THE PERFORMER | Natasha Lyonne
THE SHOW | Peacock’s Poker Face
THE EPISODE | “The Hook” (March 9, 2023)
THE PERFORMANCE | Watching novice sleuth Charlie Cale use her lie-detecting abilities to unravel murders has been a definite pleasure all season lengthy on Peacock’s throwback thriller, due to Lyonne’s hilariously raspy lead efficiency. However she topped herself on this week’s season finale as Charlie dropped her personal poker face for a bit, letting us get a way of what truly makes her tick.
The finale provided loads of possibilities for Lyonne to make us snicker, from Charlie tagging together with a wild bachelorette occasion to having to endure Cliff’s dead-serious spoken-word recitation of Blues Traveler’s “Hook.” (He actually is the worst.) However Lyonne additionally flashed a steely depth as Charlie confronted off with Cliff, her eyes welling up with emotion as she contemplated taking pictures the man, and later stood toe-to-toe with intimidating on line casino boss Sterling Frost Sr., by no means giving an inch. The episode additionally gave our first good take a look at Charlie’s backstory, introducing us to her sister Emily, performed by Clea DuVall, and Lyonne put Charlie’s emotional bruises on full show as the 2 sisters bickered and dredged up previous household grudges. The stress of residing on the lam for a yr crept into Lyonne’s voice as Charlie requested her sister, “You suppose I like residing like this?” (The Poker Face writers are nonetheless holding their playing cards near their chests concerning Charlie’s previous, however Lyonne manages to fill within the blanks marvelously with only a few phrases and a look.)
In the long run, Charlie caught the unhealthy man, in fact — utilizing an, um, uncommon ring to subdue Cliff — and went again on the run, this time with a unique on line casino boss vowing to trace her down. (And we will’t wait to see Lyonne tangle with Rhea Perlman in Season 2.) However for now, let’s get pleasure from what Lyonne has given us this season: an immediately memorable TV character with an limitless provide of sassy one-liners and some hidden depths nonetheless left to discover.
Scroll all the way down to see who scored Honorable Point out shout-outs this week…
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HONORABLE MENTION: Whitney Cummings
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Fox In case you had instructed us… effectively, ever… that comic Whitney Cummings would ship one in every of any given week’s most dramatically compelling performances, we’d have arched an eyebrow. However within the newest installment of the Fox anthology Accused, Cummings had us rapt from begin to end. In “Brenda’s Story,” Cummings performed a stand-up comedian (with a method fairly completely different from her personal, thoughts you) who was raped by a profitable peer/previous hook-up. Within the aftermath, a shellshocked Brenda struggled with what to do subsequent, juggling recommendation from a skittish DA, a compromised comedy membership proprietor (performed by Rhea Perlman), a longtime good friend (Grace and Frankie‘s Baron Vaughn) and a brand new acquaintance (24‘s Mary Lyn Rajskub). Including layers to Cummings’ heartbreaking efficiency was the truth that Brenda is, frankly, a large number, an admitted drunk with a popularity for self-sabotage. All instructed, Cummings’ dramatic flip was no joke, but it surely nonetheless killed in surprising methods.
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HONORABLE MENTION: JB Smoove and Nick Kroll
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Hulu History of the World, Part II, Hulu’s four-“evening” follow-up to Mel Brooks’ 1981 movie comedy, was scattershot in high quality, to make sure. Many singles and doubles, few residence runs. However within the sequence of sketches dubbed “Curb Your Judaism,” JB Smoove and Nick Kroll, because the apostles Luke and Judas, served up a meal of snickers that was much more satisfying than the Final Supper they’d simply attended. (As Judas scoffed, “Extra like a Final Snack, proper?”) Winningly adopting the rhythms of Curb Your Enthusiasm (which Smoove is aware of all too effectively), the duo had nice enjoyable with observational humor about Jesus’ obsession with feet-washing, Saint Peter’s one-man present (no comp tickets, actually?), the curiously non-kosher meals that Jesus scoffed down afterwards (“As a Jew, I’m furious! I’m gonna plotz!”) and, relatedly, the cringey course of concerned in rising again one’s foreskin. As famous in TV Questions, somebody order Curb Your Judaism to series now.
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HONORABLE MENTION: Jessica Williams
Picture Credit score: Apple TV+ screenshot An artwork present for her ex-husband Nico introduced out the worst in Shrinking‘s Gaby, however the perfect in her portrayer Jessica Williams. The actress let Gaby’s unease poke by the therapist’s sometimes cool and picked up exterior underneath the scrutinizing eye of Nico’s pals. After Gaby and her ex lastly had a heart-to-heart, Williams’ expressions turned tinged with nostalgia for the previous, then anger at how effectively Nico was doing with out her. Williams capped her efficiency with a comedic tour de power second when Gaby exclaimed so loudly and determinedly {that a} bare portray of Nico’s present girlfriend was truly of her that she needed to be dragged away by her good friend. If Williams is that this hilarious and entertaining throughout a meltdown, then Gaby ought to lose it extra usually.
Which efficiency(s) knocked your socks off this week? Inform us in Feedback!
