Travis Leamons // Film Critic
Rated TV-MA
Creator: Rian Johnson
Cast: Natasha Lyonne
Meet Charlie Cale. Charlie is gifted. She knows how to read people. Such a skill made her great at poker. Until she got blacklisted. When a casino manager tries to take advantage of her gift, Charlie is implicated in a murder and goes on the lamb in her beat-up 1969 Plymouth Barracuda that, unlike her, does not run on self-deprecating humor or beer.
From the moment the opening title for POKER FACE appeared on screen, I was having flashbacks to ‘70s television shows and Peter Falk showing up at a crime scene in his crumpled suit and trademark raincoat. Then the episode title appeared, and I knew where Rian Johnson (KNIVES OUT) was looking to take audiences. I didn’t even have to wait to be asked one more question. I was already arrested by this series.
We may have eclipsed the era of peak procedural television, but like Jell-O, there’s always room for more. POKER FACE isn’t CSI or NCIS or even THE ROOKIE. Not being affiliated with the police or having Charlie be an LEO (law enforcement officer) sets it apart from most major network shows. Charlie (played by Natasha Lyonne, whose keen observations but failure to identify certain objects is too funny, but also squarely on point, is flat-out hilarious) goes from place to place in an effort to keep a low profile and away from Cliff (Benjamin Bratt), the casino’s head of security looking for her.
Each new episode finds Charlie in a different town with a new job. There’s a problem, however. She’s a murder magnet. Wherever she goes, it’s just a matter of time before a murder is committed. Using her unique set of skills, Charlie spends the remainder of the episode solving the case before, like Willie Nelson, is on the road again where a new adventure (and death) awaits.
Charlie runs afoul with fatal encounters the way David Carradine ran into trouble as Caine in KUNG FU. But her intellect is on par with David Janssen’s Dr. Richard Kimble from THE FUGITIVE. Lyonne’s boundless charm and gravelly voice finds her among a killer supporting cast. Killer being the appropriate word as at least one special guest star will think he’s getting away with murder.
The brilliance of POKER FACE is that it isn’t a whodunit. It’s a “howcatchem,” an inverted detective mystery where the crime is shown first and the perpetrator(s) already identified. The style has been around as early as Dostoevsky’s CRIME & PUNISHMENT (1866) but would be coined a century later before being widely used in the 1970s with Peter Falk’s COLUMBO.
The pilot episode (“Dead Man’s Hand”), written and directed by Rian Johnson, has that classic NBC Mystery Movie vibe. Running 67 minutes, it could have easily been stretched to fill out two hours with commercial interruptions. For those unfamiliar to the COLUMBO style, POKER FACE might feel odd at first. Johnson makes sure to incorporate Quentin Tarantino’s PULP FICTION playing on television as a subtle nod to story structure as the pilot’s focus is on Natalie (Dascha Polanco), a housekeeper at the Frost Casino and Hotel who makes a shocking find in a high roller’s suite. She tries to contact her best friend before finally reporting the find to management. In this case, the casino puts the customer first and fatally liquidates her and her abusive boyfriend. Police would see it as a simple open and closed case of a murder-suicide. We then flash back to before the killings and meet Lyonne’s Charlie, who works as a cocktail waitress at the casino and is close friends with Natalie.
Adrien Brody with his Pat Riley slicked hair is Sterling Frost Jr., operating the establishment which became his once his father retired from the gambling scene. Frost Sr. was the first one to discover Charlie’s deduction ability when it came to truth tellers and outright liars. Now Sterling wants Charlie to help him take down a huge whale with loads of money. Hesitant at first, Charlie plays along before she’s convinced Sterling and Cliff were the ones responsible in Natalie’s death. Before the episode ends, a body drops from the sky and Charlie is out of town and on the run.
The formula does not deviate. A murder happens before Charlie appears and the story flashes back a day or so earlier before the crime. Of the episodes released thus far, “The Stall” with Lil Rel Howery as a Texas BBQ huckster named Taffy is a standout. A real hoot and a handful. Taffy’s brother, George (Larry Brown), is the pitmaster of the operation, but now he doesn’t want to grill meat anymore. When George is found dead in his Airstream trailer the next day, the authorities label it a suicide. Too bad for Taffy that George recently hired Charlie to serve brisket and sling Cole Slaw to customers.
I have to credit Peacock. The streamer debuted the first four episodes of POKER FACE when it could have dropped all ten episodes of the limited series at once. But it’s playing the long game. Get viewers hooked and build the audience when a new episode drops every Thursday. Even though we’ll know who committed the murders within the first twenty minutes, watching Natasha Lyonne solve the puzzles and find herself in a new maze of mysteries is what will keep us from folding our cards.
Grade: A
