The weekly cases are Poker Face’s selling point, but the overarching narrative of Charlie evading her would-be assailants is the glue holding the show together. A powerful casino boss wants Charlie to pay for the death of his (fail)son in the series premiere, and we get occasional check-ins with the casino’s head of security, the wonderfully named Cliff LeGrand (Benjamin Bratt), who’s tasked with hunting her down. in her Plymouth Barracuda, rarely staying in one place for too long: She’s on the run.
Of course, there’s a reason why Charlie’s driving across the U.S. When serialized television is all the rage in prestige TV, self-contained mysteries like the ones offered weekly on Poker Face become something of a novelty.
In fact, those vintage qualities are what make Poker Face so appealing: The show might have enough A-list guest stars to fill out a new season of The White Lotus, but its adherence to episodic storytelling gives it the feel of a throwback. It’s an effective, crowd-pleasing update to the “ howcatchem,” which originally blossomed on the small screen during the glory days of Columbo. Rian Johnson’s mystery-of-the-week series hinges on the audience seeing crimes committed with little misdirection-the real thrill is discovering exactly how human lie detector Charlie Cale (played by Natasha Lyonne) will uncover the motives for herself. From its opening moments, Poker Face hasn’t been afraid to show its hand.
