In an age of truncated TV seasons or 10-hour-long films that fail to know the medium of tv, Season 2 of Poker Face looks like a present from the streaming gods.
Created by Rian Johnson and led by Natasha Lyonne, this charming mystery-of-the-week sequence takes its cues from old-school reveals, primarily Columbo. Every episode is an exquisitely crafted thriller field that may stand by itself, with each episode following an analogous sample.
First, we witness a brand new homicide, the place each victims and killers are performed by a roster of spectacular visitor stars. Then, “human lie detector” Charlie Cale (Lyonne) enters the scene, utilizing her distinctive skill to unpick the killer’s deception and crack the case. It is a tried-and-true system that carries over from week to week, however do not assume for a second that Poker Face is formulaic. Because the present heads into its second season, co-showrunners Nora Zuckerman and Lilla Zuckerman preserve discovering new methods for Poker Face to play inside the constraints it is set for itself, unlocking new delights in every new installment.
Poker Face Season 2 switches issues up considerably, with fantastic success.
Cynthia Erivo and Natasha Lyonne in “Poker Face.”
Credit score: Peacock
Poker Face is, by nature, a present the place every thing is in flux. As Season 2 opens, Charlie is on the run from crime boss Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman), launched within the Season 1 finale. Which means she follows the highway wherever it takes her, from apple orchards to funeral properties.
Inside this flux, many parts stay the identical: Virtually each location is distant and rural, and each location is populated by murderers. The “why” for the murders modifications from episode to episode. Typically, the killer has a nasty but non-deadly plan up their sleeve to cope with their sufferer, solely to show to murdering when their sufferer seems to get the higher hand. In most episodes, it is their following cover-up that unveils the true extent of their malice and desperation.
Mashable High Tales
Charlie’s involvement additionally stays a relentless, with Lyonne persevering with to play this ragtag detective to gravel-voiced perfection. Similar to in Season 1, each episode reveals about midway by means of that Charlie has some form of private connection to the sufferer. Greater than that, she’s usually been round for the occasions of the primary half of the episode, simply out of sight. Attempting to choose up on her presence in these opening scenes stays one in every of Poker Face‘s biggest joys, together with guessing which visitor stars are marked for loss of life and which of them shall be doing the killing.
Nevertheless, in Season 2, Charlie is not all the time attempting to get justice for a homicide sufferer as she did in Season 1. A number of installments truly see her attempting to show somebody’s innocence. Typically, the events she’s attempting to guard are surprising: an alligator, a baby, even a pitching machine! This motley assortment is proof of Poker Face‘s fixed inventiveness. Even a change to greater metropolis settings within the latter half of the season presents an thrilling problem. How do Charlie’s roaming charms translate to an city setting? For that matter, how would Charlie staying put in a single place influence Poker Face‘s freewheeling versatility?
The solutions are all, unsurprisingly, nice, and Poker Face would not lose an oz. of selection because it roars by means of Season 2. That selection extends from its central mysteries to its visitor stars. Poker Face is aware of tips on how to play to all of its friends’ strengths after which some. Melanie Lynskey reveals up as an unfulfilled lady repressing a darker inside, paying homage to her flip as Shauna in Yellowjackets. Richard Sort and John Mulaney geek out about Stephen Sondheim in what looks like a callback to the Documentary Now! spoof of the Authentic Solid Album: Firm documentary. And Cynthia Erivo will get to show simply how a lot of a chameleon she is in not one, not two, however 5 roles.
These fixed change-ups, even inside a set system, cement Poker Face as one in every of present TV’s most enjoyable, most various reveals. That is the facility of well-crafted, really episodic tv.
