Note: This story contains spoilers for “Poker Face,” Season 2, Episode 12.
As quickly as Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie Cale settled into the bustling metropolis of New York in “Poker Face,” the season two finale ripped away any shred of normalcy as Charlie hit the road again, fearing her life even more than the first time.
After settling into the Brooklyn Crash Pad (thanks to Steve Buscemi’s good friend) and developing a friendship with a local named Alex (Patti Harrison), things were going great for Charlie—that is, until she discovered she was at the center of a notorious iguana-hunting plot to find and kill Beatrix (Rhheanman). Charlie and Alex thought they had escaped the iguana, until Charlie realized her friend was actually Iguana all along, who had befriended Charlie so she could lead her to Hasp and kill her.
It turns out Alex was the only person who could lie to Charlie without alarming her bullshit detector – T – a realization that leaves Charlie “heartbroken” with “some real sadness” as she heads down the road after FBI agent Luca Clark (Simon Helberg) tells Charlie she’s wanted by the FBI, according to showrunner Tony.
“She connects with people, but… she finds it hard to find a home in the world [and] I think she really felt like maybe she found her place in Brooklyn, found someone who seemed really well-suited to be her friend,” Tost told TheWrap.
Tost added that Alex was someone Charlie could trust and she thought he never lied to her, allowing Charlie to connect with Alex without feeling a lingering bulls-t alarm going off in the back of her head.
“Having that pulled out from under her and finding out that that’s actually the only person who can lie to her, it leaves her in a little bit of an existential mess and heartbroken,” Tost said, adding that it was interesting “to see what was lurking beneath the kind of grin that we see that we often have.”
Charlie struggles with the pain of betrayal to get out of the dire situation, which ends with Alex flying off a cliff in Charlie’s Barracuda in Plymouth, while Charlie finds herself face-to-face with Luca, who gives her a leg up to escape but warns her that the next time he sees her, he’ll have her to serve. The conversation elicits an emotional response from Lyonne’s Charlie, which Tost said may have been colored by the show’s impending changes to secure another installment.
“Ela trará o que está acontecendo naquele dia em sua vida para a performance – às vezes haverá momentos de vulnerabilidade que não estão escritos, mas depois se aprofundam em uma cena”, disse Tost. “Esse foi um dos últimos dias que filmamos … você não é garantido para sempre. Esta é a última cena dela com Luca? Esta é a última cena dela como Charlie?”
Abaixo, o TOST descompacta que Cliffhanger Fakeout e honra os programas de TV pré-prestígio e revela a maior palavra de orientação de Rian Johnson para a série de mistério de assassinato.
TheWrap: Por que você escolheu matar o Hasp?
Tost: Parecia que seria uma morte que teria algum soco. Não era originalmente o grande plano diretor, mas como estávamos falando sobre esse personagem de Alex, [we discussed] O que justificaria a maior mulher de sucesso do mundo para entrar? Estabelecemos que essa coisa do HASP ainda tem por aí. Ela está viva. Estabelecemos que ela está testemunhando eventos contra pessoas poderosas. Cresceu dessa maneira, como uma maneira de justificar esse personagem de Alex em nosso mundo. O benefício adicional é que Rhea Perlman é inerentemente muito agradável, mesmo quando ela é assustadora. Você não quer vê -la ser morta; Isso aumenta as apostas emocionais para Charlie e para o espectador.
O final tem um ótimo falsificador falso e literal antes de resolver o fim. Qual foi a inspiração por trás disso?
Isso foi algo que Rian [Johnson] E eu falei sobre o qual rimos. Há algo nesses shows dos anos 80, onde às vezes há quase essa coisa de “os duques de Hazzard”, onde o carro está no ar e depois uma moldura de congelamento e “será continuado na próxima semana”. Estamos conversando a temporada inteira, antes de sabermos sobre o que a história serializada, talvez façamos uma história de dois pais, porque isso é algo que “Magnum Pi” ou “Rockford Files” fizeram. Ele veio apenas do nosso amor a esses programas semanais de TV da velha escola e de alguns dos tropos e de alguns dos movimentos, e como poderíamos redirecioná -los e remixá -los e fazê -los frescos para um novo público?
Antes da virada dos eventos, você acha que Charlie estaria contente em morar no Brooklyn e ficar lá?
Tenho a sensação de que provavelmente, com esse presente, e com esse fato de que parece haver assassinatos acontecendo em torno dela o tempo todo, acho que quase qualquer local tem uma certa vida útil para Charlie. Eu pude vê -la passando uma temporada, se ela não tivesse seu inimigo cósmico se aconchegando com ela, mas provavelmente não 20 anos no mesmo prédio de apartamentos.
Você já ouviu algo negativo ou positivo sobre uma temporada potencial em potencial? Você gostaria de voltar e o que você vê de longo alcance para o show?
Whether or not there’s a third season is really between the studio, Peacock, Rian, Natasha, and I’m happy, hopefully, a good, hired hand to help with it. But it’s really the Natasha-Rian show, so I think it starts there. And obviously, it starts if MRC and Peacock see that there’s another season for them, and then the conversations will go from there.
This season had a few more multi-episode arcs, but it still had a good dose of edge. Did this balance feel good enough, and would you like to achieve a similar balance in season three?
It’s really Rian’s idea. When we went in to start the writers’ room, I started asking about season two, what the overall arc was, and he just said, “Don’t worry about it.” I had 201, 202, 203 on the board just to map out—there are 12 episodes, how do we fill it? He was like, actually, “You could knock out these cards, and when the writers get here, just focus on one good mystery.” We were breaking down these individual episodes before we even knew what the whole season was going to be… if there is a season three, again, I think that’s really Rian’s call.
We didn’t see much of our good friend, especially as Charlie became closer to Alex. Could he return in season 3?
He could definitely come back. Charlie needs a friend, and it would be nice to have someone she could talk to, just to get what’s on her mind and heart. A CB radio friend you hear but never see—that feels like a throwback to those ’80s shows we love. There’s something about this pre-prestige TV world that’s fun, so that was the conception of the good friend. Would we see him again? Would we hear from him more? I think all of that is on the table for future stories.
What conversations do you have in the writers’ room about honoring past TV as a streaming show while looking at the current TV landscape?
It’s very much this mandate that starts with Rian that the last thing we should do is chase [and] try to replicate what other shows are doing well and not chase the coolest, newest trends. When we’re in the writers’ room, it’s very much like, “This is a case-of-the-week show.” We need to do certain things for it to feel like a “Poker Face” episode, and that’s the driving element, and a lot of the inspiration comes from these pre-“Sopranos,” pre-prestige shows where—awards are nice, but we’re not aiming for, “this is our award-winning episode”—we just try not to repeat ourselves and then try to just what variations we can find on this kind of template or this kind of “Poker Face” model we have, and of course, sometimes we can also deviate.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
“Poker Face” seasons 1 and 2 are now airing on Peacock.
