Poker Face

Another show we have been surprised to enjoy is Poker Face. Created by Rian Johnson, whose first Knives Out film we thoroughly enjoyed, Poker Face is based on Columbo. Thus, the viewer knows who the killer is so the fun of the case is watching Charlie Cale uncover the truth and prove the killer did the crime. As one can likely guess, this formula gets repetitive quite quickly. There is an overarching story for the first season, which features some brilliant guest stars and interesting mysteries. The cases involve a mix of well-executed and planned murders with the spontaneous or accidental. Nonetheless, the culprits usually try to get away with their crimes until Charlie, who is on the move either to escape her pursuers or searching for the "answers" (even a bunch of 8 year olds didn't have those!), uses her ability to detect when someone is lying. With said ability, Charlie begins to investigate cases in a variety of different locales, sometimes using access to the scene or area of a murder through a job or gig that puts her in proximity to the murder. Like Ran, Shinichi/Conan, and Kogoro of Detective Conan, murder happens everywhere Charlie goes. The only part of the show that began to drag was in the second season, when the writers quickly dropped Rhea Perlman's character pursuing Charlie. That sparked Charlie's philosophical search for the meaning of it all while engaging in conversation with a character voiced by Steve Buscemi. With these two, and even before Buscemi's character appeared, Charlie has a number of hilarious one-liners, quips, observations, and commentaries on life. 

The show even did well to avoid most of the obnoxious, boring liberal satire of Rian Johnson's whodunit films, although season 2 veered too close to that quagmire. That said, the MAGA dog in season 1 was a hoot and a holler. With season 3 likely returning at least somewhat to the format of the first season, we can only hope that the writers continue to play with the forumal and bring in more great actors to guest star. Giancarlo Esposito, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cynthia Erivo, Alia Shawkat, and a plethora of other great actors made Poker Face more exhilarating than many Columbo episodes ever were. Even Simon Helberg, an actor from Big Bang Theory we never liked, was amazing as a bumbling FBI agent. It's only a shame that Rhea Perlman was not used more. Anyway, the third season is set up for some great episodes featuring the return of recurring characters like the FBI agent, an acquantance of Charlie's from her days in New York City and Good Buddy...