In its first season, the Peacock series Poker Face offered a refreshing change of pace by reviving the classic murder-mystery procedural format in the era of bloated serialized prestige TV. Creator Rian Johnson eschewed extended story arcs for an episodic approach reminiscent of beloved vintage shows like Columbo and Murder, She Wrote, with Natasha Lyonne starring as reluctant amateur detective Charlie Cale.
Charlie only had to solve 10 cases in the first season, though, while her predecessors would take on dozens. So the slightly expanded second season of Poker Face has to prove that she can match up to the likes of Thomas Magnum or Jim Rockford as it adds to her caseload. There's a reassuring familiarity to watching characters like that put their skills to use in a similar way each time, and Poker Face's new season provides the exact same sort of comfort.
Charlie's nomadic lifestyle was motivated by fear in the first season, as she was pursued across the country by mob enforcer Cliff LeGrand (Benjamin Bratt) following a dispute with his bosses. The first season ended with Charlie getting Cliff off her back, only to be targeted by an even more powerful mobster, Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman). Although Beatrix shows up early in the new season, the creators are less reliant on the ongoing subplot of Charlie's narrow escape from danger, and that gives her adventures a more relaxed, hopeful quality.
Charlie still travels to a new location in nearly every episode, meeting new people and invariably getting involved in their often murderous business. Poker Face sticks to its "howcatchem" formula: each episode beginning with a cold open that lays out the details of the case of the week, before Charlie comes in to bring the murderer to justice. The mystery is not in discovering whodunit, but in seeing how Charlie corners the culprit, thanks to her uncanny, infallible ability to tell when someone is lying.
Charlie may have started out as a wary crime-solver, but she's a people person who can't let go when someone she cares about has been hurt. Part of the charm of Poker Face is watching the opening act and wondering how Charlie will fit into the story — which character will be the one she befriends and steps up to defend? Lyonne convincingly portrays the bond that Charlie feels with those people, no matter how temporary.
It helps that Poker Face has Johnson's clout as a major filmmaker (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Knives Out movies) to attract a dizzying lineup of all-star guest players, all of whom put their full effort into even the smallest roles. Some of the highlights of the new season include Cynthia Erivo as identical quintuplet former child actors, Kumail Nanjiani as an alligator-taming Florida cop who goes viral, and Giancarlo Esposito as an uncommonly diligent undertaker.
In addition to Perlman, Simon Helberg returns as FBI agent Luca Clark, who made a couple of appearances in the first season and does his best to help Charlie out of especially tricky situations. Steve Buscemi (via voiceover) and Patti Harrison have recurring roles later in the season as friendly strangers who reach out to Charlie. While it wouldn't make sense for Charlie to build up a team of associates, it's nice to see her connect with people who survive to appear in another episode.
Lyonne captures Charlie's restlessness even when she isn't under constant threat of mob assassination, but her introspection never gets in the way of the individual cases. The 10 episodes available for review (out of 12 total) don't take any detours into Charlie's past, but the finale may reveal more about her motivations and back story, just as the first season did. The small moments of communion between Charlie and someone who understands her already convey enough about both her need for human connection and her wariness of people who may let her down.
That's what keeps Poker Face grounded even as it engages in various flights of fancy, with Johnson and his fellow writers and directors embarking on entertaining cinematic experiments. This is a show clearly made by cinephiles, and it's often at its best when exploring cinematic themes, whether via a murder on a location shoot at a funeral home or a disastrous retail heist planned by a movie nerd who's seen Heat one too many times.
"I actually have conducted a shocking number of these ad hoc interrogations," Charlie tells one of Erivo's quintuplets in the season premiere, but her enthusiasm and openness make each investigation feel vital. Even when she's solving the murder of a class gerbil — facing off against a sociopathic 8-year-old in the season's funniest episode — Charlie treats the situation with care and dedication. That's what makes for a great — and enduring — TV detective. ♦
Poker Face
Created by Rian Johnson
Starring Natasha Lyonne
Streaming on Peacock
