‘Poker Face’: Natasha Lyonne’s Great Sleuth Has Grit and Wild Charm in Loaded Second Season

Alci Rengifo

Season two of Peacock’s “Poker Face” confirms Natasha Lyonne as one of the great modern TV sleuths. With her combination of grit and zaniness, she keeps together a series that successfully harkens back to a classic format. With so many streaming series desperate to create archaic and long arcs meant to secure a devoted fan base, “Poker Face” has the confidence to remain a case-of-the-week affair. Sure, there are some connecting story threads here and there, but what brings us back is the surprise of every new case and how Lyonne takes it on. This season delivers everything from surprise twin siblings to husbands who murder their wives. 

Sensing this is the show’s truly winning format, showrunner and occasional director Rian Johnson (“Knives Out”) follows even more of a stand-alone approach, not giving casino waitress turned fugitive turned sleuth Charlie Cale (Lyonne) too much of a central story arc, aside from her own character growth. She’s trying to quit smoking, using a cotton candy-flavored vape.  She still evades angry mobsters, as in the season premiere, but we’re not constantly needing to keep up with some main theme. The guest appearances are times master classes in acting. Cynthia Erivo is an early stand out in the season premiere, playing quintuplets in a great, puzzling murder mystery involving a family in entertainment, royalties and a surprise killer. Giancarlo Esposito is also unsurprisingly fantastic as a mortician caught in a web of murder and deceit involving his wife and the film industry. The guest line up is quite a parade of notables including Melanie Lynskey, Kumail Nanjiani, Katie Holmes (in a devilishly unrecognizable role), Gaby Hoffmann, Awkwafina, Simon Rex, John Cho, Corey Hawkins and Method Man.

As with the first season, “Poker Face” is deliriously entertaining because of the energy in every frame. Charlie is a great heir to TV forebears like “Columbo,” reading Borges and citing obscure film references, inspiring puzzling looks but always somehow solving the case. Of course, sometimes the cases solve themselves when a suspect goes too far and exposes themselves. The writing also makes sure to give Charlie some additional complications that reveal more depth to the character than just scrappy wit. In one episode she begins to have a love affair with a victim, which lets Lyonne try new angles dramatically for at least one episode. Yet, the greater appeal is the darkly comic, near surreal nature of the series. Kumail Nanjiani’s episode features him as a cop in Florida with a sidekick who happens to be an alligator. A gerbil turns out to be the murder suspect in another case. Method Man’s appearance is a hilariously offbeat performance as a gym owner with way too much enthusiasm. There’s a little league baseball episode with Simon Rex that thrives on gags as opposed to the puzzles in the mystery.

There are also more nods to the world of filmmaking in this season. One particularly fun, even endearing episode for anyone who has maneuvered that world features Sam Richardson as a screenwriter obsessed with heist films. In a sense the cases are an eclectic set that still somehow match the protagonists own somewhat hectic personality. Charlie is endlessly entertaining because she’s not unconvincingly slick or pretending to be the greatest detective of all time. The season premiere shows her clumsily escaping from equally clumsy assassins sent by Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman), the casino owner and mobster who was basically Charlie’s key nemesis last season. While evading Hasp’s goons, Charlie falls into the first major case of this round basically by accident. 

Visually “Poker Face” never settles down, playing with formats and in-jokes that wink at 1970s thrillers, ‘90s cop shows and grindhouse movies. Many shows these days flirt with nostalgia, yet this one doesn’t make it feel gimmicky. The visual inventiveness combines with the feeling of the best in true crime. Even if a plot gets quite zany, there are still running ideas about how murder or a scam doesn’t always arise from over-complicated situations. Fear, jealousy and so many other human factors can lead to a rash decision you can never take back. Charlie herself faces intriguing moral detours, as when she meets a group of con artists willing to show her their secrets. She didn’t start out as a law-abiding citizen after all. She’s wonderfully flawed which makes her such a great hero and this show so easy to get back into.

“Poker Face” season two begins streaming May 8 with new episodes premiering Thursdays on Peacock.