Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for “No Good Deed.”
In Netflix’s newest drama-filled dark comedy, “No Good Deed,” actress Abbi Jacobson does it again. Jacobson shows off her incredible range by playing another hysterical (i.e. funny and just a little nuts) Jewish woman on television. This time, she’s melded her “Broad City” ridiculousness with her “Disenchantment” wit to play the queer, Jewish lawyer Leslie Fisher.
“No Good Deed” centers another brilliant Jewish actress, Lisa Kudrow, as Lydia Morgan; Ray Romano plays her character’s husband, Paul Morgan. The two are looking to sell their beautiful Spanish-style Los Feliz home for mysterious reasons, fielding offers from starry-eyed couples and protecting long-held family secrets. As Jewish showrunner Liz Feldman notes, there are “many secrets in the buying and selling of a house.”
Abbi Jacobson’s Leslie is one of these real estate suitors, with a fixation on the Morgans’ 1920s property. Lawyer Leslie and her partner Sarah, a nurse played by Poppy Liu, are trying for a baby and attempting to buy a house — all while falling down the rabbit holes of a murder mystery surrounding the Morgans’ home. Leslie is all the best parts of the Jewish neuroses: inquisitive and determined to uncover the history of the house she’s dying to buy.
We first meet Leslie when she attends the Morgans’ open house with Poppy, where she explains that the couple has been looking for a house for two years. After stumbling into their dream Los Angeles home, Leslie calls it “beshert.” Little does Leslie know, she will be stumbling through her destiny the entire series.
In just the first episode, Leslie already can’t help herself. She snoops around the Morgans’ home at night, hoping to gain intel on the couple and the property. Leslie is quickly found out through camera footage at the house, identified by her shiny silver Adidas. (That’s right, she’s a lawyer and she’s fashionable.) But Leslie and Poppy don’t give up. Through a little research and a lot of meddling, the couple drives away other interested parties and graft onto the Morgans. As Leslie explains to Poppy: “Some people play Mozart for their babies in utero. We investigate murders that happened in the house we want to raise our baby in.”
Though the Morgans originally protest this special interest, Leslie’s lawyer skills ultimately come in handy. As the murder mystery at the Morgan house unravels, Lydia finds herself in need of someone with some legal knowledge. And Leslie already knows why. The young lawyer has been pouring over case files and autopsies, with the help of Poppy’s online sleuthing, to discover that the Morgans’ son was killed in their on-sale house by a mystery gun. So when Lydia comes knocking, Leslie is ready to talk. After weeks of impromptu visits and stakeouts at the Los Feliz house, Leslie’s commitment to justice — and just a little Jewish mishegas — ultimately wins her the escrow.
After fielding some criticism with Amazon Prime’s “A League of Their Own,” this queer Jewish representation is much more on-brand for Jacobson. As co-writer of “A League of Their Own,” Jacobson caught some heat for stereotyping the main Jewish character, Shirley Cohen, as an ultra-anxious Jew with a lack of backstory (despite the show taking place in 1943). But the writer-actress stood her ground when it came to telling the stories of multi-faceted queer women. Abbi Jacobson’s Jewish character in “Broad City” also comes out during the show, and her cartoon character on “Disenchantment” dates a gorgeous mermaid: It’s clear that Jacobson is dedicated to continuing her streak of bringing dynamic, queer roles to her audiences. Of course, Jacobson has spoken previously about her own coming out and commitment to continuing to explore these queer experiences. So Jacobson’s portrayal of Leslie Fisher is less of a huge shock, and more of a pleasant development.
Leslie is absolutely a dynamic character. While her queer identity is evident throughout “No Good Deed,” it’s not the only thing the audience knows about her — she tackles obstacles within her professional and familial identities as well. Throughout the series, Leslie grapples with her wife’s fertility issues, feelings about becoming a mom and balancing when to let her lawyer-brain bleed into her personal life. Leslie’s character is also not the only queer representation in the show — but it is the healthiest. In contrast to Leslie and Poppy’s warm relationship, Linda Cardinelli’s character Margo also enters a relationship with a woman when she cheats on her B-list celebrity husband.
“No Good Deed” comes at a perfect time for Netflix, which recently released “Nobody Wants This,” a comedy centering the dating life of a “hot rabbi.” While critics raved about the leads of “Nobody Wants This,” Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, the show received criticism for its horrendous portrayal of Jewish women. The show features a number of Jewish women, all catty and obnoxious, leaving the viewer with a very poor view of the way that Jewish women socialize. To contrast perfect, WASPy Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This” features jealous and spiteful Jewish wives, engagement-hungry and desperate Jewish women and a controlling Jewish mother. But Jacobson’s Netflix character on “No Good Deed” carries herself very differently than this group of women. Leslie is intelligent, endearing, curious and does not seem to hate non-Jewish women — one of whom she is married to. It’s a relief to see a Netflix show highlight a Jewish woman in a positive — but still hilarious — light.
Overall, “No Good Deed” satisfies my cravings for Los Angeles Jewry; certainly a contrast to “Nobody Wants This.” Despite getting some mixed reviews, the show features a dynamic cast and navigates not one, but two Jewish actresses through the on-screen thriller. The dark comedy is an exciting watch, with Abbi Jacobson coming out on top.