Who Killed Paul Levitt in Your Friends and Neighbors?

Apple TV+’s ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’ begins with Jon Hamm’s Andrew Cooper waking up in somebody else’s house with a dead body right next to him. This opening shot becomes the point where he is headed as he goes through a heartbreaking divorce and a backbreaking firing from his job as a hedge fund manager. The stroke of bad luck seems to stall for a while as Coop discovers that he has a knack for stealing expensive stuff from his neighbours without anyone noticing that they have something missing, at least not for a while. By the fifth episode, his bad luck comes calling again, and it brings us back to that opening shot of him lying in a pool of blood. This time, we have much more information about the dead person, but what does it mean about the identity of the killer? SPOILERS AHEAD.

Paul’s Death Could be Related to His Ex

While Coop has been busy committing his string of crimes, the people around him have been going through upheavals that he may or may not be aware of. Due to his affair with Sam, he knows that she is going through a difficult divorce. Much like Mel cheated on Coop, Sam’s husband, Paul, cheated on her with a waitress at one of his restaurants. Angry and heartbroken, Sam did not hesitate to take everything she could from Paul during the divorce. She got the house, the kids, and quite a lot of other stuff, which means she is set for life. Because she was the one wronged in their marriage, she also got the support of all their friends, which means that Paul’s new arm-piece does not get the acceptance Nick got after Mel and Coop’s divorce.

However, while Mel and Coop have found a common ground where they can act amicably towards each other, things have taken a drastic turn for Paul and Sam. The latter couple is still fighting over a lot of stuff, and unlike Coop, Sam cannot find it in her heart to forgive her cheating ex-spouse. Meanwhile, her antics have been getting on Paul’s nerves, and it is also affecting the relationship with his new partner. For the most part, he stays away from Sam, but in the fourth episode, during Mel’s birthday party, he confronts her in front of her friends. With that in mind, it seems suspicious that he ends up dead by the fifth episode.

Coop breaks into Sam’s house that night because he knows she has left for Boston with her kids and will not return for a while. When he asks her why she is leaving, she says she needs to figure out some stuff. Considering that her husband has been flaunting his girlfriend everywhere, it makes sense that she would want to put some distance between them and go to a place where she feels safe and familiar, somewhere she doesn’t have to dread crossing paths with her ex-husband and his girlfriend every other day or weekend. However, the timing of her departure seems too much like an effort for an alibi.

Sam is the Most Obvious Culprit, But Also a Bit Too Obvious

Since Sam’s ex’s dead body is found in Sam’s home, it seems that Sam is the first and most significant suspect in this case. However, one has to consider the fact that she left for Boston earlier in the day, while Coop did not find Paul’s body until later that evening. One thing that may have happened is that Paul showed up at the house to talk to Sam or their kids, one of whom is celebrating his fifth birthday the same day. In their previous interaction, Sam made it clear that she doesn’t want to talk to Paul unless it is through their lawyers. So, there is a chance that Paul showing up unannounced at the house turned into an argument. Since Paul’s body is at the foot of the stairs, it could be that Sam threw him down by accident, and he died. She panicked and immediately left with the kids for Boston, which is what she had planned to begin with.

However, there are a lot of holes in this story. For one, how could Sam have killed Paul and kept it from her children when the dead body is right in the middle of the house? Moreover, she wouldn’t have simply left the body at the house to be found by housekeepers or someone else. She would have at least tried to hide it. Moreover, if she did kill Paul and then leave for Boston, the time of death would expose her alibi, and she would be sent to prison. But then, there is also the possibility that she had nothing to do with it. It could be that Paul arrived at the house after she left, and that’s when he was killed, or he died by accident.

Whatever the case may be, the other suspect that the cops will lean towards is Coop. His breaking into the house and messing up the crime scene with his DNA would leave something for the cops to follow up on. Even though he tried to clean up behind him, we know that he is not a seasoned murderer, which means he has made a mistake, and when that comes to light, he will find himself in much more trouble than for robbing houses. For a show that knows how to keep its audience on its toes, it is fair to expect that there is more to Paul’s death, and the true culprit will come to light only when we know more about what was going on with him.