No to be confused with ‘No Good Deed’ the movie starring Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson, “No Good Deed” the Netflix series, on the surface, follows Lydia and Paul Morgan (Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano), two empty nesters looking to sell their beautiful Spanish style LA home (that is on a corner lot and because I’ve been in my house for more than five years, I know that house was expensive!) The mystery here is not why they’re selling the house, but what really happened to their son who was murdered in the house. The way they added this tidbit into the first episode while we’re focuses on the Morgans arguing about selling the house in general and who to sell the house made this plot seem like it wouldn’t be a huge deal…until about episode three and four. That’s when things start to get interesting.
I started watching this series late at night (because I’m a night owl) but finished the entire show in one sitting. It was around 3 am when I finished but I started at like 10 or 11. The episodes are not long (you all know how I feel about unnecessary length in a movie or series) and the writing wove beautifully between comedy and drama. What I loved about this series is that it was full of familiar faces like Teyonah Paris who plays on of the potential buyers, Carla. My m”om’s favorite, Denis Leary, plays Mikey Morgan, Paul’s brother. He somehow reminded me of his role in “The Ref.” Completely different, but that’s the vibe I got, but that could also be because this is one of my mom’s favorite films, in general. Every one in the series really did feel like family. Nothing felt forced, and maybe because all the actors in this series have done a dark comedy or two or maybe because the script was so well-written. I haven’t placed my finger no it yet, but I loved everyone’s chemistry.
What bothered me, much like unnecessary length, are unnecessary people. As I stated before, this is a series based around the selling of a home, but honestly, although I loved those characters, I did not need Leslie and Sarah and Carla, Greg and his momma. Both parties are in the running for buying this house, but and however, at a certain point in this series, I did not care about either of those couples. I get they need these couples to add character and to distract you from the villain, but I think there could have been a different path to take that could have accomplished the same ending. They kind of shoehorned these people into the story to make them fit within the story, and while it wasn’t forced, I got bored with them.
Another thing that bothered me was the fact that they kept dropping tidbits of a story but never following through with telling me more. For example, the Morgans are arguing about selling the house, right. Lydia doesn’t really want to sell the house, but Paul said he’s had nothing but bad memories in the house and wants to sell it. He’s also lived in the house since he was eight, but we only get one flashback, and that flashback could have been dialogue, honestly. I felt myself wanting more of a backstory for a lot of things in this series, and I will expound on that in a “Let’s Talk” in the bear future.
All in all, watch this series. It’s hilarious, it pulls on the heartstrings, to use a cliche, AND the mystery and the building of it is phenomenal! Is it perfect? No, but you’ll enjoy the ride just like I did!
