This article contains spoilers for The Couple Next Door episode 2.
The Couple Next Door is a psychological drama all about the entangled lives of two couples: Evie (Eleanor Tomlinson) and Pete (Alfred Enoch), a new pairing who've just moved into a new neighborhood. There, they cross paths with their new neighbors, traffic cop Danny (Sam Heughan) and fitness instructor, Becka (Jessica De Gouw).
In the second episode, Evie gets some shocking family news, and a revelatory beach trip with their newfound friends opens Evie's eyes to the way that Becka and Danny's relationship. We also learned who Danny owed his money to, and the traffic cop landed himself in hot water over his illicit police transport work. Here's a full recap of everything that happened in The Couple Next Door episode 2.
Pregnancy shock
Episode 2 picks up immediately where the season premiere left off: Evie and Danny are standing across the street in the rain... and then the pair run to one another and she leaps into his arms. Except... this looks to be a dream Evie had: she gets up out of bed and goes to make some tea for her and Pete.
Then, we join Danny and his colleague, Gary, who are being dressed down by their superior officer. The pair of them were spotted on their illegal moonlighting gig, and threatened with disciplinary action if they use their police bikes off-duty again. Frustrated, Danny tells Gary he's pulling out.
Alan watches Becka head out for another run and spots where she leaves her keys. Evie is surprised when he sister Rachel arrives on the scene and heads out for a walk with her. Evie pushes back on her mentioning their parents being upset about what happened during their visit: she says she's done with the judgment, and when Rachel says Becka doesn't seem like Evie's type of person — Becka's running group had passed them, and Becka had sung Evie's praises to her sister — Evie explodes, saying Rachel is just like them. Luckily, the pair soon bury the hatchet... after Rachel drops the bombshell that she's three months pregnant.
Elsewhere, Danny drops by Lena's house to drop off some cash. He wants to be let inside, but she doesn't let him, especially when she sees how much he's brought, which she thinks is simply not enough. And despite being told to abandon the story, Pete continues digging into the corrupt businessman, Robbie Spencer, and uncovered a new lead which he wants to investigate, and he asks if he can bring Sophie along.
Alan goes to retrieve the keys and is blindsided by Gloria, an elderly neighbor walking her dog, Mr. Snuffles, who tells him the couple isn't home; does she know he's up to no good? Evie returns home around this time; although she told Rachel she was happy for her, she went out to the garden and overfed their koi fish
The beach trip
Danny drops by to ask if Evie and Pete are free tomorrow for a beach trip; Evie opens up to him about feeling like she doesn't know who she is, and they have a bit of a heart-to-heart about dealing with that sort of feeling. That evening, Pete asks if they want to do something at the weekend; Evie mentions the beach trip, and then reveals Rachel's pregnancy news. In turn, Pete asks how she took the news, she just maintains she's happy for her sister.
The following day, the two couples get in a campervan and head to the coast for their trip, drinking wine on the sand. After they've gone, Alan gets inside Becka's house and finds a camera that contains footage of Becka and Danny in the bedroom with the couple from Marbella. He snaps some photos and records some of the clips and leaves.
On the beach, the chat soon turns to relationships. When Becka reveals how she met Danny and how they're non-monogamous, Pete starts asking a lot of questions about how they navigate it. Danny and Becka happily answer their questions and reveal their boundaries; they don't judge other people for how they live their lives but are frustrated that others still judge them; Pete chimes in that he's also spotted other neighbors constantly staring, which is when Becka lets slip that she knows Alan is coming to her classes.
We then spot Alan once again staring at Becka's social feeds, where he finds several of her followers asking her to make her yoga class female-only, which annoys him. Downstairs, Jean phones a stairlift company to arrange an assessment.
Danny, Becka, Pete, and Evie start partying on the beach; Danny's on barbecue duty, and a bottle of tequila is being passed around. Away from the group, Danny gets a text from Lena asking for more money. When the music is switched on, Evie, Becka, and Danny start dancing together. Becka backs off, and the chemistry between Evie and Danny is plain to see, but Danny breaks things off before they can kiss. On the drive home, Danny texts Gary to ask to be put on another moonlighting gig.
Consequences
Back home, Evie and Pete have a frank discussion about Becka and Danny's sex life. Pete lets slip that he'd seen the couple having visitors, but just never mentioned it; soon after, Evie brings up the possibility of potentially exploring non-monogamy, an idea Pete doesn't seem too fond of. Across the road, Danny tells Becka to remember their rules: they don't "play" with friends, even though she tells him she misses the fun and spontaneity of the early parts of their relationship.
The following morning, Danny stops by Alan's house to threaten him about his obsession with his wife, telling him not to go near her again, yoga class or otherwise. He then heads off on his motorcycle to his next gig with Gary.
We then join Pete and Sophie in the car, staking out the dodgy business he'd found. Whilst watching, he asks if Sophie knows anyone in a non-monogamous relationship, and how they're finding it. Whilst chatting, they spot Robbie Spencer along with the two cops who've arrived on the scene. Sophie snaps some photos, but Pete suggests they should leave quickly when he notices Robbie has spotted them.
Gary reveals Robbie has ordered fresh bikes with false plates for them for the job, and they set off to escort another one of his vans. Meanwhile, we see Alan building a website to host all of the clips and photos of Becka which he'd stolen from the house.
During the escort job, the convoy is hijacked by a car full armed gunmen. The two officers are thrown from the motorcycles and then the hijackers fire upon the van, stealing the briefcase that was being kept inside. Danny survives unscathed, but it's unclear whether anyone else did.
Back at home, Evie is seen researching non-monogamy on her laptop. Pete returns home and shouts for his wife, but she doesn't answer. He opens a beer and wanders out to the garden... where he finds his koi carp have all died.
The Couple Next Door is available to stream on the Channel 4 website and on Starz in the US.
