Vagabond sleuth Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) may have the ability to spot any lie, but almost as uncanny is her way of entangling herself in the lives of strangers who just happen to turn up dead. We witness a murder play out in the opening third of each episode of Poker Face and then flash back to see everything from a different perspective, in the process learning how Charlie was enmeshed in the events that took place. But while the corpses continue to pile up in season two, the series leans more into comedy than drama, following even sillier characters (played by Giancarlo Esposito, Katie Holmes, John Cho, John Mulaney, Rhea Perlman, and Sam Richardson, among others) and more heightened predicaments.
There was a light-hearted undercurrent to the first season that, when contrasted with Lyonne’s larger-than-life screen persona, lent Poker Face a certain friction. But the new season’s opener, “The Game Is a Foot,” establishes a broader tone, leaning into overt comedy and gimmicks like the casting of Cynthia Erivo in no less than six separate roles. Elsewhere, “Sloppy Joseph,” finds Charlie facing off against a precociously sinister schoolgirl (Eva Jade Halford), while “The Taste of Human Blood” features Kumail Nanjiani dressed up like Dog the Bounty Hunter.
The north star of the series remains Columbo (a favorite of creator Rian Johnson), which is evident down to the yellow font in the opening credits. But season two’s more comedic inclinations allow Poker Face to further distinguish itself from the Peter Falk-starring drama, as the series shows more of an interest in the eccentric little worlds of each new episode than how the murders that split those worlds wide open are solved.
Matters of tone aside, the shortcomings of Poker Face’s particular take on the case-of-the-week format haven’t quite been solved. Several of the episodes still show us too much too early, which makes Charlie’s sleuthing feel perfunctory as we wait for her to connect information that we’re already well aware of. In favoring a more comedic style, these problems have merely been slyly de-emphasized. And yet, even an underwhelming mystery never totally sinks an episode, as so much of the fun of Poker Face is discovering the colorful context surrounding it.
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