THE PERFORMER | Natasha Lyonne
THE SHOW | Peacock’s Poker Face
THE EPISODE | “The Hook” (March 9, 2023)
THE PERFORMANCE | Watching amateur sleuth Charlie Cale use her lie-detecting skills to solve murders has been a distinct pleasure all season long on Peacock’s throwback mystery, thanks to Lyonne’s hilariously raspy lead performance. But she topped herself in this week’s season finale as Charlie dropped her own poker face for a bit, letting us get a sense of what actually makes her tick.
The finale offered plenty of chances for Lyonne to make us laugh, from Charlie tagging along with a wild bachelorette party to having to endure Cliff’s dead-serious spoken-word recitation of Blues Traveler’s “Hook.” (He really is the worst.) But Lyonne also flashed a steely intensity as Charlie faced off with Cliff, her eyes welling up with emotion as she contemplated shooting the guy, and later stood toe-to-toe with intimidating casino boss Sterling Frost Sr., never giving an inch. The episode also gave our first good look at Charlie’s backstory, introducing us to her sister Emily, played by Clea DuVall, and Lyonne put Charlie’s emotional bruises on full display as the two sisters bickered and dredged up old family grudges. The stress of living on the lam for a year crept into Lyonne’s voice as Charlie asked her sister, “You think I like living like this?” (The Poker Face writers are still keeping their cards close to their chests regarding Charlie’s past, but Lyonne manages to fill in the blanks marvelously with just a few words and a glance.)
In the end, Charlie caught the bad guy, of course — using an, um, unusual ring to subdue Cliff — and went back on the run, this time with a different casino boss vowing to track her down. (And we can’t wait to see Lyonne tangle with Rhea Perlman in Season 2.) But for now, let’s enjoy what Lyonne has given us this season: an instantly memorable TV character with an endless supply of sassy one-liners and a few hidden depths still left to explore.
Scroll down to see who scored Honorable Mention shout-outs this week…
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HONORABLE MENTION: Whitney Cummings
Image Credit: Courtesy of Fox If you had told us… well, ever… that comedian Whitney Cummings would deliver one of any given week’s most dramatically compelling performances, we’d have arched an eyebrow. But in the latest installment of the Fox anthology Accused, Cummings had us rapt from start to finish. In “Brenda’s Story,” Cummings played a stand-up comic (with a style quite different from her own, mind you) who was raped by a successful peer/past hook-up. In the aftermath, a shellshocked Brenda struggled with what to do next, juggling advice from a skittish DA, a compromised comedy club owner (played by Rhea Perlman), a longtime friend (Grace and Frankie‘s Baron Vaughn) and a new acquaintance (24‘s Mary Lyn Rajskub). Adding layers to Cummings’ heartbreaking performance was the fact that Brenda is, frankly, a mess, an admitted drunk with a reputation for self-sabotage. All told, Cummings’ dramatic turn was no joke, but it nonetheless killed in unexpected ways.
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HONORABLE MENTION: JB Smoove and Nick Kroll
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu History of the World, Part II, Hulu’s four-“night” follow-up to Mel Brooks’ 1981 film comedy, was scattershot in quality, to be sure. Many singles and doubles, few home runs. But in the series of sketches dubbed “Curb Your Judaism,” JB Smoove and Nick Kroll, as the apostles Luke and Judas, served up a meal of laughs that was far more satisfying than the Last Supper they had just attended. (As Judas scoffed, “More like a Last Snack, right?”) Winningly adopting the rhythms of Curb Your Enthusiasm (which Smoove knows all too well), the duo had great fun with observational humor about Jesus’ obsession with feet-washing, Saint Peter’s one-man show (no comp tickets, really?), the curiously non-kosher food that Jesus scoffed down afterwards (“As a Jew, I’m livid! I’m gonna plotz!”) and, relatedly, the cringey process involved in growing back one’s foreskin. As noted in TV Questions, someone order Curb Your Judaism to series now.
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HONORABLE MENTION: Jessica Williams
Image Credit: Apple TV+ screenshot An art show for her ex-husband Nico brought out the worst in Shrinking‘s Gaby, but the very best in her portrayer Jessica Williams. The actress let Gaby’s unease poke through the therapist’s typically cool and collected exterior under the scrutinizing eye of Nico’s friends. After Gaby and her ex finally had a heart-to-heart, Williams’ expressions became tinged with nostalgia for the past, then anger at how well Nico was doing without her. Williams capped her performance with a comedic tour de force moment when Gaby exclaimed so loudly and determinedly that a naked painting of Nico’s current girlfriend was actually of her that she had to be dragged away by her friend. If Williams is this hilarious and entertaining during a meltdown, then Gaby should lose it more often.
Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in Comments!
