Warning: The following contains spoilers for Your Friends & Neighbors season 1 finale.Your Friends & Neighbors' creator Jonathan Tropper breaks down Coop’s choice in the season 1 finale, teasing what’s next for Jon Hamm’s titular character. The new Apple TV+ series was renewed for a second season ahead of its premiere. Led by theMad Menactor, the series follows a disgraced hedge fund manager who turns to a life of crime after losing his job and starts robbing his wealthy neighbors. At theend ofYour Friends & Neighborsseason 1, Coop cleared his name and got his job back, but he chose to go back to stealing.
In an interview withVariety, Tropper shares some insight into what this means for Hamm’s character going into season 2. Even though it seems thatYour Friends & Neighborsis heading in the same direction asBreaking Bad, which sees Bryan Cranston’s chemistry teacher slowly becoming a drug kingpin, the show’s creator promises thatCoop isn’t going down the same road as Walter Whitebecause, for Coop, it is about the “risk and reward ratio” instead of greed. Read Tropper’s comments below:
Coop is never gonna become a criminal kingpin. We’re not going down the Walter White road. So, it’s never gonna be about building a big criminal enterprise. But what it is about is the risk and reward ratio, what it takes both to make him feel alive and to do what at least he tells himself in his mind — what’s the exit strategy? Right now, we’ve only caught him after a season at the point where he’s figured out what he’snotgonna be, but I don’t think he’s yet figured out what it is heisgoing to be.
What The Jonathan Tropper’s Comments Mean For Your Friends & Neighbors Season 2
Andrew Coop Has Different Motivations From Walter White
Tropper emphasizes the core difference betweendrug kingpin Walter Whiteand Andrew Coop. InBreaking Bad, White murders everyone standing in his way to build a criminal enterprise because he’s motivated by greed, and he sees the only way to get the biggest slice of the pie is to be the one on top. Coop, on the other hand, is offered his old job back with even more to gain. However, he turns it down becausehis criminal activity made him “feel alive.“Due to the difference in their motivations, the two characters aren’t meant for the same path.
In theYour Friends & Neighborsseason 1 finale, Coop almost lost everything when his home invasion and robbery made him the primary suspect in Paul’s murder, and the biggest clarity he gained was how sloppy he was and how he didn’t see it coming. While this season saw Coop going back to robbing his neighbors, Tropper’s comment indicated thatseason 2 would further see how the character has evolved as a criminal.
Andrew Coop Is Headed Down A Dangerous Path
Image via Apple TV+
Coop has the talent for a criminal, confirmed by Lu, the owner of Lu’s pawn shop. The circumstances only gave him the final push. Unlike Elena or Walter White,Coop wasn’t motivated by money. He stole a painting and ruined the deal, but he didn’t seem to care too much about the money that was owed to him. He even forgave Elena for stealing his money, whereas Walter White would’ve killed the girl for the money.
Coop is nothing like Walter White, who had more in common with Elena than Coop. However,Jon Hamm’s character is dipping his toes in dangerous water. Season 1 has planted a seed, butYour Friends & Neighborsseason 2will see more escalation as he gets even deeper into the underground crime scene, and perhaps, Coop will finally figure out what he wants to become before it’s too late.
