Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / Peacock
Whenever Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie Cale stumbles onto a crime scene in Poker Face, we know she’s going to crack the case. A preternaturally gifted “human bullshit detector” who can instantly tell when someone is lying, Charlie is not your usual hard-nosed, badge-toting detective. She’s on the run from a knee-breaking gambling empresario who used to be an ally, and her booted feet spend a lot of time in her mouth. Honestly? Thank God for that.
Poker Face might be a procedural that thoroughly loves Columbo, but unlike most modern takes on the form (and the original Columbo), the Peacock series does not center on law enforcement or any official agency. (Peacock’s owner, NBC, already has plenty of that from Dick Wolf.) Our most significant police interaction so far in Poker Face has been with Simon Helberg’s FBI agent, who showed up for one episode that involved the witness protection program.
Poker Face’s relative lack of police presence, combined with Lyonne’s quietly, reluctantly emotional performance, gives the show a more tender feel than your average cop drama. Charlie’s vulnerability as an untrained, unprotected clue-follower opens the door to more human explorations of justice. At times, her solutions border on poetic.