REVIEW: ‘Poker Face’ Season 2 Episode 11 Sets An Interesting Stage For The Season Finale

This review contains spoilers for Poker Face.

As we head towards the finale, it’s safe to say that Poker Face has always thrived on its mix of crime, chaos, and comedy. With this, "Day of the Iguana" is a perfect encapsulation of everything that makes this series as good as it gets. A wedding, a hitman, a melting corpse, and callbacks to past episodes make this episode one you won’t forget.

Something the series gets right week in, week out is its guest cast. This week, Justin Theroux shines as two characters. First, there's Todd, a teacher whose life is brutally cut short by his bow tie when a chauffeur strangles him as he gets ready to attend a wedding. Then there's the said chauffeur, whose identity remains unknown. The mysterious figure removes all evidence of the real Todd's existence in gloriously gruesome fashion. An eyeball rolls across the floor, then, with the help of prosthetics, contact lenses, and a compression bag that liquefies the body, the killer assumes Todd’s identity and heads off to infiltrate a wedding.

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How Charlie and Alex (Patti Harrison) become involved is Poker Face at its best as a simple job becomes murderously complicated. Alex ropes Charlie in to be an extra pair of hands at the wedding she's working through her newfound oyster empire, Yippie Ki-Yay OysterShucker. Naturally, Charlie isn’t impressed. However, the promise of making 7 grand draws her in. I’m sure if she knew that a hitman would be setting her friend up for the fall of a murder through a freezer mishap, she’d decline, but alas, the pair work the event.

The next murder itself is as convoluted as it is clever. The groom, none other than the son of Beatrix Hasp (yes, that Beatrix Hasp from episodes 2 and 3), finds himself on the wrong end of a syringe in the men's toilets before winding up with a knife in his eye. If you’re squeamish, you’ll want to look away; it’s not pretty.

When Alex enters the boathouse to replace ruined seafood, courtesy of the murderer, she discovers the body. What she doesn’t know is that he's behind her. She comes to on the boat with the same knife from the groom’s eye in her hand and his blood on her clothes. With Alex framed, the FBI crawling all over the venue, and the hitman still on the loose, it’s up to Charlie to untangle the mess.

Director Ti West leans into the tension while keeping things deliciously off-kilter, largely thanks to the gore and writer Andrew Sodroski's understanding of what makes the series click. There’s something hilariously surreal about Charlie noticing a weepy eye, a hand injury on ‘Todd,’ and two supposed drunken men stumbling into the boathouse, sensing something is off, but never to the degree that it is until it’s too late. Or about Luca Clark (Simon Helberg), the returning FBI agent, who sternly warns Charlie not to get involved, only for her to do precisely that, as always.

While this episode is a return to quality, it’s the dynamic between Charlie and Alex that elevates the episode. The pair flee the wedding in disguise, complete with a canoe escape. The plot escalates when Charlie realises their best bet is to turn to none other than Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman) for help through her finsta @alwaysbeabaking (with a bio personally addressed to Charlie). So much for witness protection.

The FBI identify the hitman as the Iguana. Still, it's not the answer you've been waiting for. With Charlie and Alex leading the mysterious figure to Hasp, the reveal is tantalisingly close, however. Is there a final twist incoming? The episode doesn’t quite answer the question outright, but it does leave viewers brilliantly on edge for the finale next week.

"Day of the Iguana" is a riot. It’s gory, sharp, and hilarious when necessary, making it one of the most entertaining 45 minutes of television Poker Face has delivered thus far. Who is the Iguana?

Rating: ★★★★★

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About Poker Face

Premiere Date: May 8, 2025

Episode Count: 12

Executive Producer/Showrunner: Rian Johnson, Natasha Lyonne, Tony Tost, Ram Bergman, Nena Rodrigue, Adam Arkin, Nora Zuckerman, Lilla Zuckerman

Writer: Laura Deeley, Alice Ju, Natasha Lyonne, Wyatt Cain, Tony Tost, Kate Thulin, Taofik Kolade, Megan Amram, Tea Ho, Raphie Cantor, Andrew Sodroski

Director: Rian Johnson, Natasha Lyonne, Miguel Arteta, Lucky McKee, John Dahl, Adam Arkin, Mimi Cave, Adamma Ebo, Clea Duvall, Ti West

Production: Animal Pictures, T-Street

Distribution: Peacock

Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Adrienne C. Moore, Alia Shawkat, Awkwafina, Ben Marshall, B.J. Novak, Carol Kane, Cliff "Method Man" Smith, Corey Hawkins, Cynthia Erivo, David Alan Grier, David Krumholtz, Favionte "GaTa" Ganter, Ego Nwodim, Gaby Hoffmann, Geraldine Viswanathan, Giancarlo Espositio, Haley Joel Osment, Jason Ritter, John Cho, John Mulaney, Justin Theroux, Katherine Narducci, Katie Holmes, Kevin Corrigan, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Tom, Lili Taylor, Margo Martindale, Melanie Lynskey, Natasha Leggero, Patti Harrison, Rhea Perlman, Richard Kind, Sam Richardson, Sherry Cola, Simon Helberg, Simon Rex, Taylor Schilling

Synopsis: Poker Face is a mystery-of-the-week series following Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road with her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve.