Your Friends & Neighbors; Or How I Start To Hate The Rich Class

Imagine having a job that controls a big hedge fund. You’re good at your job, you’ve worked absolutely to the teeth for it. You’ve gone far as to move your family three times to the rich suburbs of New York. What came out of it?

Cheating, divorce, midlife crisis, and finally your boss not liking the fact you got too good at your job, decides to fire you just so he could use the clause you violated to take your capital saved up. Teetering towards absolute bankruptcy, he does what he can to monetarily keep up with many of his expenditure. While the very fabric of his socio-economic status, and dead marriage, spits back at him.

Jon Hamm does the one understandable thing; he steals. Commits a number of burglaries, and grand larcenies, in scale no criminal could match up to. He had some help, but it’s clear that working for the underworld doesn’t have the kind of benefits and mutual relationship as the same he built in his safe, cushy job.

Think of every Hallmark show taking place in some upper middle class suburban town, and you have the showrunner of Banshee juxtaposing the gritty, cynical aspects of it. Deconstructing the facets of rich class, seeing them as highly flawed, and painting this picture that maybe it’s ok to pity them. But that’s no longer possible in this era of absolute unrest. The 99% just fed up with everything. It’s shown that the rich even deals with money problems all the time, so trying to stay afloat is such a challenge. No one’s happy, least of all our hedge manager.

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I’ve seen rat race movies more depressing than this, but I think it knows. The show never clearly tells you to take anyone’s side, which helps to digest the issues, plight, and clearly the high stakes at play for the protagonist himself. When he turns to the dark side, started enjoying this new life of robbing people, I almost giggled.

Rooting for him a bit, because he was understanding fully what was wrong with the system. His close friend in business even suggested he lawyer up against his ex-boss. Despite knowing the odds would be against him.

The same job that cost him his marriage, his relationship with his family, wife and kids, and despite all that, his strong characteristics are the sole thing that is keeping everybody checked out. As if they act like they don’t need him, but passively convey a dependency towards him. One man having to juggle so much expense, it’s clearly not healthy for anyone. The wife works as a therapist, as if that doesn’t cover anything close to their living expenses and kids school tuition. The whole strongman ideal is such a fragile thing in this modern dystopian capitalist hellhole.

While I have some colorful arguments against his wife, who not only cheated, but with his close friend and client, an NBA all-star. Acts like someone who has a victim complex, and clearly hasn’t figured out to deal with her afflictions. It gets easier to look at when the rest of the neighbors looks as almost as bad, if not worse, as they also cheat on their spouses or buy off SAT papers for their kids.

Jon Hamm bring his inner monologue to us audience, his character is straight out of a book, narrating every detail, helping us understand a lot of intricacies, showcasing why he’s so good in what he does, especially when it comes to the details. That he’s also a quick learner, only for him to turn a recently divorced mother who’s basically new money into his booty, before she does something to get him in far bigger trouble. I won’t spoil it here, but it’s peak anti-capitalism.

Brilliant satire, I wish more shows were like this. The whole world is collapsing, the recent news of the New York office shooting is one stark reminder.

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