can feel like series about the rich want to have their six-tiered cakes and eat them, too — asking viewers to gawk at the ornate frosting and then pretending to slap our wrists for wanting a slice. Sometimes, it’s OK to enjoy things that are meant to be enjoyed. That’s what Coop’s doing, that’s what Jon Hamm is doing, and in Season 2, we can join them.
Grade: B-
“Your Friends and Neighbors” Season 2 premieres Friday, April 3 on Apple TV. New episodes will be released weekly through the finale on June 5.
