Whether or not it’s refining your online business mannequin, mastering new applied sciences, or discovering methods to capitalize on the subsequent market surge, Inman Join New York will put together you to take daring steps ahead. The Subsequent Chapter is about to start. Be a part of it. Be a part of us and hundreds of actual property leaders Jan. 22-24, 2025.
The opening photographs of Netflix’s new present No Good Deed provide a sort of visible metaphor for the true property expertise.
Starting with sweeping pictures of Los Angeles — a row of homes, a busy avenue, a colonnade of Mexican fan palms — the digital camera steadily zeros in on a single nook, then (presumably by way of some fancy drone piloting) swoops down and goes inside one explicit residence. It’s the Zillow expertise, in footage.
TAKE THE INMAN INTEL INDEX SURVEY FOR DECEMBER
No Good Deed, which premiered in December, runs with that premise over an eight-episode arc. And for those who’re in search of the tldr, it’s not an ideal present. However it’s chock stuffed with sturdy performances and, maybe most charmingly, features 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 residence 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 happened within the residence beneath mysterious circumstances that solely turn out to be clear over the course of the present’s run.
The drama, a minimum of within the earlier episodes, largely focuses on the Morgans battle 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 residence may assist drive away.
For those who acknowledge lots of these names, that’s an enormous a part of the present’s attraction. In contrast to, 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 forged, No Good Deed manages to stay partaking regardless of the viewers’s familiarity with its many well-known faces. That’s in all probability partly as a result of relative parity in fame the assorted actors get pleasure from. 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 stage — who distractingly pops up each episode or two.
And it’s additionally in all probability as a result of work the actors put in. Kudrow and Romano specifically go laborious on this present, usually treating it as a full drama regardless of the episodes’ sitcom run instances. Certainly, Matt Rogers as a pleasant if ethically doubtful actual property agent straight out of a actuality present is likely one of the few actors who places in a conventionally comedic efficiency.
All of which is a protracted solution to say that for those who preferred reveals comparable to Pals, All people 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 reveals 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 course that introduces quite a few plot holes. The characters’ conduct additionally turns into much less plausible. It’s straightforward to think about, as an example, a household battling tragedy opting to promote their home. Or a pair with a child on the best way wanting to maneuver. It’s a lot more durable to think about higher center class Angelenos instantly 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. Basically, the present is about the best way a bodily construction assumes symbolic that means. The Morgans need to promote their residence seemingly partly due to its affiliation to the demise of their son. But additionally, they need to not promote it for a similar motive. The home has turn out to be a vessel for a lifetime of each ache and pleasure.
The small print 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 could be a solution to downsize, but additionally a solution 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 beautiful — it’s this realization that makes No Good Deed outstanding. The present understands the distinction between a home and a house. And critically, it accurately 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.
For those who speak to actual property professionals, some of the widespread stuff you hear is that purchasing or promoting a house is the largest deal most individuals will ever do. Additionally, many individuals do it at moments — a marriage, a start, a demise — of nice significance. This argument has taken middle stage throughout a interval of tumult for the true property trade, and is introduced as justification for the existence of brokers and a broader ecosystem of actual property companies. Individuals want execs, the pondering goes, as a result of these offers matter.
So it’s shocking, in that context, that so few inventive works truly wrestle with why the offers matter. Actuality TV is obsessive about actual property, however principally to current casts of lovable (or, lovably hate-able) egomaniac clowns. Actual property brokers seem usually in films, however most of the time in bit roles. It’s uncommon for an actual property transaction on display to happen exterior of a narrative’s first act.
In No Good Deed, alternatively, the deal drags on via all eight episodes. The writers don’t all the time 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 essentially agree with the professionals: Shopping for or promoting a house is the largest deal most individuals will ever do. And positive, that’s partly as a result of cash concerned. However can also be as a result of there’s nothing in life as laden with that means as residence.
