Sat 4 Mar 2023
A TV Episode Review: POKER FACE “Dead Man’s Hand†(2023).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[6] Comments
POKER FACE.“Dead Man’s Hand.†Peacock, 26 January 2023. (Season 1, Episode 1.) Natasha Lyonne (as Charlie Cale, a casino worker who goes on the run), Benjamin Brat (as Cliff LeGrand, the casino head of security, who is on the chase after her), Ron Perlman (as Sterling Frost Sr., the casino owner (voice only in this first episode)). Guest star: Adrien Brody (as Sterling Frost Jr.). Written, created and directed by Rian Johnson.
The gimmick in this one, a new well-received streaming series that I think qualifies as a solid hit, is that casino cocktail waitress Charlie Cale has the unique ability to know when someone is lying to her face. Until things got too hot for her, she made a lot of money playing poker, where an ability would be hugely helpful.
And of course knowing who is telling the truth and who is not would come in equally useful in solving crimes, including murder, which she does quite easily in this first episode, the only one I’ve seen so far. Invited in to a high stakes poker game by the manager of the casino where she’s working, she solves the killing of a maid she knows well, but in doing so, gets so far into hot water that by the end of the episode she’s forced to head out of town as fast as she can.
The show is told in Colombo-type fashion, as we the viewer first she the killing and then flashing back to see exactly where Charlie manages to fit in. And as the last sentence of the previous paragraph suggests, each followup episode is a page out of The Fugitive’s notebook.
Charlie is a brassy, self-identified “dumb ass†with wild hair type, and Natasha Lyonne is perfect for the part. (I think she had a great deal to do with the creation of the character.) The first season consists of ten episodes, with lots of well-known guest stars, and I’ve read that the series has already been renewed for a second season.
The only drawback that I can see is that as a superpower, being a human lie detector could easily make solving crimes all too easy. Superman had Kryptonite to keep him in check. What’s Charlie’s Achilles heel?
It’s too bad you have to sign up for Peacock (a subsidiary of NBC) to see this, but on the basis of this first episode, it’s well worth the money, given that there’s other stuff there to watch as well.
March 4th, 2023 at 10:06 pm
I haven’t indulged yet, but have plans to. Reviews are great though some complain considering her skills she proves the not very smart part by constantly confronting the killer alone.
March 4th, 2023 at 10:42 pm
Uh oh. As she does in this very first episode. Once, maybe. As a pattern, well … maybe not.
March 4th, 2023 at 11:52 pm
Where would the DRAMA, the CONFLICT be if she confronted the killer with a police escort. Women confronting the killer alone is, sadly, a cliche of cozy mysteries.
March 5th, 2023 at 4:20 pm
True enough, but even non-cozies can fall for this old gag as well, and POKER FACE may just be the latest example. (I’m hedging since I’ve still seen only the one episode so far.)
March 7th, 2023 at 11:17 am
I’ve enjoyed all the episodes of POKER FACE, some more than others. Using the COLUMBO format where the audience sees the murderer commit the crime, Charlie then follows the evidence and solves the crime. Yes, she confronts the killer by herself way too often! I’m hoping for a Second Season!
October 10th, 2023 at 11:48 pm
[…] could be played in a TV show based on this story by the young lady who stars in Poker Face, which I reviewed on this blog a while back. She’s a most sympathetic figure, in a definitely non-conformist […]