TV Review: "Poker Face" (S2, Eps. 4-8)
The Peacock original series continues to be an entertaining showcase for Natasha Lyonne's versatile talents.
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Warning: Spoilers for the series follow.
As I noted last week, Poker Face set the rest of the second season up very well with its narrative reset. Having been freed at last from the need to flee from hitmen, Charlie can now spend more time trying to figure out just what it is that she wants to do with her life. For the time being, this seems to be: continue migrating around the US solving various crimes and mysteries. While the second batch of episodes of the season largely follow the same formula as we’ve seen so far: a murder or manslaughter or sinister act happens, the episode flashes back to the past and shows how Charlie arrived on the scene, and then she proceeds to solve the mystery. It’s all quite delightful, and the series continues to feel fresh despite the fact that each episode follows largely the same pattern.
The fourth and fifth episodes, “The Taste of Human Blood” and “Hometown Hero” are the most traditional of this week’s four. The first stars Gaby Hoffman as a cop who turns bitter and accidentally kills one of her competitors before feeding his body to an alligator, while the latter features a (very) sexy Simon Rex as a fading baseball star who kills a teammate who threatens to expose the team’s effort to throw games and cash in on those who bet against them. Both feature the signature mix of tragedy and humor that have always been this series’ major selling points, and it also makes expert use of its guest stars. I was particularly delighted to see Carol Kane–who appears in “Hometown Hero”--because, well, it’s Carol Kane, and it’s never not a delight to see her on my TV screen.
“Sloppy Joseph” is, I think, the funniest episode of Poker Face that we’ve yet seen. I mean, this is an episode that sees a little girl tinker with her competition’s magic trick so that he inadvertently smashes the class hamster, spraying his classmates with blood and hamster bits. Aside from the black humor that is always such a key part of the show’s appeal, this episode also marks an appearance by beloved character actress Margo Martindale, who is always a simple delight in anything in which she appears. It’s also one of those episodes that show us again just how good of a person Charlie is and how her presence manages to restore a semblance of justice and balance to a world thrown out of whack by the nefarious actions of others.
“One Last Job” is, I think, one of the more tragic episodes that we’ve seen so far, both in this season and in the series as a whole. Sam Richardson is always excellent, particularly when he’s playing morally gray characters, and boy is his Kendall Hines morally gray. After his attempt to rob his former place of employment goes awry–leading to the killing of his friend–he continues down a very sinister path, until he’s eventually caught. Charlie really bears the brunt of the tragedy in this episode, since said killed friend, Bill Jackson, has been pursuing a romance with Charlie while she’s working as a food delivery person. Watching her discover Bill’s body, which has been disguised as a Santa Claus, is a punch in the gut, and one can’t help but wish that Charlie might get some romantic happiness. Likewise, I’m a bit uncomfortable at the optics of cops swarming a Black man, even one who has conspired to hide a murder, but that’s the world we live in now.
Arguably the best of this second cluster of episodes is “The Sleazy Georgian.” In this outing, Charlie crosses paths with a group of conmen, led by John Cho’s Guy. In the first half of the episode he lures Melanie Lynskey’s Regina into his web of deceit, faking his death and leading her to lose $20,000 that she was supposed to donate to a charity. Once it’s revealed that Regina killed herself when she realized she’d been conned, Charlie realizes that the group, or at least its leaders, are deeply amoral and care little for the well-being of others. Cho is sinister yet charismatic, and Lynskey–while a bit underused–is perfectly cast, giving us a woman who is so desperate to live life for herself for once that she ends up being led astray. The episode also features an unexpected gay couple who end up being key to Charlie’s pursuit of justice. In other words, it was basically a perfect episode.
By the time the episode has come to a close, Charlie is once again on the road. This is unsurprising, really. For all that she is now free of the hit that loomed over her for much of the first and into the second season, Charlie just isn’t the type of person who is ever going to be entirely comfortable settling down in one place, at least not until she finds someone who would make settling down worth it. This is, I think, part of what makes Poker Face such a compelling and enjoyable watch. We want Charlie to find the completeness that she so clearly wants and certainly deserves, even as we enjoy watching her go from place to place, solving crimes along the way. And, because she is largely an outsider in the various communities in which she finds herself, she’s essentially a modern day western hero, i.e. the person who restores moral balance and order before riding off into the sunset. At first glance Lyonne might seem like the unlikeliest of people to play such a role, but she repeatedly shows that she is more than up to the task.
It’s episodes like this one that demonstrate the ways in which Poker Face has matured as a series. Charlie isn’t just some quirky detective whose ability to detect lies serves as a source of humor; instead, she’s a thoughtful and deeply moral person who really does want to make the world a better place and isn’t going to turn away from wrongdoing. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season has in store for her (and us).