An open home occasion for an upscale residence already resembles a recreation of “Clue”: prosperous folks from varied walks of life, gathered collectively in a big, enticing house. All that’s lacking from this ready-made setup is a useless physique, a niche simply crammed by creator Liz Feldman within the Netflix black comedy “No Good Deed.”
Feldman beforehand created “Dead to Me” for the streamer, one other sequence about prosperous, amoral residents of Southern California. (Christina Applegate’s character was even an actual property dealer.) If “No Good Deed” recycles some components from that earlier mission, together with the presence of Linda Cardellini as a lady who’s not telling the entire fact about her backstory, the present no less than advantages from their reliable nature. In reality, “No Good Deed” options such a stable setup — and such a stacked solid, led by Ray Romano and Lisa Kudrow as a pair seeking to promote their Los Angeles villa — that its overreliance on twists might be counterproductive. In the parlance of its central trade, as soon as the eight-episode season settles into its story, one can recognize the great bones beneath all of the pointless fixtures.
Paul (Romano), a contractor, and Lydia (Kudrow), a pianist, dwell in Los Feliz, a hip-yet-cushy neighborhood quickly to be renamed The “Nobody Wants This” Zone. As cash-strapped empty nesters, it’s comprehensible why the pair would wish to downsize. (Paul not solely did a lot of the work on the home, he grew up in it. The sale is pure revenue!) But when Mikey (Denis Leary), a menacing determine from their previous, returns to blackmail them over some long-buried secrets and techniques, we be taught they might have ulterior motives for letting go of their longtime residence.
Netflix has forbidden me from disclosing both Mikey’s connection to Paul and Lydia or what truly occurred of their home round three years in the past — not coincidentally, the cutoff for once they’d be legally obligated to reveal a demise on the property. It’s true “No Good Deed” withholds these essential particulars for a number of episodes, ginning up suspense with imprecise, uneven flashbacks. But the solutions are essential sufficient that I wanted “No Good Deed” had simply reduce to the center of its story a couple of household in grief, the higher to light up the relationships inside it. The marriage of Lydia, psychosomatically blocked from enjoying her instrument, and Paul, maniacally targeted on transferring ahead, solely comes into focus close to the shut. At first, they function in a comic book register that’s outdated hat for 2 sitcom legends, bickering and fumbling their manner via an newbie coverup. Once “No Good Deed” stops throat-clearing, Kudrow and Romano lastly get to flex their dramatic chops.
At least “No Good Deed” buys time with a bitchy, nimble satire of acquisitive yuppies. Paul and Lydia’s suitors are a motley crew. Newlyweds Dennis (O-T Fagbenle, dropping his insane accent from “Presumed Innocent”), an creator, and Carla (Teyonah Parris), now six months pregnant, want more room for his or her rising household — which can or could not embrace his overbearing mom, Denise (Anna Maria Horsford). Sarah (Poppy Liu) and Leslie (Abbi Jacobson) have been obsessive about the home for years, however their scrutiny is less-than-welcome: Leslie is a prosecutor, whereas Sarah’s hooked on Citizen. Even JD (Luke Wilson), the washed-up sitcom actor down the road, is , having spent all his earnings on a McMansion designed by his trophy spouse Margo (Cardellini). (It is the best of compliments that, at 49, Cardellini is greater than credible as a scheming gold digger getting by on her beauty.) As actual property agent Greg, Matt Rogers makes for a pleasant ringmaster of this three-ring circus.
“No Good Deed” avoids the weightier implications of setting a present within the fashionable actual property market; there’s no point out of a housing disaster, or perhaps a particular value. Instead, Feldman sticks to the broader symbolism of looking for a house, on the patrons’ facet, and the way a home turns into haunted with a long time of reminiscences, on the sellers’. It’s a worthy topic, sufficient to maintain “No Good Deed” via the distraction of twist after twist — an inclination that impacts your entire ensemble, past simply Paul and Lydia. From funds to household backgrounds, the surprises are uniformly much less satisfying than the post-reveal candor. A steady established order makes for a extra nurturing setting than fixed upheaval. That’s kind of the purpose of sinking all of your financial savings into an empty constructing, isn’t it?
All eight episodes of “No Good Deed” at the moment are streaming on Netflix.
