TV Review: "Poker Face" (S2, Eps. 9-12)
The hit Peacock murder mystery comedy's second season comes to a satisfying, if somewhat odd, conclusion.
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Warning: Spoilers for the series follow.
Well, the second season of the hit Peacock series Poker Face has come to an end, and since it’s unclear whether we’re going to get a third–though there’s certainly room for the story to grow–for now we’ll just assume that this is the end. Though I’m still unsure about whether the finale works as well as we’re meant to believe it does, I’m still very impressed with the extent to which this second season managed to meet and exceed the expectations set by the first one.
In the last four episodes of the season, Charlie at last manages to find some measure of stability, since “Good Buddy” has given her the chance to essentially sublet his apartment in New York City (even though that’s technically against the rules). As is so often the case, however, chaos and death trail in her wake, and she manages to uncover a sapphic murderer, a breastmilk addicted muscle-head and, last but not least, figure out that her new companion is in fact a sinister assassin who may be the one person on Earth who is actually able to lie to her.
The first two of these final episodes are, I think, the strongest. As always, they feature some remarkable guest performances from the likes of Awkwafina, Lauren Tom, Alia Shawkat, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, and Jason Ritter. I particularly enjoyed Shawkat’s deadly lesbian in “A New Lease on Death,” and she manages to convey the desperation and cold-bloodedness of a former criminal who wants to start over but finds herself thwarted by her new lover’s granddaughter. It’s a chilling and crisp performance, and it’s just a shame that it doesn’t last beyond one episode. The episode as a whole is quite bittersweet, and I think it’s one of the more resonant ones that we’ve seen this season.
“The Big Pump” on the other hand is pure silliness, with its focus on a gym whose members are being sold human breast milk by its owner (who also has a mommy fetish for his girlfriend). Charlie, of course, manages to get it all figured out, but not before she’s almost steamed to death in a sauna by the murderer. It’s chaotic and utterly ridiculous, and I loved every minute of it. The episode is also notable for cementing the friendship between Charlie and new bestie Alex (Patti Harrison), a pairing that will have significant consequences in the two-part finale.
I’ll admit that I was a bit on the fence at first about the last two episodes. The whole far-fetched idea that Alex would end up being a sort of secret assassin seems like it helicoptered in from a totally different scene, and even though I eventually made my peace with it, I’m still not sure that it was quite the home run that the creative team clearly thought it was going to be. Besides, I was really enjoying the quirky duo dynamic that Charlie and Alex had established during their time together, and so I’m very disappointed to see that get thrown aside for such a strange twist. I suppose I’m just going to have faith that the showrunners and writers know what they’re doing and that this whole story will have some sort of payoff down the line (since Alex apparently survives her attempt to kill both herself and Charlie by driving a car off a cliff).
Also, I’m going to die mad about the fact that Rhea Perlman’s Beatrix Hasp got such a piss-poor sendoff. She deserves better than to be shot off-screen, her body discovered after the fact by Charlie. I mean, did they have to do Perlman dirty like that? Surely there could have been a better way of dispensing with a character that’s been such an important part of Charlie’s own story and development as an individual.
That said, I do give Patti Harrison a great deal of credit for giving us such a delightful creation. In both iterations of her character she’s given us someone that you can either love or hate (or both), and I do hope that they find a way of bringing her back next season. After all, there’s something more than a little frightening about the fact that she can so thoroughly control her body that she can defeat Charlie’s lie-detector senses, so it’ll be fun to see how they develop this in the future.
That being said, I really did enjoy the second season of Poker Face. Throughout its run it managed to capture just the right mix of comedy, pathos, tragedy, and mystery. You may always know who the murderer was–at least until the finale–but the fun came from figuring out just how it is that Charlie’s life intersects with whoever it is that gets murdered. And, while there’s obviously a formula that the series tends to follow, I think that’s part of what makes it so much damn fun to watch. I fondly remember the days when that was part and parcel of the experience of watching TV. You knew what you were getting, and it’s nice to see some shows going back to that earlier model.
Now that Charlie is once again on the run, this time from the FBI rather than the mob, there’s clearly a lot of space for the show to continue building on the established pattern. I’m curious as to whether Alex will come back to haunt this woman with whom she has clearly become obsessed and, if she does, whether she’ll be satisfied with anything less than Charlie’s annihilation.
Just as importantly, I’d note that there’s also something a little tragic about the fact that Charlie is now once again on the run from someone. After all the good she’s done and all of the murders she’s helped to solve, she still has to live the life of a wanderer. Obviously this is necessary if the series is to have a compelling third season that fits the formula, but you still can’t help but wish that she’d get her happily ever after. Then again, if there was anyone who was ever born to play a daffy, frizzy-haired nomad who solves sometimes whacky crimes, it would certainly be Natasha Lyonne.
Here’s hoping that we get to see more of her in a third season.