The Stall

A nice follow up to the first 2, with the slight change of charlie accidently being the match that starts a fire of murder and intrigue. Here charlie inadvertantly causes the victim to have a crisis of conscious and sets off the chain of events, which revolve around a dog, paprika, and the sound of a train horn.

It's mostly well acted, good direction, mouth watering bbq on display and a very columbo like style they're nailed down quickly.

So on to the nit picking audio issue, the dogs barking was too loud and went on too long for no reason, once a main character mentions it's annoying / crazy/ why keep on doing it ?

The plot just as whacky as the first two.

First off, any show that lets me spend an hour with Natasha Lyonne scores high in my book. I've been a fan since the Slums of Beverly Hills.

But more, I love that this show fills a much needed genre - the perfect "smart - but not arrogant; quirky - but not weird; funny - but not snarky; edgy - but not nihilistic; feminist - but not bitter; wholesome - but they're dropping the f-bomb every 2 minutes" kind of show. (I literally laughed out loud when Charlie sticks the pecan wood scrap into her mouth to taste it and the vet says, "What the "f" are you doin'?!")

The world is so dark right now that I need a bit of an escape, but that doesn't mean I want to watch adults behave like toddlers or women treated like dolls.

And I love the "guest cameos" -- I've missed S. Epatha Merkerson, John Ratzenberger, and Rhea Perlman! And my fingers are crossed that Joseph Gordon-Levitt may make an appearance.

So, I'm not finding it to be dull at all. I'm finding it to be ever so clever and a pure delight.

When this episode got into politics, that's where it was really lazy writing and horrible writing at that. Because if she could tell that people were lying, and if they were telling the truth the she wouldn't call MAGA people fascists and definitely wouldn't be a Democrat...lazy writing for a political agenda. I find it a lot where good shows we have some really good episodes and have to throw a crappy one in there just to push politics and it's so sad that writers can't see past this. But then again, that's what you get when you hire people that don't have the good sense God gave them. You need to do better.

I love the lead actress (Russian Doll is one of the best TV series there is and she's a major reason for it.) but this is turning into Columbo and I couldn't stand that series.

I want a mystery I have to try and work out, not to know what's going to happen and then watch someone be ever so clever and work it all out, that's just dull. I scrobbled through most of this episode from before the murder even happened as you could write the rest of the script yourself.

Natasha Lyonne is still great, but I'm not sure how much I will continue to watch if it's all going to be like this.

...and leave the poor dogs alone, that part was unbearable.

After a strong start with the first two episodes of Poker Face, Episode 3 felt like a noticeable dip in both energy and originality. From the opening scene, the episode introduces a group of grating characters that are difficult to warm up to-including a particularly annoying dog whose presence adds more irritation than humor or charm. The intro felt forced and overly quirky, lacking the clever setup and intrigue that made the initial episodes so compelling.

One of the biggest drawbacks here is predictability. Unlike the earlier episodes, where the "howcatchem" formula felt fresh and full of surprises, this time it was fairly easy to spot the clues early on. You can practically see the narrative tracks being laid in real-time, which makes the eventual resolution feel more like a box-checking exercise than a clever reveal.

It's possible that this is just part of the show's structure-that each episode follows a familiar rhythm-but here, the pattern felt more restricting than satisfying. While Natasha Lyonne continues to be a strong lead, her talents aren't quite enough to carry an episode when the supporting characters and overall mystery lack depth. Hopefully just a bump in the road rather than a sign of decline.