Our take
From the very start, Poker Face lays out all its cards—it shows us who dies and in the hands of whom. That is how an episode always opens, but in each case, we’re in a different corner of rural America, bumping elbows with different folks. That’s because our unwitting detective, the human lie detector Charlie (Natasha Lyonne) is on the run from a crime syndicate. So with nothing but her trusty car and the clothes on her back, she races through the US while making friends and enemies along the way.
There is a pattern to the story, but the thrill lies not in seeing when Charlie inevitably solves the case but in how she does it, which is full of heart and wry humor. Lyonne is absolutely magnetic, and her performance is only one of the show’s many hit-making elements. With a star-studded cast, beautiful Americana backdrop, and masterful editing (whose camerawork and coloring recall the show it references, Columbo), Poker Face sure is a trip to watch.
The story
Follow Charlie Cale, a woman with an extraordinary ability to tell when someone is lying, as she hits the road and, at every stop, encounters a new cast of characters and crimes she can't help but solve.
Elsewhere
"A comforting, smart return to an older form of television..."
— Annie Berke
"Each episode may be its own snarl of violence and greed, but Poker Face knows itself, and it gives viewers exactly what it has promised: a criminal, a detective, a crime, and a solution."
— Kathryn VanArendonk
The details
Streaming arrival
Who picked it
Renee Cuisia is the lead curator at A Good Movie to Watch. In her spare time, she likes to watch K-dramas and analyze them to death. She's also seen You've Got Mail one too many times but is still convinced it's one of the greatest films out there.
