The Peacock mystery series Poker Face began as the manifestation of a dream first dreamt in 2020, when Natasha Lyonne co-signed someone’s suggestion that she get to lead a Columbo remake. “I’ll fight Ruffalo for it if I have to. Me and you, after class, Warriors style for Columbo,” Lyonne wrote on Twitter then. Five years later, she’s starring in her own Columbo-inspired drama — which has done a remarkable job of finding its own voice in Season 2.
Created by Rian Johnson, with Tony Tost serving as showrunner for Season 2, Poker Face remains in many ways true to its inspiration point: Each episode begins with the committing of a crime (usually along the lines of murder), before bringing in Lyonne’s Charlie Cale, a cheerful vagabond with the uncanny ability to detect any lie and the tragic inability to walk away from injustice.
Season 1 featured Charlie stumbling across crimes while road-tripping around the United States, in an attempt to elude the mob she pissed off at the beginning of the series. Without getting into spoilers for Season 2, that storyline continues for a few episodes before shifting into a different gear, one which costs the show a little bit of momentum, but has the benefit of focusing the audience’s attention on the latest crime.
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Season 2, while still largely adhering to the format established in Season 1, never feels totally beholden to its established structure, in ways that create surprise on a regular basis. There’s even an episode where there’s no murder victim — not a human one, anyway. One thing remains consistent: Much of the joy of a Poker Face episode (ten of which were provided for review) is finding out how Charlie fits into whatever tale is unfolding. That joy, though, comes secondary to the rush of the opening credits, which reveal who’s caught up in this particular crime story.
The guest cast list for this season includes Cynthia Ervio, Kumail Nanjiani, Giancarlo Esposito, Richard Kind, John Mulaney, John Cho, Adrienne C. Moore, Alia Shawkat, Awkwafina, Ben Marshall, B.J. Novak, Carol Kane, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Corey Hawkins, David Alan Grier, David Krumholtz, Davionte “GaTa” Ganter, Ego Nwodim, Gaby Hoffmann, Geraldine Viswanathan, Haley Joel Osment, Jason Ritter, Justin Theroux, Kathrine Narducci, Katie Holmes, Kevin Corrigan, Lauren Tom, Lili Taylor, Margo Martindale, Melanie Lynskey, Natasha Leggero, Patti Harrison, Rhea Perlman, Sam Richardson, Sherry Cola, Simon Helberg, Simon Rex, and Taylor Schilling.
That’s not even everyone! Not listed above is Steve Buscemi as “Good Buddy,” a CB radio friend Charlie keeps up with over the course of the season. (I am simultaneously old enough to vaguely understand what a CB radio is and not old enough to explain it properly, but that’s what Wikipedia is for.) A significant majority of these actors have some past connection with Lyonne (who, as a working actress for most of her life, seems to know everyone) — and come together here in unexpected and delightful ways. Krumholtz and Martindale! Lynskey and Cho! Holmes and Esposito!
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None of this is stunt casting, to be clear, as every guest star slips into a role that might be unexpected, but fits naturally into the story being told. That ends up being a huge factor in what elevates Poker Face as a series: This show is so good at crafting unique yet relatable characters, played by some of today’s finest working actors. We get to know so many of these characters so well in such a short period of time, from their hopes and ambitions to their relationships with those they love. Which means that when tragedy or foul play strikes, it has an emotional impact beyond what you might feel watching your typical episode of Law & Order
While Poker Face competes at the Emmys as a comedy, there’s an underlying sorrow to every episode, as the show explores the misery humans inflict on each other in the name of greed or rage or fear. While it’s of course sad when something bad happens to someone good, it’s somehow even sadder when someone good finds themselves doing the bad thing: The tragedy of likable people making poor choices. Because they always end up paying the price, because Charlie’s moral compass (and by extension, Poker Face‘s) never fails. Even when Charlie really wishes it would, so she could find some peace.
It’s all so thoughtfully written and executed, at times to the point of devastation, though Charlie remains the show’s emotional anchor, keeping the audience from drifting into despair. So much of this show works simply because we just like Charlie — and can see why other people like and trust her in a relatively short amount of time. It’s a perfect encapsulation of Lyonne’s talents, and Season 2 also sees her more involved creatively, directing two episodes and co-writing one.
At the Winter 2023 TCA press tour, Johnson and Lyonne both said that they’d love to keep making Poker Face, noting that “There are infinite stories to tell.” It’s a real pleasure to say that after watching the bulk of Season 2, it feels like creatively that’s very much within their grasp. And television in general will be better for it — because it’s important to have a crime show that never once forgets, in even the silliest of scenarios, that murderers and victims aren’t just plot devices. They’re people.
Poker Face Season 2 premieres May 8th with three episodes, followed by new episodes every Thursday.
