Netflix’s ‘No Good Deed’ Is Lisa Kudrow’s Best Role Yet

Lisa Kudrow is one of these national comedic treasures à la Jennifer Coolidge or Maya Rudolph, whose body of work is so undeniable that any new series or film in which she features immediately jumps to the front of your queue. In fact, that’s likely what creator Liz Feldman was banking on when she set about casting No Good Deed, her newest stacked Netflix comedy (her last was the critically acclaimed Dead to Me). In addition to Kudrow, other standouts include co-lead Ray Romano and Linda Cardellini as their neighbor, the deliciously devious Margo.

No Good Deed demanded its actors strike a pretty challenging tone, as the series deals with a pair of parents, Lydia and Paul, who are selling their house after their teenage son was murdered in it. Just as in real life, people don’t always know how to talk to those who are grieving, which creates both painful and humorous situations. Some of the best moments of the show are when Lydia and Paul are simply gaping at people trying to navigate conversations with them about their late son. Kudrow handled this part excellently, as well as the range of experiences and emotions she had to portray. She is an actress known for her comedy chops in shows like Friends and The Comeback or films like Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. However, few roles have taken advantage of her range the way that No Good Deed has.

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Release Date

December 12, 2024

Seasons

1

The Nuances Kudrow Brought to ‘No Good Deed’

Lisa Kudrow has had quite a prolific TV run lately, featuring in series like Taika Waititi’s The Time Bandits and Mae Martin’s Feel Good. However, she reminded everyone what a talent she is in No Good Deed. Lydia Morgan is a character who hasn’t allowed herself to move on from her son’s death because, in her words, “I just feel like if I let myself stop missing him for even a second, it’s like I’m saying, it’s okay that he’s not here.” As the series unravels the mystery of who killed Jacob and, more importantly, why the Morgans seem to feel guilty/responsible, acting choices Kudrow had been making all along feel all the more relevant in hindsight.

For instance, Lydia canonically used to be a renowned concert pianist. However, ever since her son died, she’s felt blocked from playing. Kudrow demonstrates this physically by having her hands shake every time she’s tempted to play, or every time she starts and then has to stop. At first, the audience doesn’t understand what’s going on with her, but then, over time, you come to understand that it’s her self-punishing attitude manifesting itself.

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Lydia also spends so much of the show in conflict with her husband, Paul, that when she does feel moments of love or tenderness for him, her emotional switch is really noticeable. Or, when their daughter Emily finally appears in the show, you see her in a totally different mode than when she’s interacting with Paul or the potential buyers. These differences — stressed, grieving, in denial, relieved, joyous, amorous/in love — are all so clear thanks to Kudrow’s gifted performance.

Finally, Lydia has some pretty cutthroat lines that could only be delivered by someone able to tap into that boldness and that wit. The final speech she delivers to Margo is particularly juicy (scroll past this if you want to avoid spoilers):

“You know what? You might be able to put on a pretty face, but I can see the real you. You’re just a f__ pathetic nobody with a dark soul. (heads to the door) And bad f__ taste! Like a f__ Vegas brothel in here!”

Will There Be a ‘No Good Deed’ Season 2?

No Good Deed is obviously a must-watch if you’re a Dead to Me fan, but it also scratched an itch for a lot of The White Lotus viewers. However, where The White Lotus has been able to neatly serialize — they just focus on a different death at a different resort each season in an anthology fashion — No Good Deed was quite specifically about the Morgan family’s tragedy. There would need to be quite a suspension of disbelief for any more murder to occur in the lives of these well-to-do Angelenos… That is unless the series made lawyer Leslie (Abbi Jacobson) the protagonist next season, in which case, someone like that could plausibly come head-to-head with another crime of this nature.

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However, doing so could risk undoing the happy ending that Liz Feldman very intentionally gave Leslie’s character. In an interview with The Nerds of Color, Feldman said, “When we sort of really got to know them (Leslie and wife Sarah) as characters, invest in them, and love them, we realized as a room of writers, we wanted them to have a happy ending…” At the time of writing this article, Netflix hasn’t announced anything about a No Good Deed Season 2, one way or the other. However, given the December 12 release date of the first season, fans already clamoring for a second season of the murder mystery might not want to hold their breath. No Good Deed is streaming on Netflix.