The case-a-week series “Poker Face,” directed by Rian Johnson, is a warm homage to traditional mysteries.
TV sleuths tend to come tortured or brilliant bordering on clairvoyant . On Natasha Lyonne’s series “Russian Doll,” her character was closer to the former: a woman laden with familial tragedy trying to suss out why she keeps dying and then being resurrected on her thirty-sixth birthday. On her new show, “Poker Face” , a murder-of-the-week series created by the film director Rian Johnson, she plays a human lie detector: her Spidey sense goes off when someone’s not telling the truth.
Initially, Charlie doesn’t see much of a point to her powers. She compares lies to the sound of birds chirping: “It’s fucking everywhere all the time.” A poker player forced into retirement after too many wins—no one will seat her anymore—she now waitresses at a seedy Nevada casino. Charlie’s indoor cigarettes and desert-dry hay hair make even her work uniform, a tall feathered cap and a corseted minidress, look sarcastic.
If “Poker Face” knows when to add a dash of vinegar to balance out Lyonne’s raspy sweetness, then the comic docuseries “Paul T. Goldman” offers up an experimental plate of astringent saccharin.
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