When Columbo first aired in 1968, it broke the first rule of detective fiction. Rather than withholding the identity of the killer, it gave the audience that knowledge upfront. The pleasure, then, came from watching Peter Falk’s rain-coated lieutenant unravelling the seemingly impenetrable mystery at the viewers’ leisure. It’s a trick that’s been repeated by shows like Monk and Luther, though never quite with Columbo’s panache. But with the combined powers of writer-director Rian Johnson and his lead Natasha Lyonne, Sky’s new anthology mystery series, Poker Face, pulls it off with no shortage of razzle or dazzle.
The premise is simple: Charlie (Lyonne) is a human lie detector. Banned from card games across America, she’s now gainfully employed as a cocktail waitress at a casino bar, staying out of trouble and making beer money. But she also cannot fail to spot when somebody is lying, and so when her best friend, Nat (Dascha Polanco), is found dead in a suspected murder/suicide, she goes on a crusade for the truth. But finding it will guarantee her drifter fate, with Charlie condemned to a perpetual crime-solving road trip. “Every day you’re mad about something you can’t do something about,” Nat tells Charlie, her bug eyes bulging. But in spite of the world being against her, she’s about to find purpose in righting wrongs.
