Review: 'Poker Face' a Throwback to Great '70s Gumshoes

It was their love of '70s detective shows that brought actor Natasha Lyonne and director Rian Johnson together. They decided to make one themselves. Thus is the inspiration for "Poker Face," Johnson's latest mystery airing on Peacock January 26.

The walloping first episode shows just how great this episodic collaboration is going to be. We meet Charlie Cale (Lyonne), a casino cocktail waitress with a special innate skill for telling when someone is lying. That talent has gotten her into trouble before, especially with casino barons who hate when their house doesn't win at poker.

Thanks to a somewhat forgiving, but nefarious, casino owner, Charlie lands a job as a drink server, but gets suspicious one day when one of her fellow employees and good friends is killed. Her penchant for observation, coupled with natural lie-detecting skills, leads her to the truth, thus establishing a character arc through one-off murder mysteries she encounters during her travels through rural America in her vintage blue Plymouth Barracuda.

Johnson has become the new Agatha Christie for the modern set. His "Knives Out" and follow-up "Glass Onion" have become fan favorites, even getting more praise than the more upscale Christie whodunnits from Kenneth Branagh. Still, for its small scale, "Poker Face" is no less sophisticated.

Television gumshoes in the '70s and even into the '80s relied on the charisma and quirks of their main characters. Colombo was a bumbling mastermind, while Jessica Fletcher used her literary knowledge as a mystery writer to solve local crimes. Whether they are professional PIs or just everyday savants, these characters usually work below the police force, who don't have time (or brains) to deal with offbeat suspects.

"Poker Face" is filled with these types of personalities, Lyonne being one of them. With the series playing more like an anthology than a limited series, Johnson places our nomadic hero into a myriad of interesting people to play off of. Parker has no skin in any of these mysteries, so her motivation is purely compulsive.

Although Lyonne isn't straying far from her "Russian Doll" persona, as Charlie she is just different enough that her nuance pulls us in. She is one of those actors who doesn't change much in appearance for her projects; rather, it's her skill as an actress and Johnson's love of the flawed detective that make this show so special. We've seen him do this to Daniel Craig in "Knives Out," where Benoit Blanc's crime-solving abilities are masked behind an air of ineptitude.

Here, Lyonne relies on her character's ability to call "bullshit" when she catches someone in a lie, but that doesn't detract from her natural deductive skills. It's this avenue from deception to truth where we root for Charlie to solve a crime using her intelligence rather than relying on her superpower. This is where Lyonne shines in her craft. Every little clue is a trigger, and every trigger is a means to an end even if that means verbally working through her suspicions with, say, a stray dog.

Johnson is saving his most complex mysteries for the big screen, it seems. The stories here aren't for the audience to solve, since we know who did it from the start. That doesn't mean couch sleuths have nothing to play with. "Poker Face" might pinpoint the killer in its first few minutes, but it's in the details that viewers will have to pay close attention if they want to beat Charlie to the "how."

Through flashbacks and timeline flip-flops and changes in perspective, Johnson pulls out some classic TV tricks to tell his stories. He gives you the entire setup, then lets Charlie, and you, loose to see how the culprits get caught.

He also uses the classic undercover scenario where our traveling sleuth is set inside some kind of vocation. In one episode she's a casino cocktail waitress, in another she helps out at a BBQ restaurant, and in another, she's a rock band roadie. These changes of venue keep things fresh, much like they did for "Charlie's Angels," "Hart to Hart," or even "The Incredible Hulk" from yesteryear.

"Poker Face" is a callback to the great detective shows of the '70s, from the burnt umber all-caps font on the title card to the episodic self-contained storylines that feature special guest stars. It's entertaining as hell, and has all the acquired provenance to be a hit among the comfy mystery crowd.

"Poker Face" is a 10-episode series. The first four episodes will premiere on Peacock on January 26.