Season 2 of “Your Friends and Neighbors” Serves Another Lesson in Hamm-Flavored Suburban Malaise
Jon Hamm’s incredibly diverse and thriving career outside of “Mad Men” has largely depended on roles where he enforces the law, breaks it, or does both at the same time. Whether Hamm plays FBI agents in “The Town,” “Bad Times at the El Royale” and “Richard Jewell,” a police chief in “Maggie Moore(s),” criminals in “Baby Driver” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” or corrupt lawyers in “No Sudden Move” and Season 5 of “Fargo,” he has never played a leading role in the ensemble. human face.
In the smart, funny and entertaining Apple TV series “Your Friends and Neighbors,” Hamm has his best role as hedge fund manager turned high-profile cat burglar Andrew “Coop” Cooper. When you start digging into the plot twists and decisions made by the rich, philandering, and often evil characters in this series, you’ll be staring at the glittery absurdity of it all. From where I left off, I decided to just go with it—and I’ve used every episode of the series that plays as a sort of spiritual sequel to the 1968 Burt Lancaster vehicle “The Swimmer”—which was based on a short story by John Cheever, and the works of Cheever and John Updike often come to mind as influences on this.
Dark humor and painful depression abound in the lives of these rich, lucky people who don’t even appreciate their good fortune, as they are busy drowning in the problems of their own making. And yes, we feel that schadenfreude watching them open up to each other as if they were part of the upper class Suburban enclave of “Lord of the Flies.”
Season 2 of “Your Friends and Neighbors” finds Coop acquitted of the murders and welcomed back into the (fictional) world of Westmont Village clubs, charity balls, fancy brunches, poolside gossip, pulling strings to get your kid into Princeton, and fancy cocktail parties. Still, instead of re-entering the legal world of (at least on the surface) investment strategy and risk management, Coop is doubling down on the B&E game, partnering Aimee Carrero with the experienced and intelligent housekeeper Elena.
With Elena parked nearby, posing as a chauffeur and acting as a security guard, Coop sneaks into his neighbors’ houses, pockets valuables, and hooks them up to the sweet Lu Varga, played by the great Randy Danson. (Since Season 1, we often hear Hamm’s pitchman’s smooth voice-over delivery as he describes the item he’s cleaning, using a descriptive phrase that sounds like a collection or sex jewelry, e.g., “Richard Mille Felipe Massa automatic chronograph with signature gold and titanium skeleton of titanium 022 drop of titanium”
Coop’s relationship with ex-wife Mel (Amanda Peet, deftly handling one emotional arc after another) remains…complex. Lena Hall is outstanding as Coop’s sister, Ali, a talented singer/guitarist living with bipolar disorder. Clips involving Coop’s kids, especially daughter Tori (an excellent Isabel Gravitt), feel like unnecessary drama — especially when there’s a lot of juicy stuff going on with the older characters. Notable returnees include Olivia Munn as Sam, now a member of the community after trying to frame Coop for murder, and Hoon Lee as Coop’s best friend, Barney Choi, who can’t seem to catch a break.
Just as the pennant club solidifies its position in the offseason by acquiring a slugger, “Your Friends…” ups its game by introducing James Marsden as the brilliant and crazy Owen Ashe, who has more money than even the wealthiest residents of Westmont Village. (Marsden seems to be everywhere these days, and isn’t that a good thing?) Ashe introduces herself to the city by throwing a party that Jay Gatsby would probably consider high-end, and quickly becomes involved in the lives of Coop, Barney, NBA analyst-turned-TV star and gym owner Nick (Mark Tallman), and Sam, among others.
Getting into bed with Ashe, literally or figuratively, is tempting right away—but there’s something about this guy that’s creepy. You’ll either be the best friend you’ve ever had, or your worst nightmare, or a little of both. Marsden is a force in portraying a man who is dashing, kind, powerful, and potentially dangerous.
One of the things I love about this series is that Coop is a cinephile. He has posted posters in his home of “Psycho” and “Vertigo”—two Hitchcock films about people who are not what they seem. (To put it mildly.) Coop goes to revival houses to see the likes of “Night of the Hunter” and “Kiss Me Deadly,” and sinks into his couch late at night to drink Scotch and watch old movies. In Season 2, you open a classic 1970’s horror boxed set, complete with toy prop; there’s also a nod to a certain Michael Mann film that feels almost obvious. This man is a master of the film of his life, from sweet to romantic romance to dark comedy.
The subtle but effective symbolism extends to the visual; we get a lot of scenes, some of them in dreams, with real characters underwater, and boy does Coop always seem to be underwater, in hot water. “Your Friends and Neighbors” works as a classic crime story, a sharp and insightful comedy of the rich and famous, and a portrait of a man who sometimes tells his own story, always starting with, “This is what happened…” It’s as if Coop is constantly surprised by how his life has turned out, even though he’s the one at the steering wheel.
