Poker Face: This is the best detective series out there and it’s available to stream for free!

What is it about?

At the wheel of his Plymouth Barracuda on a long road trip, Charlie Cale meets new people at every stop and fails to solve the crime thanks to an uncanny ability to spot when someone is lying.

New episode every Friday on TF1+

who is he with

For the role of amateur detective Charlie Keil, whom no criminal and con artist can resist, Rian Johnson, the director of Knives Out and Glass Onion, who makes his first series with Poker Face, called Natasha Lyonne, whose face is sure to be familiar to many. (TV) viewers.

Discovered in the late 1990s with the films Everybody Says I Love You and most notably American Pie, in which she played Jessica, Vicki’s (Tara Reid) best friend, the 44-year-old actress saw her career take off. Breathe In 2013, orange is the new black. An adventure that allowed him to become the hero of a Russian doll, still on Netflix.

The only actor to appear in every single episode of Poker Face, like Peter Falk in Columbo or Angela Lansbury in Arabesque, Natasha Lyonne meets many prestigious guests throughout the episodes, from Adrien Brody to Ron Perlman.

Although Benjamin Bratt lends his features in five episodes to Cliff, the henchman of Charlie’s main antagonist, who follows him across the United States.

Is it worth checking out?

Launched at the beginning of January, the TF1+ platform allows fans of French fiction to find the previous seasons of their favorite series in full, or to discover in advance the next episodes of the latest news (currently La Tribu) or daily soap operas (Demane belongs to us, this is where it all begins, a more beautiful life). But not only that.

Over time, the platform’s catalog should also be enriched with exclusive series that could subsequently be aired on TF1 or TMC. This is the case of Poker Face, the only real foreign exclusion from TF1+ during its run, with a new episode posted online every Friday (the eighth – out of ten – available this Friday, February 16).

A fairly classic detective series in form, but with a very rock and roll essence, it should please fans of well-crafted investigations and colorful characters.

Poker Face cleans up the Columbo formula brilliantly

A far cry from the murky investigations of Criminal Minds or the muscular world of SWAT, which is set to return for its seventh and final season, Poker Face takes its own spin on a formula that’s not new to the detective genre and brings you back the good stuff. Reminiscences of all who enjoyed the many television programs of Colombo.

Indeed, just like the cult series that first aired in 1968, every episode of Poker Face begins the same way: the viewer witnesses a murder… and from the beginning he knows the identity of the killer, who sees his crime committed.

So there’s no secret there, but the fun is elsewhere. In particular, the way Charlie, a former casino waiter with a knack for spotting lies, manages to unmask the culprit.

This trademark is not the only common point between Poker Face and Columbo. Charlie Keil also drives a battered old car (a Plymouth Barracuda, compared to the series Peugeot 403 driven by Peter Falk).

And while Columbo has welcomed guests such as Faye Dunaway, Janet Leigh, William Shatner and Vincent Price, Rian Johnson’s series, available on TF1+, also boasts prestigious guests.

The heroine played by Natasha Lyonne meets a lot of characters during her trip to the United States, played by Nick Nolte, Judith Light, Chloe Sevigny, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory). Hong Chow (Night Agent) or Charles Melton (Riverdale), currently showing in May in December.

Charlie’s wandering side clearly brings a big plus to the whole, as it allows us to discover very different regions and offers the screenwriters the opportunity to place very original mysteries that take place in worlds such as leaving home, car racing or touring with a heavy metal band.

But this “Columbus in road trip mode” also derives narratively from the gripping thread that unravels the heroine’s escape. In the first episode, a woman who uses her gift for spotting cheaters at the poker tables tries to solve the murder of her best friend who works with her at a casino in Laughlin, Nevada.

A case that would lead to the death of his boss… and prompt him to run for his life. Because her boss’s father, among others, a former casino boss and a very dangerous mafia boss with whom she has a history, is out for revenge.

Natasha Lyonne sparks in a delightful detective series

Somewhere between Columbo, Fargo’s exploration of deep America and its social themes, and the Knives Out franchise, which spoiled Hercule Poirot-style investigations with a big explosion of comedy and eccentric characters, Poker Face is a little serial nugget that shouldn’t be. let go. Even if Rian Johnson and his screenwriters don’t claim to reinvent anything.

The series, which has already been renewed by the American platform Peacock for a 2nd season, obviously owes a lot to the talent of Natasha Lyonne, who after Russian Doll, in which she was already excellent, shines once again.

The actor seems to be having fun in this waiter’s hideous look, 80’s rock star hairstyle and gruff voice. A sort of female Big Lebowski who can’t help but unravel the mysteries that unfold for her during the car ride and her encounters, each one more memorable than the last.

Although the fact that he’s being chased and seems to be at the end of his rope for 24 hours should make him not worry about the fate of the people he briefly meets along the way.

Add to that very well-written dialogues, guest appearances each better than the last and polished productions, and you will undoubtedly get the best detective series of the moment, which is therefore available for free on TF1+.