Peacock's comedy crime drama Poker Face applies a fresh twist on the whodunit trope while also reviving the traditional murder-of-the-week concept from TV's past. The series follows Charlie (Natasha Lyonne), a casino worker who can instantly tell whenever anyone is lying. After the events of the first episode, Charlie is sent on the run; each week, she finds herself working a different job and getting tangled up in a different murder mystery.

Created by Rian Johnson, Poker Face feels like a continuation of his quest to shake up the mystery genre after his success in writing and directing Knives Out and Glass Onion. The show subverts the whodunit trope by dedicating the first part of each episode to depicting that week's murder, with most of the tension coming from how exactly Charlie will unravel the mystery.

10 Rest in Metal Personified the Struggle for a Pop Music Hit

The final episode from the show's initial drop, "Rest in Metal," sees Charlie go on tour and work the merch stand for the washed-up, one-hit-wonder band Doxxxology. During a summer tour, the three members of Doxxxology try to write a new song, something they've been failing at for decades; when their temporary drummer (Nicholas Cirillo) performs a song he's been working on, they conspire to kill him and take the song for themselves.

The band's lead singer, Ruby Ruin (Chloë Sevigny), is one of the show's most committed and terrifying antagonists, while Charlie's relationship with the young drummer is one of the more genuine and heart-warming. Perhaps the episode's only drawback is its central idea: being able to tell if a song is hit-worthy or not from one performance--to the point where you'd kill for it--is something music producers have been trying to conjure up for decades without success.

9 Exit Stage Death was About a Stars Perception

"Exit Stage Death" took its audience behind the scenes of a theater production, fleshing out all its tricks and characters along the way. The episode finds Charlie working as a waitress at a dining theatre. The play stars veteran TV actors Kathleen Townsend (Ellen Barkin) and Michael Graves (Tim Meadows), who, after co-starring together on an old TV show, now seemingly hate each other.

The episode's opening 20 minutes do a masterful job of fleshing out the lives and interweaving relationships of the theater troop and spins a mini-mystery as the audience wonders who will kill whom, only to have the rug pulled out from under them entirely. One of the show's strengths is the world-building it does around Charlie, and in this episode, she's almost an incidental character to the drama happening around her.

8 The Future of the Sport Showed the Dangers of Legacy

"The Future of the Sport" brings Charlie to a go-kart track, where she becomes entangled in local dirt racing. The episode focuses on a rivalry between veteran racer Keith Owens (Tim Blake Nelson) and young hopeful Davis McDowell (Charles Melton). After losing to Davis, Keith sabotages his opponent's car, causing a big crash at the next race.

Poker Face isn't afraid to experiment with its formula. This time, it only reveals half of the mystery in its opening, leaving more to be uncovered as the story goes on. Davis knows that Charlie is a human lie detector and is able to manipulate her to his advantage. One of the less flashy episodes, "The Future of the Sport," is just a solid, fun, and twisting mystery that opens with a homage to John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix.

7 The Stall was Obsessed with the Perfect BBQ

The first episode of Poker Face not to be directed by its creator, Rian Johnson, "The Stall," sees the show getting into its rhythm and Natasha Lyonne stretching her legs as the lead. The episode is set around a BBQ restaurant run by two brothers, Taffy (Lil Rel Howery) and George (Larry Brown), which is thrown into chaos when George declares one morning that he's going vegan and the very next day is found dead.

This episode takes great delight in having Charlie take center stage as she quips against a stray dog with a very specific taste in radio broadcasts. It's an episode that shows how much attention the series gives to the worlds it inhabits--this time around, making the perfect BBQ--and continues to flesh out the limits of Charlie's lie-detecting abilities. It also has a crucial turn centering on the Bong Joon-ho film Okja, which is a funny and well-deserved nod.

6 The Orpheus Syndrome is a Love Letter to Old-School Special Effects

"The Orpheus Syndrome" is Poker Face's love letter to traditional Hollywood models and puppet work. The episode centers around veteran film producers (Tim Russ and Cherry Jones), a VFX artist Arthur Liptin (Nick Nolte), and a murder to cover up a four-decade-old catastrophe.

Compared to most episodes of Poker Face, the setup here is rather straightforward, and it's possibly the most incidental Charlie has been for the entire season. Yet the love shown to a bygone era of filmmaking is palpable. All the puppets have a charm and creepiness that gives this episode a unique texture compared to the rest. Arthur is such a warm and understandable character, and of all Charlie's companions, he's the one that's easiest to root for.

5 The Night Shift Capture That Sleep Middle-of-Nowhere Energy

"The Night Shift," Poker Face's second episode, sets the template for the rest of the series to follow. The episode opens in a quiet, sleepy town and follows a trio of shift workers. Subway worker Damian (Brandon Micheal Hall) has a nightly ritual where he purchases a lottery ticket from Sara (Megan Suri). Damian and Sara clearly have feelings for each other, which leads to jealousy from a young mechanic, Jed (Colton Ryan), and then murder ensues.

If it wasn't already clear from the first episode, "The Night Shift" enforces the fact that Poker Face, despite its outlandish premise, is a show that cares about real people: People whose lives are often defined by their menial work and the circumstances and rivalries that arise from it. It reintroduces Charlie as a perpetual wanderer, teaching her the rules of the game and setting her up as someone who can bring catharsis to the underdogs, all while she's just passing through.

4 Time of the Monkey Proves You're Never Too Old for Crime

The most delightful twist that Poker Face applies to its audience's expectations comes in the episode "Time of the Monkey." Set in a retirement home, it follows friends Irene (Judith Light) and Joyce (S. Epatha Merkerson), who like to reminisce about their former lives as hippies and revolutionaries. When Ben (Reed Birney), their former leader, moves in, they concoct a plan to murder him.

This episode changes things up by having Charlie befriend the murderers instead of the victims. The retirement home setting proves that no one has to be past their prime, and Light and Merkerson are lapping up the opportunity to play a type of character rarely represented on screen. Even as the pair's true sinister motive is revealed, they make it hard not to root for them.

3 Escape from Shit Mountain Features a Surprising Guest Star

"Escape from Shit Mountain" sees Rian Johnson return to the directing chair to team up with frequent collaborator Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Set in an isolated mountain forest during a winter storm, the episode follows Trey, a former trader living under house arrest for insider trading. When the storm forces his ankle bracelet to be deactivated, Trey takes the opportunity to escape for a drive.

Most of the episode comes down to a tense exchange between four people stuck in a cabin, each with their own goals and each trying to make it out alive. It's an episode less about solving a mystery and more about trying to escape a dangerous situation. Johnson builds the tension towards a brilliant climax and teases out a final scene that perfectly sets up the finale.

2 The Hook Revealed More of Charlie's Past

After eight episodes on the run, the Season Finale, "The Hook" brings Charlie face to face with the man who's been hunting her the entire time. After leaving the hospital, Charlie is taken by Cliff (Benjamin Bratt) to meet with casino owner Sterling Frost Sr. (Ron Perlman), who holds her responsible for his son's death.

Once face-to-face, Frost reveals he's no longer angry about his son's death and has a different proposition for Charlie. Things still inevitably go awry, once again putting Charlie in danger. This episode dispences with the rewind structure of the rest of the season in favor of staying entirely with Charlie. It offers the first bit of real backstory on the main character by introducing her sister Emily (Clea DuVall) and pays off many of the hanging storylines fans had been waiting the entire series to see resolved.

1 Dead Man’s Hand Perfectly Sets up the Series