The Pop Culture Pundit

It’s good to have Jon Hamm back on TV. It’s not like he ever really left. Between random cameos on Last Man on Earth, Barry and an extended arc on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Hamm was booked and busy with comedy roles. But Your Friends and Neighbors is Hamm’s biggest starring role on a drama since Mad Men ended in 2015–hard to believe it was that long ago. 

In Your Friends and Neighbors, Hamm plays a very similar character to the advertising executive that made him famous on Mad Men. Hamm is Coop, a former hedge fund manager who, after losing his job that made him wealthy, turns to stealing from the wealthy in order to maintain his own rich lifestyle. It’s kind of like Robin Hood, if Robin Hood’s MO was to steal from the rich and give to himself instead of the poor. 

While season one took a minute to find its footing, only really getting interesting in the back half of the season when the show turned into a murder mystery of sorts, season two of Friends and Neighbors seems immediately more comfortable with itself. Coop is already an established thief, but there are a few hiccups introduced that are sure to make his attempted robberies more intriguing. 

First, there’s the introduction of James Marsden’s Owen Ashe, Coop’s new wealthy neighbor who seems to like causing trouble. In the first episode, he turns a get-together with his new friends into an impromptu pool party, causing Coop to remark in his narration that it’s like a “Great Gatsby fever dream.” In other words, this isn’t going to end well–money doesn’t mean you can buy happiness, after all. 

Second, while attempting to steal a $165k pen, Coop throws his back out, and this is sure to cause more problems as he seems to be developing a dependence on drugs to cope with this. 

Those two obstacles are ripe for exploration. Nevermind that Coop is also dealing with attempting to reconnect with his ex-wife Mel (Amanda Peet) and kind-of-ex-girlfriend Sam (Olivia Munn), who was arrested for staging her husband’s murder last year to get an insurance payout. 

^{Apple TV via YouTube}

But amidst all the drama, there’s an aspect of Your Friends and Neighbors I found more intriguing: a focus on aging. Towards the end of last season, Coop had the chance to go back to his hedge fund management job but he turned it down to keep stealing. One wonders why–but maybe this is his way of dealing with a mid-life crisis. Rather than go back to his 9-5 job where everything is the same every day, he instead chooses to live on the edge…maybe it gives him a certain thrill, but this is sure to bring more consequences.  

In another plot, Mel is dealing with symptoms of perimenopause and is embarrassed to talk about it openly, but Sam reassures her it’s very normal in an honest conversation that isn’t often depicted on television. The women of Your Friends and Neighbors, particularly Amanda Peet and Olivia Munn, continue to be a highlight, and I would absolutely watch a spinoff of them to get even more insight into their lives. The focus on the less-than-glorious aspects of middle age remind me of the short-lived TV show Men of a Certain Age and are often the most relatable part of Your Friends and Neighbors, which can sometimes feel like a rich-person fantasy with Coop’s highly unrelatable problem of attempting to maintain his millionaire lifestyle. 

Though I’ve only seen one episode, season 2 of Your Friends and Neighbors continues to be an intriguing show. It seems more comfortable in this season now that it’s established its premise. But don’t be fooled into thinking it’s any less boring: there are plenty of twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat, which is part of the fun of the show. There’s a sequence in the beginning of the episode where Coop is singing karaoke to Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House.” Maybe it’s foreshadowing, or maybe it’s just symbolic of the fact the show isn’t afraid to throw its characters into risky situations and enter unexpected territory. 

The season 2 premiere of Your Friends and Neighbors is now streaming on Apple TV. Episodes drop weekly and run through June 5.