Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Your Friends & Neighbors Season 1
Jon Hamm’s new crime seriesYour Friends & Neighborsmanaged todethroneSeveranceon the Apple TV+ streaming charts. More than that, its Season 1 finale successfully set protagonist Andy “Coop” Cooper on a new course that promises to be even more dangerous.Your Friends & Neighborsisn’t shy in its indictment of the frivolous, dysfunctional lives in Westmont Village. With what seems to be a new path in high-stakes, illegal art dealing, Season 2 is positioned to dig even deeper into it.
From the conspiracy behind Coop’s job loss to bets on Paul’s murderer to SAT scams, keeping up appearances makes monsters out of nearly everyone. The show does its fair share of shining light on how easily that lifestyle falls apart, withCoop himself being the primary example. But amidst the myriad of messes in Westmont Village, Barney Choi (Hoon Lee, who first worked with creatorJonathan TropperonBanshee) exists in a compelling in-between that makes the show more dynamic.
Barney Choi Has a Unique Place in Westmont’s Social Hierarchy on ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’
Barney is Coop’s business manager and his closest friend. His first appearance in the show isn’t in acorporate office, on the grounds of a private school, or at some sort of gala. Coop meets up with him at a greasy little diner. Together, they eat at the bar. It’s a throwaway scene viewers might not think too much about. But in retrospect, it’s the most normal setting Coop shares with anyone. It shows that Barney and Coop are their most authentic with one another.
As a financial advisor and business manager,Barney’s status is contingent upon advising those wealthier than himself. This sets him in contrast to most people in Westmont. Westmont is punctuated by the corporate professionals he works for and various spouses who don’t have to work thanks to those lofty incomes. It also sets him in contrast to his wife, Grace (Eunice Bae). Grace and Barney’s relationship is the least toxic onYour Friends & Neighborsby far. Still, his in-laws, The Parks, are formal and cold with him. Grace comes from an affluent family who value more conservative Korean traditions, especially when it comes to roles within a marriage. Barney is Korean American — he shares those roots — but doesn’t seem to have the class of lineage that his in-laws respect. His inability to speak Korean, for example, is held against him.
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The tension is heightened by the fact that Grace is a little disappointed in Barney. She’s frustrated that his attempts to learn Korean aren’t enough to satisfy her parents. Where Barney is by far the most grounded character on the show,Grace expects an ever-evolving, extravagant lifestyle. Barney doesn’t just cater to this, but he’s become part of it. Grace brags to her parents that their home renovation includes pool tiles imported from Portugal that Barney picked out, in an attempt to show them he has good, high-class taste. The Parks demean and insult Barney to Grace in Korean. While he can’t understand what they’re saying, their disdain is clear.
Hoon Lee’s Performance Gets More Impressive As Barney Unravels
There’s no acknowledgment that the Chois' lives are not only comfortable,but exceptional. Grace’s parents are upset Barney isn’t renting a separate house while their current home is expanded. When Grace’s mother catches Barney alone, she tells him “Grace tells me you’re having some financial challenges.” The challenge being that he wants a budget for expanding their already enormous home. She writes him a check, saying, “I’d feel better knowing she didn’t have to worry.”
Mrs. Park wants her daughter to have everything she wants, but she also writes the check as a dig at Barney, and it works. Barney is nursing his drink and swearing under his breath when she finally walks away.Speaking with CBR, Lee himself identifies how much is going on beneath the surface: “[…] for someone who puts forth such a pragmatic, conservative air, he’s prone to some foolish behavior, honestly. And I think that’s always really interesting, because it hints at an interior life and a history and uncovered depths. And so I’m optimistic that those things will continue to be explored as we move forward with the story.”
The stress of Grace’s expectations, coupled with his in-law’s backhanded offers of help, shows thatBarney has as much darkness as Coop. For Barney, trying to keep the lifestyle he has is more complex. He has to keep up appearances not only as a resident, but as an advisor. The illusion of Westmont Village’s American dream — largely defined by endlessly consuming and buying things — is complicated by the cultural pressure he feels, something no one else has been shown having to tangle with.
Barney Choi Is Consistently the Most Relatable Character on ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’
In Episode 5, “This Tourist Has Balls,” Barney binge-drinks the expensive scotch his father-in-law begrudgingly gifted him as he stands on the unfinished build of a new section of his home. As he lights Mrs. Park’s check for one million dollars on fire, the structure catches fire, too. He manages to put it out, but it’s a nod to the level of stress he’s under, how close he is to breaking, and a streak of self-destruction he keeps hidden under his white collar.
To the show’s credit, likability isn’t a priority in its portrayal of itsdysfunctional upper classes. Money is corrupting, and their lifestyles are defined by unjustifiable excess. But Barneyislikable. His position in the narrative is part of it. Where Coop is desperate to maintain his status quo – somewhat redeemable for his kids, as much as for himself – Barney quietly resents it. Episode 8 is titled, “When Did We Become These People,” for Barney’s summation of their empty lives:
“Grace spends too much. I spend too much. It’s like a bodily function at this point. We eat, we drink, we buy all his shit. […] Sometimes I just walk around the house and I just look at the sheer volume of shit we have and it fucking mystifies me. I mean, when did we become these people? When did our lives get so empty?”
Stellar writing aside,Hoon Lee is understated and charming all on his own. Line deliveries like, “I take it from your general demeanor, you boys are on cocaine,” are natural and hilarious. When the rest of the town has turned to freezing Coop out or placing bets on whether he really murdered Paul Levitt (Jordan Gelber), Barney meets him with poignant sincerity, “Something’s going on with you. You don’t have to tell me what, but I just wanted you to know that I know.” Lee is able to balance the importance of this moment not just to their friendship but to the show as a whole in his performance of a man in crisis, binge-drinking and doing party drugs while on painkillers for a dislocated shoulder.
‘Your Friends & Neighbors’ Needs Hoon Lee’s Barney To Keep the Show Grounded
Theover-the-top misdeedsof the ensemble make for great television. Sam’s (Olivia Munn) desperation to the point of shooting her husband’s corpse, Mel’s (Amanda Peet) midlife crisis that leads her to cheat on your husband, then cheat on your new partner with that ex-husband, and Coop foolishly stumbling his way into illicit art dealership make sense in the scope of the story. But Barney’s occasional benders, subtle spites, and challenges in balancing work with his domestic life and his domestic life with his wider circle of friends, is much more relatable, especially with Lee as the character. Barney’s role as the friend who grounds Coop and keeps him honest will no doubt be necessary for Season 2. However, the duality of pressures he faces as anAsian American, paired with Barney’s ever-developing self-awareness, will serve the show better in a narrative that gives Lee more to play with and utilizes hisincredible range.
