In the sixth episode of “No Good Deed,” J.D., a washed-out soap opera actor, and his trophy wife Margo, begin discussing the house across the street that everyone seems to be bidding on. J.D. wants to downsize, but Margo has already put in a hefty offer. It’s a disagreement whose every line seems to either start or end with a “honey,” an artificial sweetener that can’t even begin to conceal the friction within their rickety relationship.
It’s a snapshot of what’s going on in this Netflix comedy where a murder mystery looms over a real estate war: the real horror here is not so much in suburban neighbors as cold-blooded killers, but rather the fissures in marriages, the hidden betrayals, the quiet resentments. That’s at least the cheeky hook you might lend to this modestly funny, moderately charming show from Liz Feldman (“Dead To Me”), one it mostly pulls off. But it’s also a series about grief that aims to build toward a deeper, earnest catharsis that it can’t execute quite as strongly.
The house that J.D. (Luke Wilson) and Margo (Linda Cardellini) have their eye on belongs to Lydia (Lisa Kudrow) and Paul (Ray Romano), a couple who are reluctant to sell off their cherished family home but need the money. Ever since their son Jacob died, Lydia is too shaken — her hands literally can’t stop quivering — to continue her career as a symphony pianist. The loss of their son has created a gulf between Lydia and her husband: she can’t seem to get over what happened, still calling their late son’s cell phone to leave voicemails, while Paul is a blunt object, trying to push them through to simply move on.
Their grieving process, though, is particularly hobbled by the cause of Jacob’s death, a murder involving a break-in to the house that went unsolved and whose details we slowly gather in fragmented flashbacks throughout the show. The circumstances are murky at best: Lydia and Paul appear to be involved in some way, and had to call Mikey, Paul’s shady brother who soon comes back into the picture demanding money as payment for whatever mess he had to help clean up.
But doesn’t everyone have secrets? After going to market, Lydia and Paul find their past becoming increasingly unburied by three couples each vying for the house and each with their own set of issues. One couple can’t be honest with each other about whether they want to have a baby or not, while another is struggling to figure out how they can afford a house with a baby on the way. Meanwhile, Margo is cheating on J.D. with a developer who wants to gut the house and flip it.
These side plots among the couples ultimately help push the primary engine of Jacob’s mysterious killing, but their own individual dramas are more often dull distractions from Kudrow and Romano’s central presence. There is a cozy air to their pairing — two beloved, veteran comic performers returning to a semi-sitcom setting — that helps carry most of the show’s easy enough appeal.
Yet, what that appeal is exactly might in some ways only highlight its deficiencies. From Kudrow and Romano’s duo, to the score that sounds like a copycat, to the whimsical, propulsive rhythm with which the mystery unfurls, “No Good Deed” appears designed to scratch the same itch for fans of Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.” Only, instead of the Upper West Side apartments, it’s the sunny Spanish-style Los Feliz house. But if the show feels reminiscent of the Hulu project, the comparison only brings to light where this one lacks, in both its writing and technical choreography, the same kind of dynamism.
And when the show does get more serious, attempting to become a kind of meditation on grief, Kudrow and especially Romano’s performances falter, though one can sense that better direction would certainly yield better performances out of them.
This isn’t to say there is nothing to enjoy here. With a robust cast, it has its moments of delight and is a mostly inoffensive, smooth ride. Just not exactly a series that would entertain an offer over-asking.
“No Good Deed” is now streaming on Netflix.
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