You could say that Charlie is the detective character updated for the current generation living in the casual-employment/gig-work/side-hustle economy. Rather than being a crime buster straight out of the gate, she is going to have to learn as she goes without much support. By default she wants to ignore people's lies and manipulations and avoid involvement, but she is torn by the impulse to keep poking her nose where it is not welcome because something just doesn't feel right. It makes it harder for writers to insert high stakes into her stories, but it does make her more relatable. accept this situation.': her bemused reaction to waking up somewhere unexpected.Ī low-expectations attitude to her abilities and to looming threats make her an exception to the variously committed and well-resourced law-enforcement and P.I. She gets the best moments in the episodes viewed: an excited off-screen reaction to a luxurious private chamber and a charming delivery of the line, 'I'm gonna. This show is a great vehicle for Natasha Lyonne's anti-glamorous screen persona as a bed-headed working-class day-drinker. If anything, POKER FACE is more distinguished by how Charlie's amateur investigator status lends dramatic weight to her personal confrontations with perpetrators. These lean engaging and clear mystery/crime storytelling that is still pretty conventional. They presumably have to focus more on establishing the character and the series' plot arc. However, that isn’t strongly evident in the openering stories. That ability gets less focus in the initial episodes than one might expect, and is downplayed by Charlie herself as a source of frustration and confusion.I expect from Rian Johnston's past screenwriting that POKER FACE will eventually mine the premise for clever twists and payoffs. The nominal hook for the series is Charlie's seemingly infallible gift for smelling out intentionally deceptive utterances.

She keeps stumbling into obstacles or solutions without knowing how or if she can master or learn from the experience. Like Columbo she is usually an apologetic and unthreatening interrogator, but unlike Columbo you know that sometimes she is not just PLAYING dumb.

Charlie then hits the road, but finds herself poking around the apparent wrongful arrest of a helpful trucker she meets at a remote rest stop.Ĭharlie is played by Natasha Lyonne as a Columbo-type sleuth who is also a self-described dumbass. (Ep 1 'Dead Man's Hand' + Ep 2 'The Night Shift')Ī waitress named Charlie with a gift for detecting deception gets recruited by a casino boss to exploit a high-roller's poker game, while she deals with her friend's violent murder.

Poker face show cast