This post contains spoilers for the first three episodes of Poker Face Season Two, now streaming on Peacock.
The first season of Poker Face had a fairly straightforward premise and structure. Each week, Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie Cale would drive into a new locale, discover that a murder had taken place, and solve it using her uncanny ability to recognize when people are lying. And then, because she was on the run from vengeful mobster Sterling Frost (Ron Perlman), she had to quickly move onto a new town.
The season finale killed off Frost, but then introduced a new vengeful mobster in Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman, no relation to Ron), and it seemed as if the series would continue indefinitely with Charlie perpetually being chased by one bad guy or another.
Well, so much for that. In the new season’s third episode, Charlie helps Beatrix solve the murder of her husband Jeffrey (Richard Kind) by crooked FBI agent Danny (John Mulaney), and in return, Beatrix agrees to call off the hit. Charlie is safe, and free to stop wandering. But rather than move back to Reno, where she was living when the series started, or going to Atlantic City to reconcile with her estranged sister, the episode ends with her looking at a road map of America and putting her finger down on it blindly, picking a new destination at random. And the “This season, on Poker Face” trailer that follows shows Charlie in a variety of locales across the country.
Why, after all of the trouble Poker Face creator Rian Johnson and company went to in order to keep Charlie a fugitive, would they end the Hasp threat so quickly? And how does the show function if she has no need to keep running? Rolling Stone spoke with Johnson last month to get the no bullshit explanation for it all.
Why did you decide to end the idea of Charlie being a fugitive?
Part of it was me feeling exhausted at the notion of repeating Season One, and slipping into a rut and feeling like every season was chase, chase, chase, and the finale was a mob boss episode. But it was also me feeling, when we sat down in the room, that I really wanted to define both for the writing staff and also for the audience, bring this back to being an episodic show, and make sure the emphasis is on that. We took away the external threat for Charlie, so that every episode is her landing in a place and maybe being a little more introspective about, “Why do I keep moving?” Or, “Could I see myself being here?” It gave us more ammunition for her to form these relationships that are the things that pull her into these crimes. There were a lot of different reasons for it, but it felt natural, and once we committed to it, I was really happy we did.
Lyonne with John Mulaney in Poker Face.
PEACOCK
While she was on the run, Charlie couldn’t call the cops for help, couldn’t have a phone, or any of the other methods that most mystery shows heroes can employ when they get in trouble. How did giving her access to these things change the storytelling?
Those new freedoms that she had, I found they didn’t fundamentally break the show. There are some things, like cell phones in horror movies, that suddenly become obstacles to the dynamic of what makes something work. I felt we had established the character as kind of a lone wolf, she’s not the type who’s going to really get in there and start collaborating with law enforcement or science. I felt like there were enough ground rules for her as a character, and we were on solid enough ground that we could cut her loose from some of those restrictions and keep ourselves honest in terms of what makes the show actually tick.
When we spoke before the first season, you and Natasha both said you’d love to keep this show going for as long as possible. Do you still feel that way after making another season?
I don’t know, man. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older. I’m really proud of this season, let’s put it out there and see how it goes. Let’s see how we’re feeling when those conversations start happening. But I know that there’s nothing about the experience that makes me want to stop doing it.
Having made 10 episodes of the show already, was it easier or harder to do this time?
Harder! It keeps getting harder. It should get easier the more that you do it, but it’s harder. Also, we did 12 episodes this time as opposed to 10. It leaves me more in the awe of network shows who turn out twentysomething episodes of a season. Even doing 12 episodes instead of 10 from last season felt like running two marathons instead of one. It’s a beast, man. TV is hard, but it’s fun.
As someone who’s been loudly advocating for the return of longer TV seasons, I want to thank you for doing two extra.
[Laughs.] You come and do it!
OK, fine. I will run Season Three of Poker Face. You’re welcome.
