S01.E04: Literal Dragons

[Snazzy Daisy]

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An unlikely alliance begins.

Nick throws Mel a surprise birthday party, where she connects with Coop.

Air Date: Apr 25, 2025

 

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[TheCathedral]

Really good episode! Had a little Breaking Bad feel with the unexpected  partnership and I like the montages.

At least they addressed the issues with cameras and security systems but it seems too risky now after almost getting caught, Coop should consider masks or a hoodie. The operation feels more professional now. 

Best episode so far, Jon Hamm is doing a phenomenal job! I wonder if we're gonna have to wait until the season finale to find out what happened in the first scene of the show

Edited April 26 by TheCathedral

[aghst]

I don't buy that Elena with her looks and brains would have been doing housekeeping for 10 years or just realized that she didn't want to do it the rest of her life.

She sees that other maids get falsely accused of stealing, get fired, maybe potentially deported and she decides she wants to be cut in on the action?

If the way her ass looks gets her hired for years, how hasn't she seduced the older rich men, got one of them to leave their wives yet?

No, she may be conniving, since she came up with the idea of bribing her cousin for alarm codes, to really expand their operation -- how big could that neighborhood be, if there are more than a couple of robberies, they'd know there was some organized ring targeting the neighborhood.

Yet she won't use sex to get ahead, so she's "pure?"  What this means is that inevitably she and Coop will start sleeping together at some point.  Coop remembered her, noticed her and a guy in a similar situation would have at least tried, especially after the rush of getting away from the cops.

But since this is Don Draper, instead she should have thrown herself at him by now, despite the big age difference.

I can see 3 or 4 robberies out of a neighborhood of a couple of dozen mansions.  But can they be doing dozens of robberies and fly under the radar?  Not unless there are hundreds of homes in the "neighborhood."  Coop said these are 7 and 8 figure homes so while there may be a lot of money in a suburb of NY, how big could the neighborhood be?

Meanwhile Coop is looking down his nose at other jobs which Barney recommends to him and his lawsuit doesn't look to be going too well.

These people only seem to socialize with each other, between the club and the lavish parties and get togethers.  The children are mostly grown, almost out of the house and the women are like Real Housewives types, still like to glam it up though their husbands are cheating on them or neglecting them.

Out of all those expensive gifts, Mel likes the jawbreakers Coop gave her in a plain brown bag, because it takes her back to a simpler time, when they were young (or digitally rendered to look young) and the greatest pleasure was jumping on a trampoline with their young kids.

So to recap, Sam still wants Coop, sending him nude photos of herself.

The woman whom Coop spent a weekend with still wants Coop, kissing him like someone who slept with him.

Elena is going to want Coop, if she doesn't already.

Mel still carries the torch for Coop.  She didn't pay her enough attention or get her candy or else she'd never have cheated on him.

 

 

[TheCathedral]

1 hour ago, aghst said:

 

I can see 3 or 4 robberies out of a neighborhood of a couple of dozen mansions.  But can they be doing dozens of robberies and fly under the radar?  Not unless there are hundreds of homes in the "neighborhood."  Coop said these are 7 and 8 figure homes so while there may be a lot of money in a suburb of NY, how big could the neighborhood be?

 

Agreed, realistically the burglaries should stop after Coop fumbled the last job, now the cops know that there's a real thief in the area and people will probably start checking their belongings and notice that a few items are missing. But it's a tv show so Coop will continue to do his thing at least until he wakes up with a dead body next to him.

For a smart guy he's terrible at covering his tracks, there's at least 4 people that are aware of his criminal activities now, not to mention possible hidden cameras and meeting the alarm guy in person was unnecessary imo. Plus if there's an investigation down the road the cops will easily make the connection between Elena and her cousin the alarm guy. But the show is enjoyable so a little suspension of disbelief won't hurt anyone! side note: Coop's mom really sucks!

And it's believable that those women want Coop, it's Don Draper! I know Hamm isn't young anymore but it's more realistic than Tony Soprano being a ladies man imo.

[Snazzy Daisy]

This show has finally acknowledged the existence of security system in that upscale neighborhood. 🙄

I am not sure whether partnering with Elena is a good thing for Coop. He’s doing all the heavy lifting. She tends to make decisions without consulting him. Getting Hector involved in their game is a mistake because all will be traced back to him and the security company. He will talk to save himself.

Talking about sloppiness, someone will find that missing earpiece and Coop’s DNA/fingerprints will be on it. Other than a signal jammer, Coop also needs an anti-facial recognition mask.

How obnoxious of Tori to blame Coop for not fighting to save their marriage. Your mom cheated on your dad with his best friend (of all people) and now he’s living in the house that your dad is paying for. Geez.

The birthday girl loves her fireball candies more than her lavish birthday bash. I hope Mel has realized it by now that her unhappiness wasn’t entirely Coop’s fault. Mel must be a shitty therapist. 

Coop’s car trunk that keeps opening on itself must lead to something, right?

I rewatched E01 and realized something… 👀

Spoiler

It’s Paul Levitt who gets murdered in the opening scene. Who’s the killer?

 

[TheCathedral]

1 hour ago, Snazzy Daisy said:

This show has finally acknowledged the existence of security system in that upscale neighborhood. 🙄

I am not sure whether partnering with Elena is a good thing for Coop. He’s doing all the heavy lifting. She tends to make decisions without consulting him. Getting Hector involved in their game is a mistake because all will be traced back to him and the security company. He will talk to save himself.

Talking about sloppiness, someone will find that missing earpiece and Coop’s DNA/fingerprints will be on it. Other than a signal jammer, Coop also needs an anti-facial recognition mask.

How obnoxious of Tori to blame Coop for not fighting to save their marriage. Your mom cheated on your dad with his best friend (of all people) and now he’s living in the house that your dad is paying for. Geez.

The birthday girl loves her fireball candies more than her lavish birthday bash. I hope Mel has realized it by now that her unhappiness wasn’t entirely Coop’s fault. Mel must be a shitty therapist. 

Coop’s car trunk that keeps opening on itself must lead to something, right?

I rewatched E01 and realized something… 👀

  Hide contents

It’s Paul Levitt who gets murdered in the opening scene. Who’s the killer?

 

Probably Sam or Paul's current girlfriend, or maybe Elena? what if Coop was robbing Paul's house, got caught and Elena panicked and hit Paul, that doesn't explain why Coop was unconscious but hey it's just a theory!

[Quilt Fairy]

The whole point when he started was that he would take things that these incredibly rich people would not even notice were gone.  Once the police got involved, he should have stopped. 

I am very confused about the relationship between Mel and Nick.  In the first ep I thought they were married now, since he's throwing a BBQ at her house.  But it turns out they're not married, he has his own house (where he also throws parties) and Mel tells friends she doesn't let him stay overnight because of the kids.  Except sometimes he's there early enough in the morning to make breakfast for the kids.  And he's comfortable enough in Mel's house to organize a huge, somewhat of a surprise, birthday bash for her there. 

[Rickster]

On 4/26/2025 at 4:14 AM, aghst said:

I can see 3 or 4 robberies out of a neighborhood of a couple of dozen mansions.  But can they be doing dozens of robberies and fly under the radar?  Not unless there are hundreds of homes in the "neighborhood."  Coop said these are 7 and 8 figure homes so while there may be a lot of money in a suburb of NY, how big could the neighborhood be?

7 figure homes are the rule rather than the exception in the NYC suburbs shown in the show. I live in one of them of about 50,000 people and probably 80% of the homes are north of $1 million. However, private security patrolled neighborhoods are rare and relatively small, as is the conspicuous consumption of people like the ones on the show, so Coop’s social circle is probably fairly limited.

[aghst]

1 hour ago, Rickster said:

7 figure homes are the rule rather than the exception in the NYC suburbs shown in the show. I live in one of them of about 50,000 people and probably 80% of the homes are north of $1 million. However, private security patrolled neighborhoods are rare and relatively small, as is the conspicuous consumption of people like the ones on the show, so Coop’s social circle is probably fairly limited.

Yeah that's the case here in CA as well, where you have townhomes which are under 1500 square feet going for around $1.5 million.  These are homes owned by upper middle class people maybe making $150k.

What's depicted on the show are homes probably from $7-20 million and people like Coop making probably a couple million a year after bonuses and so forth.

As wealthy as a lot of people in the NY metro area are, this is still high-end.  It's not people living in Queens or Staten Island.  These are higher-level workers like Coop, who was pretty high in the org chart, or small-business owners like Nick who's done well for himself.

So I would guess that the size of the social circle is closer to 50 than 100 or above.  These are people who own multiple watches worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or Birkin bags or other expensive bling which can easily be carried out of homes by burglars.

Typically though the stories you hear recently are pro athletes being followed to their homes and being accosted at gunpoint to giving up their valuables.

[Quilt Fairy]

On 4/28/2025 at 6:10 AM, Rickster said:

so Coop’s social circle is probably fairly limited.

Speaking of his social circle, that's another thing that has me confused.  Clearly all his contemporaries in the financial world know he's been fired, and why.   These people all know each other's business.  So why hasn't this information worked its way back to the home front?

Edited May 5 by Quilt Fairy

[lucindabelle]

I grew up in one of the wealthiest towns in NJ and still never knew anybody whose mom had a table of bags with an alarm or whose dad drove a Maserati. Many homes in the wealthiest part of town (not where I lived!) are 7-10 million. And still nothing like that. 

[Hanahope]

I’m surprised Coop and Elena aren’t mad at the housekeeper who didn’t tell them about the new dog or the pressure plates under the purses.  That was surprising, why would one think of that?