Most every episode of Poker Face features a death, Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) showing up, and the murderer in question facing responsibility for their actions. But season 2, episode 8 “The Sleazy Georgian” changes that.
**Spoilers for the episode “The Sleazy Georgian” from Poker Face**
Guy (John Cho) is a conman who meets Reggie (Melanie Lynskey) at a hotel bar. He thinks he gets away with a simple con: Stealing $20,000 from her that she was going to give to the organization she works for. Reggie helps orphans and the money was what her foundation won from their bingo event. Guy did not care about the orphans, Reggie, or the situation as a whole.
The entire set up for the episode was that both Guy and Manny (Joel Marsh Garland) were killed but it is quickly revealed that neither were actually dead. It was all part of the con and Charlie is roped into the allure of it all, until she realizes that one of their “hits” ended up killing themselves because of it. That hit was Reggie.
So while the episode wasn’t a typical “Charlie solves a murder” one, there were more emotional stakes to her gift this time around. And it really worked to make “The Sleazy Georgian” a stand out episode within season 2 so far.
You never really knew where it was going
Part of the charm of Poker Face isn’t the “mystery” of it. It’s how Charlie figures it out. But with this episode, we got to see how Charlie’s gift can be used in a different way. She knows when someone is lying to her but that doesn’t mean that they can tell when Charlie is lying and it was really nice to see how that would look in the series.
Guy and Charlie have a strange respect for each other at the start. She seems fascinated by their con life but when the reality of what they’re doing to people sinks in, she uses her gift for good yet again. That makes for one of the most satisfying conclusions in Poker Face.
Guy thinks he pulled one over on Charlie. He’s ready to run away with $400,000 and leave Charlie with two men who are dead and on her hands. He acts as if losing his former friend wasn’t important to him and so much of it boils down to Charlie and Manny having compassion that Guy lacks.
Manny is a nice man who loves the theatrics of what they do but when he learns that Regina is dead, he brings his husband into the mix to finally show Guy that he isn’t always going to walk out of a situation scotch free. He gives Charlie the $20,000 that Guy and his team stole from Reggie and she at least rights that wrong.
It’s a beautiful ending and it was really sweet to see Charlie with Manny and his husband, Robin. The three were trying to be better people and I found the entire format shift refreshing.
(featured image: Peacock)
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