Poker Face

At the time of writing, there is one review for this show. It is a somewhat incoherent rant about bribes, cameos and general displeasure. It does not reek of impartiality.

I just finished the first episode. It was very, very good and I am hard to please. The role Natasha was made for. Brody is fantastic. The mood, cinematography and writing are all top par. I've been to Laughlin and stayed at the location, so I don't reek of impartiality.

This is going to be good. Well thought out, well executed. Compare with franchised low grade plutonium by the Sherdian syndicate, this is actually good tv.

That's right - what we have here is the Columbo formula with a female lead, assuming all of his famous quirks and manorisms - from the "one more thing" prods to smoking cigars, Natasha Lyonne delivers "mystery" solving fun as the gravel voiced Charlie Cale. Even the font used for the credits is the same as The NBC Mystery Movie (1971).

This is a small twist on the reverse-detective story made famous first by Frederick Knott in Con M de Muerte (1954) and later by Columbo (1971), where the full crime is revealed to the audience up front, and the fun to the audience is watching the sleuth figure it out by discovering all the little details the killers get wrong, and watching the killers squirm.

The twist here is that once the crime is revealed, in typical Rian Johnson fashion, time is backed-up and Charlie Cale's involvement in the setting is revealed. She doesn't witness the crime, but is in orbits of all the characters when the crime is committed. She then uses her "I can tell when they're lying" power to determine who the guilty persons are, and is used to great affect.

This is great fun, and I hope it runs for a long, long time.

My wife convinced me to watch this and quite frankly I wasn't expecting much. It just seemed like another "crime of the week" serial that was going to become stale and boring. It hasn't been that at all! Each episode has actual well-known actors that give great performances. Each episode is little a mini movie. The violence and effects are all very real - nothing cheesy here. I'm up to the season finale and can't wait to watch it. I'm definitely hoping this makes it through quite a few seasons. You do have to suspend belief a bit to convince yourself that she travels around and just magically stumbles upon a murder in every town, but you'll be pleasantly surprised if you can put that aside.

Yes I said it. I've noticed that there are some similarities in their demeanor and even her raspy voice but I am glad to say, Charlie carves her own path in this easy flowing yet still mystical series. I'm two episodes in and so far so good. I happen to like Colombo so the similarities are pleasing and the fact that trouble seems to always find her as she try to evade her own troubles is a nice addition to the old mystery theater ploy. Custom and character is believable enough and actually begs for sympathy at times. The acting is spread out with a mixture of veterans and newbies but it still flows quite honestly. Here's hoping for the best!

I've actually really enjoyed Poker Face more than I thought I would. I originally wasn't going to watch it because it looked like just another detective crime show, it's not. It's so much better. What originally made me watch is that it's created by Rian Johnson (Knives Out, Glass Onion, Looper, etc). I love his movies and how original they are. There are a million of these crime shows with crazy detectives but this is one of the better ones and one of the better new shows of the year. There are enough twists and turns to keep your attention and wanting more. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this show.