Poker Face (2023)

A cut above the best. ... You need a consistent and entertaining center to keep things grounded and Lyonne’s shrugging-charismatic performance is as deft as they come.

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

They've eliminated violence, or tamped it down, to get back to a kinder, gentler, "Murder, She Wrote" era — one abetted with a savage wit, and hard stop to each episode. Nice to be back there again. ... As always, Lyonne is great and her new show a winner.

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 “Russian Doll” star is the perfect fit for this successful crime drama which mixes murder and comedy to great effect.

Rian Johnson’s appreciation for serialized stories where the villains get their comeuppance in the end is well-served in this irresistible Peacock series that’s as funny as it is sharp.

“Poker Face” plays a pretty small-stakes game. That might well add up to a winner by Peacock’s standards, but it isn’t worth going “All in” on it just yet.

If you liked Knives Out, you'll almost certainly enjoy Poker Face. Rian Johnson is known for breaking the rules and subverting expectations, and this show is no exception. Instead of a whodunnit plot typical of murder mysteries, the audiences witness the murder in the first 10 minutes of almost every episode, and the mystery lies in how the main character figures out the crime and exposes the murderer. Natasha Lyonne is wonderfully charismatic as Charlie Cale, who constantly has to use her wits to solve crimes and, when the stakes are high, survive. Like all great murder mysteries, the series is full of twists and turns, and there's a good mix of shocking and hilarious moments. What's most impressive is that all the episodes are good, and a few of them are great. I'm looking forward for season 2. (Or Knives Out 3, whichever comes first!)

Quirky show. Lead actress takes some getting used to, but ok. Plots are kind of thin sometimes but ok other times. A Columbo structure (we know who did it up front) while she solves the crime. Kind of stupid that she puts herself in danger each show and escapes with great luck. We'd rate it "give it a try and you may like it."

Reminds me of the old Ellery Queen show where they gave you the clues and Jim Hutton would break the fourth wall and ask, “Have you solved it yet?” In this case they drop a heavy-handed, non sequitur clue you can only miss if not paying attention. Kind of takes the fun out of the detection part! The lead is quirky, but she’s not compelling. Good actors helped the premier.

Note: The final episode ends with a gigantic logic flaw that shows just how bad the writers of this show are. After watching the ;last episode, ask yourself how did the killer beat Charlie to the house, kill everyone silently (the target and the heavily armed protection) without making a sound or her noticing and then call out to her as a distraction. Did Charlie stop for ice-cream between going from the front door of the house to the back?

Somebody else here wrote that it started off promising and then faded quickly. I agree with that. In addition, in an early episode, she's listening to the radio where they have a conservative talk show host say something no one would ever say, just so they could make a political statement. Really? See ya...