Poker Face Season 1 Episodes 1-4 Review: A Refreshing Throwback
Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne’s highly anticipated new series, Poker Face, premiered with four new episodes, Poker Face Season 1 Episode 1. “Dead Man’s Hand,” Poker Face Season 1 Episode 2, “Night Shift,” Poker Face Season 1 Episode 3, “The Stall,” and Poker Face Season 1 Episode 4, “Rest In Metal.”
Expectations were high leading up to the show’s premiere. Happily, the first four episodes more than live up to the hype. Poker Face is exactly what I was expecting, and I mean that in the best way possible.
The series follows Charlie Cale. Charlie has the uncanny ability to know when people are lying; even if doesn’t she doesn’t know why or about what. On the series’ first episode, “Dead Man’s Hand,” Charlie’s gift lands her in the crosshairs of her violent casino owner boss, which forces her to go on the run.
Charlie’s efforts to evade her former boss’s henchman and stay alive are the totality of the larger plot so far. It’s more of a framework, though, to keep Charlie moving from town to town and set up a new murder to be solved each week.
There is no great continuing mystery or twists to reveal as there are with so many other modern procedurals. Just that one simple through line that holds everything together.
There’s always a chance that things can evolve to include more complicated ongoing storylines later. But that isn’t the series’ goal. The series is intentionally episodic. Each episode is self-contained with a new case to solve and new characters to get to know. That is a significant part of its appeal.
I love a good tangled season-long mystery as much as the next person, but Poker Face’s episodic structure is a nice change of pace — or rather, return to form. Sometimes you just want a simple, well-told story with a satisfying ending. Poker Face gives us that on every episode.
The show is sometimes billed as a mystery series, but that is a bit misleading. As with one of the show’s primary inspirations, Columbo, viewers know who the killer is as well as how and why they kill their victims almost immediately.
The story’s intrigue is not in figuring out who did it. Instead, it’s in watching Charlie puzzle it out. Structurally, this is probably the most important decision made for the show’s continued success.
Viewers are too savvy these days for a weekly “whodunit” to have much longevity. They will either guess who the killer is too early, or the reveal will have to be so far out of left field that they’ll feel duped. For a show that relies on the weekly case to keep viewers engaged, that just wouldn’t work.
Instead, the tension comes from knowing more than Charlie and the satisfaction of seeing her discover the clues that end up giving the killer away.
That’s not to say the cases don’t have any surprises. There are several moments on the first four episodes when Charlie reveals how the killer slipped up that are interwoven so expertly and subtly throughout the episode I completely missed their significance until Charlie reveals the mistake to the killer.
All the clues are there in plain sight, so viewers aren’t being tricked, but that doesn’t mean they will catch them all. That is all part of the fun too.
As well-written as each episode’s case is, what makes Poker Face exceptional are the characters and the cast.
Lyonne is the anchor of the show. She is absolutely in her element. Whether she is channeling Columbo play-acting about being out of his depth or just bemusedly taking in the world’s weirdness, Lyonne lights up any scene.
The series leans into Lyonne’s strengths using the ticks and style that have become her signature to charm viewers. We want to spend time with Charlie every week in no small part because Lyonne is such a charismatic and fun on-screen presence.
It’s not just Lyonne, though. The show is full of guest stars, both well-known and not, that more than hold their own with Lyonne. That is pretty crucial since Charlie doesn’t show up for at least the first 10 minutes of every episode.
In fact, with each episode, Charlie shows up later and later. That would be a problem if viewers didn’t care about the other characters. Thankfully, on all four episodes, the supporting characters and cast are more than capable of carrying the stories until Lyonne’s arrival on the scene.
The series is procedural. But, it is also a road trip full of quirky weirdos and compelling bad guys, all of whom capture our attention almost as much as Lyonne’s Charlie.
Poker Face is a success at every level. It is fun, smartly written, and elevated by excellent performances. It’s a more than worthy successor to the detective shows that came before and inspired it.
Stray Thoughts
- For all the marvelous on-screen chemistry Lyonne has with the show’s guest stars, her scenes with the asshole fascist dog are easily the best.
- At some point, Charlie will have to acknowledge how weird it is that murder seems to follow her wherever she goes, right?
- There is a very cool retro style to the show’s visuals that pairs nicely with the series’ homage to the older detective series. It feels nostalgic without attempting to romanticize the past.
- I like that it’s not just Charlie’s ability to tell when someone is lying that drives her. She also has an almost compulsive need to right wrongs, even against her better judgment. That only makes her more likable.
- My biggest complaint has nothing to do with the episode themselves. I didn’t like the four-episode drop for the premiere. Having four self-contained stories drop together makes it harder for each one to stand out. I would have much preferred that they gave each episode a week to shine, as they’ll do for the rest of the season.
What did you think of these episodes of Poker Face? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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New episodes of Poker Face stream Thursday on Peacock.
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Sarah Fields
Sarah is an obsessive geek who likes to get into the weeds and over think things. She is passionate about Sci-Fi and comics and is a giant classic film nerd. Sarah cares deeply about media representation and the power of telling diverse stories. When she's not writing or watching her favorite shows she spends her days working in the non-profit world trying to make life a little better for those that need some extra help.