Your Friends & Neighbors Season 2 Episode 8 Review: I Feel Lost Without Me

Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

The women in Coop’s life are experiencing repercussions and breaking free from the norm.

Even while most of “I Feel Lost Without Me” revolves around those women, Coop is taking drastic measures to be the man he believes they need him to be.

Yet even that desire doesn’t come off without a hitch.

Barney wasn’t kidding when he said Coop should just put Resnick, his attorney, on salary. Even she has remarked they’ve suddenly become her best clients.

Based on what goes down in this episode, I’m not sure Mel will ever see her day in court, but she also won’t see Tori’s, which is just one more slap in the face she didn’t need.

Resnick warns Mel to steer clear of the courtroom while Tori goes before the judge because her own issues would just be a dark cloud over the proceedings, as if the family might be in more trouble than Tori’s DUI (and Coop’s past brushes with the law) suggest.

And frankly, that assumption wouldn’t be off the mark. The Coopers are going through some shit, and it’s hitting the fan more often than not.

Yet on the day of Tori’s court date, Coop was breaking into Gordy & Lisa’s house to steal a $300k baseball card. And once again, Elena’s recon into when the house would be free of his pals didn’t matter.

They came home, arguing, while Coop was stuck in the bathroom talking with a specter of his father, who was either giving him the best advice of his life or the worst.

Ron’s death has helped Coop realize he needs to be a better man, but that being one doesn’t mean he has to be perfect, either. 

But can we at least agree to draw the line with felony burglary? Particularly when you know you’re due in court to support your daughter’s appearance?

It seems like he’s leaning in that direction. He’s trying to get his ducks in a row. Among other things, he asked Liv to investigate where the money came from so he could stop the money charade he’s got going on with Ashe.

She didn’t take it well, but he persisted. That was the easy part. The hard part will be when he tells Ashe what he’s done. That is the plan, and we don’t expect Ashe to take it well.

Yet when he saw Ashe, apologizing for the brusque way in which they presented the 5% deal as if it were a demand instead of an offer, it wasn’t the right time. When will be the right time? Who knows.

But on this day, Coop had to look after his family. And burgle his friends. As you do, as you do.

It was especially important for him to be on his game with Tori since Mel couldn’t be there for their daughter. Coop finally realized just how bad things had gotten with Mel, too, when he learned what she did and that it wasn’t the first time she delivered an extra helping of shit to her neighbors.

Finally, Mel cracked in front of Coop, explaining how she felt dismissed, unseen, and invisible. She’s so lost, and she just wants someone to see her and reach out a hand to help, even if it’s nothing more than someone acknowledging that they do, in fact, see her.

I loved it when he knelt before her and said, “For the record, I am officially worried about you.” Or something to that effect. 

It’s also when it all hit him like a ton of bricks. He hasn’t been there for the people he loves most, and if he wants to be that guy, he has to step up. Which he did by, again, burglarizing his pals before his daughter’s court appearance.

His path is a winding one.

It was absolutely shocking that, on the advice of his father’s visage, he decided to walk right out the bathroom door, through an arguing couple, and out the front door. Talk about being invisible. 

Could it have been anything other than his father carving that path for him? It was insanely risky and could have landed him in a jail cell that had recently been vacated by his ex or daughter. That was seriously some divine stuff right there.

Tori was given more probation and community service than her attorney requested, but the promise is that her record will be expunged upon completion. Still, it scared her straight.

Well, straight into her mother’s waiting arms outside the courthouse. It’s easy to flip on your parents when you’re in control; not so much when you’re looking for comfort after everything goes sideways.

Even Mel felt unburdened. She was singing and happy on her way home, only to receive a call from Resnick that piled it right back on.

The neighbors tossed out whatever goodwill she achieved by visiting them and promising, as a licensed psychotherapist, to go to anger management classes (snarkily and without actually making any such promise, I might add). Now, they want a restraining order.

Mel’s hormones are in flux. She’s wildly swinging away at life, trying to find a place to land, and this situation with her neighbor is like fuel to the fire.

So when she saw the contractor’s truck in front of her house, she was angry. But that anger didn’t make her kill the neighbor’s dog. That was all on the neighbors. Mel had said repeatedly that someone could hit it, but they laughed it off.

Well, Mel was that unlucky someone, and the pain she felt from doing it broke my heart. The dog didn’t deserve such shitty parents, and Mel didn’t deserve their inaction either. 

But again, divine providence intervened. What would Mel have done if Sam hadn’t come to her place? Sam was worried about Mel, and with her own issues with Ashe weighing on her, she decided to visit. Thank God for that.

They really do need each other. Some friendships can survive even the biggest disruptors, and Sam and Mel’s will be one of them.

Because Sam isn’t any better off than Mel at this point. With people telling her Ashe is such a catch, they make her feel guilty for wanting to turn away from him. 

But he’s a loose cannon, which was very clear when he overstepped by giving her kids toys and bringing a sushi chef to her house to surprise her. When she had clearly told him she needed time. Not overturtures, time.

His behavior there is worrisome when you think about the Coop of it all. But we’ll get to that. 

Sam and Mel have each other again, and it was when they were talking that Mel said so well what Your Friends & Neighbors Season 2 Episode 8 was driving at with her story: “I feel lost without me.” And that’s what perimenopause does to you, full stop, without all of the other inciting factors Mel is experiencing.

I can’t imagine burying the dog in the middle of the yard is the right move, and it got worse when they struck a sprinkler line. They will have to dig up the dog to address that pipe. But that’s for another time.

For now, at least, Mel was comforted by one of her dearest friends when she needed it. They have each other’s backs again, and that matters more than anything.

Lest you think that it was only Tori and Mel who were leveling up, Ali made two significant moves after she and Coop visited their mother. And how awkward was that visit?

Clearly, Ron was the family spark. Their mother wasn’t the one they went to visit when they did. It was their father. And Ali admitted that he was the only person in the family who loved her as she was and didn’t have expectations or hopes that she’d be someone else.

When she mentioned she wanted to move out on her own, Coop acted like she couldn’t do it. Even if his warnings were coming from a place of love, they sounded cruel instead.

When she tried one more time to rekindle her passion for teaching, she realized that teaching wasn’t her calling. Whatever she was trying to do wasn’t working. So she walked out. Much like Coop walked out of that house he was burglarizing, Ali just packed up and left, a satisfied smile filling her face.

Then, she got a place of her own. Coop’s reaction? “Someone gave you a lease?” I was gobsmacked by that callous comment. And it cut like a knife to hear Ali tell Coop that she had no idea how she could make him understand that she’ll be alright when he’s the one who makes her feel like she won’t.

I think Coop needs her more than he lets on, and because of that polished veneer he shows to the public, as Mel described to Ali during Your Friends & Neighbors Season 2 Episode 7, he hides it. He’d rather make cutting comments about Ali than admit he’s lost without her.

I talked about it with Lena Hall, and I’ll have that interview up in the next week or so, so keep an eye out for it. She’s got great insight into her character.

And because this one is all about the women, we can’t forget Barney and Grace. Grace has no idea what Barney is up to with Coop and Ashe, but she knows it’s not good for her family. I’ll also have a piece coming with Eunice Bay, who plays Grace, to dig more into that dynamic.

Coop told Barney about his chat with Grace. He even fired him for a moment when Barney said, in effect, well, Ashe is bad news, and you shouldn’t be involved with him. What’s good for the goose and all that, so Coop fired him for his own good.

Of course, that wasn’t what Coop wanted, and Barney laughed it off, but it does show how concerned they are about Ashe. Barney discovered that people Ashe had done business with had disappeared. Would Ashe disappear them, too?

It’s certainly a possibility. And it becomes more significant the less Coop’s head is in the game. He’s torn in too many directions to keep his focus.

So of course Grace recognizes her husband is lost. That’s another theme with this episode. Too many of these people are lost and need help finding their way back. But can counting on other lost people do the trick?

That’s partly why Grace wants Barney to work for her father. Not because she has lost faith in him, but because she can see that he has lost it in himself. But Barney is more worried that she wants it so much than he is willing to admit she’s right.

What might that cost him? The look on Grace’s face when they hugged suggested great fear in their relationship, and an expectant mother of two can’t live like that and take care of her children.

And just when you think, ahhh, I can let my shoulders down and relax a little, Coop is kidnapped outside of his house. 

Yes, there certainly was someone casing the joint, and they’ve just put their plan into action. But despite the fact that Elena’s family drama was minimally covered again here, I don’t see this as related to that.

It’s as if everyone in her life looks to her to take action. Even those demanding things from her seem to do nothing of value other than threaten her. So, unless it’s Elena herself, we need to look elsewhere.

Ashe apologized for his behavior earlier in the episode, so I would even scratch him off the list. His goons? They may be working without him.

But we’ll have to wait for Your Friends & Neighbors Season 2 Episode 8 to discover Coop’s fate. At least we know he lives. Jon Hamm isn’t going anywhere until the show takes its final bow.

With only two more episodes in the season, what do you expect will happen? How will Ashe take the news about his investment? Who kidnapped Coop? How will Mel ever live next door to people with a restraining order against her? Will they notice a mound of muddy dirt in her yard when they look for their dog?

So many questions, so little time. I know you’re here. I see you. If you see me, maybe drop a comment below. We can all use a little hand up now and then!