No Good Deed - season 1: Chaotic and Darkly Funny

Dec 19, 2024

3 min read

No Good Deed is a dark comedy that blends the humour with a touch of drama and a mystery. While it takes a couple episodes to find its stride, I found it to be quite the entertaining show with enough laughs and heartfelt moments to make it’s eight-episode run fly by.

Paul and Lydia Morgan have just put their house on the market. Paul is eager to sell quickly, while Lydia has reservations. There are three couples interested in buying the house, willing to do whatever it takes to be the winning bidder. But the house has a dark secret, as do the interested buyers. Throw in an overzealous realtor, a blackmailer and a busybody neighbour, and selling this house will not be so easy.

The central mystery of the show centers on events that happened in the house several years prior, and the reason why Paul and Lydia (Ray Romano & Lisa Kudrow) are selling. Although you find out what happened early on, the show continually teases out new information each episode, providing more and more context. The same is true with the potential buyers. Each couple has something they are hiding from each other. The show is a series of secrets upon secrets, lies upon lies, leading to misunderstandings that add to a chaotic, but funny, mess.

The show does suffer from some pacing issues early on. The first two episodes mainly feel like setup. It’s setup that is needed, but it does make the show drag a bit. However, once past the initial episodes, No Good Deed finds its stride and becomes a lot of fun. The show throws a lot of twists and turns at you, escalating the level of chaos. At times, it is on the verge of being too outrageous, but that all becomes part of the zany fun.

No Good Deed has a terrific ensemble cast although Kudrow and Romano are clearly the stars. Both have great comedic timing and are perfect foils for each other. While both give great performances, it’s Kudrow that really shines, although she does have the better material and the more memorable scenes with the rest of the cast.

While the rest of the cast is great, not all their characters are created equal. Some characters feel underwritten, and we spend too much time with some of them. The performances are spot on though. Linda Cardellini was a highlight for me, providing a lot of laughs as she plots and schemes to get what she wants.

A tip of the cap is deserved for show creator Liz Feldman and her writing team. No Good Deed is a tough balancing act, having to dish out just enough reveals each episode to keep you engaged, but keeping it all from becoming too outrageous and silly. There are some missteps though. There are some subplots that get thrown away, it pushes the boundaries of improbability a fair bit, and there are some plot holes if you look for them (or even if you don’t). Still, No Good Deed gets it right more often than not.

As you may guess from the title, No Good Deed explores how no good deed goes unpunished. We see this with all the couples as they make decisions, mainly with the best intentions, that generally lead to disarray and chaos. While this is quite often played for laughs, there is a certain poignancy to it as we see that the lies and deceit often lead to people punishing themselves. No Good Deed is a comedy, but it brings out the drama when needed.

I’m not sure if there are any plans for a second season. This feels like it should be a limited series having wrapped up the main storyline. However, just in case it’s popular, it does leave an open thread that could be explored in subsequent seasons.

No Good Deed is likely not for everyone. It’s mix of dark humour, drama and mystery can get uneven, and some may not find the humour in some of the subject matter. I laughed a lot though, and those willing to go along for the ride will be entertained. While there are some pacing issues and some underdeveloped characters, I found No Good Deed to be very entertaining. You might need to leave your disbelief at the door, but I think it’s worth your time.