Starz’s “The Couple Next Door” Stops Itself From Reaching Great Heights | TV/Streaming

When school teacher Evie Greenwood (Eleanor Tomlinson) and her partner Pete Thomas (Alfred Enoch) take the chance to move to suburbia, they anticipate that this new community will change their lives for good. With a baby on the way, the couple is looking to finally become the family they’ve always dreamed of being. But like a lot of best-selling thrillers and critically acclaimed miniseries; the couple has no idea what awaits them inside their new picturesque neighborhood. 

As the two begin to unpack their moving truck, they’re greeted by Becka Whitwell (Jessica de Gouw) and her husband Danny (Sam Heughan), who immediately begins helping them unpack the truck. It feels uncoincidental, almost as if the two spied Evie and Pete through their window like prey, pouncing on them as soon as they set their feet on the concrete. From here, the couples begin to meld. Although some parties are less happy about it than others, this initial meeting feels like a cataclysmic event preceding a friendship that is designed to end in disaster. 

Unlike Pete, who is perturbed by Becka and Danny’s presence, Evie is instead drawn to the two. They represent everything she desires, and she often finds herself gazing out at their house from her window. It quickly becomes clear though that Evie doesn’t just simply desire the life the couple has made for themselves, but she instead has become infatuated with Danny. While this could put a wrench in her and Pete’s new friendship with their neighbors, after spending time together, the couple reveals that they are, in fact, happily non-monogamous.

Starz

This is when “The Couple Next Door” gets interesting. With this reveal, it appears like the series is working to become a standout in its genre, which instead of exploring the psyches and desires of its characters, often abandons them for nonsensical plots. At the center of this is Evie, a woman who grew up in a severely religious household, whose fascination (and obsession) with her neighbours’ relationship forces her innermost and volatile desires to become exposed. On the other hand, Pete’s reservations about potentially opening up their relationship lead to tension between the couple that threatens to boil over each time they have a conversation. 

Despite this central relationship unraveling in an admirable fashion, the series does what most of its kind do and quickly becomes the worst version of itself. The four main players have a chemistry that is palpable and addictive to watch, as is the drama that unfolds between them, which sometimes makes way for some engaging introspection into modern relationship dynamics. It’s a shame then that despite having a cast with this much chemistry, “The Couple Next Door” abandons this to focus on a shoddy low-stakes political conspiracy that both Pete and Danny get wrapped up in, and a neighbourhood stalker that prowls around Becka’s workplace and home. 

While this might be fine if this were the second season of an ongoing series, none of these side plots feel truly relevant to what the success of this show actually hinges on: the relationship between the two couples. When the four aren’t interacting with each other, you can’t help but wonder what the point of this series is. Even if the show were longer, unfortunately, its side characters aren’t interesting enough to warrant any screen time, even though our main characters interact with them enough that they should draw our attention. Instead, the core four actors feel like the only people not sleeping through these scenes. 

Starz

It’s shocking just how quickly the series unravels, with its six episodes becoming duller with each passing side-plot. Eventually, the series feels like it has nothing left to say about religion, sexuality and attraction, which at the beginning of the series, were all prominent themes swirling through the relationship between these two couples. By sacrificing Evie and Pete’s fraught relationship just as the show begins to hit a peak, the writers instead dig themselves into a hole filled with dull thrills and reap even duller consequences.

What comes of this is a series that ultimately abandons any sense of intrigue it once had, and skins its characters alive until they become husks of the intriguing people they once appeared to be. It doesn’t help that with its final episode, the show attempts to rid you of the notion that your time has been wasted by spiraling out of control and into absurdity. The final hour of the series feels unlike each previous episode, and ends with an intense showdown, making for a truly baffling tonal shift. While “The Couple Next Door” tries to strike up some emotion with its finale, I could feel was relief that it was finally over. 

All episodes were screened for review. 

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