This post contains spoilers from Your Friends and Neighbors season 1 episode 3 from this point forward.
We're only in the second week of Your Friends and Neighbors season 1 on Apple TV+, but in the third episode, someone already caught our guy Coop redhanded. Honestly, it was only a matter of time until he got caught because he's being very reckless. Some leather gloves and a ball cap aren't a very good disguise when robbing his friends' mansions, which probably have cameras somewhere.
Last week, in episode 2, Coop made a potential enemy out of Lu the pawn shop owner, who ran his license plate in the closing moments of the episode. Well, she's back in episode 3 and making sure Coop realizes that she has his number. She knows everything about him and has him in the palm of her hand. She threatens him enough to scare him, but still gives him money for the watch. Don't talk about her and they still have a deal. Honor among thieves. He's in very, very deep now.
In episode 3, titled "Theoretical Herpes," we learn a lot about the supporting characters, namely Coop and Mel's son Hunter, who does mushrooms during a party gig for his band and crashes out over confidence. During a girls' night learning self defense, Mel and Sam squabble while also being vulnerable with each other, which will make the inevitable reveal of Sam sleeping with Coop worse.
Coop gets caught stealing in episode 3
But the episode's biggest moment emerges right at the end, when Coop's attempting to steal Nick's prized championship ring and unexpectedly gets caught. Earlier in the episode, Coop begrudgingly accepted the invitation to Nick's guys' night party, though it's probably more likely that he could use an alibi after stealing an outrageously expensive bottle of wine from one of his neighbors and witnessed the wife cheating on her husband with their daughter's boyfriend. Yikes!
He brings the wine to Nick's house, which was already an odd decision. Was he planning on selling the wine before deciding to head to Nick's? Admittedly, he needed a drink to spend an evening with his former friend who stole his wife. Not to mention, in the beginning of the episode, Barney helped Coop retain a lawyer. But it's not like the scotch wasn't flowing at Nick's party, which ended with the men playing basketball against Nick with $1K on the line. His last opponent broke his leg... bad.
The next evening, Coop returns to Nick's house and uses a YouTube tutorial to break into the electronic lock of Nick's trophy case (it's glass, though, so he had options). Before he can swipe the massive, shining championship ring that Nick was showing off at the party, he hears a gun cock behind him. Even though we don't see who's pointing the gun at Coop, we're probably supposed to believe that it's Nick catching Coop, but that would be far too easy and much too soon.
See, in episode 3, we met a new character: Nick's housekeeper Elena (Aimee Carrero). Would she pull a gun on Coop? Maybe not, but also maybe she would? Who else would be at Nick's house at this time of night? It wouldn't make sense for someone random to pull a gun on Coop in Nick's house, which makes Elena the most likely possibility. Going into episode 4, she's probably our most likely suspect and the one with the lowest high-stakes for Coop going forward.
It's no wonder that Coop went straight for the biggest score he could think of in the moment. Mel had just confronted him about hiring a professional tennis coach for Tori, though he insisted that he will show up for her and be her coach. Mel disagrees, but he clearly needed some cash just in case. Also, Mel had an insect issue in her house, which will cost thousands of dollars to repair. That expense likely falls under Coop's responsibility since his children live in the house.
Even though Your Friends and Neighbors season 1 episode 3 lost a bit of the sense of humor that made the first two episodes so energetic, it's still one of the most entertaining and exciting new shows out right now. We have seen stories and stakes like this play out on the small screen before, but there's something so fresh and fun about the show, even beyond Jon Hamm's excellent leading performance. For now, we have a week until we find out who caught Coop!
Your Friends and Neighbors releases new episodes Fridays on Apple TV+.