Poker Face Review: The Game Is a Foot / Last Looks / Whack-a-Mole (Season 2 Episodes 1-3)

Poker Face Season 2 Episodes 1-3, “The Game Is a Foot,” “Last Looks,” and “Whack-a-Mole,” deliver more laughs than expected, along with a stellar turn from Cynthia Erivo. The triple-episode premiere’s only true kryptonite is inconsistent pacing and potentially resolving the mob narrative too soon. Beyond that, Rian Johnson serves up a delightfully entertaining homage to Columbo, with series star Natasha Lyonne taking up the detective mantle with cool girl style. 

The Game Is a Foot (and Afoot)

Like the Columbo storytelling format this series diligently follows, episode one shows us the murder about 10 minutes in before rewinding time, allowing us to color in the blanks as Charlie investigates said murder. “The Game Is a Foot” feels more comedic and lighthearted than most Season 1 episodes, particularly the penultimate and finale outings. As viewers, this allows us to ease into the season, like slowly sinking into a hot tub. 

There’s a comfort to this approach, too. Sure, Charlie is still on the lam, trying desperately to evade Beatrix Hasp and the five families. Who wouldn’t be on edge and perpetually looking over their shoulder?

However, Lyonne embodies the aforementioned “cool girl” energy. Charlie might panic in the moment, but she remains immune to stewing in her misery, allowing life to roll off her like water off a duck’s back. Episode one revels in its levity before kicking things up a notch in episodes two and three. It feels more Knives Out than any Poker Face story thus far. 

Erivo is a star. She nails playing quintuplets. It’s not easy playing multiple identical characters in the same scene — just ask Tatiana Maslany. Erivo understands each sister inside and out, deftly portraying every nuance, from their physicality to their accents to the cadence they use. At one point, she plays a twin pretending to be another twin pretending to be, you guessed it, another twin. Twinception, y’all. 

Last Looks 

Episode two is less comedy-heavy than its predecessor and more somber tonally, befitting the setting. Funeral homes are no laughing matter. The great Giancarlo Esposito is a bit within type here, but let’s face it: He makes a deliciously wicked villain. He goes for it in “Last Looks.” Katie Holmes seamlessly conveys who Greta is as a person in the short time she’s onscreen. You feel for her and her plight. 

This outing feels rather cinematic in scope and scale, from the fake ’70s film shoot at the beginning to the final moments with Charlie, Fred, and Beatrix. The shot of the embers falling like rain on Fred, the funeral home ablaze amid a backdrop of fireworks, even Charlie sitting with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth as Beatrix points a gun at her head — the imagery here feels frame-worthy. 

Like episode one, the pacing is a bit on the slower side and inconsistent overall. However, the laid groundwork sets up that action-packed climax and cliffhanger. It’s more narratively fruitful than the premiere, and it delightfully leans into some fun horror tropes. 

It’s interesting that “Last Looks” also plays into Charlie being “wrong” even when she’s not. Could we see her question her innate lie detector? Is it more fallible than she thought? This is a fun angle that deserves further exploration — a shaky Charlie who wonders if her so-called lie detector is more trouble than it’s worth. 

Whack-a-Mole

Episode three is fast-paced, intense, and stuffed to the gills with action. “Whack-a-Mole” moves at a steady clip, packing in quite a bit into its tight 40-minute runtime. There are legitimate twists and turns, and, like episode two, you feel like Charlie is in legitimate danger (plot armor aside). 

Along with the return of Simon Helberg’s Luca, this outing closes this chapter in Charlie’s life by resolving the mob storyline. So, she’s no longer on the run. This poses an intriguing new jumping-off point for Charlie; however, said mob storyline is wrapped up in a tidy bow a bit too quickly for my taste. 

Where does Charlie go from here? Can she maintain her nomadic detective lifestyle, breezing in and out of every small town in need of someone to solve a murder? Could this open the door for deeper inner work for Charlie and more insight into her past? Here’s hoping. 

Stray Observations: 

• Get Cynthia Erivo in an Orphan Black-esque show ASAP. I could watch her play twins all day. 
• We were robbed of more Natasha Lyonne/Richard Kind scenes. These two actors, in particular, feel like they go together like peanut butter and jelly. 
• Charlie Cale has the coolest wardrobe ever. Seriously. I’m taking notes during every episode due to my legitimate wardrobe envy. 
• Charlie vaping in the coffin during the film shoot in “Last Looks” cracked me up. You can do whatever you want when you’re a corpse. 
• The blowup doll in the cockpit is definitely a nod to Airplane! Would you feel safe in a plane flown by Otto Pilot? 
• Gotta love the plot convenience of having a beach below a cliff with train tracks running through it. If the fall from the cliff doesn’t get ya, a train crushing you might do the trick. 

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Poker Face streams new episodes every Thursday on Peacock.

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