Netflix’s new limited series No Good Deed, from the creator of Dead To Me, gives a mischievous new meaning to open house.
The dark comedy boasts a high caliber ensemble, including Dead to Me star Linda Cardellini as Margo, Luke Wilson as JD Campbell, Abbi Jacobson as Leslie Fisher, Matt Rogers as Greg Boycelane, Denis Leary as Mikey Morgan, Teyonah Parris as Carla Owens, and The L Word’s Kate Moennig as Gwen Delvecchio.
All eight episodes, cleverly titled with real-estate themes like “Letters of Intent” and “Full Disclosure,” follow homeowners Lydia (Lisa Kudrow) and Paul (Ray Romano) Morgan as they attempt to battle emotions and finances in order to sell their Derby Street home. Availing their house to the public for display and dissection quickly opens a Pandora’s box of secrets about the house and the murder that occurred in the home three years prior. As the buyers tour all corners of the home and vye for the purchase of it, the poorly constructed cover-up of the Morgan’s son’s murder quickly crumbles. The elaborate character matrix immediately pulls viewers in as they begin to discern who committed the murder and how it plays into the carefully constructed story line.
Showrunner Liz Feldman masterfully uses the open house as a narrative device to introduce the players and their flaws. This inventive format hooks the audience and gets them up to speed with each character’s drama-filled story within minutes. Despite a masterful hook and favored whodunit storyline, some mid series episodes drag, as viewers are immersed in the secondary characters’ backstories that very loosely thread to the primary story.
The engaging dramatic and comedic actors like Leary and Romano help to resuscitate the parts that drag with their quick wit. This is evident when Paul is thrown out of his house and crashes at his estranged brother Mikey’s place. When Mikey returns home, he quips, “What the f*** are you doing here?” and Paul retorts, “I came here to beat the s*** out of you. Then I laid down. Now my back hurts too much to fight,” as he attempts to get up from Mikey’s stripped, floor mattress. The pair’s banter, paired with chaotic schemes like Paul enlisting his real estate agent (Matt Rogers) to buy drugs to frame his brother Mikey, delivers much-needed levity amid the show’s darker themes.
Comedic interludes of character pairs are balanced with intense, traumatic flashbacks to the night of the murder and gradually unveil key pieces of the puzzle and an unexpected suspect.
Like each of the characters, production has some secrets of its own. If you thought the Morgan house looked familiar, your intuition was right. It previously served as the home of Mitch and Cam in NBC’s Modern Family. You also may have clocked the opening credits font. The skinny, hand drawn script is reminiscent of Freaks and Geeks, which nods to Linda Cardellini’s roots, while her reunion with Luke Wilson (her Legally Blonde co-star) adds another layer of nostalgia.
No Good Deed is now streaming on Netflix. With its rich storytelling and subtle clues, it’s also worth a rewatch to catch all the hidden details you might have missed the first time.