In episode 5 of Your Friends and Neighbors, Mel and Coop found out that Hunter had befriended kids who’d started snorting his Adderall like cocaine, and he was running the risk of getting suspended. So, Mel decided to get Coop to donate $250,000 to the fundraiser for Hunter’s school’s new athletic center to get the principal to reconsider her verdict, which, of course, she did. The issue was that it all added to Coop’s desperation to earn money by any means necessary. So, he went against Lu’s advice to keep from dipping his toes into the world of art and took the plunge along with Elena, and they stole a Lichtenstein. The heist went fine, but while they were waiting for Christian’s (the buyer’s) experts to analyze the painting, Christian started to act lecherously towards Elena. Coop felt the need to intervene, and the whole deal fell apart. In order to make up for the loss the dynamic duo had incurred, Coop broke into Samantha’s house to steal something and ended up coming across the dead body of Paul! In addition to all that, Barney had a meltdown because of Grace’s parents. The sixth episode of Your Friends and Neighbors relegates the investigation into Paul’s death to the background while showing the last bit of happiness that Coop is probably going to experience in this life. Who brings him crashing back to reality? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Lin’s Investigation Begins
Episode 6 of Your Friends and Neighbors opens with Westmont PD finding out about Paul’s death. After a surface-level examination of the crime scene, Detective Lin makes two observations: Paul was killed with a gun, but the murder weapon is missing, and somebody has cleaned up a part of the crime scene with ammonia. Lin, along with Officer Ryan Hernandez, proceeds to interview Hari Sahni and Gordy Hughes, from whom she not only learns that Paul and Samantha were going through a divorce but also that Paul got into a fight at Nick’s party with Andrew Cooper. Next up is Samantha, who is questioned by Lin about the nature of her relationship with Paul and Coop and what she feels about Paul’s young girlfriend, Misty. The most important parts of this conversation are Paul having access to the house where Samantha and the kids stay (but Paul doesn’t), which was something that he used to exploit frequently; Paul and Samantha both having guns; and Samantha being the sole nominee of Paul’s $20 million life insurance policy. Yeah, last week, I kind of suspected Samantha of having a hand in Paul’s death, and after seeing her interact with Lin, I am almost sure that she is the killer. Last but not least, Lin pays Coop a visit to go over the details she already has while trying to determine the intensity of his enmity with Paul and whether or not Coop is dating Samantha, thereby making him a potential suspect.
Yes, Coop isn’t the murderer, but he was at the murder scene, he tampered with it, he didn’t report it to the authorities, and he has kind of lied about what he was doing that night. He does admit that he was at a nightclub, but he doesn’t give up Elena’s name. He says that he returned at around midnight, which is probably true because he was passed out at Paul’s house for a long time. And he says that he watched movies with Ali, which can’t be verified until Lin gets ahold of her. You must be thinking that Lin can just waltz into the nightclub, check the CCTV footage, and catch Coop’s lie. However, the reason I don’t think it’s going to happen is because the nightclub probably doesn’t have that footage. There are a lot of illegal drugs being used there. Do you really think the establishment is going to rat out its customer base and make it a place that’s not safe for getting high? So, yeah, Coop is in the clear, for now. By the way, I want to point out a few other things. Nowadays, a lot of shows are accused of recapping things because the writers fear that audiences don’t have the attention span to remember certain plot points, which is absolutely true. That said, when you catch viewers up to speed with the kind of snappy dialogue that this show has, which is being delivered by its talented cast so beautifully, then it doesn’t feel like that much of an issue. The show actually does it twice. Once with Lin’s investigation and again with Samantha’s monologue, which is aimed at Keely (Olivia Munn should get all the awards for that scene). Additionally, the whole interaction between Jon Hamm and Sandrine Holt (who I am really beginning to like) reminded me that I have to watch Mad Men.
Mel and Coop Get Romantic
We get some brief scenes of Ali rekindling whatever romance she had with Bruce (who, conveniently enough, seems to be unhappy in his marriage) and Elena having dinner with her brother, Chivo, which is interrupted by the revelation that Paul is dead. Now, throughout the episode, Elena keeps trying to get in touch with Coop because of everything that went down at that party and to share some info on everything that’s going on in Westmont Village. But Coop keeps avoiding her because, firstly, Elena didn’t part with him on a good note, and secondly, he wants to focus on the trip to Princeton with Mel, Tori, and Hunt for his daughter’s admission into the college. The journey starts on a particularly sour note because Coop is irritated by Tori’s confidence about how much she knows about love because she is with Jake and how her father has no idea about “true love” because he divorced Mel. That particular subplot ends in an “I told you so” way because by the time the family has to return home, Tori comes to the realization that her relationship with Jake isn’t going to last, and Coop thinks that maybe he should try to reclaim his family. Yes, you read that right. While Tori is busy mingling with students and Hunter is busy checking out the studio, Mel and Cooper fall in love with each other again. The amount of liquor they have is certainly a contributing factor. Mel’s honesty about being a potential criminal (I hate her for stealing a jar of jelly from a guy who hardly has any customers in his shop) and Cooper admitting that he was wrongfully fired by Bailey (he didn’t leave the company, like he claimed originally) also help.
But what the hell is wrong with this man? Sure, he made the mistake of “taking his eye off the ball” and not realizing how important his family was to him. Is that reason enough for Mel to go and cheat? Why didn’t she just divorce him and then frolic around with Nick, who, by the way, shows his true colors while having a chat with Lin? Nick is not the goody-two-shoes he has been pretending to be so far. Mel has essentially robbed Coop with the whole alimony thing, and she is still doing so by not telling him about the fumigation process and by forcing him to cough up $250,000 to save Hunter from being expelled. All that’s forgiven and forgotten because Mel is ready to cheat on Nick with Coop? To be clear, I don’t think this is a flaw in the writing. This is totally intentional. Mel is a monster. Coop is an idiot. That’s the whole point of their characters. It’s just that we are so used to seeing these black and white characters in movies and TV shows that we’ve forgotten that, in real life, people are actually like Mel and Coop. Do I think Mel has actually realized the error of her ways and wants to make amends? No. Do I think Coop genuinely loves Mel? No. Do I think they deserve each other? Yes, hell yes. Just take all this as a cautionary tale about everything you shouldn’t do if you have decided to start a family. Also, maybe don’t use the “Body of Christ” to have jelly that you have stolen, especially not inside a church.
Barney Is Probably Dead
At the end of Your Friends and Neighbors episode 6, Coop and his family reach Westmont Village, and they stop by at the local restaurant for dinner. Coincidentally, Barney and his family are there too. They all have a great time. And then it starts pouring down. So, Coop steps out to get some umbrellas from the car and gets ambushed by a couple of bald-and-beefed-up men. Barney rushes out to help Coop but is run over by a car and knocked out. After those men have drawn blood, they leave, and Coop notices Christian—yes, that shady art dealer—glaring at him menacingly from his car before exiting the scene. Mel rushes over to Coop while Grace tries to get Barney to wake up, but he is unresponsive. Coop tells Mel to make sure that Barney is alright, which I think he is not. I have a feeling that Barney is dead (Hoon Lee is in all 9 episodes, according to IMDb, but that might be because of flashbacks). Here’s why I think that that’s necessary. It’s true that Coop is affected by death and dangerous circumstances. But he has been brushing it off very casually too. Things need to get personal for him to understand the gravity of the situation he is in. I am not saying that he doesn’t know what he is doing. However, the nonchalance with which he has been going about shows that he is starting to think of himself as invincible, which is something that he’s definitely not. Also, Grace needs a reality check. She has been leeching off her husband for quite a while, and that needs to come to an end. Even if Barney survives, I think she’ll come to the realization that a swanky house is not as important as the mental and physical health of her family, and hopefully she’ll focus on her husband and kids instead of the decor of her “mansion.”
With that said, how did Christian find Coop? Well, he could’ve used his connections, or Lu could’ve pointed him in Coop’s direction. Yes, Lu likes Coop, but when push comes to shove, I think someone like Lu will prioritize her professional dynamic with Christian over her relationship with Coop. Because, at the end of the day, Coop is just a thief, while Christian is an art dealer, drug dealer, and probably even some kind of a mob boss (Olafur Darri Olafsson certainly looks the part) who has been working with Lu for, I presume, quite some time. I am sure that Lu doesn’t know about what Christian did or tried to do with Elena. If she does, will she change her stance? I don’t know. Are Coop’s days of stealing and fencing stuff over? Yes, because the heat on him is too much, and also, there has been a murder in Westmont Village, which’ll definitely get everyone to tighten their home security systems. Is Coop going to tell Lin the truth about who attacked him, or is he going to lie and say that he was just mugged by a couple of robbers? The latter, because if Coop even hints that he has been working with criminals after getting fired from his job, he will end up in jail for a very long time. Anyway, we’ll have to wait till next week to see how the plot unfolds. Today’s episode might’ve felt like a bit of a nothingburger, but it was the calm before the storm.
