REVIEW: Family Is Everything In ‘No Good Deed’

Putting up a for sale sign is a big step. Sometimes, it’s about opening up a new chapter in your life; alternatively, it’s about running away from the last. Either way, selling a family home is a really interesting time, to say the least. Emmy award-winning showrunner Liz Feldman brings her brand of dark comedy to Netflix with No Good Deed. In addition to showrunner duties, Feldman serves as the series’ director with Silver Tree, and writer with Madie Dhaliwal, Cara DiPaolo, Kelly Hutchinson, and Crystal Jenkins.

A series all about the highs and lows of searching for a safe, happy home and what people do to maintain it all, No Good Deed makes the most of its short episode count. The Morgan family abode is at the center of this story. Freshly on the market, Lydia Morgan (Lisa Kudrow) and Paul Morgan (Ray Romano) put their home up for sale. A gorgeous 1920s Spanish-style villa located in one the most desirable neighborhoods in Los Angeles, it’s no surprise when buyers start lining up at their door.

Multiple families all race to buy what they believe to be their dream house convinced it will fix all of their very different problems. Leslie (Abbi Jacobson) and Sarah (Poppy Liu) try to develop the land, but they disagree about having kids. Carla (Teyonah Parris) and Dennis (O-T Fagbenle) are starting their family, but the speed with which they’ve moved has thrown them for more than a loop as an intrusive mom, Denise (Anna Maria Horsford) forces herself to be included in every decision.

And then there are JD (Luke Wilson) and Margo (Linda Cardellini), two rich neighbors who don’t live too far away. An actor and his young wife, this couple is probably the most explored in the series, but that doesn’t mean that the remaining buyers don’t get their time. JD and Margo are also probably the worst people in the series. While JD is just a man in love with a woman who he easily lets take advantage of him, Margo’s lies mount high, and Cardellini does quick work of establishing herself as the series’ antagonist.

Linda Cardellini stuns as Margo in No Good Deed.

But that’s not a bad thing. For her part, Cardellini is absolutely excellent. Margo isn’t used to getting told no, and despite clearly lying about her age, she also isn’t used to being questioned. While the other families vying for Morgan’s home are likable if not misunderstood, Margo’s obsession with the home quickly borders on troubling.

As Margo begins to do whatever is necessary to buy the Morgans’ family home, the real problem emerges. Lydia and Paul aren’t on the same page. While Paul has been waiting to sell the home so that he won’t need to disclose that his son died there, Lydia sees their home as her last connection to Jacob (Wyatt Aubrey).

Lightbulbs flicker, and Lydia is deadset on believing that their son never left. But as the real estate frenzy picks up, Lydia and Paul begin to butt heads until they’re forced to work together. The couple knows that sometimes the home of your dreams can be a true nightmare, but they also can’t seem to detach themselves from it. However, when Paul’s brother (Denis Leary) makes a blackmailing stop by the home, Paul and Lydia realize that the only way they’ll escape the past is to face it and finally open up about the truth.

While the family may be at a crossroads, the truth is that their son Jacob’s death is less tied to dark secrets and more to a tragedy that turned the Morgan house inside out with guilt and regret. Through flashbacks, we see the Morgan family’s past in their Los Feliz house, both in good times and in bad.

No Good Deed isn’t necessarily as much about a mystery as it is about Lydia and Paul working to protect their last remaining child, their daughter Emily (Chloe East). As you learn more about the Morgan family, the truth is that love runs deeper than fear, even if that love keeps them from giving any buyer and each other the full disclosure they deserve.

Lisa Kudrow and Ray Ramano understand chemistry in this Netflix series.

Lisa Kudrow and Ray Ramano play fantastically off of each other. Their chemistry works because only a family that loves each other so deeply can get under each other’s skin like Lydia and Paul do. But even when they find themselves at odds continuously, their bickering and foundational disagreements shift as the series continues. They aren’t immovable people, but they are hurt people.

The beauty of their relationship happens when the major changes in their life aren’t just selling their home. As harsh truths start to surface, the audience begins to understand that the huge secret they’ve been keeping from their buyers and their families has been a labor of love.

Over the course of the series, Lydia and Paul cope with grief and family revelations, and each damning clue that emerges as the buyers try to play hardball makes everything more complicated. The show’s take on dark comedy isn’t necessarily tied to every damning new clue. Instead, it’s baked into every offhand comment, every small cut away to the prospective buyers and their lives, and most importantly, it’s in the mistakes and comedy of errors that keep happening.

No Good Deed isn’t as dark as creator Liz Feldman’s previous work on Dead to Me, but it doesn’t have to be. Instead, the genre-shifting limited series raises its stakes repeatedly, and the shocking discoveries don’t stop even up until the last episode. This is especially true as the rich couple next door attempts to move in on their property more and more.

While Kudrow and Ramano are the unequivocal stars of the series, Cardellini’s Margo is a standout in the ensemble cast. She’s mean, cold, and absolutely narcissistic. And yet, you can’t help but love her as much as you hate her. No Good Deed may be less impactful than Dead to Me, but it is worthwhile. It’s dark, fun, and absolutely a series that shows that older actors really can expand their filmographies in interesting ways.

No Good Deed is streaming exclusively on Netflix.