Amanda Peet isn’t one of those actors that’ll bore you with how awkward sex scenes can be. She also doesn’t want to pretend that getting older—even with all its wisdom and perspective—isn’t a total bitch at times too. (She recently disclosed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer while both her parents were in hospice last year; in January she got her first clear scan.) She’s honest and real and witty, and none of that should come as a surprise if you’ve been following Peet’s career since the late ’90s.
Now, as the second season of Apple TV’s Your Friends & Neighbors gets underway, Peet is feeling freer than ever, both in her performance in the critically acclaimed dramedy and outlook on life. Her character, Mel, the ex-wife of Andrew “Coop” Cooper (Jon Hamm) and the mother two teenagers, is similarly rediscovering what it means to start a new chapter of life. At 50, Mel thought she’d have it all figured out by now, but is quickly learning she doesn’t know nearly as much as she’d like to.
At the end of season one, Mel broke things off with Nick, Coop’s former best friend. She and Coop didn’t get back together in the finale, but they were in a good place. When the new season begins, they’re on vacation with their kids. They haven’t been hooking up, but it’s clear they still love each other. (Now, whether they’re “in love,” well, that’s another story.)
If Mel and Coop are meant to be, it’s still a ways off. Upon returning to the tony suburbs of Westmont Village, Mel goes on a date with a handsome new guy, but when they’re trying to have sex in the front seat of his car, she has to stop due to the pain of vaginal dryness. (She refrains from explicitly saying such, but indicates she’s very much “with the program” and “just not feeling well.”)
Later, Mel tells Coop’s sister, Ali, 40, that she wasn’t able to have sex because of menopause, and Ali quickly diagnoses her as just in need of lube. “Don’t mention the perimenopause to Coop,” Mel says. “I feel like I’m getting older, and he’s getting better and better looking.” (If only she could be a fly in the sauna room, where she’d quickly learn her ex-husband is dealing his own middle-age frustrations.)
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