Your Friends & Neighbors Finale Reveals Who Killed Paul — Will You Come Back For Season 2?
Your Friends & Neighbors wrapped up its freshman season by answering one big question — who killed Paul? — and left us pondering a few others.
Friday's finale opens with Coop envisioning himself lying by the pool while Mel and his kids call him to come swimming. It was just a dream, though, and the cold, hard reality remains: He's facing a murder charge and a possible sentence of life in prison after being found at the scene of Paul's death. He can't even take refuge in golf: The country club wants to suspend his membership until his "current difficulties" are cleared up. He signs over his half of the house to Mel just in case (which leaves her worried) and then spends the night with his kids and his sister Ali, whose acoustic performance leads to a rambling confession about her affair with her married ex Bruce. But hey, at least she got the crowd to chant "F–k Bruce."
Coop gently nudges Ali to get back on her meds, since he might not be around to keep her in line, and he gives a pricey watch of his to his son Hunter. His daughter Tori gives him the cold shoulder at first, but eventually cuddles up with him to watch a movie, sobbing on his chest. Coop asks his lawyer Kat about a plea deal, and she thinks she can get his charges down to manslaughter, and he'd serve six years. He's furious that he'd have to go away that long for something he didn't do, but considering the alternative, he agrees to make a deal. When Mel notices Coop's watch on her son's wrist, she marches over to Coop's and confronts him: "If you ever loved me, don't bulls–t me right now." He admits he's contemplating a plea deal, and she begs him not to, imploring him to try harder to save himself than he did to save their marriage.
So Coop tells his lawyer Kat he's not taking the deal: "I am guilty of a lot of things, but I am not guilty of this." He wants the cops to look into Sam again, and Kat points out that her phone records prove she was in Boston — but Coop doesn't see his number anywhere in the records. They figure out she had a burner phone, but the cops say they can't do anything unless they physically have the phone. So Coop enlists his old partner in crime Elena to volunteer her housekeeping services to Sam, and when Sam leaves to run errands, Elena lets Coop in to snoop for the burner phone. Meanwhile, the cops get a new report from the medical examiner: Two of Paul's three gunshot wounds came after he died. Hmmm...
Elena doesn't find the phone — but she does find something else. When Sam gets home, Coop is waiting to confront her: "Nobody killed Paul. He shot himself." He lays out how Sam shot her ex-husband's dead body to make it look like a murder, because she wouldn't be able to cash his lucrative insurance policy if he took his own life. He also shows her what Elena found hidden away: Paul's bloody suicide note. Sam fesses up, explaining how Paul called her on FaceTime and shot himself right in front of her. She rushed home, leaving her primary phone with her parents in Boston, and staged the scene to look like a murder. And why did she frame Coop? "You should've been kinder to me," she tells him — and when he tries to walk away, she pulls a gun on him. He doesn't flinch, though: "You're not a killer either," he says as he calls her bluff and walks away.
In the end, Sam gets arrested, but Paul was already dead, and she never filed the insurance claim, so she'll likely only get a slap on the wrist. Coop has a warm reunion with Mel and his kids, and his old boss Jack asks him to come back to work, even offering him a fat profit share to seal the deal. Coop attends a swanky fundraiser gala, and everyone welcomes him back into high society with open arms. ("Nothing like beating a murder rap to give you a social boost," Coop quips.) As Coop slow-dances with Tori, Mel watches from afar, and Nick says he blames himself for their split: "I fell in love with a woman who was in love with someone else." Mel then joins Coop for a slow dance, and they both pledge to stay single for a while. He doesn't hold a grudge against Sam, and Mel wonders how he can forgive her so quickly. "I wasn't in love with her," he points out, giving her a knowing smile. Oh!
As Coop leaves the fundraiser, he stops a mom named Jules and hints that he knows about her SAT cheat sheets — and warns her not to send her daughter to Princeton to compete with Tori. And while Jack and Liv wait for Coop to join them on a private jet to meet a client (and Ali spray-paints "F–k Bruce" on Bruce's garage door), Coop instead heads to Jack's empty house and robs it, noting: "It's time to get back to work."
Your Friends & Neighbors is already renewed for Season 2 — will you return for another season? Give the finale, and Season 1 as a whole, a grade in our polls, and hit the comments to share your thoughts in full.