Montana Transplants Clash in HBO’s Neighbors

So I settled in to watch the first episode of Neighbors on HBO, fully anticipating drama-filled music, dark interviews, and maybe even a little unhinged property line screaming. What I did not expect to witness was what might be the most Montana thing ever caught on film.

In episode one, the Alspaw family from Shamut, Montana, gets annoyed with their neighbors, the Collins family. A gate. Access. Property lines. Horses. Hurt feelings. Passive-aggressive energy capable of running a wind farm. The whole time I’m watching it play out, I’m thinking: Been there.

Here’s the part that makes it quietly hilarious. Both sides in this controversy are implants. Not multi-generational Montanans. Not ranching families with a granddad who helped build the fence. These are people who came here and felt they understood the culture better than the folks who were already here. The Alspaw family is from Kansas. The Collins family is from Oregon.

And this is where it gets good.

They sincerely believe they’re acting reasonably. Calmly. Logically. They use words like “rights,” “protocol,” and “proper channels.” Meanwhile, every real Montanan watching has the same thought bubble: You could have just walked over and talked about it.

That’s the difference.

In Montana, neighbor disputes usually begin with a conversation. Maybe a handshake. Maybe a slightly tense handshake. But still. Here, it jumps straight to full courtroom energy.

What makes it wild is that I can see this happening in every corner of the state right now. Newcomers. Different expectations. Different ideas about land, access, privacy, and what “community” means.

Nobody is twirling a villain mustache here. But it does reflect something real. You can move to Montana. You can buy property in Montana. But understanding Montana takes a little longer than unloading the U-Haul and building a fence.