SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Your Friends & Neighbors Season 2, Episode 1.

The Your Friends & Neighbors Season 2 premiere falls almost right back into the shenanigans of Season 1. The Apple TV dramedy takes the most obvious next step to raise its stakes: it introduces a new neighbor, one whom Jon Hamm’s Andrew “Coop” Cooper can become frenemies with pretty much immediately. And in “We’re Here Until We’re Not,” creator Jonathan Tropper makes everyone else’s lives delightfully miserable to highlight just how frustrating Owen Ashe is going to be.

A large part of the episode is an extended, ostentatious entrance for Ashe, who is clearly positioned as Coop’s opposite number. They’re just similar enough for it to be frustrating—both go by their last names, both are suave when they want to be, yet that doesn’t make them popular with their kids. But it’s clear that Ashe is the guy Coop is going to love to hate. His very first scene is driving an expensive McLaren to an expensive house and then complaining the house isn’t big enough. And he’s immediately taken with Coop’s ex-lover Samantha “Sam” Levitt, which viewers know isn’t going to go over well either. (As much as X-Men movie buffs will appreciate seeing Olivia Munn and James Marsden sharing screen time together.) The whole episode culminates in Ashe throwing a massive party, schmoozing everyone in sight, and somehow convincing people to jump into the pool—a big sign that this guy really doesn’t care about much. The reaction Coop has to this moment of ridiculous spontaneity says it all.

But if Your Friends & Neighbors is going the Desperate Housewives route by bringing a newer, seemingly better rival to Westmont Village, the creatives couldn’t have picked a better actor than James Marsden. Marsden is having one heck of a few weeks; audiences just saw him reprise his role as President Cal Bradford in Paradise Season 2, and then days later watched him go full comedy in Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice. His performance in Your Friends & Neighbors exists somewhat between the two; he’s not shooting up any rooms, and the brief appearance of Ashe’s daughter suggests that the show will get to the serious side of Ashe at some point. But he’s otherwise constantly “on,” and that would be exhausting if it wasn’t James Marsden. Marsden brings that natural energy and charisma to make Ashe’s energy and his immediate appeal absolutely believable. Who wouldn’t want to hang out with James Marsden, if given the chance?

Threaded in and around all this are different subplots for all of the existing characters, because thankfully Tropper doesn’t forget anyone just because he has a new, A-list character to play with. One of the neat things about the premiere is that Coop efficiently explains everything that’s gone on between seasons with his trademark snarkiness, so that Your Friends & Neighbors provides necessary exposition without it feeling like exposition. The audience is immediately caught up and Tropper puts all of his main characters in places that make sense; he’s not asking viewers to handwave anything for shock or humor value. Later in the episode, the question of why Coop didn’t just take his old job (and thus his old life) back gets raised—and it’s handled incredibly well. Plus, after meeting Ashe, the audience gets why Coop can’t quit this game.

The most interesting story is actually the one that unfolds for Coop’s best friend Barney (Hoon Lee) and his wife Grace (Eunice Bae). Audiences know from Season 1 how much Barney butted heads with Grace’s parents and their unreasonable expectations. As fun as the whole Ashe and Coop dynamic is, Barney’s interactions with both Grace and Coop are the most relatable and compelling. Barney finds out that Grace asked her parents to offer him a job, which is obviously an insult to his ego. Even with a house that looks like something out of The Jetsons, he’s still being looked down on, and that actually comes to a head through Coop. Because when Coop throws his back out during a robbery, he and Elena have no choice but to call Barney—whose head promptly explodes. The best moment in Your Friends & Neighbors Season 2, Episode 1 is Barney unloading on his best friend for his entire scheme. Hoon Lee plays it perfectly, just as pissed off and histrionic as Barney should be. But when Barney subsequently finds out Grace is pregnant, well, that changes things. It’s always funny to see Barney lose it, but it’s also something the audience can empathize with.

Things are less interesting in the Cooper household. Mel (Amanda Peet) is grappling with menopause to go along with Coop’s back problems; that’s an interesting storyline because it’s a reminder that Your Friends & Neighbors isn’t trying to present a “sexy” image of the rich elite. It’s being as realistic as possible, even when (especially when) it’s inconvenient. But “We’re Here Until We’re Not” meanders when dealing with Hunter and Tori. Hunter’s breakup with his girlfriend feels irrelevant, and Tori’s whole spiel during her college admissions interview comes across as condescending. It’s clearly supposed to be an indictment of the academic system, but it just makes her look as self-centered as the people she’s complaining about.

On the whole, though, the Your Friends & Neighbors Season 2 premiere is far more hit than miss. It establishes exactly where all of the main players are and what their arcs will be for the season, which is exactly what should happen in any TV season premiere. It balances the laugh-out-loud funny and ludicrous with more somber observations about getting older and getting ostracized from social groups, to prove that it’s not just making fun of everyone else. And it allows James Marsden to get the epic introduction that both he and his character deserve, so that viewers are excited for that core matchup. For everything Coop has accomplished, he’s now got something else to get frustrated about—and unlike Season 1, the audience falls in love with Ashe, making it an even bigger mountain for the antihero to climb. It’s funny, it’s absurd, it’s relatable and now more than ever, viewers don’t know if they want to be part of this world or want to watch Coop burn it down.

Your Friends & Neighbors streams Fridays on Apple TV. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Apple TV.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.