Truth, Truth, Bullshit: Thread for Poker Face (aka Rian Johnson & Natasha Lyonne Do Columbo)

https://mlpnk72yciwc.i.optimole.com/cqhiHLc.IIZS~2ef73/w:auto/h:auto/q:75/https://bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Poker-Face-_-TCA-Exclusive-Look-1-13-screenshot.jpg

^^^ me irl

This show is great & if any of you nerds come here to say it was boring I’ll punch you in the dick

jk jk say whatever you like

first 4 eps now streaming on Peacock

No, punch them in the dick, because this fucking rules.

the barracuda!
the trailer!
the pyjamas & bathrobe!

am only 1 ep in but i think i am in tv heaven

also adrien brody is excellent when he plays “smooth-seeming dirtbag”

Bummed that RJ BFF Noah Segan is only in ep 1 and not like playing a different character in every episode

Otherwise episode 1 was a good time I will watch more of this show

Hey maybe he IS a different character in each episode, you never know. (I know the next three are up but I’ll get to them soon enough.)

adrien brody is excellent when he plays “smooth-seeming dirtbag”

I felt like Adrien Brody was playing James Caan.

Fun show. I’ll watch more.

We watched episode one which was fun, then decided to watch Columbo which neither of us had ever seen, and when the credits rolled and I saw the episode had been directed by Spielberg I screamed and freaked my girlfriend out.

First episode was fun, some of it looked like crap (and not in a grimy '70s homage way but lazy video lighting - thinking of some of the shots of Brody), hope episode 2 is even better without having to explain her backstory.

episode 2 is great

the show is solidly murder-of-the-week territory, minimal story arc episode to episode

its so funny/great that a format that was beaten like a dead horse for so long comes back around & is actually refreshing

there’s some great camera work too

AND

normal-ass looking people. no super beautiful white teeth shiny hair
charlie’s got split ends, this guy’s a dirty sweaty mess, that guy’s hella weird, she’s got too much makeup for a day job, she looks washed out. i mean sure brody, bratt, they’re handsome dudes but they still fit in this world. everyone has a slight sheen of sweat.

the casting, extras, walkons, minor characters, really interesting faces & vibes

this aspect alone is a joy to me

All true. And great examples of rough and easy camaraderie throughout episode 2. (And spectacular casting as well.)

the dude that startles her outside the subway looked SO great

This didn't click with me until the third episode and I think I realize why: it's Johnson's directorial style. Something too goofy about it for me - like everything needs to come across as clever down to the edits. Once I got to #3 I was able to enjoy the proceedings without this sort of - for me - grating archness. PS I love fun!

Lyonne is great in this btw.

this is the new 'it' show isn't it. can't wait to hear jibba Jabba about it at the bar

intersection of people into this show and those that order aperol spritzes = 100%

I don’t feel like watching more than one episode at a time because there’s a satiated feeling when each one wraps. I believe this is a good thing.

xpost alfred hasn’t even posted itt yet

I feel like each of the first four episodes was exponentially better than the last, and REST IN METAL was A++, no notes.

this is great, for fucking real!

time for some hyperbole, it's better than Columbo

man that racist dog in ep3 was cute as hell

the gene hackman line made me lol

Episode 3 my fave but 4 was a pip.

ep 3 had it all, even a happy ending for the extremely cute fascist dog!

Do people really subscribe to Peacock? The balkanization of streaming is just so frustrating, I imagine also to the artists involved.

"Great news, everybody! We've been picked up!"

"Cool, where are we streaming?"

"Peacock!"

...

"Oh. At least it's not Starz."

after we ditched netflix we signed up for peacock, they had a lot of shows + tour de france & affordable

its p decent!

I got a year for $2 a month before Christmas - I liked The Resort so I figured there'd be something else to watch and I set it up at my mom's house so she could watch all the Yellowstone Cinematic Universe stuff.

it's bundled with the flat's internet but the TV doesn't get the app and streaming from a phone has only worked once in two years so I torrent anything I remember I want to watch on it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

No Peacock in Canada, but for once I lucked out: the show is available to stream through a channel (City TV) that is already part of our Bell subscription package (I just found out I can watch Paul T. Goldman, which I'd been wanting to see, on this as well).

as a USian, City TV is famous to me as a channel that pirates would use to upload torrents for shows right after they aired, presumably because it aired things in Atlantic Standard Time, or even earlier

City TV rips sourced soooooo many gifs.

Cool! City TV used to be a great source for old movies (uncensored, though with ad breaks) back in the day as well --I remember seeing things as wildly varied as Hitchcock's Sabotage and The Blue Lagoon on there.

A wise man once told me, “If you want to hurt greedy streaming services, you hit them where it hurts (and still watch their actually quite good sometimes shite!).”

Caught up with 3 and 4, and how perfectly complementary -- 3 is for anyone who ever DJed and needed bathroom breaks, 4 is for the actual bands. (All great, of course.)

I'm extremely down with the formula-as-such that's now clear where you try and figure out how Lyonne fits into the overall scenario before she actually appears on screen. (I mostly guessed 4 just before she appeared.)

I'm pretty into this, yeah. I realized with Russian Doll that I'm just like 100% onboard with watching Natasha Lyonne do whatever her current shtick is pretty much all the time. Give her a talk show, fer cryin' out loud. And the Columbo-esque formula (which avoids being at all slavish) is verra nice.

Uh, did we know that one of our own was going to make quite a sizable appearance in this show? Impressive stuff!

echoing everybody - all four episodes are stellar. massive lol at the bbq guy going vegan after watching okja - reckon bong joon-ho would have appreciated that

great rs feature on the show (+ bonus extended interviews with johnson and lyonne): https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/poker-face-rian-johnson-natasha-lyonne-interview-1234646956/

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/rian-johnson-interview-poker-face-peacock-glass-onion-natasha-lyonne-daniel-craig-mystery-1234659173/

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/natasha-lyonne-poker-face-accent-tripping-acid-new-york-city-rian-johnson-1234659240/

xpost We did! At least on FB and elsewhere. Great to see and some amazing LOL moments.

A little more on that:

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-john-darnielle-ended-up-in-tvs-poker-face/

This one's good too

https://consequence.net/2023/01/john-darnielle-poker-face-interview-mountain-goats-rian-johnson/2/

Definitely enjoyed the first episode, though why anyone would go back to the people they knew had killed their friend just to say 'ha! i screwed you over!' beats me. I like how her, ahem, superpower, is just an explicitly stated version of what i always suspected about columbo - maybe not in so many words but he seemed to figure who the murderer was as soon as he talked to them.

An insignificant continuity error I only spotted because I watched the intro twice trying to get it stream without stuttering from vlc on my phone to the chromecast - when natalie first goes into the presidential suite she leaves the hoover in the middle of the room, when she returns to take the picture it's by the door.

The surprisingly sentient Hoover is the murderer in episode 3 so I assume that was intentional, sorry 2 spoil

Ep 3 recycled the “use a pre recording as live broadcast while I go kill someone” and “not what you hear, but what you don’t hear” gotchas from early season columbo episodes. I liked the first ep but I can see this becoming a bit of a slog

Another great episode tonight — casting was choice and it went unexpected directions!

wonder if it's ever gonna just be a crime and not a murder. Seems crazy that everywhere she goes somebody dies. I know, suspend disbelief etc etc. Also how every single average person is a criminal murder mastermind.

yeah I think last night’s ep was my favorite so far, loved the story & the casting was sooo great

xpost - I mean...that IS Columbo.

New episode might be my fave so far as well. I will say that, between this and The Politician, Judith Light becoming the face of polyamory on television in the current decade was most unexpected.

Oh and one other VERY key great thing: the way that Cliff, knowing full well what Charlie's secret gift is, verrrrrry carefully answered all of her questions and thoughts in the initial bit on the yacht.

My wife and I loved this. Sure it is ridiculous and over the top and full of glaring plot holes but it is just so entertaining. Natasha Lyonne is seismic in it and the glue that holds it all together.

To me it's definitely channeling the 70s rather than an 80s show, more Rockford Files than Murder She Wrote. From the titles to her car, right down to the use of the ultimate 70s cassette recorder in the finale. Brilliant. Roll on S2.

I’m glad they’ve mostly ignored the casino boss revenge plot aside from it giving Lyonne a reason to stay on the road.

I’m calling it now: if “Radar Love” doesn’t accompany the opening scene in season 2, it will at least have prominent placement elsewhere in the season.

That was a pretty disappointing finale.

TSK

yeah sure if you call BURL IVES disappointing

great finale in the classic sense - wrap up an old storyline & kickoff a new one!

clea duvall is truly the best, that scene in the laundryroom was like a SEASON of storyline just in her face

I thought the wrap up of "Charlie jumps in the water to run away... and the whole wanted person on the run plot is wrapped up neatly immediately" was weak, no cool/funny new characters and the 'Charlie you're a fuck up' family drama was pulled from a much crappier show. Charlie being on the run from the cops with one FBI agent who knows she's innocent would have been a better S2 setup IMO.

Thought the finale was a perfect fit for the tone of this show. To add to Ned's list, I really appreciated the last song of the episode.

Both of the song selections in the finale were great. Had to look up that stupid thing Bratt was quoting.

Was more pleased with the finale than I expected to be. Thought it was going to just be sewing up loose ends, but it managed to work in the show's formula as well. Great turn from (Ron) Perlman, as well.

da bratt was so good in this ep

Beat on da Bratt (with a dick ring)

I'm ashamed that I knew what song he was quoting the first time he mentioned the hook, before they cut back to his extended dramatic reading of it.

https://townsquare.media/site/482/files/2021/04/Blues-Traveler-Hook.jpg?w=1200&h=0&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89

also seems on-brand for Cliff to do the most boring/infuriating opposite of yknow, just turning on the damn radio

the scene when Bratt was talking on the phone in the car to Hasp - the way he was staring through the windshield it looked like he was talking to himself & at first i thought he was doing a Michael from Burn Notice monologue
lol i’m a dork

Loooved the callback to the awkward Burn Notice ref from the first episode, I had assumed it was a joke where they didn’t want a character to explicitly compare Charlie to Columbo because that’s too obvious, so they went with a (totally out of left field) comparison to Michael Weston- with the extra layer of Cliff expecting people to recognize the name the way you would expect people to know who Columbo is. But, as it turns out Cliff is just obsessed with watching Burn Notice, so of course that’s his reference point.

also a Hackman / The Conversation callback!

I liked that he appeared to be watching a supercut of Burn Notice that was just a bunch of explosions and shooting

to be fair, that’s what most episodes of Burn Notice are

Last episode was the least interesting IMO but otherwise what a fabulous season.

this has been such a joy

the way she runs up the stairs in her sister's home had me and my partner in stitches

what a character

this just landed on Now in the UK. nice surprise in ep 4!

Recently rewatched over this weekend during a visit home as my mom wanted to see it (and she loved it very much). Absolutely holds up second time through, maybe even funnier at its best.

Funny that one RP gets replaced by another RP in the end. Yuk yuk.

Finally got around to finishing this - it was hard to marathon because I was SO into this and each episode really felt like a mini-movie. Just excellent in all regards. (And wow, the Phil Tippett/Tuvok's Head episode especially good for lots of reasons)

Fucking loved this, best pure joy experience I’ve had watching something in ages. The casting! The styling! The humour! Just a stellar watch, great time and fun as anything. The metal band episode where they ended up getting dinged by children on YouTube? Simply incredible. The two old lady terrorists? I think about this one all the time. The racist dog? Yeah this is a show that succeeds in the broad strokes and details both and is just incredible fun. I need s2 yesterday.

the old terrorist couple ep was fantastic, but it was tragic that she melted so badly!

I was bummed that they chose to make the 60s radicals the villain (though I did enjoy the episode). I don't think the writers meant anything by it, but I dislike how popular imagination/media makes leftists of that era out to be the threat of the decade, when the right was far more effectively violent.

Yeah I agree with you. I thought it was genuinely surprising narratively cos the two were incredibly likeable.

xp calz I knew you’d say that!

not to state the obvious but it’s also a recognizable trope of the shows Poker Face is based on, ie Columbo Rockford etc etc

they turn it on its head somewhat by making her immediately sympathetic to them, like she loves hanging out w them wtc etc

in light of barry newman dying i found an episode of Petrocelli on youtube the other day, which was essential viewing in our house in the mid 70s. it really holds up and made me thnk Natasha Lyonne may have taken one or two notes from it too.

it was funny to see Judith Light as a murdering hippie imo

lighten up hippies

Yes! Also the "confession" song he was playing in the RV.

We have only just got up to here and I couldn't breathe during this.

Finally watched this, so much fine and looks/sounds gorgeous.

I love NL’s characteristic swagger, it’s so distinctive.

Really is!

great show imo, just straight up comfort food in the best way. really enjoyed this from Variety too:

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/poker-face-cliff-hook-lyrics-benjamin-bratt-1235545637/

But when Bratt went through the finale script originally, he wasn’t aware of what Johnson had saddled him with just yet.

“The honest truth is, when I first read it, I said, ‘Wow, what a quirky, brilliant poem Rian has composed for this character. We’re actually learning that this laconic character that we discovered in the pilot is actually quite loquacious. He loves words. Look at him go!'” Bratt said. “And I think it was my second read through and I’m like, ‘I don’t know, there’s something very rhythmic about this. Let me just Google the first four lines and I did that and lo and behold it came up: the song ‘Hook’ by Blues Traveler.”

Hahah hero.

omg

lmao

Some fans might be wondering why the actual Blues Traveler song did not play at any point throughout the episode (in fact, it wasn’t even mentioned by name), not even during the credits. “You know, there’s a peak of evil that you can reach,” Lyonne said. “Nobody wanted to go that far.”

outstanding

I am frustrated every day that there is no easy way for me to watch this show in Canada ugh

Really hope Peacock repeats that $12 for a year promo this winter so I can keep watching Columbo and the season season of this.

Oof, 8 months after my last post, we finally finished this, one a week and then the last two at once - no other reason for the delay than I got weird about it, certainly not the show, which was a delight.

The casting is astonishing - so many great actors knocking it out of the park, particularly a run of older actors:

I didn't know either of the killer hippies, which I was surprised by, they seemed so familiar. If there's a twist to the formula in each episode, this is the one where the killers are genuinely charming and Charlie takes to them immediately. Also I think this is the one where she actually does the Columbo 'I almost forgot' gesture.

I loved the craft put into making what looked like a world-class Terrible American Play for Enter Stage Death - the bit where Charlie comes on stage was the only part of the whole series I couldn't watch. And to end on Barkin taking this terrible monologue, and really working it!

Tim Blake Nelson is magnificent in the racing episode - like Barkin, he's got a touch of despair, killing out of the desire to get one more break, smarter and sadder than most of the younger killers.

And man, Nick Nolte, I could just watch Nick Nolte forever - I should go back and watch The Good Thief.

And after all that, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Stephanie Hsu, and Diego from The Umbrella Academy all in the same episode!

And through it all Charlie, an amazing character that I feel I've known forever.

The one down point, which isn't erased by getting Charlie to point it out, is Ron Perlman's no no I was looking to give you a job! bullshit.

Jen was suspicious that the hen party bus stopped outside of her sister's house, but one of the themes of the show is Working Stiff Solidarity - I can totally imagine her chatting to the driver "Hey brother, are you going anywhere in particular?" "Nah, I just have to drive around for three hours before the Adult Slip N Slide opens" "Well, would you be okay to drop me off at..." - the same way that even if your new friend hadn't solved your old friend's murder, if a guy that looks like Cliff turns up asking for her, you send him off in the other direction.

I haven't watched enough Columbo, but is it fair to say that the POV of this show is a class bracket lower? Obviously Columbo is a working man (as much as a cop can be) but the murders all seem glamourous - there's rich people in some of these, but they seems more consistently seen from below.

class is absolutely the point of Columbo, but yes he is not the POV character per se. you're largely meant to enjoy the trappings of the glamour, then enjoy loathing the privilege of the murderers who assume their wealth and status mean that they are too smart to get caught, then thoroughly enjoy this dishevelled fuck who wandered into the story half an hour late class-warring them to the deck.

it's fun that Poker Face mixes up eg Charlie wandering into a drama already in progress, Charlie being thoroughly ensconsed in a milieu before the drama ramps up, and Charlie being the target. the formula of Columbo ambling in to solve a murder from scratch when we've been watching the clues and red herrings accumulate from the start is also consistently satisfying.

A little looking forward…

https://deadline.com/2024/07/poker-face-season-2-cast-giancarlo-esposito-katie-holmes-gaby-hoffmann-kumail-nanjiani-1236011753/

Oh and awesome, her episode was one of the best:

Lyonne will again direct in Season 2.

my 12 yo loves poker face and we’ve been diving into old columbos as a treat. just watched leonard nimoy get nailed for murder and attempted murder (murder weapon: dissolving sutures!)

More guest stars announced:

https://deadline.com/2024/11/awkwafina-corey-hawkins-simon-rex-method-man-peacock-poker-face-season-2-1236174189/