This post contains spoilers for the Season Two finale of Poker Face, now streaming on Peacock.
The second season of Poker Face nearly ends on a cliffhanger. Towards the end of the finale — appropriately titled “The End of the Road” — the show’s human lie detector heroine, Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), is stuck in her beloved 1969 Plymouth Barracuda with master assassin the Iguana (Patti Harrison), heading for a gorge with the FBI in pursuit. The Barracuda goes over the edge, and there’s a Thelma & Louise-style freeze-frame implying...
The second season of Poker Face nearly ends on a cliffhanger. Towards the end of the finale — appropriately titled “The End of the Road” — the show’s human lie detector heroine, Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), is stuck in her beloved 1969 Plymouth Barracuda with master assassin the Iguana (Patti Harrison), heading for a gorge with the FBI in pursuit. The Barracuda goes over the edge, and there’s a Thelma & Louise-style freeze-frame implying...
- 7/12/2025
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Rollingstone.com
Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for “The End of the Road,” Season 2, Episode 12 of “Poker Face,” now streaming on Peacock.
Every episode leading up to the Season 2 finale of “Poker Face” — Rian Johnson’s murder-of-the-week love letter to “Columbo” — has relied on Charlie Cale’s (Natasha Lyonne) unrivaled ability to sniff out lies to solve any mystery.
But in a surprising turn of events in the latest episode, “The End of the Road,” Charlie finds herself outsmarted at her own game by close friend Alex (Patti Harrison), who has been the Iguana killer all along. Alex managed to bypass Charlie’s detection by training herself to swallow all her natural impulses when lying, subverting the template of the show and what fans have come to expect.
Season 2 showrunner Tony Tost explains that the twist was pitched by co-executive producer Laura Deeley in the writers’ room. “She came in with...
Every episode leading up to the Season 2 finale of “Poker Face” — Rian Johnson’s murder-of-the-week love letter to “Columbo” — has relied on Charlie Cale’s (Natasha Lyonne) unrivaled ability to sniff out lies to solve any mystery.
But in a surprising turn of events in the latest episode, “The End of the Road,” Charlie finds herself outsmarted at her own game by close friend Alex (Patti Harrison), who has been the Iguana killer all along. Alex managed to bypass Charlie’s detection by training herself to swallow all her natural impulses when lying, subverting the template of the show and what fans have come to expect.
Season 2 showrunner Tony Tost explains that the twist was pitched by co-executive producer Laura Deeley in the writers’ room. “She came in with...
- 7/10/2025
- by Matt Minton
- Variety Film + TV
This article contains spoilers for season 2 of "Poker Face."
After a somewhat hit-or-miss first season, "Poker Face" made a surprising choice in season 2.
Instead of doubling down on the serialized elements it established in season 1, the series largely wrapped up that storyline quickly and promptly kicked it to the curb, giving Natasha Lyonne's Charlie Cale character the freedom to wander across the country without having to constantly look over her shoulder. The result? The show feels like it came into its own, unburdened by the narrative restrictions of Charlie caught in a web of rival gang families and finally able to focus on the purest version of the how-catch-em formula as she bounces from city to city. Unfortunately, I thought everything kinda falls off a cliff in the last two episodes and seems to set up a third season that feels like it might undo all of that and...
After a somewhat hit-or-miss first season, "Poker Face" made a surprising choice in season 2.
Instead of doubling down on the serialized elements it established in season 1, the series largely wrapped up that storyline quickly and promptly kicked it to the curb, giving Natasha Lyonne's Charlie Cale character the freedom to wander across the country without having to constantly look over her shoulder. The result? The show feels like it came into its own, unburdened by the narrative restrictions of Charlie caught in a web of rival gang families and finally able to focus on the purest version of the how-catch-em formula as she bounces from city to city. Unfortunately, I thought everything kinda falls off a cliff in the last two episodes and seems to set up a third season that feels like it might undo all of that and...
- 7/10/2025
- by Ben Pearson
- Slash Film
Spoiler Alert: This story contains spoilers from “The Game Is a Foot” Season 2, Episode 1 of “Poker Face,” now streaming on Peacock.
“Poker Face” writer Laura Deeley came up with the idea of featuring identical quintuplets for an episode of the whodunit series, and creator and director Rian Johnson thought it was “batshit insane in all the best ways.” But he wanted to give it a shot.
Johnson didn’t want to use anything fancy to pull it off. He wanted to dig into what a “Poker Face” episode looks like, and maintain that vintage aesthetic that had been established in Season 1 — but he wanted to use old-school camera trickery when it came to filming. Johnson says, “To me, that meant making sure we’re making every ounce of ‘What’s Up Doc?’ and French farce-like in one door, out the other, near misses and pretending to be different people.”
It...
“Poker Face” writer Laura Deeley came up with the idea of featuring identical quintuplets for an episode of the whodunit series, and creator and director Rian Johnson thought it was “batshit insane in all the best ways.” But he wanted to give it a shot.
Johnson didn’t want to use anything fancy to pull it off. He wanted to dig into what a “Poker Face” episode looks like, and maintain that vintage aesthetic that had been established in Season 1 — but he wanted to use old-school camera trickery when it came to filming. Johnson says, “To me, that meant making sure we’re making every ounce of ‘What’s Up Doc?’ and French farce-like in one door, out the other, near misses and pretending to be different people.”
It...
- 5/8/2025
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
When Peacock’s Poker Face premiered back in 2023, my biggest complaint came from a place of privilege: There was so much to enjoy about creator Rian Johnson and producer-star Natasha Lyonne’s loving tribute to the NBC Mystery Movie wheel programming of the ’70s that when the series settled for being “very good” instead of “great,” that felt regrettable.
For two subsequent years, nearly every time I watched a show boasting The World’s Greatest Detective or a Human Lie Detector — TV writers love a Human Lie Detector like a Hot Zone virologist loves a Hazmat suit — my takeaway was something akin to, “No, Elsbeth isn’t bad, but Poker Face showed how you could make basically the exact same show, only with a little bit more ambition and artistry.”
Arriving more than two years later — look, CGI dragons take time to produce — the second season of Poker Face has...
For two subsequent years, nearly every time I watched a show boasting The World’s Greatest Detective or a Human Lie Detector — TV writers love a Human Lie Detector like a Hot Zone virologist loves a Hazmat suit — my takeaway was something akin to, “No, Elsbeth isn’t bad, but Poker Face showed how you could make basically the exact same show, only with a little bit more ambition and artistry.”
Arriving more than two years later — look, CGI dragons take time to produce — the second season of Poker Face has...
- 5/7/2025
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The hunt for an elusive South American flower is at the heart of the latest addition to the Peacock streaming service, but the creators of the new show aren’t from the typical Hollywood studio.
“Unlocked,” a short film that debuts Friday on the NBCUniversal broadband outlet, is the creation of tech giant Hewlett-Packard and the agency Giant Spoon. The mini-movie tells the story of data scientists hoping to track down a rare plant that might just offer a cure to a mysterious neurological disease that ails the world, but it might solve some other problems as well, like how to get ad messages in front of consumers who are increasingly accustomed to avoid such things when they hunker down for a new bingeworthy session.
The mission in the film is critical, but so too is the one mentioned above. “Streaming continues to grow in terms of audience,” says Laura Correnti,...
“Unlocked,” a short film that debuts Friday on the NBCUniversal broadband outlet, is the creation of tech giant Hewlett-Packard and the agency Giant Spoon. The mini-movie tells the story of data scientists hoping to track down a rare plant that might just offer a cure to a mysterious neurological disease that ails the world, but it might solve some other problems as well, like how to get ad messages in front of consumers who are increasingly accustomed to avoid such things when they hunker down for a new bingeworthy session.
The mission in the film is critical, but so too is the one mentioned above. “Streaming continues to grow in terms of audience,” says Laura Correnti,...
- 2/17/2022
- by Brian Steinberg
- Variety Film + TV
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “Promising Young Woman” were named the best adapted original screenplays of 2021 at the Writers Guild Awards, which took place in a virtual ceremony on Sunday.
While “Promising Young Woman” went into the show with a slight edge over “The Trial of the Chicago 7’ for the original-screenplay award,”Borat” was a decided dark horse in the adapted-screenplay category, whose nominees also included “One Night in Miami,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “News of the World’ and “The White Tiger.”
Writers Guild winners in the screenplay categories go on to win Oscars almost two-thirds of the time, although the two awards sometimes differ because the WGA is an award strictly for screenplays for movies that were made under the terms of the guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement, or similar agreements from a number of international guilds.
This year, those restrictions disqualified three Oscar-nominated screenplays: “Minari” in the Original...
While “Promising Young Woman” went into the show with a slight edge over “The Trial of the Chicago 7’ for the original-screenplay award,”Borat” was a decided dark horse in the adapted-screenplay category, whose nominees also included “One Night in Miami,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “News of the World’ and “The White Tiger.”
Writers Guild winners in the screenplay categories go on to win Oscars almost two-thirds of the time, although the two awards sometimes differ because the WGA is an award strictly for screenplays for movies that were made under the terms of the guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement, or similar agreements from a number of international guilds.
This year, those restrictions disqualified three Oscar-nominated screenplays: “Minari” in the Original...
- 3/21/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Before the Indie Spirits, before the Oscars, there are the guilds, and as Hollywood inches its way through a protracted awards season, it’s up to each voting body to dole out their own accolades. On Sunday night, it was time for the writers to shine, as the Writers Guild of America presented their awards for film, television, news, and more, all voted on by fellow writers. For writers, by writers!
As IndieWire’s own Anne Thompson has noted, the WGA’s film nominees are less predictive than an indication of what’s losing and gaining heat, from the missing early 2020 releases “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” “The King of Staten Island,” and “Da 5 Bloods,” to such surging movies as “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Sound of Metal,” and “Promising Young Woman,” all of which recently earned Best Picture nods from the Academy.
At the Sunday night event, Emerald Fennell...
As IndieWire’s own Anne Thompson has noted, the WGA’s film nominees are less predictive than an indication of what’s losing and gaining heat, from the missing early 2020 releases “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” “The King of Staten Island,” and “Da 5 Bloods,” to such surging movies as “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Sound of Metal,” and “Promising Young Woman,” all of which recently earned Best Picture nods from the Academy.
At the Sunday night event, Emerald Fennell...
- 3/21/2021
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The Writers Guild of America Awards were handed during a virtual ceremony on Sunday, March 21. But don’t base your Oscar predictions on these kudos. Every year a slew of Oscar-nominated scripts are deemed ineligible for consideration here due to guild guidelines. Indeed, over the past 12 years only 80 of the Writers Guild of America Awards nominees have numbered among the 120 screenplays that reaped Academy Awards bids. Scroll down for the 2021 Writers Guild of America Awards winners list.
Our odds predict that “Nomadland” will win Best Adapted Screenplay winner at the Oscars but it was not allowed to compete at the WGA Awards. Neither was another Oscar contender in that category: “The Father.” The guild did match the academy three-for-five in this category, with “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “One Night in Miami” and “The White Tiger” competing at both. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “News of the World” round out the guild nominees.
Our odds predict that “Nomadland” will win Best Adapted Screenplay winner at the Oscars but it was not allowed to compete at the WGA Awards. Neither was another Oscar contender in that category: “The Father.” The guild did match the academy three-for-five in this category, with “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “One Night in Miami” and “The White Tiger” competing at both. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “News of the World” round out the guild nominees.
- 3/21/2021
- by Zach Laws and Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
The Writers Guild of America announced their WGA Awards TV nominations for on Wednesday, February 3. After getting just one bid from the Golden Globes earlier in the day, AMC’s “Better Call Saul” rebounded to top all shows with five nominations including for Drama Series along with Amazon Studios’ “The Boys,” Disney +’s “The Mandalorian” and Netflix’s “The Crown” and “Ozark.”
Hulu lands two shows in contention for Comedy Series with “The Great” and “PEN15,” making the streaming service the only company to score multiple nominees in the category. They are joined by HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” and FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows.”
Another notable feat belongs to “The Simpsons,” which dominates the animation category with four of the six nominations. Despite premiering over 30 years ago, the Fox series shows no signs of writer’s fatigue. “Bob’s Burgers” and “BoJack Horseman...
Hulu lands two shows in contention for Comedy Series with “The Great” and “PEN15,” making the streaming service the only company to score multiple nominees in the category. They are joined by HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” and FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows.”
Another notable feat belongs to “The Simpsons,” which dominates the animation category with four of the six nominations. Despite premiering over 30 years ago, the Fox series shows no signs of writer’s fatigue. “Bob’s Burgers” and “BoJack Horseman...
- 2/4/2021
- by Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
The WGA on Wednesday unveiled nominations for its 2021 WGA Awards in the categories of TV, new media, news, radio/audio and promotional writing during 2020. Winners will be honored March 21 in a virtual ceremony.
AMC’s Better Call Saul topped all shows with five nominations including for Drama Series, joining a list that includes Amazon Studios’ The Boys, Netflix’s The Crown (which led the way on the TV side at the Golden Globe nominations earlier today) and Ozark and Disney+’s The Mandalorian.
Also making noise today is Hulu, the only other company to have multiple noms in the top categories; it scored in Comedy with Tony McNamara’s The Great and Pen15 and FX on Hulu’s What We Do in the Shadows, which are joined in the race by HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso.
Lasso is also nominated in the New Series,...
AMC’s Better Call Saul topped all shows with five nominations including for Drama Series, joining a list that includes Amazon Studios’ The Boys, Netflix’s The Crown (which led the way on the TV side at the Golden Globe nominations earlier today) and Ozark and Disney+’s The Mandalorian.
Also making noise today is Hulu, the only other company to have multiple noms in the top categories; it scored in Comedy with Tony McNamara’s The Great and Pen15 and FX on Hulu’s What We Do in the Shadows, which are joined in the race by HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso.
Lasso is also nominated in the New Series,...
- 2/3/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
The nominations for the 2021 Writers Guild Award TV categories were announced on Wednesday, with streaming series dominating the lineup.
Both the drama series and the comedy series categories were majority streaming, with hits like “The Queen’s Gambit,” “The Mandalorian,” “The Crown” and “Ozark” sitting alongside fan-favorites like “PEN15,” “The Great” and “Ted Lasso.” Other nominees included HBO Max’s “The Flight Attendant,” HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” and Showtime’s “Good Lord Bird.
“Better Call Saul” also landed three additional nominations for individual episodes, with “Ozark” picking up another. “The Great” and “Ted Lasso” both picked up nomination for individual episodes as well as for Best New Series.
Comedy and variety nominees included Peacock’s fledgling late-night show, “The Amber Ruffin Show,” Amazon’s “Yearly Departed,” the one-off “30 Rock” reunion special and Stephen Colbert’s 2020 election coverage on Showtime.
Nominations in the film categories will be announced later this month,...
Both the drama series and the comedy series categories were majority streaming, with hits like “The Queen’s Gambit,” “The Mandalorian,” “The Crown” and “Ozark” sitting alongside fan-favorites like “PEN15,” “The Great” and “Ted Lasso.” Other nominees included HBO Max’s “The Flight Attendant,” HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” and Showtime’s “Good Lord Bird.
“Better Call Saul” also landed three additional nominations for individual episodes, with “Ozark” picking up another. “The Great” and “Ted Lasso” both picked up nomination for individual episodes as well as for Best New Series.
Comedy and variety nominees included Peacock’s fledgling late-night show, “The Amber Ruffin Show,” Amazon’s “Yearly Departed,” the one-off “30 Rock” reunion special and Stephen Colbert’s 2020 election coverage on Showtime.
Nominations in the film categories will be announced later this month,...
- 2/3/2021
- by Reid Nakamura
- The Wrap
“Better Call Saul” are among the top nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Awards, landing a nod for best drama series, as well as three nominations in the episodic drama category. “The Simpsons” landed four nominations in best animation, while newcomers “Ted Lasso” and “The Great” both scored nominations in best comedy, new series and episodic comedy. Winners will be honored at a joint 2021 Writers Guild Awards virtual ceremony on Sunday, March 21, 2021. Here’s the complete list of nominations, announced on Wednesday morning:
Drama Series
“Better Call Saul,” Written by Ann Cherkis, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Ariel Levine, Heather Marion, Thomas Schnauz, Gordon Smith, Alison Tatlock; AMC
“The Boys,” Written by Eric Kripke, Ellie Monahan, Anslem Richardson, Craig Rosenberg, Michael Saltzman, Rebecca Sonnenshine; Amazon Prime Video
“The Crown,” Written by Peter Morgan, Jonathan Wilson; Netflix
“The Mandalorian,” Written by Rick Famuyiwa, Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni; Disney Plus
“Ozark,” Written by Laura Deeley,...
Drama Series
“Better Call Saul,” Written by Ann Cherkis, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Ariel Levine, Heather Marion, Thomas Schnauz, Gordon Smith, Alison Tatlock; AMC
“The Boys,” Written by Eric Kripke, Ellie Monahan, Anslem Richardson, Craig Rosenberg, Michael Saltzman, Rebecca Sonnenshine; Amazon Prime Video
“The Crown,” Written by Peter Morgan, Jonathan Wilson; Netflix
“The Mandalorian,” Written by Rick Famuyiwa, Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni; Disney Plus
“Ozark,” Written by Laura Deeley,...
- 2/3/2021
- by Michael Schneider
- Variety Film + TV
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