SPOILER WARNING: The following article gives away a few key details from Poker Face Season 2, including from the season finale. If you have not been keeping up with the series’ latest mysteries with your Peacock subscription, I honestly recommend you proceed with caution if you continue to read on.
I could not wait to see more from the adventures of human lie detector on the run, Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), when Poker Face Season 2 returned. Overall, I’d say I prefer Season 1 to this otherwise fun new batch of odd mysteries (which could have branched out beyond murder stories more often), but I think Season 2 absolutely sticks the landing with its finale… OK, actually, that last comment is, as Charlie would say, “bullshit,” but only to a point.
The Poker Face Season 2 ending is, like any of the best Poker Face episodes, a fun, brain-teasing thrill ride that serves as a perfect way to conclude the season. However, there is one aspect of the very last scene that left me a bit disappointed. Allow me to explain…
The Trucker At The End Should Have Been Good Buddy
For multiple episodes during Poker Face Season 2, Charlie chats over CB radio with a trucker only referred to as "Good Buddy," who is voiced by Steve Buscemi, who was initially approached to direct an episode this season, according to TVLine. At the very end of the finale, when she is picked up by a trucker on the side of the road, I excitedly anticipated that we would finally get to see Charlie cross paths with her unseen friend.
However, the trucker turned out to be some dude named Lou, played by Steve Earle. Now, don't get me wrong: seeing the singer-songwriter make a cameo was pretty cool. Yet, I cannot help but feel that this particular moment seemed like such a perfect opportunity for Buscemi to make his grand entrance as an instant supporting character favorite.
On The Flip Side, The Final Scene Does Maintain The Ending's Foreboding Tone
In the second season, Charlie goes through a lot of ridiculous trouble, including one bizarre tale involving an evil elementary school student. However, things take a more somber turn at the very end when she discovers Alex (Patti Harrison), a friend she tried to help clear of murder, actually is a notorious assassin and, as a result, is forced to go on the run again, but from the FBI this time. Not to mention, this “Moriarty to her Holmes” appears to be still alive and will very likely make some attempt at revenge.
Charlie was finally free to roam at her own pace after the episode with John Mulaney, but now her future is uncertain, and, based on her tearful goodbye to Agent Luca Clark (Simon Helberg) after he gives her a head start, she is clearly terrified by the forces against her, on top of what other trouble she may inevitably stumble upon. In that regard, if the trucker at the end was “Good Buddy,” it would have ended the season on a more uplifting note, which would undercut the more ominous tone it goes for. Admittedly, however, the bleak cliffhanger makes me even more eager to see her next adventures.
I suppose that, sometimes, the thing you want to see most in a TV show is not necessarily what is best for it. With or without an official Steve Buscemi cameo as “Good Buddy,” the Poker Face Season 2 finale has me excited for Charlie Cale’s return and, perhaps, even a crossover with Knives Out at some point? Whaddya say, Rian Johsnon?
