Everyone loves a mystery series, right? It’s why Agatha Christie books were so popular, not to mention more modern incarnations like Veronica Mars or Rian Johnson’s Knives Out movie series, which recently saw the release of its second installment, Glass Onion, to Netflix.
But that’s not Johnson’s only mystery currently running. His new show, Poker Face, is now streaming on Peacock, and it stars Natasha Lyonne as its lead detective in what is not a whodunnit, but a howcatchem. A howcatchem is a mystery like Columbo, where the audience knows the details of the crime ahead of time and watches to determine not whodunnit, but how those criminals will be caught… or not.
I hadn’t previously had a Peacock subscription, but I paid for one solely to watch this show and I do not regret it. Lyonne is an absolute natural as a human lie-detector who keeps running into trouble as she is on the run from some very angry henchmen. Each episode sees Lyonne’s Charlie Cale in a new location with an entirely new, usually star-studded, cast, which gives the show an endless feeling of freshness, even though it’s the kind of show many of us have already seen before.
Rian Johnson found success in the mystery genre with his Knives Out films, and now he’s doubled down on that success with Poker Face, a mystery-of-the-week show that is comfortable, lived in, and an absolute blast to watch.
Poker Face is now streaming on Peacock.
I’m Evan Rook.
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