Everyone Has Lost Their Minds on 'The Couple Next Door'

The Couple Next Door has officially jumped the shark. The secrets and devious behavior have officially taken their toll, and not a single person is acting rationally. With no adult steering this unwieldy ship, things took a major turn for the worst in the penultimate episode of Season 1. 

The episode started with Pete confronting Evie about her pregnancy, and that went as well as you could expect. Evie has gone fully evil, and it can't be explained away by grief over her miscarriage. Becka got some answers she desperately needed; however, she wasn't very cautious about what she did with them. Oddest of all, Danny turned into a super spy, but his heroic antics and unrestrained libido may get him and his neighbors killed. 

Things are unwinding very quickly and I don't know if there's a mop big enough to clean all of this up, especially with everyone still spiraling out of control at the end of the episode. If Pete has also lost his grip on common sense, then everyone else is screwed. It seems hard to imagine that everyone will make it out of this cluster screw-up alive, so let's examine how exactly we got to this point. 

Danny finally used his copper resources for good and tracked the IP address of who made the website hosting his and Becka's private videos. He told Becka it was Alan (Hugh Dennis), and she immediately went over to his house to call him out for being a stalker pervert. What Alan did was messed up, and Becka deserves some revenge, but he broke into her house and ruined her reputation when she was cordial with him. What's he going to do now that she's purposefully insulted him and threatened to ruin what's left of his life? We shouldn't assume that just because he's had a stroke Alan is harmless. 

Becka also confronted Jean (Kate Robbins), Alan's wife, about her part in covering up what Alan had done. Jean at least appeared sorry for what she'd done and tried to make amends. I'm not sure it would be wise of Becka to accept help from the woman, but Jean's contrition seemed genuine. Jean also went home and threatened to leave Alan, which probably did not help his vindictive attitude. There's something dark going on in that house, and we should keep an eye on it. 

Becka wasn't only out for answers from Alan in this episode. She also had a nice chat with Danny's ex, Lena (Deidre Mullins), and got the lowdown on Danny's estranged son. Without talking to her husband about it, Becka offered to introduce Danny's son to hers since they are half-brothers. Of course, the brothers should get a chance to get to know each other, but Becka setting it up without Danny isn't the smartest plan. She has no idea that her husband is now the target of a diamond smuggling ring, but now she may have just brought this innocent boy into a violent mess. Becka is rightfully pissed that Danny lied to her for so many years, but unilaterally making decisions about this situation is a beacon for chaos. 

Speaking of chaos and Danny's children, Evie has finally gone over the edge. Pete confronted her about the pregnancy; she tried in vain to convince him that it was his baby. She was desperate, sure, but when a pale ginger baby arrived in nine months, Pete would know something was up. Pete didn't believe her anyway and went to get his sperm count checked again to confirm his suspicions. The test revealed that Pete is sterile, confirming that Evie did sleep with Danny and she's pregnant with his child. 

Was Pete right to be pissed? Of course. Evie manipulated him into a sexual situation he wasn't comfortable with purely because she wanted to sleep with Danny, and then she lied about what went down. However, Pete taking Evie to dinner and then demanding that she get an abortion when he's fully aware of her fertility issues was beyond the pale. There's being angry, and then there is being cruel and controlling. He knows this may be her last chance at being a mother, and despite the circumstances of how that baby was conceived, demanding she abort the baby and giving her an absurd time period to do it doesn't jive with anything we've seen about Pete thus far. 

His demands for Evie's body made even less sense than showing up at a random concert to make out with his coworker Sophie (Ioanna Kimbook). Maybe Pete wanted to get even? But considering how he feels about being cheated on, this also felt very out of character. Sophie stopped it quickly because at least she could see it was a bad idea to hook up with her married coworker. Pete needs to get his head on straight... However, Evie would prefer not to. Immediately after the terse dinner with Pete, she paid Danny a visit at his office and seduced him at his desk. He did attempt to say no, but not sternly enough. 

Danny reiterated that he had no interest in repeating this little trist, which is when Evie dropped the news that she was pregnant with his kid. Danny was aghast and doubled down, saying he loved Becka, but Evie did not seem to care. She wanted Danny and this baby, and she was willing to do whatever it takes to have both. Something much darker is going on here. You couldn't even enjoy the sexy times because the way Evie manipulated the situation and Danny caved so quickly made it feel so gross. What is an erotic thriller when the spice doesn't taste right?

Danny recovered the diamonds, though he had to leave Gary behind in the escape. He took photos of everything he had and gave it to Pete before handing the diamonds to Robbie Spencer (Mark Frost). Pete took the evidence to his boss, who greenlit his and Sophie's story. They turned around and put up a front-page investigative piece about a prominent politician that underwent less scrutiny than this recap before publishing. 

As a journalist, I am used to television shows and movies completely disregarding journalism ethics in favor of plot, but this was absurd. A story like that would require going through legal (at the very least) to ensure they couldn't be sued. They'd need to reach out to Robbie's team and give him a chance to respond to every allegation. Even if you wanted to skip all of that, this was an exclusive investigative story. They weren't competing with other outlets to publish, so any self-respecting editor would have scheduled it for first thing in the morning to capitalize on search engine optimization and dominate the news chatter for the day. You significantly limit your reach when you publish in the evening. I guess we should just be grateful that Pete didn't sleep with his source…only his wife did. Yikes. 

Danny did try to warn Pete that publishing this story would bring some heat, but Pete didn't listen. Luckily, Danny was watching when one of Robbie's goons showed up to rough him up and stepped in to save his neighbor. How did Pete repay him? He told Robbie's goon that Danny was the source that helped him publish the story. Danny managed to tackle the guy and send him scrambling, but Pete has made both of them targets now. Also, Danny lost his gun in the scuffle, and Pete said the assailant took it, but it was Pete who stole it. He was waving it around in the mirror and psyching himself up to be a big man as the credits rolled. 

The series started with Becka, Danny, Pete, and Evie running through the woods in a confusing montage, and one of them potentially getting shot. We now know where the gun came from and can theorize what put all four of them in the woods, but it looks like there are still more skeletons to come out of the closet. We've got one more episode to go in this crazy rollercoaster. 

The Couple Next Door will release new episodes on Starz every Friday through Friday, February 21, 2025. Episodes are available to stream on the Starz app with a subscription. Season 2 (god help us all) is already greenlit.