Warning! Spoilers ahead for Poker Face season 2, episode 7.Poker Face season 2’s latest installment maintains that level of cinematic self-awareness for the remainder of its runtime.
Sam Richardson guest-stars as a TV salesman and aspiring screenwriter named Kendall. Kendall just finished his latest screenplay: a heist movie about a guy who gets fired from a Best Buy-style megastore (based on the store where he works) and goes back to rob the place using his knowledge of the store and the tropes of heist movies. When Kendall himself is fired to cut costs and cover losses from shoplifting, he teams up with a local crook, played by James Ransone (best known as Ziggy from The Wire), to carry out the heist from his script in real life.
It’s the kind of partnership you’d see in an Elmore Leonard novel, and Ransone and Richardson share hilarious chemistry as a hardened, trigger-happy career criminal and a regular, mild-mannered guy who’s in way over his head. Where Kendall’s story is a heist movie, Charlie’s story is a romcom. Corey Hawkins plays Bill, Kendall’s store manager/childhood best friend, who only fired him to motivate him to finally follow his dreams in the film industry, and the delightful Geraldine Viswanathan plays Charlie’s romcom-obsessed new boss at a tandoori restaurant.
Poker Face Season 2, Episode 7 Brings A Heist Movie & A Romcom Crashing Together
Charlie's New Love Interest Is Killed During A Heist Gone Awry
While Kendall’s heist storyline is playing out, Charlie is dropping off daily food deliveries at the store and building up a rapport with Bill. When Bill asks her out on a date, Charlie’s boss coaches her on how to follow the beats of a romcom and fall in love.
As Charlie goes on a first date, it’s strange to see her so nervous — it adds a whole new dimension to the character. We’re used to seeing her as a confident lone wolf, so it’s interesting to see her open herself up to another person and show vulnerability. It also gives her a personal connection to the murder victim when the heist goes awry and Bill gets shot.
While I enjoyed how the mystery escalated, with a couple of leftover bags of cash forcing Kendall to return to the scene of the crime, I found the climactic sequence a bit unbelievable.
While I enjoyed how the mystery escalated, with a couple of leftover bags of cash forcing Kendall to return to the crime scene, I found the climactic sequence a bit unbelievable. I didn’t buy that Kendall’s partner-in-crime would still be alive with a samurai sword jammed through his abdomen, and I certainly didn’t buy that he could pick up an assault rifle and make his way to the superstore with that sword still piercing his vital organs. It takes our suspension of disbelief too far (which is a shame, because, up to that point, the whole storyline had been relatively convincing).
Poker Face releases new episodes on Peacock every Thursday.
However, I thought it was a nice twist — and a clever way to tie the episode’s movie parodies together — to have Charlie use a bunch of TVs playing famous movie gunfights to trick the shooter. The final moments of the episode create a fun parallel with the ending of Heat as Charlie chases down Kendall and corners him like Al Pacino catching Robert De Niro, complete with the same iconic soundtrack: “God Moving Over the Face of the Waters” by Moby.
Poker Face's Latest Episode Shows Us A New Side Of Charlie
Charlie Opens Up Emotionally
As a big fan of both heist movies and romcoms, I really enjoyed Poker Face’s two-for-one genre parody. “One Last Job” features a handful of memorable guest performances as usual — particularly by Richardson as a cinephile who tries his hand at a movie crime — and it was refreshing to see Charlie open up emotionally and allow herself to be vulnerable.
Poker Face Season 2, Episode 7
- Release Date
- January 26, 2023
- Network
- Peacock
- Directors
- Lucky McKee, Natasha Lyonne, Janicza Bravo, Ben Sinclair
Cast
Natasha LyonneCharlie Cale
Benjamin BrattCliff Legrand
WHERE TO WATCH
- Creator(s)
- Rian Johnson
- The episode's lighthearted satire of heist movie tropes is a lot of fun
- Sam Richardson leads a cast of terrific guest stars
- Charlie reveals a more vulnerable side of herself as she goes on a first date
- The climactic sequence stretches your suspension of disbelief a bit too far
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