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The opening shot of Netflix’s new show No Good Deed offers a kind of visual metaphor for the real estate experience.
Starting with a wide-open shot of Los Angeles: rows of houses, busy streets, and columns of Mexican fan palms, the camera gradually zeroes in on a corner, then swoops down (perhaps by some fancy drone maneuver) to capture the image of a particular corner. Go inside. house. The Zillow experience in pictures.
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“No Good Deed,” which premiered in December, will run for eight episodes based on that premise. And if you’re looking for a TLDR, it’s not the perfect show. But this production is chock-full of strong performances, and perhaps most fascinatingly, it serves as a rare dive into the powerful symbolic journey of buying or selling a home.
Credit: Netflix
The story begins with a couple, Lydia and Paul Morgan, played by Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano, respectively, somewhat reluctantly selling their home in the upscale Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. The property has been in the Morgan family for generations, but it appears the couple has run out of money. Anyway, they are dealing with the death of their son, which happened at home under mysterious circumstances that will only be revealed over the course of the show.
The show, at least in its early episodes, focuses primarily on the Morgan family’s struggle to sell the house (he wants to sell, she doesn’t) and the three couples vying to buy it. I’m guessing. It features a washed-up soap star and his scheming wife, played by Luke Wilson and Linda Cardellini. It features a power couple, a lawyer and a doctor, played by Abbi Jacobson and Poppy Liu. And then there’s the pregnant newlyweds played by OT Fagbenle and Teyonah Parris. Each couple is battling their own demons. They hope their new home will help exorcise that evil spirit.
If you know many of those names, that’s a big part of the show’s appeal. Unlike, for example, Only Murders in the Building, where the quality declined in proportion to the number of celebrities crammed into the cast, No Good Deed allowed viewers to see the faces of many celebrities. Despite knowing this, he manages to maintain his charm. That’s probably due to the relative parity of fame enjoyed by various actors. Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano are both well-known for their hit sitcoms, and Meryl Streep (who is considered to be acting on a completely different level), who is so distracting from episode to episode, is now plug.
And perhaps that is also the result of the actors’ efforts. Kudrow and Romano in particular work hard on this show, often treating it as a full-on drama despite the sitcom running time of each episode. In fact, Matt Rogers, who plays an ethically questionable real estate agent straight out of a reality show, is one of the few actors to pull off a conventionally comedic performance.
All of this means that for those who loved TV shows like “Friends,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Broad City,” and “Freaks and Geeks,” “No Good Deed” is probably just a movie about the actors. It can be said that it is interesting enough to watch. Show creator Liz Feldman also originated Netflix’s Dead to Me, and producer/director Silver Tree ran The Flight Attendant. The influence of both shows is evident in “No Good Deed.”
However, strong acting may not completely overcome the show’s weaknesses. In the second half of the season, the action focuses increasingly on the mysterious death of the Morgan family’s son, introducing a number of plot holes. The actions of the characters become unbelievable. For example, it’s easy to imagine a family suffering a tragedy choosing to sell their home. Or a couple with a baby looking to move. It’s much harder to imagine upper-middle-class Angelenos suddenly acting like they’re in a film noir.
In other words, the more whimsical No Good Deed becomes, the further it distances itself from the truly painful truths that drive it at its core. This truth suggests that real estate matters. Fundamentally, this show is about how physical structures take on symbolic meaning. The Morgans want to sell their home, and one of the reasons may be related to their son’s death. However, I also don’t want to sell it for the same reason. The house became a vessel for a lifetime of pain and joy.
While the details vary for each couple featured on the show, symbolism is a recurring theme. For the soap star played by Luke Wilson, buying a house is a way to downsize, but also a way to prove his masculinity. For Teyonah Parris’ expectant mother, the estate is shrouded in generational angst and her sense of independence. and so on.
It’s this recognition, more than the stunning acting and Instagram-worthy setting of the Morgan family’s home, that makes No Good Deed so noteworthy. This show understands the difference between home and home. And importantly, it accurately identifies the experience of buying or selling a home as a descent into a symbolic journey. It’s real estate as myth-making. Real estate is the starting point.
When you talk to real estate professionals, one of the things you’ll hear most often is that buying or selling a home is the biggest transaction most people will ever make. Also, many people do it at very important moments, such as weddings, births, and deaths. This argument has taken center stage during a period of turmoil in the real estate industry, and is presented as justifying the existence of a broader ecosystem of agents and real estate services. The idea is that because these transactions are important, people need professionals.
So in that context, it’s surprising that so little creative work actually addresses why trading matters. Reality TV is obsessed with real estate, but mostly to showcase a cast of lovable (or unlovable) egotistical clowns. Real estate agents often appear in movies, but more often in bit roles. It’s unusual for a real estate transaction to take place on screen outside of the first act of the story.
Meanwhile, in No Good Deed, the contract lasts through all eight episodes. The writers don’t always understand the specific steps involved in selling a house, and Cardellini’s characters at one point discuss her “re-LA-Thor.” But despite its flaws, No Good Deed seems to fundamentally agree with the pro-choice sentiment. Buying or selling a home is the biggest transaction most people will ever make. And certainly, it’s also because of the money involved. But that’s also because there is nothing in life that has more meaning than a home.
Email Jim Dalrymple II
