I love procedurals. Sure, a lot of the time they’re quite trashy, but they bring me a certain comfort. Just something nice about that structure that I can easily hunker down with and enjoy. But on occasion something comes along that sticks out within the genre…
Ladies, gents, and non-binaries… “Poker Face”.
Living lie detector Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) finds herself traveling the states, on the run from people who want to hurt her. But as she tries to stay one step ahead, she often finds herself helping out random people she meets, using her skills to get to the bottom of a situation. Have you seen “Columbo”? Now take that, mix it with the semi-meta sharpness of “Knives Out”, and you get this show. It’s a procedural, very much borrowing from the structure of the aforementioned “Columbo”, but twisting it a bit akin to the creator’s previous works. And as a fan of both those things, this was very much up my street. I love seeing the setup at the start, and seeing how ol’ Chuck figures out how to prove that the villain of the week is… well that. It follows that familiar formula while also letting the writers and directors still have fun with how they play around with what happens, all while keeping the tension of Charlie’s own journey every looming in the background. So you get that familiar case of the week thing, which in itself tends to be clever, a little tense, and funny, while also having a bit of a ticking clock silently going in the background. Makes the story/ies of this procedural constantly engaging, even if some episodes of course stand above others.
The characters in this are wonderful, layered and written with a slightly self-aware edge without it ever feeling snide or smug. Our protagonist herself is such a good example, often leaning into classic procedural hero tropes while also successfully subverting them and even commenting on them without it feeling too much like a wink. But she’s also kind, supportive, funny as fuck, and can instantly sniff out a liar, so she’s just a delight in the writing department. And Natasha Lyonne is excellent in the role. As for the supporting cast, we don’t *really* get much in terms of recurring, as the show focuses more on a cavalcade of guest stars. What a list though. Benjamin Bratt, Adrien Brody, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Hong Chau, Ellen Barkin, Lil Rel Howery, just to name a few. It’s a colorful list of character actors, and everyone brings their A-game, marvelously playing interesting characters.
The score for the show was composed by Nathan Johnson and Judson Crane and it was solid. A nice mix of classic thriller stings and droning, with a few minor western and bluegrass influences. Charlie’s theme in particular is this jaunty, yet also melancholy banjo tune that really leans on those things I mentioned, and it’s arguably the best bit of music in the show. There’s also a few licensed songs used throughout and they work pretty well in their respective scenes.
“Poker Face” was developed by Rian Johnson, with writing and directing by him and various other cool people. And I love how this show is crafted, just perfectly balancing serenity, suspense, and snappiness. Each and every person directing the show manages to perfectly deliver whatever mood is needed, while never letting any moment overstay its welcome. And as this is a bit of a mystery show, they do such a brilliant job with what to show/hide and how to reveal it. It’s just beautifully crafted.
This show/season has been quite well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 98% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 84/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7.9/10.
Season 1 of “Poker Face” makes what’s familiar feel new and delivers on 10 episodes of procedural goodness. It has a great story, great characters, fantastic performances, really good music, and great directing/writing. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for season 1 of “Poker Face” is a 9.45/10. So it gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.
My review of “Poker Face” season 1 is now completed.
Puh puh puh Poker Face, puh puh Poker Face.
TheMarckoguy 
I have never even heard of this, Markus. I wasn’t a fan of Columbo though, as we always knew who had done the crime, and just had to sit watching the detective work it out.
Best wishes, Pete.
Good review! (Now I’m going to be humming Lady Gaga’s Poker Face this afternoon…)