Poker Face Season 1 Episode 7 Review: The Future of the Sport
Charlie is off to the races on Poker Face Season 1 Episode 7, “The Future of the Sport.”
On “The Future of the Sport,” Charlie once again finds herself working as a janitor. This time she is working at a Go Cart complex where she gets involved in a bitter rivalry between two star race car drivers.
“The Future of the Sport” is a solid but not quite great episode. Perhaps for a lesser show, it would be, but compared to the previous six episodes, “The Future of the Sport” feels a little flat.
To be sure, it has all the elements that make Poker Face as good as it is. There are good supporting performances from the guest cast, with Natasha Lyonne, as always, anchoring everything flawlessly.
The murder — or in this case, attempted murder — of the week is clever. It has its fair share of expertly executed misdirection and unexpected turns to keep things interesting.
Still, the episode lacks some of the style and sparkle that made previous episodes so captivating.
The main drag on the episode is that viewers don’t get much of an opportunity to invest in the characters. A highlight of the season thus far has been the colorful, fully realized characters that Charlie meets while on the run.
This is the first episode where they don’t shine as brightly as Charlie herself.
It’s not that the characters are inherently dull; far from it. This week’s victim, Katie, and her mom, Donna, are both compelling, and I want to know more about them. We never really get the chance, though.
Instead, we spend most of the episode with the villain, Davis. While Davis is an interesting villain, and Charles Melton is great in the role, so much focus on him prevents viewers from caring much about anyone else.
It ultimately makes the episode overall less engaging despite Davis being a well-developed character.
It’s an odd choice considering all the potential a character like Katie has and the fact that Donna and Katie both end up being rather important to the episode’s conclusion.
The episode starts strong, with a great lead-up to Kyle sabotaging Davis’s car. It also picks up steam toward the end as Charlie puts all the pieces together.
Unfortunately, just as the episode starts to find its stride again, it ends rather abruptly.
I appreciate the open-ended conclusion of the episode and love that it brought things full circle with Charlie getting into Davis’ head about flow. Still, it feels rushed and leaves viewers expecting more.
Spending less time with Davis and instead showing Charlie’s conversation with Katie and Donna might have solved both the issue of the rushed conclusion and helped viewers feel more invested in the case.
With that one little tweak, it’s possible this episode would be another great one.
As weaker episodes go, “The Future of the Sport” could hardly be considered bad. It’s a solid episode, for sure. It’s just not quite at the level that Poker Face has delivered so far.
What did you think of this episode 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.