Poker Face review: a charming ode to a bygone TV era - Digital Trends

Poker Face wears its influences connected its sleeve. From its “howcatchem” episodic operation to adjacent its placement connected NBC’s streaming service, the caller series’ emotion of classical detective shows similar Columbo is wide from the infinitesimal it begins. While determination is 1 ongoing subplot that loosely connects its episodes together, Poker Face adjacent bucks against the wide serialization of our current, prestige TV epoch by opening with a batch of installments that, for the astir part, tin beryllium watched successful immoderate bid the spectator decides.

For some, Poker Face’s effort to revitalize its classical TV look whitethorn lone marque the bid look much antiquated or, adjacent worse, disposable. Poker Face wasn’t made for those viewers, though. Together, creator Rian Johnson and prima Natasha Lyonne person crafted a straightforward emotion missive to classical TV thrillers similar Columbo, Murder, She Wrote, and The Fugitive that’s not lone unabashed successful its affection for those titles, but perfectly contented to unrecorded successful their shadow. Much similar Johnson’s Knives Out films, Poker Face besides rapidly emerges arsenic the uncommon emotion missive that manages to basal connected its own.

Karolina Wojtasik/Peacock

Johnson, who wrote Poker Face’s premiere and directed its archetypal 2 episodes, knows that nary detective amusement tin enactment without a large sleuth astatine the halfway of it. While she’s by nary means the benignant of no-frills constabulary detective that viewers whitethorn expect, Charlie Cale (Lyonne) fills the show’s cardinal relation with deceptive ease. Born with the unsocial quality to instinctually cognize whenever idiosyncratic has told a lie, Charlie is an inherent thorn successful the broadside of anyone who makes the mistake of trying to perpetrate a transgression successful her presence.

The series’ patiently paced premiere, which counts actors similar Adrien Brody, Benjamin Bratt, and Dascha Polanco among its impermanent stars, efficaciously establishes Charlie’s unsocial quality and relentlessly inquisitive nature. The events of the occurrence spot her postgraduate from a casino cocktail miss to a pistillate connected the run, which is the crook that provides Poker Face’s archetypal play with its roadworthy travel format. The series’ consequent episodes each travel Charlie arsenic she nabs unusual jobs successful antithetic American tiny towns lone to inevitably get caught up successful her ain backstage investigations into assorted section murders.

This format provides Poker Face with a tiny dose of prestige TV-esque serialization and opens the doorway for the bid to diagnostic astatine slightest 10 antithetic locations and adjacent much noteworthy impermanent stars. Brody, for his part, brings a dash of slimy movie prima authorization to the series’ premiere, portion actors similar Lil Rel Howery, Chloë Sevigny, Simon Helberg, Colton Ryan, and others each amusement up for akin impermanent parts passim the 5 episodes that follow. Among the show’s impermanent stars, Hong Chau makes a peculiarly lasting content arsenic an unfiltered motortruck operator successful the series’ 2nd installment, portion S. Epatha Merkerson and Judith Light crook successful 2 memorable, comedic performances successful 1 Lucky McKee-directed, nursing home-set thrill ride.

Sara Shatz/Peacock

Poker Face’s agelong database of impermanent stars does occasionally effect successful it making the aforesaid mistake that truthful galore past TV execution mysteries have. Of the series’ archetypal six episodes, which were the lone installments that were provided aboriginal to critics, the slightest effectual invariably beryllium to beryllium those which prioritize their impermanent stars implicit Lyonne’s Charlie. That’s the lawsuit during the series’ Ellen Barkin and Tim Meadows-led installment, which casts the 2 seasoned performers arsenic a brace of vain erstwhile TV co-stars and lovers.

The oddball installment is directed with sizeable benignant by High Maintenance’s Ben Sinclair, but its aggravated absorption connected its impermanent stars leaves Charlie’s inevitable probe successful the episode’s 2nd fractional feeling disappointingly rushed. Fortunately, that’s a flaw astir of Poker Face’s archetypal six episodes negociate to avoid. The archetypal play volition person a full of 10 episodes.

In classical Columbo fashion, each Poker Face occurrence opens with a murder, and it’s lone aft said transgression has been committed that Lyonne’s Charlie shows up again. Nonetheless, astir of Poker Face’s opening installments inactive find the cleanable equilibrium betwixt the series’ impermanent stars and the kindhearted, unofficial detective who connects them each together. Even successful its weaker episodes, watching Lyonne’s Charlie dilatory but surely deconstruct the details of Poker Face’s assorted crimes is simply a pleasance that ne'er lessens oregon wanes.

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Poker Face’s infectious charm is partially the effect of conscionable however well-suited Lyonne is for her relation arsenic Charlie. The quality is written successful specified a mode that it’s intolerable to ideate anyone playing her amended than Lyonne. Charlie’s assorted eccentricities, arsenic good arsenic her unbending pursuit of justice, acceptable Lyonne astir arsenic good arsenic Columbo’s tan raincoat acceptable Peter Falk. Lyonne adjacent gives a mumbly, endlessly questioning show arsenic Charlie that lone makes her consciousness adjacent much similar a worthy spiritual successor to Falk’s iconic TV detective.

Of course, dissimilar Columbo, Charlie Cale is not an existent detective, which means that she often has to edifice to much originative means of uncovering justness than her TV predecessor. Poker Face, thankfully, manages to works the seeds for its inevitable conclusions astir arsenic seamlessly arsenic 1 would hope. The series’ puzzle-box scripts each look to delight arsenic successful their moments of cleverness and absurdity, which lone helps Poker Face’s episodes further lucifer the lighthearted yet measured aesthetic that Rian Johnson and cinematographer Steve Yedlin make unneurotic successful its premiere.

Even erstwhile Johnson steps distant and lets filmmakers similar McKee, Ben Sinclair, and Iain B. MacDonald instrumentality implicit for him, Poker Face’s archetypal six episodes don’t deviate overmuch from its initial, sun-burnt colour palette. The series, consequently, looks purposefully akin to immoderate of Johnson’s erstwhile films — namely, The Brothers Bloom and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Its cinematic benignant lone helps it basal retired further from the remainder of TV’s existent offerings, arsenic does its adherence to its classical detective amusement formula, which offers pleasures that present consciousness acquainted yet forgotten.

Anyone who has seen an occurrence of Columbo volition cognize what they’re getting into with Poker Face, but Johnson and Lyonne are alert of that fact. They also, adjacent much vitally, cognize that determination aren’t immoderate different TV shows connected the aerial close present that are designed to connection the benignant of acquisition Columbo erstwhile did. Poker Face sets retired to alteration that, and it does truthful portion marching to the bushed of its ain charmingly anachronistic drum.

Poker Face premieres Thursday, January 26 connected Peacock. Digital Trends was fixed aboriginal entree to the series’ archetypal six episodes.

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