No Good Deed (Season 1) ‘Netflix’ Review, Recap, & Ending Explained: What happened on the night of Jacob’s death?

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Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano have been the sitcom darlings of yesteryear. Through ‘Friends’ and ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’, they have established themselves in films and television. However, besides a few exceptions, they have not shown their dramatic acting skills. ‘No Good Deed’ on Netflix offers them both a chance to be grounded performers who can effectively portray the gravity and the complexity of grief. This dark comedy, written by Liz Feldman, shows Kudrow and Romano as a middle-aged couple trying to sell their house a while after their son’s unfortunate death.

The series mainly revolves around the mystery behind the son’s death to realise the cause and the culprit behind a shocking turn of events. While doing so, it digs deeper into the lives of three families, who hope to buy their house.

‘No Good Deed’ on Netflix follows three different families trying to buy a quaint house owned by a middle-aged couple, who had tragically lost their son not long ago. The show is created by Liz Feldman, known for Netflix’s ‘Dead to Me’.

What happens in ‘No Good Deed’?

‘No Good Deed’ on Netflix follows Paul Morgan (Ray Romano) and his pianist wife, Lydia (Lisa Kudrow) trying to sell their house as three different families hope to buy it. The first is their next-door neighbour and a fading actor, JD Campbell (Luke Wilson) and his materialistic wife, Margo (Linda Cardellini). The second is doctor Sarah Webber (Poppy Liu) and district prosecutor Leslie Fisher (Abbi Jacobson), a couple trying to have a baby through IVF while the third one is a writer, Dennis Sampson (O-T Fagbenle), his pregnant wife, Carla Owens (Teyonah Parris), and his mother, Denise (Anna Maria Horsford).

The first episode introduces us to its central characters and offers an idea about its narrative. Paul and Lydia’s Los Feliz house is up for sale and all the potential buyers come there for a visit. Greg (Matt Rogers), their realtor, shows the guests around the house as Paul and Lydia secretly watch them from an upstairs room. Leslie is interested in the house but Sarah has her share of doubts. Denise is still not over the fact that Dennis had not invited her to his and Carla’s wedding ceremony. JD is interested in the house due to his recent financial woes. He tries to hide his identity.

Around the time of the sale, Paul’s brother, Mikey (Denis Leary), returns from the prison and threatens to pay him a huge sum. In the past, he had helped Paul to hide the truth behind Paul’s son, Jacob’s (Wyatt Aubrey) shocking death. Paul and Lydia are somehow connected to this incident but are secretive about what actually happened. Dennis is confident that he can buy the Morgans’ house but Denise isn’t. She offers to help him with the funds. In exchange, she hopes to live with him and Carla. Dennis doesn’t refuse her request since he has seen how she suffered after his father’s death.

Lydia isn’t on board with Paul selling their house. However, she understands his financial issues and decides to help by selling her piano, despite what it means to her. While doing so, she keeps Paul in the dark. At night, Leslie arrives outside their house to investigate her doubts about the family. Paul realises that there’s an intruder around the house but can’t find her. He takes out his hidden gun and hides it inside the piano. While all this happens, Margo has an extramarital affair with her colleague, Gwen Delvecchio (Kate Moennig).

Laura sells the piano, not realising that Paul hid a gun inside it. He meets the piano’s buyer to acquire the gun. The buyer hands it over to him in exchange for a donation to his foundation. So, he ends up short of the cash he needs to pay Mikey. Mikey threatens him to acquire it soon. Sarah and Leslie return to the house and end up meeting Lydia. The couple notices things that once belonged to Jacob. Lydia, who hasn’t fully processed the grief of his loss, struggles to tell them that he is dead. After they leave, Lydia’s next-door neighbour, Phyllis (Linda Lavin) reveals seeing an intruder (Leslie) around their house.

Gwen decides to call it quits with Margo, who refuses to end their affair. Mikey and Paul happen to be at the same place. While leaving, Paul bumps into Margo. Later, while helping JD with a minor chore, he reveals Margo’s presence at their open house showing. JD decides to confront Margo about her interest in buying Paul’s house. Margo assumes that JD is speaking about her affair and ends up blurting out the truth. Still, he doesn’t realise that she has been in an affair with a woman and not a man.

Lydia understands the pressure Mikey is putting on Paul but does not want to sell the house like Paul does. Instead, she hopes to dissuade Mikey from asking for money. She knows that Mikey used to like her. So, she invites him home to charm him. By then, Leslie learns about Jacob’s death and feels sorry for her. She and Sarah go to Lydia’s house just when Mikey is there. Lydia looks at Leslie’s shoes and realises that she is the intruder. So, she rejects Leslie and Sarah’s offer for their house. After they leave, Mikey irritates Lydia so much that she hits him hard.

Mikey starts bleeding and loses his consciousness. Lydia assumes he is dead. As it happens, Paul seeks Greg’s help to get hold of some drugs. He plans to plant them on Mikey to get rid of his nuisance. Instead, he and Greg get put in jail, while being caught buying drugs. Soon, he gets out and returns home to learn about Mikey’s apparent death. Carla realises how close Dennis is to his mother. She tries to dissuade from letting Denise live with them. However, he doesn’t reveal the reason he seeks his mother’s help – he hasn’t even started writing his new book and isn’t sure when his next paycheck will arrive.

As a kid, Mikey used to lock Paul inside a room. Paul still suffers from PTSD from Mikey’s bullying. So, he decides to lock Mikey inside a room in his house. In the past, Mikey helped Paul and Lydia with Jacob’s dead body. So, now, Paul isn’t sure how to get rid of Mikey’s body. After JD learns about her affair, Margo decides to do something to please him. She plans to charm Lydia and convince her to sell their house to JD. The two women bond over their inability to bond with their teenage daughters. JD gets fired from his talent agency, making him officially jobless.

Dennis rejects his mother’s funding offer, which offends her. However, after having a word with Paul about a son-and-parent relationship, Dennis feels guilty. Just then, he gets diagnosed with a condition that his father had, which led to his death. He worries Laura will be left alone like his mother was. So, he flips on his plan, which upsets Laura. Finally, he confesses to her about his creative block. She realises that Dennis feels burdened by his responsibilities as an adult. That’s why Denise is protective of him.

Around this time, Lydia and Paul realise that Mikey isn’t dead. So, once the guests leave, Paul paints over the entrance to the room Mikey is in and locks him inside.

After the issue with Mikey, Lydia and Paul take out the board that says that their house is up for sale. JD and Margo are shocked by their change of heart and hope to sway their mind to think otherwise. They invite Lydia and Paul to their house. Upon Margo’s invitation, Paul joins her in the pool. She lures him but he rejects her advances. JD bonds with Lydia over their interest in music. Still, Lydia hesitates to play a tune on the piano, which she has not returned to since Jacob’s death. Eventually, they return home and get closer. Their romantic moment remains short-lived as Mikey’s son suddenly shows up outside their door. He is now a police officer. As it happens, Phyllis gets in touch with Sarah and Leslie to share a scoop about Jacob’s death.

Mikey’s son, Nate (Kevin Alves) hopes to seek Paul and Lydia’s help to locate his father. Paul and Lydia speak quietly so as not to alert Mikey about Nate’s presence. Nate tells them about the GPS location of his dad’s phone. So, Lydia forces Paul to join Nate and find Mikey’s phone before Nate can. While Paul’s away, Lydia breaks into the wall to meet Mikey. She helps Mikey regain his consciousness as Paul diverts Nate’s mind from his search for Mikey. Paul joins Nate at Mikey’s apartment and recovers a piece of evidence that can protect him. He returns home to find a hole in the wall.

Carla meets Denise to talk about Dennis’s financial situation and medical condition. Suddenly, Carla’s water breaks, which leads Denise to join her at the hospital. At the hospital, Denise confesses that the person who took care of Dennis – Jimmy is not his biological father. However, Dennis doesn’t know this. On the other hand, JD learns about Margo’s true identity – Luann. He meets Margo’s brother, Bobby (Rory Scovel). He helped her trick JD into thinking Margo was his soulmate. In reality, Margo saw him as a ticket to lead a luxurious life.

As Paul returns home to find a hole in the wall, Lydia drives Mikey back to his apartment. Later, she and Paul have a heated argument, leading her to meet their daughter, Emily (Chloe East). After Jacob’s untimely death, she stays away from Emily to protect her own sanity, without worrying how it affects Emily. She tries to patch things up with Emily but it feels like an effort that is too little too late. Gwen blackmails Paul with her knowledge about Jacob’s murder to persuade Paul to sell their house for a cheaper price. Later, Laura returns home and confronts Paul about a part of their past.

Paul had not told Laura that Jacob had once stolen something from him. As they have a heated argument, Emily returns home. She blames herself for the issues in their marriage since she shot Jacob, thinking he was a burglar. At the hospital, Sarah gets assigned to Carla’s pregnancy case at the last minute. She recognises Carla and JD as other potential buyers of the Los Feliz house and dissuades them by mentioning their son’s death. Later, Carla tells Dennis the truth about his father. Meanwhile, Leslie obtains a file about Jacob’s death, hoping to know the truth.

What happened on the night of Jacob’s death and who killed him?

In the final episode of ‘No Good Deed’ on Netflix titled ‘Sold’, we learn the truth behind Jacob’s death. Since Jacob’s death, Emily felt guilty for killing Jacob. However, that’s not what happened. While she fired the bullet, it was not the one that killed Jacob. Instead, it is from a gun that belongs to JD. On the night of Jacob’s death, JD sensed the presence of an intruder outside Paul’s house. However, he got scared at the last minute and did not take any action. Instead, Margo shoots Jacob with JD’s gun because Jacob has feelings for her that she did not reciprocate.

Jacob kept buying Margo expensive gifts with Paul’s money. Margo kept taking those gifts without worrying about how they made her look. Leslie helps Lydia connect the dots to find the truth. Lydia shows up at JD’s house and confronts Margo. Since Margo feels no shame or remorse, JD takes the reckless step of burning his own house. He sees it as a logical step after Margo spent every last penny from his property. Margo gets out alive but with a burn scar.

Who gets the Los Feliz home?

Six months after the confrontation, JD gets a new gig on a western show as he wanted. While Nate arrests Margo, Dennis releases his new book. He and Laura now live with his mother. After learning about Carla’s father’s wealth, he stays in touch with the old man. Laura’s father helped him with a huge sum. Meanwhile, Lydia starts playing the piano after a long break. She joins Emily during her performance. As other families start finding their peace, Sarah and Leslie move into the Los Feliz home.

Liz Feldman, who brought Netflix’s delightfully dark ‘Dead to Me’ series, returns with an equally compelling darkly humourous follow-up with ‘No Good Deed’. This new 8-episode series explores the heavy topics of guilt and grief through actors blessed with the art of exceptional comedic timing. Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano are exceptional in the central roles of Lydia and Paul, ensuring the gravity of their pathos. Unable to grow past their son’s loss, they look for ways to make sense of their new, emotionally vacant present situation.

Kudrow and Romano express ennui through their raw performances that never go overboard even the slightest bit. Even at the moments when Paul and Lydia tear each other apart through heated confrontations, Romano and Kudrow portray their mutual affection. As the script follows their attempts to save the sinking ship of their family bonds, it shows the possibility of light and life, even at its darkest spots. This contrast makes their mutual warmth even more heartfelt. While being this tender drama, the show never loses sight of its black comedic roots.

Whether it is Margo’s condition-borne greed, JD’s insecurity-borne validation-seeking behaviour or Mikey’s jealousy-borne plot for revenge, the script maintains many layers of subtexts underneath the unflattering traits of its characters. So, even at its occasionally dull moments, the show remains enriching and oddly life-affirming.

Where to watch No Good Deed…Read more by Akash Deshpande

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