Josh Reviews Poker Face Season One!

Natasha Lyonne stars in Poker Face as Charlie, a young woman with the unerring ability to tell when someone is lying. On the run from a powerful casino owner with a grudge, she tries to disappear into America.  But she winds up getting herself continually involved in a variety of dangerous situations…

I loved Poker Face!  I have never before in my life watched a murder of the week show.  I was interested in Poker Face because of the involvement of Ms. Lyonne — I loved her show Russian Doll — and also of writer/director Rian Johnson (Knives Out, Glass Onion).  Mr. Johnson created the show; he also wrote & directed the first episode; directed episodes two and nine; and wrote the season finale.

The show strikes a compelling balance between telling stories that are serious — there is real physical danger to the characters, and also emotional weight to the events we see unfolding — while also ensuring that each and every story is a tremendous amount of fun.  That’s a very hard balance to strike; but I loved how much fun this show could be — even though people die in every episode!  (Sometimes many people!!)  A lot of the fun comes from Ms. Lyonne’s spirited lead performance, and a lot comes from how clever the show is.  Each episode is a very well-constructed tale, with enough twists and turns to keep me guessing.  I adore the show’s structure of showing us the inciting incident — usually involving that week’s guest stars — and only in the second act rewinding to show us when and how Ms. Lyonne’s Charlie enters the picture.  That’s a very creative way to structure the show, and it bears a lot of fruit even within this first ten-episode season.  (I loved loved loved how episode ten turned that structure on its ear, putting Charlie to the side to show us what had happened to Ben Bratt’s Cliff LeGrand ever since the end of the first episode.)

The writing is sharp, and the acting is incredible — this series boasts an incredible array of guest stars.  But before we get to them, let’s talk about Natasha Lyonne as Charlie.  Ms. Lyonne could not be more perfect an anchor for this show.  I love Charlie.  She’s smart and brave and good-hearted.  She’s also a wise-ass and someone not afraid to say exactly what’s on her mind.  Ms. Lyonne plays this character to perfection.  She can be so funny, but also empathetic.  Charlie’s lie-detector super-power makes her someone who prizes honesty above all else.  She is therefore, no surprise, often disappointed in people.  But what I love about how Ms. Lyonne plays Charlie is that she doesn’t seem to let this get her down; instead, she is remarkably open and hopeful when she meets new people.  This makes her an enjoyable heroine to watch, and also a great character around which to build a show like this, because Charlie’s character naturally guides us into getting to know a whole new set of people each each.

I was also pleased that Charlie’s lie-detector super-power often didn’t wind up playing too heavily into the plot.  One might think this ability would make Charlie all-knowing, but the series cleverly lays out the limits of what Charlie can do.  Only one time did I think they shoe-horned in a way for her ability to help her solve the case.  (That’d be in episode six, the one set at the race-track.  I thought it was very awkward how they staged a scene in which Charlie overhears the killer having to lie about what he did.)  Charlie’s ability does help her, of course — and it’s fun to see Charlie call “bullshit!” out on someone who has it coming — but her ability hurts her just as often, and most episodes were solved by Charlie’s grit and stubbornness more than her lie-detector power.  That was the right choice for the show to take.

Week-to-week, I was astounded by the amazing guest stars who appeared on this show.  My goodness did they rope in some big names and some astoundingly talented guest performers.  Some highlights?  Things get kicked off with a bang in the first episode, which showcases Dascha Polanco (Orange is the New Black) as Charlie’s friend Natalie, and Adrien Brody (The Pianist; The Grand Budapest Hotel) as Sterling Frost Jr., the young casino owner looking to use Charlie’s abilities to help him nab a big score.  That episode also introduces Ben Bratt (Law & Order, Doctor Strange) as the Cliff, the “Gerard” trying to hunt down Charlie.  Episode two features Hong Chau (nominated for an Oscar this year for her performance in The Whale) as a female trucker and John Ratzenberger (Cliff from Cheers) as a friendly auto mechanic.  Lil Rel Howery (The Carmichael Show) appears in episode three as the owner of a Texas BBQ joint who is up to no good, and Chloë Sevigny (Boys Don’t Cry, American Psycho, Zodiac, and she played Natasha Lyonne’s character’s mom on Russian Doll) appears in episode four as a down-on-her-luck rocker trying to recapture the glory of her one hit.  Judith Light (Angela on Who’s the Boss?) and S. Epatha Merkerson (Terminator 2; Lincoln) are an incredible duo as aging hippies in episode five, which also features Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) as a young FBI agent.  Ellen Barkin (Diner, Tender Mercies) and Tim Meadows (SNL) are amazing in episode six as the stars of a long-running sitcom who hate one another.  Jameela Jamil (The Good Place) also pops up in that episode, and Tim Blake Nelson (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Watchmen, Nightmare Alley) is a hoot in episode seven as a race-car driver.  Things kick into an even higher gear in episode eight, which stars Nick Nolte (48 Hrs., Affliction, Tropic Thunder) as an aging stop-motion animator (based on legendary ILM animator Phil Tippett), and Cherry Jones (The West Wing, 24) as the successful Hollywood producer tied to a tragedy in his past.  Watching those two go at it was amazing!  That episode also features Luis Guzmán (Carlito’s Way, Out of Sight, The Limey) and Tim Russ (Tuvok from Star Trek: Voyager).  Rian Johnson’s long-time collaborator Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Looper, Inception, The Trial of the Chicago 7) is terrific in episode nine as a wealthy scum-bag trying to cover up his past mistakes; Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once) is also wonderful in that episode, playing a vagabond con-woman.  The season comes to a spectacular close in episode ten with Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Cronos, Pacific Rim) starring as a powerful man with a grudge against Charlie, and Clea DuVall (Veep, Argo) as Charlie’s sister.

What an array of performers that is!  And I’ve just barely scratched the surface.  There are a lot of fantastic lesser-known names featured throughout the show as well.  In an anothology series in which we’re meeting new characters each week, it’s important that these new characters be interesting and fun.  Poker Face accomplishes this skillfully, and makes it look easy.

The series is well-written and beautifully directed.  Each week it has the look and feel of a movie.  And that’s not just because of the retro movie-style credits — which I love!! — that open each episode.  There’s a scope and scale to the show that I found very impressive.  They do a beautiful job of creating a fully fleshed-out new world for each episode, whether it be a big-tented Texas BBQ joint, a retirement home, a dinner theater, or a motel in the middle of a blizzard.  There’s no laziness in the direction of any of these episodes; each one is filled with beautiful and interesting shots.  (I thought star Natasha Lyonne did a particularly terrific job directing episode eight, “The Orpheus Syndrome.”)

I loved all ten of these episodes.  I’d thought that “The Orpheus Syndrome” would for sure be my favorite episode of the season.  That episode had extraordinary guest-stars (I can’t believe Nick Nolte did this TV show!!), and it not only depicted a geek-pleasing love of old-style movie visual effects and stop-motion animation, referencing the story of how the digital revolution sparked by Jurassic Park pretty much ended the careers of a huge number of old-school visual effects artists, and combined that with the awful true story of the tragic death of Natalie Wood, who was in the middle of shooting the movie Brainstorm that was being directed by visual effects legend Douglas Trumbull.  That confluence of deep-cut geeky references felt tailor-made for me.  But then along came episode nine, “Escape From Shit Mountain.”  I was in love right away with the amazing montage of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character’s routine while under what we later discover is house arrest.  But then the episode turned into the tensest, most horrific episode of the season yet.  (It reminded me — and this is a huge compliment — of Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight.)  That episode was riveting from start to finish.

But again, truly, I loved all ten of these episodes.  This season was done far too soon!!  I am hooked, and I can’t wait for lots more.

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