Poker Face (2023)

Poker Face‘s three-episode season-two premiere is a little like a speedrun through everything that worked so well in season one, with each installment serving as a handy reminder of why fans dig this series.

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.

Season 2 also excels in its world-building across all episodes, each having its own distinctive settings, memorable characters, and various conflicts leading to murder.

You may want Charlie to stay on her summer road trip forever, and she just might. For now, it is enough that the show gives us 10 superb reasons to sit with it, appreciating how sturdy some entertainment styles and mechanics that worked decades ago remain even now, when the right hands are on the wheel.

The same old, same old, in absolutely brilliant packaging.

Even the scenarios themselves are wonderfully detailed and colorful. Cynthia Erivo is the standout of the season. .... “Poker Face” isn’t going for anything deep. And yet it’s still filled with sardonic commentary all the same.

Despite the grizzly murder of it all — and some of the murders are quite gnarly this time — there’s a hilarious breeziness to it all that makes “Poker Face” so good.

What’s supposed to happen in a sophomore season is that we deep-dive into Charlie’s backstory, maybe get a flashback episode to unpick her childhood trauma or meet her wacky parents. Poker Face doesn’t do that and is all the better for it.

With Season 2, “Poker Face” proves it can consistently deliver a fresh batch of delightful capers while pushing gently at the boundaries of its distinct, defined world.

Poker Face sometimes indulges itself in the cult of personality of its guest murderers and Charlie’s BS detector skills at the sacrifice of making a more intricate case for her to solve. But Lyonne always puts in a winning performance and the guest killers are fun to watch, which is why mystery nerds like us don’t get frustrated watching the series.

What is new is how Poker Face decenters Charlie so its villains can shine. In this more episodic second season, Poker Face’s baddies are a stacked deck.

It isn’t as innovative as the first season — how could it be, once you know the formula? But it’s consistently entertaining, and Natasha Lyonne remains great.

If the impressive highs of Season 2 are anything to go by, Poker Face could easily go on for ten more seasons and just get better each time. (No lies detected.)

Poker Face never dodges reality (and how could it, given its premise?), but it never stumbles under its own weight either. This show is irreverent fun with a big moral heart and a very human sense of chaos and jeopardy, and it never forgets to give us what we need.

Driven by a magnetic performance from Natasha Lyonne, clever writing, and a laundry list of comedic guest stars, season 2 of the howcatchem isn’t prestige TV, but it should definitely be on your watch list.

The main draw is the larger-than-life guest characters and their cartoonish criminal exploits, starring a string of beloved actors who calibrate their performances for maximum whimsy.

The formula requires a certain amount of repetition, just as the audience demands a new mystery each week. When episodes rely on people to bring them to life — be it famous guest stars, well-realized characters, life-affirming arcs, or all of the above — they’re that much easier to enjoy. For the most part, “Poker Face” Season 2 is quite easy to enjoy.

Lyonne and Johnson make for a formidable pair even as the series suffers something of a sophomore slump (a minor one) as it seeks to redefine its tone for something a little lighter in tone to match the manic, madcap energy of its star.

Some episodes are light-hearted and utterly ridiculous romps to a fault, while others occasionally feel a little too clever for their own good. Every single one, however, delivers something we simply can't take for granted anymore. With each self-contained adventure and brazenly premeditated murder, "Poker Face" stands out as an oasis in a streaming desert.

In season 2 she’s less often in peril, and most of the murderers and their victims are played by familiar faces. This turns out to be a blessing and a curse.

Even though it all feels a little slighter than that first season, there’s enough juice in this basic concept to run for a while—especially if it downplays the bullshit meter. Poker Face’s second season is less a modern Columbo than a hipster Elsbeth.

Some bumps in the road keep Poker Face Season 2 from being a bonafide home run like Season 1. That being said, the consistently great directing and writing, along with Lyonne's performance and charisma, still make this show a ride worth taking.

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.

Despite the variety of settings – a gym, a baseball stadium, a cabaret theatre, a police awards ceremony – and a multitude of high-profile guests (among them Katie Holmes, Awkwafina, John Mulaney, Melanie Lynskey, Steve Buscemi and Alia Shawkat, enjoying herself immensely), the mechanics can feel repetitive.