THE PERFORMER | Natasha Lyonne
THE SHOW | Peacock’s Poker Face
THE EPISODE | “The Hook” (March 9, 2023)
THE PERFORMANCE | Watching beginner sleuth Charlie Cale use her lie-detecting expertise to unravel murders has been a definite pleasure all season lengthy on Peacock’s throwback thriller, because of 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 really makes her tick.
The finale supplied loads of probabilities for Lyonne to make us snigger, from Charlie tagging together with a wild bachelorette get together 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by Clea DuVall, and Lyonne put Charlie’s emotional bruises on full show as the 2 sisters bickered and dredged up outdated household grudges. The stress of residing on the lam for a yr crept into Lyonne’s voice as Charlie requested her sister, “You assume I like residing like this?” (The Poker Face writers are nonetheless holding their playing cards near their chests relating to 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 special 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 right 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 the event you had informed us… properly, 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 mode 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 repute for self-sabotage. All informed, Cummings’ dramatic flip was no joke, nevertheless it nonetheless killed in sudden methods.
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HONORABLE MENTION: JB Smoove and Nick Kroll
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Hulu Historical past of the World, Half II, Hulu’s four-“evening” follow-up to Mel Brooks’ 1981 movie comedy, was scattershot in high quality, to make certain. Many singles and doubles, few house 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 that they had 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 properly), 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 sequence 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 easiest in her portrayer Jessica Williams. The actress let Gaby’s unease poke by means of the therapist’s usually cool and picked up exterior beneath the scrutinizing eye of Nico’s mates. After Gaby and her ex lastly had a heart-to-heart, Williams’ expressions turned tinged with nostalgia for the previous, then anger at how properly Nico was doing with out her. Williams capped her efficiency with a comedic tour de drive second when Gaby exclaimed so loudly and determinedly {that a} bare portray of Nico’s present girlfriend was really 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.
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