Poker Face, an irresistible new “case-of-the-week” comedy, invites us to sit back and enjoy the ride as it follows an amiable drifter solving crimes across America’s highways and hinterlands. Created by Rian Johnson, the show isn’t a whodunnit in the vein of his Knives Out movies but an even cosier “howcatchem”: we watch as our detective deduces what has already been revealed to us from the very start.
Though it may be a knowing, affectionate throwback to genre classics such as Columbo, the 10-part series is as much a novelty as it is a nostalgia trip. In an era of grisly true-crime chillers, the show stands out for its warm and loose approach which prioritises playfulness over plausibility and brings stylistic flair to a well-worn formula.
We begin in Las Vegas, where an insouciant, smoky-voiced cocktail waitress Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) is about to embark on some serious sleuthing. She may lack the sophistication of a Poirot but not even a beer-for-breakfast diet dulls her uncanny ability to spot lies, no matter how snowy white or abysmally dark.
After successfully calling the bluff of a casino boss (Adrien Brody) following the suspicious murder of an employee, Charlie is forced to hit the road to evade the hitman on her trail. Each episode finds her arriving at a new destination — from a trucker stop to a BBQ festival — just in time to crack a fresh case. Played by the likes of Chloë Sevigny and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the killers are often desperate — with petty motives and careless execution.
The stories don’t always hold up to close scrutiny (and the plot blueprint can become repetitive) yet it’s never less than a joy to spend an hour or so in Charlie’s good-humoured company as she scrutinises the predictability of human nature while finding clues in unlikely places. Innate talent alerts her to falsehoods but it invariably takes a winning combination of scepticism, observation, meddling and unflappable tenacity to bring her to the truth.
★★★★☆
On Sky Max from May 26 at 9pm and on Now thereafter; on Peacock in the US
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