REVIEW: 'Poker Face' Season 2 Episode 7 Is A Turning Point For The Show

This review contains spoilers for Poker Face.

© Peacock

What happens when a film buff who’s never had so much as a parking ticket finds himself in the middle of a real-life heist? According to Poker Face, it’s funny, tragic, and brilliant.

One Last Job invites us into the life of Kendall (Sam Richardson), a store worker who lives for movies and has never broken a law in his life. After he’s fired from Super Save by his close friend and boss Bill (James Ransone), he’s approached by a thief, Juice (Corey Hawkins), with a tempting but dangerous proposition: help rob the store’s Black Friday takings. If they succeed, they’ll be rewarded with $200,000 split down the middle. Easy, right?

Wrong. It’s never that simple. There’s more than double the expected cash. Juice vanishes. Bill gets shot. And suddenly, Kendall, whose only prior crime was watching too many films, is in way over his head.

What follows is a spiralling mess of a cover-up, panic, further murder, and misplaced good intentions.

It’s soon revealed that Kendall and Bill have been close since fourth grade, and Bill only fired him because he believed Kendall was destined for more. That belief gets him killed. It’s so preventable, this time it hurts.

Meanwhile, Charlie is working at a local restaurant in the area and unwittingly gets swept into the whole mess via her blossoming flirtation with Bill. He keeps ordering takeout deliveries just to see her, and that interest is returned. Geraldine Viswanathan’s hopeless romantic coworker is fully invested in the ‘rom com’ she thinks is playing out in real time. Bridget Jones’s Diary and Pride and Prejudice are literally playing in the background. It’s sweet, but you know it can’t and won’t last.

When Bill asks Charlie out on his birthday, she sets out to buy him a small birthday gift. She even asks Kendall for advice, planning to buy Bill something meaningful. She settles on a guardian figure to ward off evil spirits for his bike. It's such a Charlie move, but this time is tragically useless. Bill is dead before it can even work.

What does work, however, is the romance. While short-lived, Natasha Lyonne adds a vulnerability to Charlie that we’ve not seen before. Even though she’s more of a nomad, and the other half doesn’t survive the episode, you’ll fall for what could be.

The storytelling here is masterful. If last week’s episode felt like a return to quality, the seventh episode of the second season feels like a turning point for the show. It should cement Taofik Kolade as a consistent writer should Peacock renew Poker Face for a third season. It’s soon Cyber Monday, and Bill hasn’t called. Their date was before Black Friday, and now days have passed. However, Charlie thinks she’s in luck when a delivery addressed to Super Save comes through.

When she arrives, she soon learns the order is for a police officer investigating what they believe was a sole robbery, orchestrated by Bill, who they cannot find. His body has been hidden, and he’s being framed for the whole thing. Ever consistent, Charlie knows instantly it couldn’t be him.Perhaps the most horrific part of the episode is the reveal that Bill’s body has been stuffed into a Santa costume in the store. If you weren’t invested before (How?), you will be now.

I won’t spoil the rest of the episode, but the deeper we go into full heist territory, the stronger the episode becomes. You’ll be glued to the screen, clichés and all.

After an incident with Juice that I won’t spoil, Charlie investigates Kendall’s locker and finds the stolen money just as he walks in. Gun in hand, he threatens to kill her if she doesn’t drop the cash, put her hands up, and step away. We’re now deep into full heist movie territory - clichés and all - but you’ll be glued to the screen.

One Last Job is an incredible episode of television. It’s equal parts engaging, funny, and gut-wrenching. It has everything that makes Poker Face so good and provides even more depth for Charlie – something you won’t realise you needed. Here’s hoping the season can build on this high in future episodes.

Rating: ★★★★★

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About Poker Face

Poker Face. © Peacock

Premiere Date: May 8 2025

Episode Count: 12

Executive Producer/Showrunner: 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 Mulaneyy, Justin Theroux, Katherin 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.