‘Poker Face’ Lives or Dies on the Backs of Its Best-in-Class Guest Stars
thewrap.comThis story about Zazie Beetz and “Atlanta” first appeared in the Comedy Series issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.No Emmy-caliber new series relies as heavily on its ensemble of guest actors as “Poker Face” — and fewer still boast the caliber of talent assembled by creator Rian Johnson, star-executive-producer-director Natasha Lyonne and showrunners Lilla and Nora Zuckerman.Lyonne stars in the Peacock comedy as our woebegone hero Charlie Cale, an off-the-grid, muscle car-driving ex-casino worker who’s on the run from a mafioso (Adrien Brody) who wants her head after she learns the truth about the mysterious death of her coworker (Dascha Polanco).
An enticing enough premise on its own, there’s another twist: Charlie is, inexplicably, a human lie detector — a skill that makes her a very good gambler and a rough-and-tumble vigilante detective.
That’s where our guest stars come in. Each of the series’ 10 episodes is structured around a murder-of-the — week format, akin to ‘Columbo’ and other episodic shows of yesteryear.
While Charlie bounces from major metropolises to desert-nestled one-horse towns, she encounters ne’er-do-wells while working odd jobs and catching them red-handed.
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