In the third episode of Your Friends and Neighbors, Lu paid Coop a visit so as to let him know that while she was okay with paying him for the expensive stuff that he was stealing, he would face her wrath if he ratted her out after getting caught by the police. Did that change the way he burgled the houses of Westmont Village? No. He nearly got caught when he broke into the Resnick residence. The only reason why Kat didn’t notice him was because she was too busy fornicating with a teenager. To make matters worse, instead of selling the wine that he had stolen from the Resnicks, he had to give it to Nick as a gift after Barney kept insisting Coop show up at Nick’s party, and he couldn’t arrive there empty-handed. Once the party concluded, though, Coop tried to cover his losses by stealing Nick’s championship ring. However, he was caught in the act by somebody. Was it Nick or someone else? Was Coop arrested? Also, has Mel decided to become a good human being? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Coop Partners Up With Elena
Episode 4 of Your Friends and Neighbors opens with an extended sequence of Elena Benavides, Nick’s house help, traveling from a more or less affordable part of New York City all the way to Westmont Village (which is a fictional place created by the show in Hudson Valley, New York). In the previous episode, Elena got a few scenes, and in one of them she was grossly sexualized by the guests at Nick’s house. But here you get to see the effort, time, and energy one has to put into this job, only to be reduced to somebody’s sex toy or get fired for theft (even if they aren’t the guilty party). Also, it shows that, despite all this opulence, the residents of Westmont Village don’t accommodate the very people who keep their houses clean. It’s possible that Elena, like others in the same profession as her, avoids staying in and around their employer’s residence because then she’d need to cater to Nick at all times. This way, she has fixed working hours, and she can stay close to her family and friends. Anyway, coming to the plot, yes, it’s Elena who catches Coop red-handed trying to steal Nick’s championship ring. But instead of giving Coop up to the police, she decides to partner with him because I suppose she thinks that all these rich people in Westmont have too much stuff anyway. They are not humble about it. On top of that, they are wretched. Hence, they deserve to get robbed.
Barney Is Probably In Financial Trouble
While golfing with Barney, Brad, and Gordy, Coop learns that Barney has hired Detective Lin to look into the case of his missing watch. That causes Coop to worry a little, but he doesn’t show it because he is too confident or too stupid to care yet. In addition to that, there’s the recurring topic of Barney’s finances, which were largely reliant on the money that Coop was paying him, since he was/is his financial manager. Now, Coop is stealing and selling stuff to keep Barney afloat, and Barney himself is working with clients like Nick, but it’s still not enough to support Grace’s lofty dreams. I’m guessing this is going to come into play in a major way later. But for now, all we see is Grace using her physical attributes to get Barney to splurge on her renovation plans. We also see Ali watching Jeopardy! where the question is surprisingly about the assassination of India’s former prime minister, Indira Gandhi. Kangana Ranaut released a horrible biopic on Mrs. Gandhi this year, and now I’m witnessing a reference to Mrs. Gandhi in an American show? Coincidence? Yes, probably. Or maybe not because a certain country—I’m not taking any names—is in an emergency-esque situation right now, and it’s an open secret, but nobody wants to acknowledge it for one reason or the other? I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine.
Liv Warns Coop About Massiello
In the last episode, Barney had advised Coop to hire one of the most expensive lawyers in the country, Massiello, to represent him in order to successfully sue Bailey for firing him unjustly. Coop was against it, but Barney insisted, because he was under the impression that merely hiring Massiello would cause Bailey to crumble. Now, Liv is here to inform Coop that Massiello has actually joined hands with Bailey, probably with the intention of taking Coop’s money and then stabbing him in the back for the price that Bailey is willing to pay him for doing so. Coop can’t believe it but soon accepts the fact that he is being betrayed by the very lawyer he wanted to hire. He plans to hire a new lawyer, but Liv doesn’t want him to do that because, regardless of what happens to Coop, Liv is going to end up paying dearly for it. Even though Liv empathizes with Coop’s situation, she doesn’t want to lose her job as well; it’s a dicey situation. So, they end the conversation on an amicable note and bid each other goodbye for the time being. Unfortunately, Samantha notices Liv delivering a peck on Coop’s cheek and assumes that they are together and drives away without so much as a “hi.” Just when he is done dealing with all of this, he gets a call from Elena, telling him to meet her because they are about to do a heist.
Hector Enters Coop and Elena’s Alliance
For Coop and Elena’s first job together, they hit a house to get an expensive necklace. But it ends up being a learning lesson for Coop because, for the wealthy, domestic workers are as good as robots. They think that domestic workers don’t feel, think, or see. That helps this sector to be invisible and learn more about the lives of the people they work for than the “elite” know about themselves. More importantly, those in the domestic workers sector share such information amongst themselves, largely so that they know what they are up against while seeking employment. In the wrong (or maybe right) hands, like those of Coop and Elena, this network can be used to steal stuff with extreme precision and efficiency. You see, until he faced Elena, Coop didn’t care about the repercussions of his actions. He didn’t have to worry whether his robberies were leading to unemployment. However, with Elena, Coop is stealing stuff that’s valuable but not enough to raise any alarms and get someone fired. In a cleverly cut montage, we see Coop and Elena’s partnership grow, Lu seems satisfied, and everything is fine. But then they get greedy and decide to collaborate with Elena’s cousin, Hector, as he can provide them with the security codes of the houses they target for a hefty sum of $5000. Coop tries to have a say in this transaction but is bullied into shaking hands with Hector by Elena because, well, that money is going to help her family more than Coop’s future at the end of the day.
Hector Fails Elena and Coop
We get to learn a little about Elena’s past. She is from the Dominican Republic. She moved to the USA at the age of 23 for reasons that Elena doesn’t delve into. And after working honestly as a housekeeper for a decade, she has decided to resort to theft because the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. She literally says, in this economy, not taking a shortcut to your dream lifestyle is more criminal than the actual crime. To be fair, she is right. The people who control the flow of money don’t want equality. So, no matter how hard you try, if you don’t come from privilege and you don’t have the right connections, you are never going to breach those class barriers. The only thing you have to be prepared for is facing the consequences for breaking the rules set by the people who don’t want you to succeed in life. Anyway, after watching a brief interaction between Ali and her therapist, who acknowledges that Ali is showing a lot of improvement, we return to Elena and Coop putting one of Hector’s codes to the test. While Coop manages to take care of the front door alarm, he fails to shut down the alarm in the walk-in cupboard, thereby forcing him to go on the run with an expensive bag (I don’t know if the Coop’s story about purchasing a Hermes bag is true or not, but it’s hilarious) while being chased by a dog. Coop fails to secure the bag, because the dog is persistent, and he has to make a run for it (Jon Hamm’s running is so goddamn funny) empty-handed in order to avoid getting arrested by the cops. Coop and Elena barely make it out of this sticky situation and return to Coop’s home to take a breather. However, he doesn’t have the time to process why Hector failed to give them the code to that second alarm or that he is bleeding due to the dog bite because he has to get ready for Mel’s birthday party.
Nick Reveals Mel’s Birthday Party Plans
Mel meets Coop’s parents, Ron and Marley, at the grocery store, where Marley, in her classic passive-aggressive way, gives Mel an earful for ruining Hunter and Tori’s lives by opting to divorce Coop. I don’t really like Marley because she couldn’t prepare Ali’s room for her arrival, but since I hate Mel, I kind of supported Marley here for giving her former daughter-in-law a reality check. Meanwhile, at her residence (not technically hers; it’s still Coop’s), Nick is making preparations for Mel’s birthday party with the help of Jane Reuven while it’s being fumigated by pest control. Mel doesn’t take it too well—because she doesn’t like grand gestures—especially after learning that Nick has gone out of his way to invite her parents (I’m assuming that’s Boca Raton in Florida). After preventing that scenario—since Mel and her parents are not that close—Mel tries to cancel the birthday party as well. But as soon as she hears how Reuven envies her for having such a great partner, she can’t bring herself to do so. Well, I guess we can see where her inability to be a good parent comes from. I mean, she probably has some baggage that she brought into her marriage with Coop, which she didn’t address. And now she is probably seeing all of her issues bubble up again at the thought of marrying Nick. Hence, the erratic reactions.
Mel Has A Meltdown
Mel’s meltdown at the end of Your Friends and Neighbors episode 4 begins way before the party, thereby causing her to float from one moment to another, as if in a haze. During that, we catch bits and pieces of interactions between Paul and Samantha, Ali and Mel’s friends, Coop and Samantha, and Coop and Tori, until the whole event comes crashing down when Nick calls Mel to the stage. Yeah, she kind of freaks out and runs away. In order to save Nick from feeling embarrassed, Ali breaks out her guitar and entertains the crowd, while Coop goes after Mel to check if she is doing alright. And Coop and Mel have a conversation that pretty much addresses all the criticisms I have leveled against her. She admits that she thought she was unsatisfied with her life because Coop was in it. Hence, she cheated on him with Nick, took everything from Coop, and started living her life the way she wanted to. So, technically, she should be happy now. But the kicker is that she isn’t. She is still angry, numb, and, more importantly, she is a horrible therapist. I don’t know if she is trying to free Coop of the guilt that he is the only reason why their lives, especially their children’s lives, are so messed up, or if she is pushing herself to try and be better. For a change, she is doing something that doesn’t involve humiliating Coop. When she opens Coop’s birthday present, which is a bag of her favorite candy (the most inexpensive item on the table full of birthday gifts), she breaks down, which pretty much confirms that she is probably about to start a journey of self-reflection and atonement. If this makes you sympathetic to her, good for you. Until and unless I hear her say that she lied to Coop in order to make him cough up thousands of dollars for Tori’s “tennis coach,” when in reality, she is likely using that money to pay for the fumigation process—something that Coop has no idea about since it got covered by the birthday decorations—I’m not buying any of Mel’s “I’m a changed person act.” I hope Coop realizes that, cuts all of his ties with Mel, and lives happily with the woman that loves him a lot, i.e., Samantha. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the ending of Your Friends and Neighbors episode 4. What are your opinions on the same? Please, let me know in the comments section below.
