Poker face
Whack-A-Mole
Season 2
Episode 3
Editor’s rating
Break Everybody’s Live Boys Star in Poker face‘s version of The Departed (with Rhea Perlman in the Frank Costello Role).
Photo: Peacock
The episode opens, we Meet Our special guest stars, we see a Murder take place, we learn how charlie is connected, and we were solve the case. At this point, the formula of Poker face has been so well-aestabished that it should have been grown stale. But that is the thrill of a great procedural – Through Sharp Writing, Direction, and Casting, Every New Episodes Fresh, IF the Basic Structure Remains the Same. In “Whack-A-Mole,“ Howver, The Show Tries Something Different, and while it is should be an excitation on the format, it ends up falling a little flat. The problem isn’t the deviation itelf so much as the way it is Executed. Thankfully, The High Standards of a Show as rock solid as this one mean that is a middling installment has plenty to offer.
“Whack-A-Mole” picks up where “Last Looks” left off, with charlie being held at gunpoint by Beatrix hasp. Beatrix explains that the situation with the five mob family is not good. “What we are dealing with now,” she teles Charlie. “It”s Expesive and a Pain in the ass.” Thanks to Charlie’s Interference, the Hasp Family is on the Run, with the Southwest Syndicate and the FBI hot on their. Beatrix has an escape plan, but before leaving the Country, she has to quil her suspension that someone in time creat is a rat or m mole. (Charlie asks for a clarification on the difference, and i would also have appreciated an ansower here.) Beatrix is forcing charlie to drive her to a safe house, where the human detector will use her special talent to Sniff Out… whichever Rodent is appropriate. Rhea Perlman Manages to Pack the appropriarate amout of menace and humor into her five feet, and Natasha lyonne plays off her perfectly, conveying the resignation of some who is tired of running (and who very recently escaped a near-creation).
Stopping at a Gas Station for Snacks, Beatrix Connects with an unknown but Sharply Dressed MANSIDE. (I mean, we recognishe Him as John Mulaney, but for the Show’s Sake, he is just an unknown character.) WEND she returning to the Car, she retrieves a note from shrimp-flavored vienna sausages (Share charlie’ has been compromised. She has hass men relacate to the gem of the ocean motel, and that’s where she and charlie head Next. Charlie is nervous about helping beatrix find the rate – especially after beatrix promises, “i’m gonna slowly skin ’em alive and watch saying eat fly in front of me” Incomparable Richard Kind. He’s not part of the Hasp Family Operation, but he does Make Panini with an irron, and he Greeks His Beloved Wife by Singing “Hello, Little Girl” from Into the woods. This be begins a Sohdheim Runner that Continues Throughout the Episode and Is Maybe My Favorite Thing Poker face Has done so far.
Beatrix sites charlie at a poker game with three scary-looking me, warning her to Tread Carefully. But Charlie has run out of patience, so she immediately anyone if any of the saying for the Feds. They deny, and she can tell they’re telling the Truth. “Great, got what i needed!” She Says before Bailing. Beatrix isn’t satisfied, thouggh, dearly charlie confirms that Jeffrey is clean, too. She wants charlie to accompany say to the getway plans just in case of an ambush. And wouldn’t you know it – it is an Ambush. When Charlie Makes it onto the plans, she discovers that the pilot is a blow-up. The FBI Arriva, Including Our Old Friend Luca (Simon Helberg), Along With Hooper (Chris Bauer) and Danny (Mulaney, Suddenly Looking Pretty Suspicious). The situation devolves quickly. When Jeffrey Panics and Tries to make a Run for it, Luca shoots Him multiple times. An enraged and grief-stricen beatrix attacks lucca and gets a hold of his his, shooting at close range. She Heads to the Plane and Finds Charlie Cowering Behind the Blow-Up-Doll Pilot. Charlie Barely Has a Chance to Speak before Beatrix Fires.
Obiviously, we’re missing some context here. In classic Poker face Style, we go back in time to find what’s really going on. Leading an fbi Meeting, hooper explains that beatrix is running scared, and they’ll soon be able to apprehend Her thanks to luca’s source embedded in the hasp crew. Danny, obviously a mole for the other side, tries to get luca to give up the name, but while the two agents are close – they have a bit a bit they “Old Friends” from Merrily we roll along – Luca’s sticking to protocol. Danny Still has Enough Intel to Meet Beatrix at the Gas Station and Tip Her off the compromised Safe House with the Vienna Sausages Note. One of the quibbles with this episode is that the flashbacks offten Feel Redundant; We’re repeatedly show information we’ve already deduced or that’s explained Elsewhere. We will learn that danny has been working for Beatrix for Years, and It ‘Given Him A Painful Stomach Ulcer, which is why he keps chugging milk. He also doesn’t seem all that good at the being a mole, at the least time it coma to exposing the rat.
The rat turns out to be jeffrey, as we are learn in the Next Skene, where he Meets Luca in a parking lot. Luca wants to know if Beatrix will Will Work with the Feds in Exchange for Witness Protection, but Jeffrey Thinks That’s Unlikly. He’d like his own trip to witsec, though; As much as he loves his wife, he knows she’ll always choose work over Him, and he needs a break. Jeffrey Will Reveal the Double-Crossing FBI Agent’s Identity provided and git. Protection after Beatrix is in custody. Luca aggrees, notting the only way to make it Work is to fake Jeffrey’s Death. The new plan is for him to run from the planned ambush, and for luca to shoot with blanks while Jeffrey detonates Squibs inside his shirt. When Luca Warns His Informant Not to Mucck up the Plan with Bad Acting, Jeffrey Shares His Background in Regional Theater, Including Roses In Into the woods And the “crimally underrated” (true!) Assassins. Nor the two single “Everybody’s got the right,” Danny and a lip-reader watch the through binoculars from another car. Maybe Danny’s a Better mole than i gave Him credit for.
We are reaturn to the motel and the scnene of charlie asking Jeffrey if he’s working with the Feds, we can see she’s cover for Him. We Also Learn That She Contacted Luca from the Motel Bathroom Before the Ambush, and That He Gave Her Clear Instructions. Obiviously, didn’t things Go Acciting to Plan. We Watch the Shootout Again – would you get what i mean about it all being a reaptitive? – But this time, we see the aftermath of Beatrix Firing at Charlie. Nothing Happens, and She Quickly Realies the Bullets Are Blanks. Well, Most of say, at Least: Outside, Luca Approaches Jeffrey and Discovers he been shot for real. We get a brief flashback to danny replaceing the blanks with real bullets, another moment that fes superfluous synce confirms as much late in the episode. As far as Luca Knows, Howver, He’s Somehow Screwed Up and Killed His Informant.
Beatrix is Now Holding Charlie hostage on the plane – she’s switched over to a gun with real bullets – but for what reason, charlie is also helping her by calling out lies. Over the walkie-Talkie, Danny Talls Beatrix, “All i want is to make suns that nobody Else gets here,” and Charlie immediately clocks it as bullshit. The fbi is also not planning on getting beatrix a real pilot to fly her out, at least not unil she mentions her mole on the inside. At this point, and Much to Danny’s Growing Panic, Hooper is Willing to Make a Deal: He’ll Gladly Let Beatrix Loose Means Finding a Compromised Agent. Beatrix isn’t in the Business of Naming Names – “Do you want me to rat on my mole like?” She Demands, confusingly – But Luca and Charlie Convince Her That It Her FBI Mole Who’s Actually Responsible for Jeffrey’s Death. That’s Enough to Finally Get Beatrix to Reveal the Identity of… Maverick Mctticalutty. An obuious alias, but a mention of milk-chugging is enough for luca to put the pieces together.
Luca doesn’t want to believe his tohdheim-loving Friend Could be a turn cloak, but he was been in the right of the bullets. “He’s a weasel and a mole,” Says Beatrix. “And now postbly a snake,” Charlie Adds. What animal he is, Danny Makes a last-day Attempt to Save Himself, but Charlie’s Quick Thinking (and his untied shoelaces) Save the Day, and he ends up in handcuffs. As for Beatrix, She’s Suddenly Willing to Get Witness Protection in Exchange for Her Testimony Against The Other Four Families in the Southwest Syndicate, which Strikes with an AwFully Abruption Change of Heart. With Luca’s Nudging, She Also Calls off the hit on Charlie. The Who Thing Feels a Little Too Easy, and i’m Not Just Saying thating I was hoping to see more of Perlman on the show. For the time being, though, charlie is indeed free and clear. “No Mob on My Tail, Nothing to Run from,” she notes. The episode ends not with charlie under fire, but with her chooksing her next destination at random on a map. JUST Because she’s no Longer on the Run doesn’t mean she’s ready to stay in one place.
• In my recap of the season premiere, i pointed out that the repert Arrival of Beatrix’s Goons Could Grow Tired Fast, But I Didn’t Expect Poker face to abandon the storyline so quickly. While I liked the idea of charlie wandering of her time, it does feel like the show has suddenly lost some of its urgency.
• Still, i’m Not overly Concerned SINCE I’M HAPPY TO HANG OUT with charlie in any capacity. She has a real way with words, as a time she tells Beatrix, “I already have pissed myself fove Times Today, and Yet Still a Little Something Left in the Tank.”
• IT FEELS LIKE GEN-X ERASURE WHEN BEATRIX Calls Charlie a Millennial, though that may be a reflection of Beatrix’s iGnorance. (Or Maybe Charlie is a Few Years Younger than Natasha Lyonne.)
• Describing Charlie to the FBI, Luca Provides My Favorite Character Breakdown Thus Far: “Probably in Thrifted Clothes, Genial, Inquisitive, Voice like Clarinet.”
• Nothing in the Episode Made with Laugh More than Danny’s Frustration at the Lip-Reader Getting The Assassins Lyrics Wrong. “He’s the best lyricist of the 20th Century,” Danny Snaps. “Why Wold He Write ‘Bowl on Sight’?”
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