It hasn't been a secret that I've been incredibly disillusioned with current TV. Overly serialized plots, seasons that are too short, rushed pacing, TV shows that feel embarrassed to be TV shows, underwhelming finales, it's been pretty bleak. But as it turns out, Rian Johnson seems to agree. I've always been an avid defender of the guy even when the TLJ backlash was at its worst, but learning that he made a TV show and specifically pitched it as "TV" gave me infinitely more respect for him. That show was Poker Face.
Poker Face is a Columbo-esque procedural mystery show about a drifter named Charlie Cale with the uncanny ability to tell if someone's lying. Like Columbo, it's more of a "howtocatchem" than a "whodunit", with most episodes showing us how the death happens before the detective even shows up. Part of this is so that you can get attached to the episode's cast before the victim bites the dust. But more importantly, Charle isn't a cop, so she can't just arrest the culprit. The real mystery is figuring out how she'll get justice on them. One of the best things about Knives Out and Glass Onion is that the culprits don't just get arrested, they face karma, and each episode of Poker Face has Johnson put that skill at showing villains the consequences of their actions to great use. While not every episode is equal in quality, they're all just fun, contained, and satisfying watches in their own right. It feels like I just watched 10 Rian Johnson movies in the span of a week, and how cool is that?! Natasha Lyonne also makes for such a charismatic detective, just grounded, affable, and snarky enough to be a great successor to Columbo. Sadly, it takes a while for the show to really start playing around with its premise and fully settle into its formula, a problem made worse by the fact that this is still only ten episodes. Even when Poker Face is dodging the pitfalls of serialized TV, it's still suffering from short seasons. Regardless, you really get the impression that Johnson feels this show could go on forever, and an even bolder Season 2 has the potential to be genuinely fantastic.
There is, however, still an overarching plot in Poker Face. In the first episode, Charlie angers a mob boss by solving a murder his son committed, so she spends the majority of the season being chased around by his henchman. This may seem like it goes against the attempt to capture the magic of a procedural, but I think it works pretty well. Most episodes really only use this storyline as an explanation for why Charlie is drifting around, and as a "cliffhanger" in the same vein as Sam Beckett jumping into a new body at the end of every episode. And yet, the overarching plot is able to tie the season together, and we get a pretty big and climactic season finale in the process. In an interview, Rian Johnson said that he just wanted to give the season a big "sweeps week"-esque finale mostly because he likes them and, man, I feel that so hard. If anything, Poker Face feels like a slightly darker version of USA's blue skies procedurals. Stuff like Monk, Burn Notice, and most of all, Psych. Episodic star vehicles with a simple but addicting formula and just enough of a plot to keep you coming back season after season. Hell, they even bring up Burn Notice pretty much every episode, this is absolutely intentional!
Highlights:
Escape From Shit Mountain: Pretty much unanimously agreed to be the high point of the season, despite being by far the bleakest episode. Joseph Gordon-Levitt surprised me with how well he could play an absolute piece of shit, Stephanie Hsu getting more roles beyond EEAAO is nice, Rian Johnson's stylish direction is fantastic, and it does a good job at setting up the finale while still standing on its own.
The Hook: This was a good finale, reminds me of some of the best Burn Notice season enders. There's a lot of great twists, not just in the story but in how the episode plays around with the formula. I like that Cliff knows about Charlie's gift because it makes him a suitably difficult bad guy to take down, and the cliffhanger maintains the status quo with just enough differences to differentiate next season from this one.
Overall, Poker Face is a very fun time. A charming episodic mystery series anchored by a great protagonist, even if I wish the season hadn't fully found its footing by the last few episodes.
4/5 Stars
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