Poker Face Season 2 Episode 7 Review: One Last Job

Poker Face Season 2 Episode 7, “One Last Job,” presents an artful blend of genres in an homage to heist movies that’s not afraid to get meta. Charlie finds herself entangled in the plot of a crime film come to life. Art imitates life, right? Or vice versa?

In addition, the episode carves out some much-needed development for our girl as she continues to contemplate settling down. Charlie even finds love with Corey Hawkins’ Bill, a super sweet manager of a big box store. Unfortunately, Bill becomes an inevitable plot device when he’s murdered during a robbery at the store, dashing our hopes that Charlie will finally slip into a sense of deserved ease and peace. 

Trauma After Trauma After Trauma

What’s preventing me from giving this episode five stars is the aforementioned — the cruelty in incessantly pulling the rug out from under Charlie. Poker Face Season 2 has hinted, more than once, that romance could be on the horizon for her. However, it wouldn’t be the first time that Charlie has experienced trauma on this show. From being chased by the mafia in Season 1 to almost being burned alive in an incinerator in Season 2’s second episode to getting kidnapped in episode three, “trauma” should be Charlie’s middle name. 

Sure, it’s par for the course when you live a nomadic life and solve murders. And perhaps the crux of this outing — its moral center — is the transience of life, thus making human connection crucial. Bill serves as a reminder that love can find Charlie and that she deserves it. 

Then, the rug pull arrives, and Charlie is the one to find Bill’s body after Juice methodically dresses him like Santa Claus and places him in a sleigh, taking a page out of the Weekend at Bernie’s playbook. It’s incredibly dark, though. Your heart breaks when you hear Charlie’s screams. 

My hope is that this leads to a “breaking point” of sorts for Charlie. Of course, if she settles down, well, the show is over. She’s been mulling over putting down roots for a few episodes now. Why not let her do that for a while? Lyonne is a fine actor, so why not give her a bit more character-related meat to chew on? You can only take so much trauma before you break under its weight. 

Meta Commentary 

All that aside, “One Last Job” serves as a creative wellspring for Poker Face Season 2. It gets meta when the heist plot of the episode is the narrative storyline from Kendall’s script … which is pretty much the plot of every heist film ever. The outing cleverly incorporates plenty of pop culture references, specifically to the crime genre and rom-coms. It also delivers an unexpected mashup of the two as Charlie finds love and Kendall agrees to rob Super Save with Juice. 

Those final moments of “One Last Job” are masterful as we cut between the ending of Heat, one of Kendall’s favorite movies, and Kendall’s inevitable arrest. Here, life truly imitates art after Juice’s bloody revenge spree culminates in his demise. The cinematography gets innovative, too, as it immerses us into the high-octane scene with Charlie, Kendall, and Juice.

Having Charlie appear on all the TV screens as Juice fires on them is not an original idea, but it’s executed well here. It’s a fun tip of the hat to the art of cinema and iconic scenes in Hollywood history, all the more fitting considering Kendall’s obsession with movies. 

Performances

Like every Poker Face episode, “One Last Job” boasts a cast of acting heavy-hitters. Sam Richardson, normally a deft comedy presence, takes on a more somber role. He injects Kendall with nuance and layers. Kendall isn’t necessarily a villain — he doesn’t kill his friend. He inadvertently stabs Juice, leading to his death.

However, as Kendall wades further into the narrative mud, he becomes desperate, willing to do anything to evade arrest. This includes threatening to shoot Charlie, even though, at the start of the episode, he’s vehemently against violence and crime. Richardson delivers multifaceted, solid work.

Corey Hawkins makes Bill a wholly sympathetic, kind man, and, as a viewer, you mourn his loss along with Charlie. Would I have loved to see Bill stick around a while and build a relationship with Charlie? Sure, but perhaps I’m injecting my bias into a series that doesn’t exist. Geraldine Viswanathan is always a delight when on screen, even though she’s given little to do. 

Action-Packed Homage

Overall, “One Last Job” is well-paced and action-packed, delivering a few decent twists along the way. It’s a creative swing for the fences that pans out well for the show and implements a delightful mix of levity and darkness. 

Stray Observations: 

• Juice running through Super Save, firing on Charlie and Kendall with a samurai sword through his chest, is a funnier scene than it has any right to be. 
• The people (me) have spoken: Die Hard is, in fact, a Christmas movie. 
• I’d watch a one-off episode featuring Geraldine Viswanathan’s Jenny as she finds herself the star of her own rom-com. 
• Bill’s setup for his and Charlie’s date is romantic as hell. He deserves better than his cruel fate.
• Kendall’s apartment looks an awful lot like my apartment when I was in my 20s — chock-full of movie posters. At least his are framed (I was poor). 

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Poker Face drops new episodes every Thursday on Peacock. 

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