While I occasionally work as a games critic and editor, my full-time job is telling people to watch Poker Face. Absolutely no one has heard of it, despite its being one of the best things on TV right now. So here I combine my roles into one. Season two of the Peacock show wraps this week, meaning right now is exactly the correct time to start binging it all.
You donât have to work hard to sell Poker Face. It goes like this: âYou know the guy who does the Knives Out movies, Rian Johnson? Well, he also has a TV show, modeled on Columbo, but itâs Natasha Lyonne in the main role.â At this point, most people are already in. For others you need to add, âYeah, from Russian Doll. And, sure, American Pie.â
When I say âmodeled on Columbo,â thatâs not me being cute. Poker Face follows the Peter Falk showâs format from concept through to title fonts. So, as with the â70s/â80s classic murder mystery, you know who the killer is from the beginning of each episode, the murder shown in a pre-titles vignette before Lyonneâs Charlie Cale appears. Titles and credits then appear in the familiar yellow text, and in season one, Lyonne is even perpetually holding a cigar and walking with the same peculiar gait. Itâs a joy
However, Poker Face is also very much its own show, too. Charlie Cale is an itinerant amateur detective, on the run from the mob after getting far too involved in the machinations of a Laughlin, Nevada casino. Cale, you see, has an innate ability to tell when anyone is lying. Not a practiced skill, not something sheâs learned from years of the study of micro-expressions or whatever, but just a superpower. She has an almost involuntary response of âbullshit!â whenever she hears a lie. Which makes her an excellent poker player, but not well liked by those trying to keep dark secrets.
Each episode, Cale shows up in a new town, mostly living out of her car, trying to get work and inevitably becoming entwined in the lives of the murder victim, or indeed the murderer. After the opening scene showing the crime, the episodes almost always skip back some hours or days to then show how Charlie fits into the situation, followed by her reluctantly solving the killing.
The show is exquisitely well written, and beautifully directed. Natasha Lyonne is a force, her take on Columbo a constant delight, always feeling like a distinct homage rather than an aping impression. And wow, the rest of the cast. Given Caleâs nomadic impermanence in any one spot, there are only a few occasionally recurring characters, meaning most episodes build the cast up from scratch. The program seems to have its pick of any actor it wants, with massive names appearing week after week. To name very few: Adrien Brody, Awkwafina, Jospeph Gordon-Levitt, Richard Kind, Katie Holmes, Giancarlo Esposito, Nick Nolte, John Mulaney, John Cho, Carol Kane, Lili Taylor, Method Man, Kumail Nanjiani…
The real skill of the show is to be able to bring in so many famous names, and have no one stick out like a Guest Star, but rather immediately establish deep, meaningful characters. Despite episodes lasting just 45 minutes to an hour, it paces itself so ideally, allowing you to get to know these people and to grow invested in Charlieâs relationships with them.
Because Charlieâs not a cop, it also frees the show to be far more morally ambiguous. This isnât necessarily about capturing the evil killer and seeing justice dealtâwhile it sometimes definitely is that, thereâs also room for far more nuance. Or, as is sometimes the case, for Lyonne just to find a resolution within the situation before moving on that doesnât involve anyone being hauled away in handcuffs.
The mood of the show can also swing in some deft and impressive ways. While itâs always funny, that humor can become a lot darker, or a lot lighter, with incredibly breezy episodes between storylines that really take their toll on Charlie. Sheâs not asking for any of this, almost always dragged into a situation after she accidentally (and quite literally) calls bullshit. She hears the lie, and then canât let it go. Sometimes that leads to excellent shenanigans, other times to losing newfound friendships. And sometimes sheâs solving the murder of a school hamster.
Of the 21 episodes that have aired, with one more appearing today, July 10, there hasnât been a dud. Thereâs none that feel like a drag, or that felt phoned in. As such, if youâve not watched at all, then thereâs no need to suggest you begin with a particular highlight, or offer a suggested listâjust start with the first and blitz your way through. There are chronological elements to the overall arc, so it benefits from watching through in order, even if each episode also successfully stands alone.
Rian Johnsonâs love of â70s and â80s crime drama and televised whodunits helped make Knives Out and Glass Onion so incredibly fun, with Daniel Craigâs detective Benoit Blanc a sort of amalgam of all their protagonists, perhaps with the heaviest dose of Murder, She Wroteâs Jessica Fletcher. In Poker Face, he draws from the same well, but with Columbo as that main source instead. And its respect for those programs hides no embarrassment, no sense that it needs to pastiche or satirize, but instead proudly delivers a modern version of the same. Yes, thereâs cursing, and itâs perhaps a touch more brutal in some of the murders than youâd have gotten away with on â70s network TV, but the spirit is the same. And no, Lyonne doesnât turn around every episode and say, âAh, just one more thing…ââalthough there are very occasional lovely allusions toward it.
Likely the reason so few are on top of this incredible show is because itâs on Peacock, and, well, unless youâre after the SNL archives, thereâs not a great deal of other motivation to pay yet another monthly subscription. But with the second season wrapping up today, now is the perfect moment to find a free trial, or pay a one-off to get it for a month. (Make sure to set a reminder to cancel it a couple of days before itâs due to renewâyouâll forget otherwise, you know you will.)
Youâll love it. Youâll love everything about it. Itâs so funny, and warm, and just so incredibly well made. Itâs kind of unbearable to know that after today, itâll likely be a year before we get to see any moreâand thatâs if itâs picked up for a third run, on which thereâs no word yet. So, if nothing else, watch it just so you push up the numbers and I get to see some more. For me.
