But one of the treats of the series’ vintage-looking opening credits - rendered in Columbo yellow no less! - is seeing how many past collaborators are along for the ride. Poker Face is the Knives Out writer-director’s first foray into television, a medium that Lyonne has proved impressively adept at making ( Orange Is the New Black, Russian Doll). Maybe I’m just being pedantic, or maybe the title is one of the mysteries this ten-parter from Rian Johnson will eventually reveal. The poker face of the series title certainly isn’t hers, nor does it belong to the absolute mugs who make unworthy foes of her in the series premiere. But Charlie herself - played by Natasha Lyonne, game and charming as ever - is rash, messy, and unguarded.
Which makes it a peculiar and potentially ill-fitting name for Poker Face, a TV mystery series about a smugly complacent cocktail waitress named Charlie who just happens to be a human lie detector. To have a poker face is to be entirely inscrutable - free to lie without the threat of detection, free even to tell outrageous truths without betraying a hint of self-consciousness. Photo: Vulture Photo: Phillip Caruso/Peacock
