Poker Face proudly harkens back to an older-fashioned style of television show with a mystery of the week. The Peacock show sees Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie travel across the USA and get herself caught up in murderous situations. Her natural talent for spotting a liar helps her work out the murderer, whether she wants to or not.
In the era of big arcs and complicated plots, Poker Face is committed to the classic format. Every episode features a new location, a new cast and everything nearly gets resolved by the end of the episode.
Season 1 of Poker Face had an overarching theme after Charlie got herself in trouble with the Vegas mafia. This lingering plot is resolved in the first three episodes of season 2. The rest of the series is a true week-to-week offering, with Charlie visiting baseball teams, schools, and food delivery services.
Tony Tost, who took over as showrunner for the second season, said that he and creator Rian Johnson wanted to help bring back the traditional murder mystery return. He told The Hollywood Reporter how much he loves the mystery of the week format. “I wanted to protect that and double down. The show lives in these blue-collar pockets of ‘flyover America,’ but doesn’t make a big deal about it or pat itself on the back. Charlie’s just with the underdog or the work-a-day people, as opposed to the high-status people.”
This format means Poker Face could go on for many more seasons. Tost says there is absolute potential that “Charlie is solving murders in perpetuity.” Even when Charlie wants a quiet life, she can’t help but want to help people and sniff out lies. The showrunner also admits they have a “stack” of murder ideas for future seasons. They also still have plenty of characters to use that they didn’t quite have time for in Poker Face season 2.
What else can you expect from the rest of season 2 of Poker Face?
Aside from the mystery of the week format, what else can fans of Poker Face expect from the rest of season 2? Well, Tost wants to surprise viewers and take Charlie in places the audience may not expect.
The showrunner admits that the show “does really well” when Charlie is placed in a new location with an “interesting” murder to solve. “I knew Rian wanted to do an episode in minor league baseball and I wanted to pitch Charlie getting a CB radio buddy, someone to talk to.” Her CB radio buddy is voiced by Steve Buscemi, although don’t expect to see him on screen this season.
Because the big plot of Charlie running away from the mob is resolved, the writers can explore Charlie’s inner life more. This series sees the free spirit on the hunt for community through different jobs, cities, and friend groups.
While they want to explore Charlie’s personality more, it’s not to say they want to spend time on her backstory. “There’s almost a perverse joy in refusing that contemporary television tendency to really dive into the trauma or the backstory or the mythology of a character,” Toth told THR.
He explained that while the audience will learn about Charlie’s past in pieces, don’t expect whole episodes dedicated to her youth. “Other shows do that very well. Let’s focus on this thing that we do, where we just follow her from adventure to adventure.”
Poker Face season 2 streams new episodes Thursdays on Peacock.