The Season 2 finale of Your Friends & Neighbors wastes no time throwing its characters into complete chaos. Following the apparent death of Owen Ashe, Coop, Barney and Nick are trapped in a nightmare that threatens to destroy everything they have been trying to protect.
The three of them panic and come up with a story that will sound believable, then they call the police. None of them is ready to face the legal consequences of what happened, especially Coop, who has only recently managed to keep himself out of serious trouble. Tensions flare as they reluctantly acknowledge that their meeting with Ashe and their monetary exchanges may have been a factor.# A hasty attempt at covering up the evidence
So they decide all they can do is erase all evidence of their involvement. They thoroughly clean the property, erasing potential evidence and deleting security footage that might link them to the scene.
Their plans take another dramatic turn as they begin to move Ashe’s body. Sam arrives unexpectedly before they can get to the bottom of it, finding what appears to be a murder cover-up. And the sight immediately puts her into panic mode.
Coop explains what has happened and insists the death was an accident, but Sam knows her connection to him could mark her as a prime suspect if the authorities start asking questions. She suggests a different solution instead of reporting the event.# Owen Ashe: The Shocking Truth (2015)
The group decide to move Ashe’s body to a construction site where they are building a new swimming pool. There is concrete to be poured soon. It feels like the perfect spot to bury the evidence forever.
But the plan goes awry when Ashe wakes up during the drive. What ensues is a struggle inside the vehicle which ends with the car going into a lake.
Coop, Barney and Nick get away safely but Ashe is less fortunate. In the end he drowns, which turns what could have been an accident into a confirmed death.
Then the group tries to make the scene look like a tragic accident, putting Ashe in the driver’s seat and making up a story that he drove into the water while drunk.Three Weeks Later, Tensions Escalate
The story fast-forwards a few weeks, but the disappearance of Owen Ashe is still a massive mystery in the town. Federal investigators are still interviewing residents, trying to piece together what happened.
Most of the group manages to keep it together, but Nick begins to show signs of emotional strain. Coop and Barney are both concerned he can’t get over the incident and worry he could become a liability if the pressure keeps mounting.
Meanwhile, Coop is the beneficiary of Ashe’s untimely death. With Ashe out of the way, Coop is able to wiggle out of the Excelsior situation and return hundreds of millions to the estate, helping to stabilize the larger financial mess surrounding the season.# Personal Problems Keep Piling Up
Outside the central mystery, many characters have major turning points.
And Nick is not to be crossed in his gym business. No illegal financial activity is to go through his operation. When Elena finds out about the huge pile of money Coop was in charge of and what he did with it, she is furious.
Elsewhere Mel tries to get her writing career back on course. Her editor encourages her to draw on her own tumultuous experiences, including the scandals, betrayals and crimes that have defined life in the neighborhood. Mel starts to reluctantly consider the idea.
Coop also reunites with Ali, who gives him some much-needed perspective. Their conversation is one of the few quiet moments in an otherwise intense finale.# Barney’s World Starts To Fall Apart
The club’s Father’s Day celebrations provide a sense of normalcy, but personal tensions soon boil over.
Gordy tells Coop that he’s been having an affair. Coop tells him not to judge him, but to stop chasing a fantasy and work on saving his marriage before it’s too late.
Nick, on the other hand, is far less receptive to reason. He suffers guilt and sleepless nights and reaches a breaking point and fires Barney. The quarrel escalates into a physical fight, destroying their friendship and creating even more instability in the group.
And when Grace finally confronts Barney about his lies, the fallout doesn’t just stay in the office. Angry at his lies, she decides she’s had enough and throws him out.# A New Deadly Threat Is Created
Just when things seem bad enough, Elena throws in another problem.
She arrives at Nick’s place with Chavo and some associates. They get in and the group ransacks the property and steals valuable equipment while causing extensive damage. The situation has grown dangerous enough that Elena is physically abused during the incident.
Meanwhile, Coop is visited by Luc DeMille who returns a flash drive and lets Coop in on the fact that not all the cash was from Owen Ashe. He also moves large amounts of money back to the Coop, suggesting bigger and more powerful forces are at play behind the scenes.
DeMille hints at future consequences, suggesting the real story might be much bigger than the audience initially thought.# The Final Episode’s Last Mystery
The episode ends with a fisherman discovering something deep in the lake. Though the show doesn’t explicitly state what he finds, the implication is clear.
Owen Ashe’s body may finally be found.
If that happens, the carefully constructed lies that have protected Coop and his friends all season long could unravel very quickly.## Recension
The Season 2 finale is packed with drama and sets the stage for a potential third season. This episode raises the stakes tremendously, and leaves several storylines hanging – so viewers have plenty of questions to go forward.
But the biggest weakness remains the handling of Owen Ashe’s death. The cover-up often feels overly complicated, given the elaborate surveillance system established earlier in the season. The addition of security cameras leads to logical questions that the finale never quite answers.
The emotional fallout for the characters is better. The compelling conflicts that could fuel future episodes include Nick’s deteriorating mental state, Barney’s collapsing family life and Coop’s increasingly complicated moral position.
Season 2 had its ups and downs but the finale ends on a high enough note to make you wonder what happens next.” If the series comes back, the find in the lake and the mystery of Ashe’s money could be the basis for a much stronger third season.