When it comes to trashy TV shows, there’s good trash and bad trash. Desperate Housewives, for instance, was good trash, because the characters had depth and the situations they got themselves in were entertaining. But there’s also a lot of bad trash, larded down with extraneous plots and one-dimensional characters. Which of these is the new Starz series The Couple Next Door, which first aired in the UK in November, 2023?
Opening Shot: A cabin in the woods. A gunshot is heard, then a woman in a white nightie and robe runs out into the forest. A couple run after her, then a second man runs out, holding a gun.
The Gist: We then flash back to a suburb outside of Leeds. Pete (Alfred Enoch) and Evie (Eleanor Tomlinson) are moving into a new house. As Pete struggles to get a dishwasher out of the truck, they meet two of their neighbors, Danny (Sam Heughan) and Becka (Jessica De Gouw). “He can lift anything,” Becka says about her hunky husband; indeed, he grabs the dishwasher and carries it as if it’s a box of tissues.
Evie, a teacher, is 24 weeks along, and Pete, a journalist, doesn’t want anyone to know that they had to use a sperm donor to get her pregnant via IVF. Evie seems to like their new neighbors, though Pete is a bit more circumspect, especially about Danny.
Danny and Becka, two Aussies with a young son, are just happy to have neighbors who aren’t old fuddy-duddies. An example of that is Alan (Hugh Dennis), who seems to be obsessed with Becka, including the hot sex she has with her husband. He even takes her yoga class to be around her; Becka, no fool, tells him to take the beginner class or leave her school.
In the meantime, Danny, a police officer who is often tasked with running organs to a local hospital, is in need of a cash infusion. A colleague tells him about some off-book work that can get him some fast cash. Danny is suspicious but takes the gig. Also in the meantime, Danny is being told by his boss at his website that he can’t pursue a story about a corrupt businessman named Robbie Spencer (Mark Frost). He also notices through his window that Danny and Becka have another couple over to their house, and it’s not just to have some wine and conversation.
Evie has a miscarriage, and two months later is still feeling the trauma from it. She and Danny have also had a hard time with intimacy since then. A visit to her religious parents doesn’t help her mood. But when they go to their neighbors’ house for a sexy cookout, Evie takes a ride on the back of Danny’s motorcycle, her arms tightly hanging on to his abs.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Couple Next Door is a steamy thriller along the lines of Fatal Attraction.
Our Take: The Couple Next Door, written by David Allison and directed by Dries Vos, is positioned to be a steamy, trashy thriller. There’s no doubt about that. In fact, the in medias res opening scene is essentially saying, “this whole thing is going to end badly, but it’ll be sexy first!”
So, knowing that the show is trashy going in, what we have to figure out is if the show is good trash or bad trash. The first episode leads us to lean in the direction of the latter, mainly because there are so many story elements being thrown into the mix that we wonder if Allison didn’t have enough faith in the central story of the two couples mixing and mingling.
There are two side stories that made us scratch our heads. We mentioned one already, which is creepy neighbor Alan fixating on Becka, mainly as a way to distract him from his supposedly nagging wife Jean (Kate Robbins). The other is Danny’s side gig escorting unsavory types as they transport things like briefcases full of money to industrial offices. Of course, because the plots have to tie in somehow, we find out that the unsavory type that Danny and his colleague are helping is none other than Robbie Spencer, the corrupt contractor Pete is investigating.
Why bother with either story? Given that the series is only six episodes that clock in at around 50 minutes each, isn’t there enough in the intrigue of the two couples getting together and the emotional consequences of it? This feels like Allison is layering in intrigue to make up for a lack of it in the main story.
The show projects its sexiness in almost every scene involving the two couples. There are lots of open drapes and people peering in to semi-public erotic displays. We’re introduced to Danny and Becka’s son early in the episode, then he disappears; Danny and Becka proceed with their sexual shenanigans as if there isn’t a kid in the house. Pete dresses relatively normally, perhaps projecting his sense of sexual inadequacy, while Danny, Evie and Becka wear tight and revealing clothes, even for things as mundane as having neighbors over for dinner. The first time Pete and Evie have sex since the miscarriage is directly after Evie gets to hold Danny while they tool around the block on his motorcycle.
This is all to say that The Couple Next Door isn’t subtle, and the characters aren’t exactly nuanced. This might be OK if the show’s writer and producers had any faith that the four of them could carry the action.
Sex and Skin: Lots, we’re sure, but the only overt sex scene in the first episode is the kitchen sex Pete and Evie have after Evie’s motorcycle ride with Danny.
Parting Shot: Evie takes the trash out — in the rain, of course — and sees Danny taking out a bin next door. The two of them stare at each other’s wet bodies and start breathing heavily.
Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Kate Robbins as Jean, because her role is completely thankless as Alan’s wife, whose only sin is that she is no longer young and hot like Becka.
Most Pilot-y Line: Evie decides to go to get the baby checked out when one of her students feels her belly and says nothing is moving. Who knew six-year-olds could diagnose miscarriages?
Our Call: SKIP IT. The Couple Next Door really leans on the stupidest parts of a plot that should just depend on the sexual chemistry among its four stars.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
