Since the time we last dropped in on Poker Face to discuss Cynthia Erivo’s striking turn as five different characters in the season two premiere, a lot has happened! I won’t bore you with a lengthy recap, but here have been some of my favorite moments from the season up to this point: Rhea Pearlman, in general; Carol Kane, in general; the smashing together of seemingly disparate cinematic genres — the rom-com and the heist film — to great success in “One Last Job”; a deliriously murderous child in “Sloppy Joseph” (seriously, where did they find Eva Jade Halford…I hope she has an illustrious career, preferably exclusively playing little psychos); and Melanie Lynskey pronouncing “umami” as “ooo, mommy.” But this week’s “A New Lease On Death” easily wins best episode of the season in my book — and not just because Alia Shawkat plays a scheming evil lesbian who fucks grandmas for their rent stabilized apartments and flirts with and/or murders anyone who gets in her way. Though, sure, that’s indeed a rather large selling point.
My enjoyment of any given episode of Poker Face usually greatly depends not on the narrative twists and sleights of hand but moreso on 1. how good of a performance is given by whoever plays the murderer and 2. the emotional stakes of the murder itself. As such, episodes where Charlie has some sort of personal connection to the murdered, like in “One Last Job” from earlier this season, usually rise to the top. In “A New Lease on Death,” Charlie befriends a bike courier named Madeline played by Awkwafina during a stint in New York City, a place so full of bullshit Charlie hopes it’ll act like white noise for her gift. Madeline lives with her grandmother Anne, played by icon Lauren Tom, and the two have been hatching a rent control scheme for Anne to legally adopt Madeline so she can leave her apartment to her.
Anne, a retired poetry professor, has what she thinks is a meet-cute with a woman named Kate (Shawkat) at a fruit stand. Soon thereafter, Madeline walks in on this much younger woman Kate going down on her grandmother. Anne sits her granddaughter down and explains Kate is her girlfriend, that before Madeline’s late grandfather she was in relationships with both men and women. And, oh yeah, Kate is moving in.
Kate is, of course, our villain of the week, and oh what a juicy one she is! Some of Poker Face‘s bad guys murder on accident or in the heat of the moment. Fewer are genuine Killers, but Kate is a Killer through and through. She’s a lying, manipulating, apartment-stealing, grandma-fucking mastermind so full of bullshit Charlie can barely say her catchphrase fast enough when they do meet, Kate attempting to seduce her when she seemingly clocks her abilities (sadly but also understandably given Charlie’s barometer for bullshit, it doesn’t work).
Because Charlie has a chance to bond with Madeline and Anne before Madeline’s disturbing death, the emotional stakes of the episode are a bit more layered than when Charlie just stumbles her way into a murder mystery. That, on top of Shawkat’s impeccable performance as a lesbian psychopath so good it doesn’t rely on stereotypes in that realm, propels “A New Lease on Death” up the rankings of this season’s Poker Face episodes, which have, much like the first season, varied significantly in terms of quality depending on the story and direction (the performances are almost always, at the very least, solid, but there have been some surprising duds this season).
But in addition to solid character work here, it’s also just one of the funniest episodes of the season on a pure joke level. This exchange between Charlie and a woman on the apartment complex’s stoop (played by Myra Lucretia Taylor!) made me laugh harder than any other recent television joke I’ve heard, almost 30 Rockian in its setup and delivery:
Stoop Lady: Then I did a stint as managing editor at Vague before retiring.
Charlie: Oh, Vogue, I mean that’s a big deal.
Stoop Lady: No, no. Vague magazine, different publication.
Charlie: What’s that one about?
Stoop Lady: This and that.
Between that, a perfectly delivered Anatomy of a Fall reference, and an ongoing bit about Michael Clayton (that actually has real plot significance at the end), “A New Lease on Death” is indeed as hilarious as it is diabolical. Even if you don’t watch the show regularly, it’s worth dropping in on this one — for a bisexual grandma played by Lauren Tom hooking up with a much younger woman played by Alia Shawkat, if nothing else.
