A lagging Poker Face is saved by madcap guest performances
Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson help Natasha Lyonne elevate this week's relatively dawdling episode
TV Reviews Poker
Poker Face is halfway through its run, which feels weird because it premiered just last week. In its initial four installments, Rian Johnson’s impressive drama establishes a modus operandi that it slightly subverts each time. Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), on the run from her wealthy casino employer, meets or befriends a stranger in a random American town who ends up dead—Brandon Michael Hall’s Damian, Larry Brown’s George, and Nicholas Cirillo’s Gavin. Episodes three and four especially bring her in after almost 20 minutes, using the first half to develop the supporting characters to get us invested in their story. And then bam! Charlie uses her human lie detector superpower ability to solve the case before moving on to her next adventure.
This Columbo routine has worked so far because Lyonne efficiently wields Charlie’s affability, curiosity, and deducing powers. It lends PF a certain believability despite some eyebrow-raising or far-fetched storylines. While the four-part premiere demands audiences to buy into the coincidental premises, the murders and mystery are quite sharp. That’s not the case for Poker Face’s newest outing. Don’t get me wrong: I still love seeing Lyonne get into a physical fight with guest stars Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson. The trio’s vibrancy boosts “Time Of The Monkey” when it dawdles in pace and narrative.
A big gripe with episode five’s central case is that it aims to get away with some incredulous logic, which takes me out of PF’s wisely curated pastiche. (And feels surprising considering Johnson’s knack for the genre). All the previous cases, from Natalie’s murder in the pilot to Taffy plotting his brother’s death in episode three, are well-executed. It’s what the whole show hinges on. But not in “Time Of The Monkey.”
Light and Merkerson play longtime partners Irene and Joyce, respectively. They reside in a retirement home where Charlie starts working as a janitor. No idea how she found the job, but she’s probably still taking work that pays quickly and quietly to avoid detection. Charlie, Joyce, and Irene form an instant connection and smoke pot together. It’s all fun and games, except the two older women are actually former domestic terrorists who spent 30 years in prison. That’s the switch here: Charlie doesn’t become pally with the victim this time; it’s with the culprits.
When Joyce and Irene’s old boyfriend, Gabriel (Reed Birney), shows up at the same retirement home, they seek revenge because he ratted them out to the cops decades ago. Light is a great performer, and Merkerson’s subtle comedic charm works perfectly. But Poker Face wants me to believe that Irene, paralyzed from the waist down and using a wheelchair, climbed up the trellis to Gabriel’s floor. And then climbed back down after poisoning him with sodium nitrate she “borrowed” from the gardener (although we don’t get the visual on her trek down). It’s a stretch even for PF, Granted, the rest of Joyce and Irene’s plan to fool the authorities while they’re on a day trip to the zoo isn’t too bad. Their history shows these ladies aren’t risk-averse and are actually kind of scary. They were willing to blow up a high school model UN (a.k.a. kill kids from an elite school) to protest against their rich parents back in the day.
Charlie finds it hard to believe her inspiring, cool new buddies are this unhinged when she learns the truth from FBI agent Luca (Simon Helberg), who was assigned to Gabriel’s case. Charlie is so disappointed, she not only teams up with Luca but gives him her real name. Did she forget she was on the run? Or that he could look her up and find out she’s suspected of killing Sterling Frost Jr.? These are some major loopholes that hopefully Poker Face jumps through.
At least our favorite bullshit detector gets Joyce and Irene to confess to killing Gabriel and fellow retirement home resident, Betty. And then, the trio gets into it physically. I mean, really into it—fistfights, slaps, pushing, grabbing, stabbing, throwing each other across the room. It’s ridiculous but incredibly fun to watch them go at each others’ throats. Despite the suspension of logic and narrative pitfalls, Lyonne, Light, and Merkerson transformed “Time Of The Monkey” into an enjoyable episode. The tip of the hat is when Charlie uses their heart monitor trick to get them caught.
PF also sets up Luca’s arc because I’m guessing he’ll return to aid Charlie when she needs it. (He passed her his card, and did I sense some chemistry?). After all, the only connecting thread between “Time Of The Monkey” and the other episodes is when Charlie asks him about Kazimir Caine, the affluent casino whale she was supposed to con in episode one with Adrien Brody’s Sterling. Luca doesn’t know who that is—or if [email protected] is a legit email—but he’s sure to look into it now, right?
Stray observations
- Judith Light’s delivery of “I hate your cunt heart” is instantly iconic.
- What’s not to love about this exchange:
Joyce: “You want to continue Euphorica?” (er, Euphoria)
Irene: “Kids who think they invented fucking? No thank you.” - Droopy Hues is a pretty awful band name.
- Who else caught the little Orange Is The New Black nod when Charlie latches on to how Joyce and Irene’s prison was in Upstate New York?
- There’s no one named Wolfen in the Skarsgård family, and that’s a shame.
- Five episodes in, which is your favorite Poker Face installment so far? And how long can the show justify Charlie finding herself in these precarious situations?
57 Comments
The puzzle pieces coming together in episode 3 was the highlight for me. Plus, the racist dog was a hoot.
episode 3 is also my favorite so far.
Episode 3 was fun, but I laughed the most at episode 4.
“Staplehead” gave me Spinal Tap vibes.
Pretty sure it’s supposed to! Charlie even mentions them.
Episode was also my favorite. The Radio DJ with all the different characters was awesome.
Turned out the dog wasn’t racist after all. He just liked the sound of the radio DJ’s voice(s).
A four episode premier…? I was just reminding myself last night to get around to watching the first episode and then Wakanda happened. Wow, I’ve never seen 4. I feel like when (Toronto guy) you see four TTC buses in a row pass by, and you think to yourself “what really? Four!?”
Hello fellow Canadian. I want to watch this show too but hate that the streamer carrying it is apparently CityTV+. I didn’t know they even had a streaming service, how the hell did they get the streaming rights to this show? I had assumed it would have got snapped up by bigger service and I’m too lazy to bother finding a more sneaky way to watch it.
It’s not a 4-part story. They just gave us 4 episodes all at once so that we could get hooked on the show.
I hate when you see 4 streetcars go by, the other way, and know why yours is not coming. So you start walking, and just when you get to Yonge st., one arrives.
I’m finding that I only like the show when Natasha Lyonne is on screen. The murder setup scenes are sort of ‘meh’ to me.
I get that. I do mostly like them because they’re well-written & well-cast, but this week’s felt really off.
I think she’s thrilling in the role, but I agree, there’s something a little snoozy in the set ups.
Same here. I find myself anxiously waiting for the good part to start. Not a great way to know every episode is gonna be 1/3 of that.
It’s weird to me that Charlie’s attempts to inspire have been directly responsible for 40% of the deaths thus far (BBQ Guy and Drummer Guy).
In that way it’s kind of trending towards Murder She Wrote where Jessica Fletcher showing up often is the catalyst for murders that just wouldn’t have happened if she had been out of town.
Lmao
She’s an angel of death for sure.
Kind of also true of the first episode isn’t it? I thought she tells Adrien Brody that she had always encouraged her friend to speak up and do something when in trouble and when she finally did so, it got her killed.
True! 60%!
Yeah, I was a little disappointed this episode didn’t continue that pattern, because if it had, I was going to go rewatch Ep 2 and see if she somehow butterfly effect-ed which lottery ticket that guy got. I would have loved it if she just gradually got more and more responsible each week.
How? The BBQ guy was the one who grew disillusioned with his career after watching Okja and the drummer was the one who wrote his song all by himself. Charlie’s involvement began and ended with briefly getting to know them before they died.
Charlie showed the guy the movie and encouraged him to follow his dreams. She encouraged the drummer to show Doxxology his song.
The only Madcap is
Judith Light was the boss
But what WAS happening?
yeah like last week the story makes little sense, it could have been interesting without the over the top “they wanted to blow up kids”; there could have been an interesting discussion about the moral dilemna of escalating violence to taking lives but they went straight to cartoonish villains with this. during the 70s direct action was a real thing; CEOs and cops were murdered; and there could be a discussion worth having here. but yeah murdering an old lady for fear of being told on is another thing entirely. They want to go for comedy and caricature I get it but this is shit politically.
This was my thing too. It would’ve been nice for this episode to be a little more complicated, which it started out being! Like they killed him but in a “who could blame them” way and Charlie has to reckon with that with her own moral compass. But they made it “easy” by making them potential kid murderers. And ladies whose first solve for any problem is apparently straight to murder. It would’ve been refreshing to stray from the good vs pure evil dichotomy for this one and keep the murder more nuanced. And i don’t think any show should end on a “leftists are actually just domestic terrorists” takeaway.
This was the least interesting episode plotwise, but in terms of characters and dialogue it totally knocked it out of the park for me.
What was up with the green hue at Irene and Joyce’s apartment? You can even see it in the picture in the article. Also, no way Betty’s face was intact after being next to an exploding pressure cooker.
For a show with a stupid premise {She can’t be barred from playingpoker for being able to read a tell , heck it doesn’t mean she will always win only tells her when the other player is bluffing } its getting better every weeK .
But have to say , the side characters,{radio guy ,racist dog,fbi guy ,podcast girl }have to all come together in the end .
I understood the premise as no one worth playing with (i.e. professionals or high rollers) would agree to play with her, knowing her reputation. Agree that she could definitely grind at a tourist table and no one would care – professionals do that. But it also seemed like Charlie acknowledged that the lifestyle was bad for her and she was content with her current situation too.As for whether she could consistently win – that I believe. Being able to play the player is a big deal in poker and she’s likely playing cash games, where she can be patient and wait for the right hands, and not big tournaments which do rely on a bit more luck due to needing to continuously increase your stack.
They can throw you out of Casinos for whatever they want. There is not a casino in the world that will let you play if you are known to have the ability to card-count. This would seem to be a similar skill in terms of being able to tilt the odds back in favor of a player.
I got a K Callan, AKA Martha Kent from Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman notification for this?
I instantly recognised her from that. She’s always a delight. 87 and still got the chops.Also, New Adventures started 30 years ago!
I instantly recognised her from that. She’s always a delight. 87 and still got the chops.Also, New Adventures started 30 years ago!
So it took five episodes before we got a Murder She Wrote reference, I hope we’ll get a Columbo one before the season ends too.
Still a fun episode, but the plotting was definitely not the tightest it has been. Some pretty big leaps in there for that murder to get executed and solved. I also hope Charlie starts telling others before she confronts the guilty with their guilt, as that’s getting a little old already.
Episode 3 is realistic
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I feel like i’m missing something. I love the director and Natasha is always great but this is so “eh” to me. It’s weird cause I loved Russian Doll and this is kinda similar to it.
My girlfriend and I, both big fans of Columbo and she a fan of Russian Doll, just finished watching the first episode tonight. We found it tedious in the extreme. And while I can suspend my disbelief about the human lie detector, it doesn’t stretch as far as Cliff the expert henchman having stormtrooper aim. She should have been Swiss cheese.
Yeah and I think they don’t make good enough use of Natasha’s talent. She carries every scene she’s in in any show she is in. 1/3 of every episode of Poker Face is setting up the murder without her at all. Not great.
Suspension of disbelief is really the show’s whole thing. Yes, it’s a bit silly to see Judith Light shimmying up a rose trellis with just arm strength, but I don’t know that it’s more silly than Taffy’s ridiculously complicated plan to kill his own brother. Personally, I liked this better than episode 4, but your mileage may vary.
The charm of Lyonne (and the guest stars), and the wit and heart of the dialogue are absolutely what this show is all about. Thus far, it’s succeeded, to the point of being my favorite show of 2023.
I love that they used this episode to stage the first fight in the series – and that they went all in with people fighting dirty and really trying to kill each other. Natasha Lyonne doesn’t look like a fighter, but she does look like she could hold her own against two elderly women.
I’m really enjoying the show, but it does have me wondering if I’d love it as much without great guest murderers every week. The thing I’ve noticed most is how few of the villains have reacted violently to Charlie unraveling their perfect murders that they’ve almost gotten away with. (Although I am delighted that it turned out to be Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson who broke the seal on that.) Maybe I’m just too used to the less classy brand of crime drama these days.Favorite episode so far has probably been 3, Lil Rel carried off his (very Coen Bros) villain character perfectly and the MAGA dog was a ridiculously photogenic source of chaos. I definitely said “awwww!” when he got adopted by his very favorite person in the world at the end.Least favorite is probably 2, which is also the one with the fewest “big names” (at least in terms of “do I, myself, know who they are?”) Hong Chau’s Marge is the only character that clicked with me, and she’s missing for most of the second half. That one also felt like it should’ve gotten physical.
I mean Adrien Brody threatens to throw Charlie out a window until he finds out she’s ruined him and then Benjamin Bratt chases her and shoots her. The oaf from the second episode cuts her brake line as well. So wouldn’t say this episode broke the seal on people acting violently against her.I honestly had sort of the opposite thought – why in the world is she confronting people she knows to be murderers in every episode? It isn’t like she can arrest them – she usually brings them to justice by turning them in anonymously or exposing their crime publicly. So why do it then?
That’s fair; I guess I forgot about the cut brake line because it immediately fizzled thanks to the kind offices of John Ratzenberger. And Adrien Brody I gave a pass because he definitely came off as unwilling or unable to get his own hands dirty, but he does use Bratt for that eventually. And you’re right, the whole “calling dangerous people liars to their faces” conceit of the show seems like a lot of risk for a slightly built woman with no local connections who’s on the run from the mob to engage in week after week.
Between a trucker named Marge and Pee Wee’s Playhouse regular Merkeson, I’m hoping a Paul Reubens guest role can’t be far behind.
I’m obviously missing something here, because I find this show absolutely dire.
What I liked about the episode is that Irene and Joyce are first portrayed as sympathetic, until the story goes deeper. As far as convenient contrivances regarding the show, I’m fine with it. It’s a breezy, funny, entertaining show with great dialogue and acting. I’m also very happy that (so far anyway), they’re not getting too mired in the season long arc of her running from the mom. Too many shows nowadays cling to the seasonal arcs way too much. I prefer this “monster of the week” format way better.
I feel this was the weakest episode so far.. it wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t my favorite.
The One Where Charlie Becomes a Narc. This faceplant into copaganda (despite weak protestations from Natasha) did not sit right with me.
As much as I loved the badass version of Reba The Mail Lady, this one was kind of a dud.
Pee-Wee’s Playhouse reunion!