When it involves reviving the thriller style, Rian Johnson is on a roll.
Fresh off of his initially-maligned-but-now-beloved (? Is that how we really feel about The Last Jedi now? I at all times sort of favored it) Star Wars gig, 2019’s Knives Out was one of many freshest thriller/thrillers in a long time, each usually phrases and Rotten Tomatoes scores. 2022’s follow-up, Glass Onion, did simply as properly if not higher, firmly cementing Johnson as a whodunnit family title. Surely, then, that’s why each his title and the title of the Knives Out franchise itself have been plastered everywhere in the promotion for Poker Face, in hopes viewers would fork out their dough in order to see the latest thriller providing from the Knives Out man.
However, the “This is rather like Knives Out!” strategy to watching Poker Face works in some methods simply as a lot because it doesn’t work in others. Yes, similar to the Benoit Blanc films, the present is a lighthearted, barely corny homicide thriller with a wholesome distaste for the monetary elite. However, not like the Knives films, Poker Face is kind of disinterested within the puzzle of all of it. For instance – the murders are proven, in full element, initially of the episodes, earlier than our protagonist Charlie Cale (performed by Natasha Lyonne) even makes it to display. And the mysteries in each of these first two episodes is just not uncovering who, what, the place, why and the way the homicide occurred a lot as who, what, the place, why and the way Charlie will get concerned and finally cracks the case.
On the topic of our protagonist: Natasha Lyonne really deserves extra flowers for her current tv work; first with Russian Doll and now this, she’s keyed into an alluring character sort that she will play higher than anybody else; the neurotic, witty, go-with-the-flow kind, inconveniently interrupted by the narrative whereas simply making an attempt to dwell her life. In the case of Charlie, that interruption comes by way of her pure reward to have the ability to inform at any time when somebody is mendacity. Having as soon as used the talent to win poker tournaments at small-name casinos earlier than she was caught by the proprietor, Sterling Frost. The pilot episode sees Charlie working as a waitress in one among Frost’s casinos, shortly after he had retired and handed the reins over to his son. However, when Sterling, Jr. orchestrates the homicide of one of many on line casino’s maids (and Charlie’s finest buddy) as a part of a prison cover-up, Charlie zeroes in on the culprits and, within the course of, attracts Frost’s ire, forcing her to go on the run.
That’s fairly the distinctive backstory for a TV detective, and it begs the query: within the first two episodes, the murders kind of stumble into Charlie’s lap and she or he solves them each out of a way of responsibility to somebody she had befriended. But with Charlie being extra of a “you mind your business and I’ll mind mine” particular person, and this being a “murder-of-the-week” present, how will these murders maintain getting launched? Will Charlie finally begin advertising herself as a non-public eye? Or will she simply have steady, horribly unhealthy luck? The down-to-the-wire, “on the run” premise doesn’t simply lend itself to the slower, extra lowkey monster-a-week format. It’s one thing that I can see getting tedious rapidly as the reasons for why Charlie stays to assist remedy the case get tougher to justify.
It’s additionally notable to say that Poker Face’s utter disinterest in leaving something as much as the viewer to guess at confuses me. Sure, it lets Johnson keep away from the “genius mystery auteur” title he appears to wish to dodge. But even for those who inform the viewers who did it from the beginning, there are many methods you may maintain a TV episode mysterious (Monk was a grasp at this strategy). Poker Face’s mysteries appear to be a bit apparent and performed out, the Chekov’s weapons flashing in large, shiny neon. Several instances, it was annoying that Charlie wasn’t placing two and two collectively sooner. Charlie’s obliviousness in direction of the clues till the 50-minute mark is dismissed within the script as her being a self-proclaimed “dumbass,” however her normal dumbassery appears fairly selective towards moments most handy for the plot.
One extra gripe, nonetheless small – for a present touting its A-list visitor stars so blatantly, these visitor stars are fairly underutilized. Adrian Brody’s position in episode 1 was meaty when it comes to screentime however rang reasonably hole total. Even extra criminally, Hong Chau was barely in 3 scenes of episode 2, despite her character being essential to the plot, and despite her being Hong freakin’ Chau. You’re actually saying that you simply’ve bought Oscar winners and nominees left and proper at your disposal, and also you’ve bought Natasha Lyonne as their important scene associate, and but you’re barely giving them something to work with in any respect?
However, complaints apart, Poker Face is undeniably enjoyable. Lyonne is unfalteringly a winner in each comedy and drama, and Johnson has actually mastered the joke-to-plot-point ratio in a present akin to this. The TV thriller has been a reasonably uninteresting style as of late, oversaturated with true crime variations, uber-serious e-book variations marketed in direction of the excessive finish of the 18-49 demo, and half-hearted community procedurals. Poker Face looks like a hearkening again to the charming, quirky cable procedurals of the early ’00s, however simply with an awards-caliber solid and creator – nothing to argue with there.
Overall, Poker Face‘s barely skinny however participating pilot left me hungry for the season to return, and episode 2 already has begun to indicate marked enchancment, with indicators of the present starting to return into its personal. Sure, Poker Face won’t be a right away ace within the gap, however I received’t lie – I’ve missed a very good comedy procedural, and with this solid and creator, I’d say its success has respectable odds.