When we first meet Lydia (Lisa Kudrow) and Paul Morgan (Ray Romano) in No Good Deed, it appears the only topic the couple can agree on is their distaste for other people. While the couple can’t see eye to eye on the sale of their house — or the state of their marriage — they can both roll their eyes at indoor scarves and their neighbor Margo (Emmy-nominated Linda Cardellini). 

But, after the trials and tribulations of Season 1, the Morgans are closer than ever (and have even more reason to dislike Margo). They end No Good Deed as a united front, smiling at their daughter Emily (Chloe East) and seemingly free at last from the trauma that plagued them throughout their years in their longtime home. Paul even appears to have an appreciation for Lydia’s more mystical theories about the continued presence of their late son, Jacob (Wyatt Aubrey), whose death left a dark pall over the family. 

So how did the Morgans reach their happy ending in Episode 8? And, what even happened to Jacob so many years ago? Keep reading, as No Good Deed’s Emmy-nominated creator Liz Feldman answers all your burning questions — including who buys the Morgan residence.  

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What happened in the Morgan house three years ago? 

No Good Deed slowly unveils the dark secret lurking in the Morgan family’s home. First, we learn that Paul and Lydia’s youngest child, Jacob, died a few years prior to the series and their daughter Emily hasn’t been home since the tragedy. By Episode 7, we learn why Emily is so reluctant to return to her childhood abode: Emily thinks she killed Jacob. 

In Episode 8, we find out what really happened. Flashbacks confirm that Jacob had been stealing luxury items from the Morgan’s neighbors — a subject of gossip, speculation, and scandal up and down their tony street. What’s more, he’d secretly been gifting the stolen items to Margo. But she rejected him, and in a rage, Jacob decided to take them back. He also threatened to tell her husband, JD (Luke Wilson), about their very age-inappropriate relationship — but Margo coldly insisted that there was no such relationship. In the present day, she tells Lydia that the teenaged Jacob merely had an unrequited “crush” on her. 

So, were Margo and Jacob really sleeping together? “I want to leave that to the interpretation of the audience,” Feldman tells Tudum. “But we do know that she’s someone who isn’t bogged down by scruples.”  

Whatever the truth was between them, Margo chased Jacob out of her home while wielding her husband’s gun. To make matters worse, Jacob was wearing a ski mask, as part of his burglar uniform. Jacob and Margo continued to argue, with the latter trying to intimidate the former out of “saying anything.” Eventually, Jacob barged into his house in an attempt to flee Margo — and a gun went off. 

Inside, Margo saw a remorseful Emily, who had picked up her own gun upon seeing what appeared to be a masked figure attempting to break into her home. Emily had no idea the stranger was actually her brother, and fired the weapon. 

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Who killed Jacob? 

But, Emily didn’t kill Jacob. It was Margo, who shot and killed Jacob with JD’s gun. Once Margo saw that Emily instantly blamed herself for the death, she fled the scene. Then, she allowed the Morgans to make their assumptions from there.  

Through No Good Deed — and its central mystery — Feldman wanted to examine how men and women approach conflict. “I wanted to explore the different ways we use communication, or the lack thereof, to really protect ourselves,” she explains. “I’m also exploring the fact that we, as women, we are not free of toxic masculinity either. It is pervasive and we don’t even realize the ways in which it actually steers us in life, but it does.” 

Paul and Lydia begin to see the truth at the end of Episode 7, when they realize they’re in possession of two very different bullet casings. There is the casing of the bullet that the Morgans believed killed Jacob, which has been upstairs in a pillowcase for years, and then there’s the bullet casing in the newfound evidence box Paul’s brother Mikey (Denis Leary) kept as collateral. 

At the same time, would-be Morgan house buyer Leslie Fisher (Abbi Jacobson) learns via an autopsy report that Jacob was killed by a .40 caliber gun — and points out that JD owns that exact weapon (he notoriously wielded it during a public meltdown). In Episode 8, Leslie confirms to Lydia that the gun Emily fired is a .9 millimeter. Therefore, there is no way Emily shot her brother. The Morgans simply didn’t know any of this because they buried the autopsy — and any possible investigation around Jacob’s death — because they thought they were protecting their daughter. 

Kudrow isn’t surprised that the Morgans were blinded by grief following Jacob’s death. As we learn in Season 1, Paul had caught Jacob stealing long before his death, and he didn’t step in to lead his son away from crime or tell Lydia of Jacob’s sticky-fingered activities. The shame that would come from such a loss inspired Kudrow’s performance. 

“Sometimes secrets are unavoidable. Losing a child is life-shattering. It’s beyond, it’s seemingly unrecoverable,” the actor said on Netflix’s Skip Intro podcast. “And then, once you introduce the idea that there was some responsibility by the parents … That’s what helped me [understand] the character.”  

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Who gets the Morgan house? 

Congrats to Leslie and her wife Sarah (Poppy Liu) — they get the house on Derby Drive. The last time we see the couple in Episode 8, they’re standing in what used to be Jacob’s room, looking forward to their own future. Sarah is pregnant, and they’re expecting a little boy. 

Feldman says No Good Deed writer Bruce Eric Kaplan came up with this sunny conclusion. “He was like, ‘Can’t we just give someone a happy ending? Don’t we want it to feel satisfying?’ ” she explains. “We wanted it to feel like the life of this house could continue with a totally fresh family who could bring its own love and care to it. And that there’s a family that this house can take care of in return.” 

When No Good Deed Season 1 comes to an end, Sarah and Leslie prove their dedication to the house. After all, the next item on their to-do list is watering the mandarin tree in the backyard. As Sarah says, Lydia “left very specific instructions” — and they’re clearly going to follow them. 

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How do the other No Good Deed stories end? 

Sarah and Leslie aren’t the only ones to get their “happy ending” in Episode 8. The rest of the No Good Deed conclusions are: 

One of the small tragedies of No Good Deed is the sale of Lydia’s beloved piano in exchange for fast cash. In Episode 8, Paul and Mikey buy the instrument back. 

In the last scene of Season 1, the family continues on their healing journey. During an intimate show, singer Emily performs a song that is a posthumous collaboration with Jacob, who wrote the music; and Lydia plays the piano, proving she’s finally able to return to her passion now that she has properly grieved her son. 

Feldman doesn’t want to reveal too much about what’s next for this complicated family. “I want viewers to be thinking about where the Morgans are,” she says. “I leave my favorite shows wondering about [the characters] — asking myself questions, [mentally] writing the rest of the story myself. And I want to encourage people to do that.”  

For even more insights into the Morgan family’s journey, listen to Kudrow’s Skip Intro episode below. 

This couple (played by Teyonah Parris and O-T Fagbenle) also gets a house on Derby Drive. It’s just not the one they initially wanted. After a fire at Margo and JD’s mansion, Carla and Dennis are able to buy the property. Now, they’re planning to build their fantasy home over the ashes. 

However, there’s still some scheming afoot with this pair. Carla believes money from Dennis’ third book paid for the purchase. But that’s not the case. Dennis actually took $5 million from Carla’s mysterious billionaire father to buy the property. You can read more on this twist below. 

In Margo’s closing scene, it appears she’s still up to her usual scams at a dimly lit bar. Yet, the jig is actually up. Not only is half of Margo’s face scarred with burns from the house fire, but Paul’s cop nephew Nate (Kevin Alves) is there to arrest her. The martini Margo’s sipping at the moment better last her a while — Nate promises she’s headed to jail for some time.

After a tough season, things are looking up for the struggling soap actor by the end of No Good Deed. He’s starring in a new Western called Teton Territory, and his director is played by one very special person — Feldman herself. Congratulations, JD!  

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What’s going on with Carla’s dad? 

In the first half of Episode 8, Carla admits to Dennis that her father is “kind of a billionaire.” He’s also a “womanizing man-whore” who “destroyed” Carla’s mother. Unsurprisingly, Carla doesn’t want anything to do with her dad, which explains why she dodges his phone calls earlier in Season 1.  

“I wanted to give Carla, who seems like a totally up-and-up, responsible mother-to-be, something really surprising that informs how she looks at life, but in a different way than you would imagine,” Feldman explains. “I wanted to give Carla the promise of something pretty juicy to come.” 

In fact, Carla has no idea what kind of intrigue her husband has summoned into their lives. In the couple’s final scene, we see a text exchange between Dennis and his shadowy father-in-law. Apparently, he gave Dennis $5 million for the Derby Drive home and believed he would be allowed to meet his grandson in return. Now, Dennis has “disappeared” on the wealthy man — and Randall isn’t happy about it. 

So, what could be next for this dysfunctional family? “I love secrets. I actually weirdly hate having my own secrets. I can’t keep them,” Feldman admits. This one, however, is staying locked for now. 

And, for more No Good Deed, keep coming back to Tudum. 

See Inside the House with the Cast of No Good Deed