“Mad Men” alum Jon Hamm’s new, nine-episode series “Your Friends and Neighbors” could be subtitled “Lifestyles of the Rich and Miserable.” 

As the dark crime caper begins, Andrew “Coop” Cooper (Hamm) is a charming-if-cynical hedge fund executive who gets fired. Adding insult to injury, his wife Mel (Amanda Peet) is having an affair with his best friend Nick Brandes (Mark Tallman), an NBA legend who has, literally, moved into Coop’s former McMansion. 

Disgraced and divorced, aspirational Coop drives around the elite, insulated suburb known as Westmont Village, gazing at his affluent neighbors’ ostentatious display of wealth. That’s when he decides to become a thief.

His first heist involves a Richard Mille Felipe Massa wristwatch, valued at $225,000, followed by a Hermes Birkin bag, worth $50,000. But then larcenous Coop has to ‘fence’ these luxury items, which brings him into the criminal underworld realm of tough pawn-shop owner Lu (Randy Danson). 

Meanwhile, Coop moves into a rental home with his mentally unstable, bipolar musician sister Ali (Lena Hall); begins a casual, inevitably ill-fated affair with Mel’s pal, soon-to-be-divorced Samantha Levitt (Olivia Munn); and teams up with his former housekeeper Elena (Aimee Carrero) to acquire more ‘stuff.’

While rummaging through their houses, sampling rare wines like a Domaine d’Auvenay Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru, now-emboldened, judgmental Coop not only discovers his neighbors’ nasty secrets but also finds himself implicated in a gruesome murder as the suspense-filled plot evolves into a whodunit.

Created by Jonathan Tropper, it’s somewhat reminiscent of John Cheever’s short story “The Swimmer” which was made into a 1968 movie in which Burt Lancaster swims across his nouveau riche Connecticut neighbors’ pools, puncturing the façade of their lives.

Successful novelist-turned-screenwriter/director/producer/showrunner Tropper seems fascinated by the contemporary concept of how one can have-it-all one moment and lose-it-all the next.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Your Friends and Neighbors” is an intriguing, entertaining 8, streaming on Apple TV+ and renewed for a second season.

With the recent eruption of Mt. Etna in Sicily, it’s a good time to discover “La Palma,” a four-part series on Netflix, which revolves around a Norwegian family traveling to the Canary Islands, to bask in the sun during the Christmas holiday.

Actually, the disaster begins even before they arrive. As Fredrik (Anders Baasmo), Jennifer (Ingrid Bolsa Berdal) and their children – Sara (Alma Gunther) and Tobias (Barnard Storm Lager) – get to La Palma, a bizarre boating accident claims the lives of other tourists near La Palma’s Bonita Beach.

When Álvaro (Jorge de Juan), Director of the La Palma Geological Institute, hears that news, he immediately suspects that Mother Nature might be planning something big. The last time La Palma’s Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted, in 1949, a huge fault line formed at the base.

 “If the volcano erupts, a mountain mass the size of Manhattan might erupt into the sea and cause the largest tsunami the world has ever seen,” he warns.

Meanwhile, a young geologist, Marie Ekdal (Thea Sofia Loch Naess), realizes that the instruments she put in a cave inside the mountain have stopped sending data. So she recruits crotchety Haukur (Olafur Darri Olafsson), a veteran geologist, to join her, going into the cave to investigate.

When they get inside, they find water running down the walls – a strange phenomenon that was not occurring when Marie installed the instruments. There’s also a massive crack in the ceiling of the cave which might signal an impending eruption.

So the plot pivots around the question: Will the scientists and the Norwegian family be able to escape the avalanche of ash, gas and lava as they fight for their lives? 

Scripted by Lars Gudmestad and Harald Rosenlow-Eeg and directed by Kaspar Barfoed, the acting and overdubbing are mediocre and the conclusion is rather predictable. On the other hand, it’s remarkably timely and strangely compelling.

In Norwegian & Spanish, on the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “La Palma” is a binge-worthy 6 – with all episodes streaming on Netflix.

Catch up with Susan Granger’s latest reviews here:

• “Last Breath” and “Sirens”
• “Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning” and “Death of a Unicorn”
• “The Studio” and “The Four Seasons”
• “Real Women Have Curves” and “Rust”

Susan Granger

^{_{Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in Journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has appeared on radio and television as an anchorwoman and movie critic for many years. Read all her reviews at susangranger.com.}}