Time of the Monkey

Lots of pieces that weren't plausible, but what an entertaining nod to the past. I grew up during those Nixon times and some points about plausible relationships and misguided efforts to give it to the man were on point. As usual, I enjoyed the cast, and Charlie's persona. And the soundtrack was terrific. Such an inventive story line in general, I could suspend disbelief along the way. These episodes give me the same vibe as did Colombo, McMillan & Wife, Ironsides, and McCloud. Anyway, one has to be old to remember those, which I am. Such clever set pieces in Poker Face. The fight scene at the end had me in stitches.

Charlie is working at the Mossy Oaks retirement home. She has made friends with two rebellious old ladies Irene Smothers (Judith Light) and Joyce Carter (S. Epatha Merkerson.)

Both ladies recognise a new resident who has checked into the retirement home under the name of Ben. He was accompanied by his nephew. The quickly plan to kill Ben.

When Ben dies, Charlie finds out that his 'nephew' is a FBI agent called Luca (Simon Helberg.) Ben was under witness protection. Over 50 years earlier he was a hippy cult leader under the name of Gabriel. He had ratted out Irene and Joyce who spent time in prison. The two ladies thought Gabriel was shot dead by the police.

You get the impression that Irene and Joyce would be two sympathetic old women let down by hard line Nixon era law enforcement.

They turn out to be nasty pieces planning to kill Charlie for knowing too much.

Poker Face evolves a bit as Charlie makes a friend of Luca. He is happy that he finally got something to do than babysit someone on witness protection. He also recognises Charlie's talent's in crime detection.

Something tells me this is not the last we see of Luca.

This is a well acted story by the three guest leads with a shocking denouement.

That had so much potential. Two elderly hippies convicted for something they were about to do, all right, fine. But why is it always that in media people who go against the current or are painted as revolutionaries of some kind get those stupid reasons for doing what they're doing. Like blowing up high school kids because their fathers are the status quo.

It just feels like revolutionary ideas in media are always juxtaposed with something unequivocally negative, and it's something that feels so ingrained in these tropes.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the episode, loved the soundtrack, but for a second there I thing I was hoping for a switch up in show's formula. Like maybe Charlie will be on the bad guys' side this time. Too bad the bad guys were written as evil.

This was incredibly entertaining. The killers need their own show spun off. I would watch a whole season of them and their way of dealing justice. At this stage in their life they don't bother you unless you bother them. Then they come at you with everything they got. With intensity and cleverness if they have time. Otherwise it's pure instinctual survival behavior. The start of the show is so benign. Seems like it might even be a bit of a dud setting. That would be wrong. The casting was perfect. The main character even seemed to take a back seat to the killers. For real. All the episodes were good but this one really stands out. More with those killers please.

The setting for this whodunit vignette is an old folks home. The episode opens with hilarious zingers and generational gap humor. The entire series is composed of excellent cinematography and this episode is no exception. There is a story element that may come up later in the series but for the most part this episode didn't continue or further the overarching narrative. That's totally fine with me. I'm very much enjoying this series and the standalone episode format.

Natasha Lyonne is always a treat but the supporting cast was phenomenal as well. The writing really played humorous on this one and the ensemble clicked well and really knocked it out of the park. I can't wait to see what's next.