Poker Face
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But one of the treats of the series vintage-looking opening credits rendered inColumboyellow no less!
is seeing how many past collaborators are along for the ride.
Dead Mans Hand features LyonnesOITNBco-starDascha Polancoand Adrien Brody, whom Johnson last directed inThe Brothers Bloom.
(Benjamin Bratt is here too a little random but always welcome.)
Where Johnson goes, Yedlin apparently follows, even if it means adapting his composition to a smaller screen.
If Peacock has put anyNetflix-style constraintson Yedlin, he has found a way to outmaneuver them.Poker Facelooks fantastic.
It has the depth and texture of a feature film as well as quirks and nuance.
This isnt earth-shattering camerawork, of course, which says something about the waning state of prestige TV.
We see Nat tell Cliff, the casino-security boss played by Bratt, what shes seen.
The holes in their hasty cover-up seemed so obvious to me!
There must be cameras all over the casino floor that captured Nats heated convo with Cliff.
LikeColumbo, which inspired it, its not a whodunit but a howcatchem.
Her gift is the history she lends offbeat characters, and the romantically neurotic Charlie is no exception.
She serves drinks in a bustier at the same kitschy casino that Nat cleans.
But he knew to keep his enemies close.
Why does this matter?
Well, this is where our wicked worlds converge.
He comes up with a whole cockamamie scheme, and his henchman Cliff is in on it.
Its too clever by half.
This is why she had to lose her life to protect this nonsense play for poker chips.
Because Charlie and Nat arent just co-workers but besties.
After Jerry decked Nat for questioning some dick pics shed found, she sought refuge at Charlies.
But Charlie can smell a lie even if she cant yet nail it down.
A series like this runs on coincidences.
One measure of how satisfyingPoker Faceturns out to be is how well-earned those coincidences feel.
Just break a window!
Now were cooking with gas!
(Which we should not do, I realize.)
All it takes for Charlie to connect the rest of the dots is literally one strong cup of coffee.
Theres some catting and mousing, to be sure.
Charlie interrogates Cliff and Sterling about her suspicions.
But for most of the episode, this mystery has little danger.
Well, it turns out shes no saint either.
She warns him of the fix on his upcoming private game, thereby destroying Frost Casinos reputation for good.
As the show tells us more than once, gamblers talk.
Sterling cant withstand the blow.
Stunned, Charlie runs out of the office but not fast enough to escape Cliffs gun.
My guess is that he wont have to travel nearly so far.
