Your Friends and Neighbors Episode 4 Recap: Literal Dragons

Apple TV+’s ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’ follows the exploits of Andrew Cooper, whose life falls apart when he is fired from his job as a hedge fund manager. He turns to petty theft by stealing expensive stuff from his neighbours, but all of that was bound to catch up with him, and it happens in the third episode of the show when he has a gun pulled on him in the middle of a robbery. The fourth episode of the series begins with the gun being pulled and the person turning out to be the housekeeper, Elena. This interaction transforms Cooper’s trajectory, leading him on an entirely different path. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Elena Becomes Privy to Coop’s Operation

Elena’s work as a housekeeper takes a lot out of her life. She wakes up early in the morning, makes her way to Rick’s house, and cleans it from one end to another. She cleans up the mess from the night before, especially the blood spilled during a friendly basketball match. Finally, when the job is done, she settles down for a bath in the main one. This is when she hears a strange noise and discovers that it is Cooper, looking at Rick’s championship ring. He is there to steal it. However, instead of turning him over to the cops or filing a complaint against him, Elena sees an opportunity for herself. She asks to be made a partner. While Coop isn’t entirely happy with her entering his operation, he has to confess that having a backup feels pretty good. Moreover, things take quite a turn as his thefts become more precise and surgical.

It turns out that housekeepers have their network where they talk about their employers without any filter. Due to unfettered access to the house, they know exactly where everything is and what will not be missed for a while. Elena passes on this info to Coop, and together, they perpetrate a string of thefts. While it means a lot of money for Coop, it also encourages Elena to take things further. She introduces Coop to her cousin, who works in security equipment and can help them figure out the security codes of the houses they are to rob. It is quite a hefty thing, as Elena offers five thousand dollars for each code, but she promises that the spend will be worth it. The first time they get a house’s code, they move in pretty quickly, but when Coop tries to steal an Hermes bag, another alarm goes off, whose code was not provided to them, which triggers another chain of events.

The alarm brings the cops, and as Coop tries to flee the scene, he is attacked by the house dog and is forced to leave the bag behind. This is a significant failure despite the code thing, and Elena tells him she will sort it out. Meanwhile, things get more complicated for Coop as the lawyer he thought could get him to win the case against his ex-employers is seen cosying up to the said employers. Liv notices this in the office, and it does not sit right with her, especially because Coop told her that the lawyer would be stopping by. She believes something fishy is going on, and the same evening, she shows up at Coop’s door to warn him about it. At first, he doesn’t make much of it, but her words convince him that something worse is going on behind his back.

Mel Goes Through an Existential Crisis

It is the night of Mel’s birthday party, and it seems that everyone, except her, is excited for it. Whatever doubts and questions she had been having about herself are brought to the fore with her birthday. She tells Nick she doesn’t want a big bash, but that doesn’t stop him from going all out for her. The entire day becomes weird for her due to one thing or another. First, she runs into Coop’s parents at the supermarket, where her ex-mother-in-law questions her parenting skills, in so many words. Then, when she comes back home, the entire place is under renovation, which is already hectic for her. On top of it, Rick invites her parents to the party, which makes her even more anxious as she is not exactly on good terms with them.

When all the guests arrive in the evening, she has yet to prepare for it. Her daughter helps her put on some make-up and dress up, and as soon as they walk down the stairs, there is all the commotion she had been trying to escape. Everyone seems happy about her, but she cannot find that happiness within herself. When Ali shows up, Mel is ecstatic to see her, and this lightens her mood a little. Meanwhile, Cooper’s wounded leg is fixed up by Elena, who also notices that Sam has sent him nudes. She teases him about it, but he brushes it off. Later, he walks into the party and clarifies stuff with Sam about what she saw with him and Liv. He also notices that Mel is a little off, especially after Rick gives a big speech about her in front of everyone, and she runs away.

Coop finds Mel at the trampoline where they used to play with their kids. She is jumping on it by herself, so he joins her. They reminisce about the old times and have fun, but like everything, it doesn’t last. By the time they leave the trampoline, Mel seems to be a bit better, but it doesn’t mean the dilemma in her mind is completely gone. Later, when she sees the stack of expensive gifts that her friends have brought for her, she goes directly to the brown bag that Coop left. When she opens it, she is happy and sad at the same time. The bag has her favourite candies, and she starts eating them, while also crying. It seems that her relationship with Rick may have run its course, and she might be re-evaluating the choices she made not long ago. Cooper being nice to her now than he was for eighteen years does not make her task any easier either.