Back for another season of superior murder mystery fare is Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne’s series Poker Face. Steve Newall investigates the star-studded show with a heart of gold.
Once a beast gets the taste of human flesh, it will crave more, we’re told—which may feel familiar to whodunnit fans, whose appetite for entertainment depends on a steady stream of unlucky victims.
Murder-of-the-week television has been serving up tasty mystery morsels for generations, the episodic format proving eminently suitable at sating our hunger for blood, justice (or indeed, bloody justice). Not too bloody though, it’s got to be said—somehow the weekly murder mystery genre can also produce some of the most comfy viewing you’ll find.
Which goes some way to explaining the charm of Poker Face. It’s defiantly unfashionable (which doesn’t mean old-fashioned)—but it’s also crammed full of present-day stars. There’s no goddamn mystery box leaving breadcrumbs for fan theories to spoil—there’s just Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), her Plymouth Barracuda, and her ear for bullshit, roaring into a new set of people’s lives each week.
Like a well-looked-after vintage automobile, series creator Rian Johnson really has this thing gassed up with its engine humming. Emulating cross-country drifter narratives like The Incredible Hulk, The Littlest Hobo or even Highway to Heaven, Charlie spent Poker Face’s first season travelling the USA, meeting new strangers each week and helping them. (To clarify, Charlie is on the run, fleeing crooks and cops, as opposed to a green-skinned monster, a cute dog, or a literal angel.)
Structurally, Poker Face is more a ‘howcatchem’ (formally known as an ‘inverted detective story’) than a ‘whodunnit’. Each episode opens à la Columbo—which Poker Face owes a large debt/pays huge homage to, from its choice of title font onwards—with the guest stars and the events that lead up to each episode’s murder.
It’s a format that foregrounds each episode’s fresh faces and also breeds a certain suspense—one of these famous people is certain to kill another of these famous people, but who? And why? This initial audience uncertainty allows for world building to take place, which in season one took us into a barbecue joint, heavy metal band tour, go-kart racing, theatrical production and then some.
This shifting milieu is often met with a tonal change, some episodes playing more for laughs than others. It also lets some eps, like season one standout The Orpheus Syndrome, lean fully into the bit, as seen in its homage to stop motion effects genius Phil Tippett (a version of whom is played here by the great Nick Nolte).
In the early episodes of season two, as Charlie navigates her way across the USA and the gig economy (at turns seen working as a car park attendant, apple picker, renting out her car etc), she finds herself caught up in a momager’s rift with her child star kids, working on a film shoot taking place in a funeral home, mixed up with the mob as it tries to root out a mole, and attending a police awards ceremony that tips ‘Florida man’.
Among the uniformly welcome appearances in these early eps: Cynthia Erivo, Giancarlo Esposito, Katie Holmes, Rhea Perlman, Richard Kind, John Mulaney, Gaby Hoffmann and Kumail Nanjiani. As an end-of-episode teaser for the rest of the season shows us, we ain’t seen nothing yet—still to come in season two are the likes of (deep breath): Alia Shawkat, Awkwafina, Haley Joel Osment, Jason Ritter, John Cho, Justin Theroux, Margo Martindale, Melanie Lynskey, Natasha Leggero, Patti Harrison, Sam Richardson, Sherry Cola, Simon Simon Rex and Taylor Schilling.
Even with all these guest stars, Poker Face would be nothing without its beating heart—star Natasha Lyonne. Quipping and sparring (and vaping) through the macabre machinations of each episode as Charlie Cale, the actor serves up what’s perhaps career-best work, navigating a line of her own through comedy and drama. Johnson and Lyonne have imbued Charlie with immense empathy, which sings off the screen, even among all the wisecracks.
Charlie’s human lie detector skills may be an entertaining and useful gimmick, but the real trick up Poker Face‘s sleeve is her knack for human connection. This is seen each week in another structural trick the show has a lot of fun with—once the setting and circumstances of each week’s murder mystery are established, we wonder just how Charlie will intersect with this particular case.
As time winds back slightly, and we’re introduced to the path Charlie has taken to collide with the often-improbably homicide she’ll encounter, it’s typically her knack for bonding with others that prompts her investigative involvement. Columbo was typically sent to the crime scene by police dispatchers—Charlie has to find her own, usually coincidental, path there.
Freed of formal policing responsibilities, but guided by that big, big heart, the connections Charlie makes with many of the people hurt or killed in each episode are made to feel genuine. This is to our added entertainment, tapping into Lyonne’s great range, giving her character stake in the outcome, and often adding a layer of emotional impact to each death that hits harder than standard murder-of-the-week fare.
With season two of Poker Face off to a roaring start, I can’t wait to see where Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne take Charlie Cale next.
