Season 1 - 9 episodes (2025)
Rent Your Friends & Neighbors on Amazon Video (paid link)
Created by: Jonathan Tropper
Starring: Jon Hamm, Amanda Peet, Olivia Munn, Hoon Lee, Mark Tallman
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer
Plot
A hedge fund manager resorts to burglary after losing his job, targeting wealthy neighbors to maintain his family's lifestyle, but he makes a fateful error breaking into the wrong home.
Verdict
Being rich is great until you're not. Coop must keep up appearances despite losing everything, lest anyone know his shame. While this follows an amateur burglar, this adds depth by exploring the artifice of the upper class; everything is about appearances and following the guidelines of what is expected. While Coop's life is fundamentally changed, it exposes him to a different viewpoint. Of course, it's easy to hate the rich when you're kicked out of their exclusive club. Coop is now stealing from the rich for his own gain, but how long can he keep doing that? It's an intriguing season that concludes the story while providing a preview of what the next season could explore.
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Review
This was renewed for a second season before the first premiered.
Pessimistic, recently divorced money manager Coop (Jon Hamm) provides a quick background. He got married, eager with a new job. Two kids and two houses later he's now divorced and jaded. He had finally made it, achieved the life he wanted, and now it's all over. If that wasn't bad enough, he's fired; losing his clients due to a non-compete and his capital account that holds all his money. He's got nothing, but he must still fund his family, wife, house, and their lifestyle. He couldn't possibly admit he's no longer rich and break the illusion.
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| Jon Hamm, Amanda Peet play Coop, Mel |
With his life in shambles and the bills mounting, Coop sees an easy way to bridge the gap by stealing from his rich neighbors. He attempts to justify the crime by stating they won't miss it nor do they need it. This is how it starts.
Now that Coop is struggling, he sees the artifice in all he's attempted to achieve. Part of that is he's now on the outside, and it's easy to hate on the establishment when he's kicked out. He also has this profound feeling of knowing the secrets of his friends after snooping in their homes. How long will his scheme last, and what will happen when it fails? He develops a disdain for the rich, but it's only because he was cast out. Coop wouldn't be so critical if he was still a part of it.
Coop discovers that hawking stolen goods is more difficult than expected. Fence's don't like paying retail for stolen goods, and it's easy enough to realize the goods are stolen. Coop's learning as he goes, but when money is to be had it's easy enough to keep going. Coop provides the fence access and deniability.
A murder adds a hurdle as it's the husband to his mistress. Coop is a likely suspect, and they don't even know he's a thief. He can't stop stealing despite the extra heat as he still has to maintain the illusion. He wants to step up to taking art. While's he's warned against it, he proceeds anyway adding yet another complication.
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| Mark Tallman, Jon Hamm, Hoon Lee play Nick, Coop, Barney |
How can Coop interact with friends that see him as a status symbol, a wife that cheated on him, and a friend that betrayed him? His life is crumbling yet he still has to go to the country club to keep appearances. The manager wants to kick him out due to the murder investigation, but Coop threatens him and gets to stay. Coop asks the manager why he would antagonize someone accused of murder. Coop also still hangs out with the people he's robbing. These are people he would have considered friends before his downfall.
I appreciate this reveals what happened in the murder case without stringing us along for another season. Coop not only manages to get out of a murder charge, he manages to get his old job back. This season wraps up with a nice little bow, but Coop has experienced something more than the typical rat race. He's not sure he wants abandon an exciting life for what's normal and expected.
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