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The opening photographs of Netflix’s new present No Good Deed provide a type of visible metaphor for the actual property expertise.
Starting with sweeping photos of Los Angeles — a row of homes, a busy avenue, a colonnade of Mexican fan palms — the digicam step by step zeros in on a single nook, then (presumably by way of some fancy drone piloting) swoops down and goes inside one explicit dwelling. It’s the Zillow expertise, in photos.
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No Good Deed, which premiered in December, runs with that premise over an eight-episode arc. And in the event you’re on the lookout for the tldr, it’s not an ideal present. However it’s chock filled with sturdy performances and, maybe most charmingly, capabilities as a uncommon dive into the highly effective symbolic journey of shopping for or promoting a house.
Credit score: Netflix
The story begins with couple Lydia and Paul Morgan, performed by Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano, respectively, who’re considerably reluctantly promoting their dwelling in L.A.’s ritzy Los Feliz neighborhood. The property has been within the Morgan household for generations, however the couple has apparently run out of cash. And anyway, they’re grappling with the demise of their son, which passed off within the dwelling below mysterious circumstances that solely turn out to be clear over the course of the present’s run.
The drama, not less than within the earlier episodes, largely focuses on the Morgans wrestle to promote the house — he needs to, she doesn’t — and the three {couples} vying to purchase it. There’s the washed up cleaning soap star and his scheming spouse, performed by Luke Wilson and Linda Cardellini. There’s the lawyer-doctor energy couple, performed by Abbi Jacobson and Poppy Liu. And there’s the pregnant newly weds, performed by O-T Fagbenle and Teyonah Parris. Every couple is grappling with their very own demons — demons they hope a brand new dwelling may assist drive away.
In the event you acknowledge a lot of these names, that’s a giant a part of the present’s allure. Not like, say, Solely Murders within the Constructing that has seen its high quality fall in direct proportion to the variety of celebrities who cram into the solid, No Good Deed manages to stay participating regardless of the viewers’s familiarity with its many well-known faces. That’s in all probability partially because of the relative parity in fame the assorted actors take pleasure in. Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano are each well-known from beloved sitcoms, and there’s no Meryl Streep — which is to say, somebody believed to behave at a wholly completely different degree — who distractingly pops up each episode or two.
And it’s additionally in all probability because of the work the actors put in. Kudrow and Romano specifically go exhausting on this present, usually treating it as a full drama regardless of the episodes’ sitcom run occasions. Certainly, Matt Rogers as a pleasant if ethically doubtful actual property agent straight out of a actuality present is among the few actors who places in a conventionally comedic efficiency.
All of which is a protracted method to say that in the event you preferred exhibits comparable to Mates, Everyone Loves Raymond, Broad Metropolis or Freaks and Geeks, No Good Deed might be a enjoyable sufficient look ahead to the actors alone. Present creator Liz Feldman additionally originated Netflix’s Lifeless to Me, and producer-director Silver Tree ran The Flight Attendant — each exhibits whose affect is abundantly clear in No Good Deed.
There are occasions, although, that sturdy performing can’t fairly overcome the present’s weaknesses. Later within the season, the motion focuses more and more on the mysterious demise of the Morgans’ son, a route that introduces a lot of plot holes. The characters’ conduct additionally turns into much less plausible. It’s simple to think about, as an illustration, a household scuffling with tragedy opting to promote their home. Or a pair with a child on the way in which wanting to maneuver. It’s a lot tougher to think about higher center class Angelenos immediately behaving like they’re in a movie noir.
In different phrases, the extra No Good Deed turns into a caper, the extra it strays from the genuinely poignant reality propelling its core. That reality posits that actual property issues. Essentially, the present is about the way in which a bodily construction assumes symbolic that means. The Morgans wish to promote their dwelling seemingly partially due to its affiliation to the demise of their son. But additionally, they wish to not promote it for a similar purpose. The home has turn out to be a vessel for a lifetime of each ache and pleasure.
The main points are completely different for every couple within the present, however the symbolism is a recurring theme. For Luke Wilson’s cleaning soap star, shopping for the house can be a method to downsize, but additionally a method to show his masculinity. For Teyonah Parris’ expectant mom, the property turns into wrapped up in intergenerational anxiousness and her sense of independence. And so forth.
Greater than the performing or the Instagram-worthy settings — the Morgans’ house is gorgeous — it’s this realization that makes No Good Deed outstanding. The present understands the distinction between a home and a house. And critically, it appropriately identifies the expertise of shopping for or promoting a house as a descent right into a symbolic journey. It’s actual property as myth-making. Actual property as origin story.
In the event you speak to actual property professionals, probably the most frequent stuff you hear is that purchasing or promoting a house is the most important deal most individuals will ever do. Additionally, many individuals do it at moments — a marriage, a delivery, a demise — of nice significance. This argument has taken middle stage throughout a interval of tumult for the actual property business, and is introduced as justification for the existence of brokers and a broader ecosystem of actual property companies. Folks want professionals, the considering goes, as a result of these offers matter.
So it’s stunning, in that context, that so few inventive works truly wrestle with why the offers matter. Actuality TV is obsessive about actual property, however largely to current casts of lovable (or, lovably hate-able) egomaniac clowns. Actual property brokers seem usually in motion pictures, however most of the time in bit roles. It’s uncommon for an actual property transaction on display to happen outdoors of a narrative’s first act.
In No Good Deed, however, the deal drags on via all eight episodes. The writers don’t at all times perceive the precise procedures concerned in promoting a home, and Cardellini’s character at one level discusses her “Re-LA-tor.” However even with its flaws, No Good Deed appears to basically agree with the professionals: Shopping for or promoting a house is the most important deal most individuals will ever do. And positive, that’s partially because of the cash concerned. However can also be as a result of there may be nothing in life as laden with that means as dwelling.
