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No Good Deed Recap: On Truth, Lies, and Rolexes

No Good Deed

Private Showing
Season 1 Episode 2
Editor’s Rating 3 stars

No Good Deed

Private Showing
Season 1 Episode 2
Editor’s Rating 3 stars
Photo: Saeed Adyani/Netflix

Well, we know the big question looming over the season: What happened in the Morgan house the night Jacob died? While No Good Deed slowly starts filling in the details in episode two, I’ve got to believe the truth is going to be a little more complicated than the obvious answer the show is pointing us toward. Right?

Let’s talk about what we know about that night by the end of “Private Showing.†Around the time of Jacob’s death, there was a burglar breaking into homes in the area. The crime spree was scary enough for Lydia to demand they get a gun in the house. We get a little flashback in which Paul pushes back on this idea and also yells at his son for being an asshole. I’m sorry, I have zero qualms speaking ill of the dead. Anyway, we know which way that whole gun argument went. (And which way the asshole thing went. Too soon? It’s been three years, grow up!)

Later, thanks to a run-in with JD — he doesn’t know how to turn his security alarm off, the man is the saddest of sacks — Paul learns that JD and Margo’s house was broken into by that burglar (hence the security alarm) and the person, who has never been caught, took a bunch of jewelry, including a $50,000 gold Rolex Margo bought JD. Well, wouldn’t you know, Paul goes running home, opens a door to a secret room attached to Jacob’s room — Greg the Realtor is going to be so annoyed when he finds out! — and sitting inside is a pillowcase full of jewelry, including the Rolex JD mentioned. We see a flashback to Paul picking up that pillowcase from outside his house on what we now know is the night of Jacob’s death. And he kept it all this time.

The Rolex has suddenly come in handy in Paul’s present thanks to another fun little meeting with Mikey. And no, it’s now how Paul is going to get the guy that initial $80,000 he is demanding. Paul discovers that Lydia has taken care of that little problem when she informs him the morning after Leslie was snooping around the property. She sold the piano to an antique collector, and her piano tuning guy hooked her up for exactly 80 grand. Which I guess means Paul somehow slept through a piano being moved out of his house? Someone find out what sleeping pills he’s taking; I need a rec! Paul is upset that Lydia would sell the one thing they owned that had any real meaning — it was Lydia’s grandmother’s, and it survived the Holocaust — but mostly, he’s just freaking out because the gun that implicates SOMEONE in doing SOMETHING was hidden inside that piano.

Paul heads over to the collector’s home, and although that guy is kind of a weirdo, he does know exactly why Paul is there and is smart enough to demand some money (the money that he paid the Morgans for the piano, no less) in return for the gun. (Ray Romano is so good in this scene: “I’m just gonna kind of cut through: are you not gonna give me my gun back?â€) So, when Paul has his meeting with Mikey in a bar bathroom, he has to hand him over an envelope a bit short of the requested blackmail price. Mikey is pissed, and the two argue until Paul pulls that gun on Mikey, and Mikey is very annoyed because didn’t he tell Paul to get rid of that thing THAT NIGHT? This whole interaction — the way Paul isn’t exactly scared to hand over an envelope with less than $80,000, the way Mikey is dismayed to learn that Lydia sold her piano — still screams to me that there is some type of personal relationship between these two guys.

Just because this little bathroom escapade ends with Mikey slapping the gun out of Paul’s hands and reminding him that he really has no idea how to work a gun doesn’t mean Mikey’s willing to move on. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: Paul finds an envelope under his door with a photo of what looks to be a briefcase of clothing, some with blood on it, from the night of Jacob’s death. You see, Mikey has saved some evidence too, and he isn’t afraid to use it, lest Paul come up with another $80,000. (He’s not, like, the most creative extortionist, you know?) Looks like keeping that Rolex wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

While Paul’s off having a particularly frustrating day, Lydia’s at home stewing in her grief. She’s so excited to tell him about the message from Jacob in the flickering light, and he just laughs at her. Well, first, he tries to do an impression of the lady in Poltergeist screaming “Carole Anne!†and then he laughs at her. He just doesn’t believe in any of that stuff, nor wants to entertain anything remotely “hopeful†when it comes to his son. Nope, he torpedoes that hopefulness right out of Lydia.

When Greg the Realtor has Leslie and Sarah come by for a private showing, they, of course, head right up to the mysterious bedroom Leslie cannot stop thinking about and find Lydia on Jacob’s bed, staring up at the light. The three women engage in some awkward seller/prospective buyer banter and for a brief moment, Lydia pretends that her son is simply away at college.

When Sarah finds Lydia later in the living room, Lydia comes clean about her son’s whereabouts. There’s a connection between them. Sarah mentioned seeing her grandmother in ladybugs, and this simple gesture gives Lydia the comfort she is obviously craving. It doesn’t take much for Sarah to make her own confession: She tells Lydia that she has been secretly doing another round of IVF even though Leslie doesn’t want to. Lydia’s advice? “Don’t keep things from each other, even when it’s bad.â€

It seems like a lot for Sarah to tell a complete stranger but you know what? Her IVF confession doesn’t even end up being the piece of information Lydia will pour over once this conversation is over. Nope, that honor goes to the fact that Leslie, the woman who has been all up in Lydia’s business for the past few days, is a prosecutor for the district attorney. And apparently she is relentless when it comes to discovering the truth of a situation. Lydia becomes more alarmed and suspicious when nosy neighbor Phyllis sends her security-camera footage from the night before that clearly shows Leslie trespassing on the Morgans’ property.

Lydia isn’t wrong to worry that Leslie might start digging around in earnest. Back at home, Sarah fills her wife in on the conversation she had with Lydia, and Leslie’s first instinct is to Google what happened to Jacob. Surprise! Sarah’s pregnant! Oh wait, even though that news really does a number on Leslie, that wasn’t the surprise I was referring to; her online sleuthing brings up several news articles about Jacob Morgan being accidentally killed in a home robbery gone wrong.

Let’s add up the pieces of intel we have here: In the news, it was reported that Jacob was shot and killed by the burglar, who was never found. But, the Morgans have been hiding what looks to be the weapon that killed Jacob and a pillowcase full of stolen items that Paul was adamant about keeping hidden. Plus, there’s the Mikey of it all and let’s not forget that one of Jacob’s parents has hands that shake uncontrollably now. It sure seems like No Good Deed is implying that Jacob was, in fact, the one robbing homes, one of his parents shot him believing him to be breaking in, and they called up Mikey to cover up their involvement. It would certainly explain a lot about Paul and Lydia’s behavior.

And yet, we’re only at episode two here. I’m preparing myself for a few twists and turns and I’d advise you to do the same. So it looks like we’re back to square one: What happened in the Morgan house the night Jacob died?

Closing Costs

• Margo gets rejected by Gwen both in business and in pleasure and so she attempts to burn Gwen’s life to the ground by following her to a meeting at a bar and outing her scheme to cheat her two business partners out of some major investments. Margo also ends up burning her own life to the ground when she accidentally reveals her own cheating to her husband. She begs JD for forgiveness while simultaneously reminding him that he can no longer get it up for her. So, like, not the best apology.

• JD mentions that he quit taking his meds because they were making him hallucinate and were the cause of his issues in the bedroom. We also learn that JD recently had a 5150 episode. What is up with this dude?

• Lydia thinking about texting Paul with the water-gun emoji made me cackle.

• In case you missed it: That pillowcase full of the burglar’s booty also had a bullet casing inside. Hmm, there’s a lot of evidence just sitting in that house waiting to be found!

• Paul makes the distinction between Lydia not being able to play the piano anymore and refusing to play, which means he thinks Lydia’s problems are all made up, which means they think their marriage seems to be in a really bad place, even if they are good at pretending otherwise.

No Good Deed Recap: On Truth, Lies, and Rolexes