Poker Face Season 2, Episode 12
"The End of the Road"
Writer: Laura Deeley
Director: Natasha Lyonne
Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Justin Theroux, Lili Taylor, Patti Harrison, Haley Joel Osment, Taylor Schilling, Simon Helberg, Rhea Perlman
To be fair, if Charlie Cale couldn't tell Alex was lying, I'll forgive myself for not seeing this twist coming either. Maybe I'm too much of a Patti Harrison fan, but I am both devastated and quite tickled to learn that Alex was big bad of the season.
I feel much the same way about the finale of the season. First, I thought it was an emotionally brutal reveal — not so much Patti Harrison being bad but the end result that Charlie is now on the run once again. After a season of trying to find her purpose, she's stuck back in the world's worst road trip. That being said, it was a phenomenal piece of television and one that genuinely made me feel feelings!
So how did we get there?
We pick up right where we were last week with Alex and Charlie heading towards Beatrix while the FBI is worried that The Iguana is on their tail. Luca gets word to Charlie that they might be heading into a trap and after taking some time to think it over, the human lie detector thinks the feds are right. Charlie, maybe for the first time all series, is seriously panicked. They stop for some snacks, gas, and a rest near The Grand Canyon Canyon (which is, of course, a canyon named after The Grand Canyon).
At the gas station, a man with a bandaged hand seemingly spots them. It must be The Iguana — after all, Charlie saw him with a cut hand at the wedding. They rush off, sure that they've left The Iguana in their wake and that they can head to Beatrix's safely! Charlie leaves Alex behind in the car, letting her know to honk the horn if anything goes wrong. Just as Charlie is going inside, the horn blares and Alex is gone!
Charlie heads inside and we get perhaps one of the darker endings to a character for a show that routinely features character death. Beatrix has been shot in the head. Alex is then seemingly being held prisoner but Charlie clues in … Alex is The Iguana!
We get a whole flashback reveal about how this is possible. Turns out, Alex has an ability no one else in the world has: she can lie to Charlie Cale. She only slipped up once the whole time, and it was a lie about being allergic to cinnamon. But even then, while Charlie knew Alex was lying when she bought Big Red Gum, her new companion had earned her trust. But now the cat's out of the bag and Alex is revealed to have been The Iguana. She reveals that she's been basically thrilled at the idea of outsmarting the famed Charlie Cale and she tells her hostage how she set everything up to eventually kill Beatrix.
Turns out, Alex is a world class assassin who had lost her spark. It took finding Beatrix and fooling Charlie to really get her engine going again. After the back-and-forth, the fire alarm goes off. Charlie set fire to the baking Beatrix had been doing, thus setting off the alarm and alerting the FBI. But this doesn't really lead anywhere as Alex uses Charlie as a shield to take her to the car as an escape route.
Alex then challenges Charlie to one more game of two truths and a lie. If Charlie can't ping Alex's lies, she'll drive the car off the Grand Canyon Canyon. Alex does get caught in a lie, but when she tries to slam on the brakes, Charlie's old beater car doesn't hold up.
In perhaps a TV-making decision I don't quite get, we get a "To Be Continued" flash on the screen, only to jump back to see how everything unfolded. No "To Be Continued" after all.
Charlie manages to hop out of the car before it flies off the cliffs. She's then confronted by Luca. She apologizes for what happened to Beatrix and while Luca knows she's innocent, the evidence that she aided a criminal seems too much to ignore. Charlie will certainly be arrested … unless Luca let's her go. This scene is so freaking sweet. I think the idea that Charlie would be found guilty here is a little flimsy but overall, Natasha Lyonne and Simon Helberg act the hell out of this scene. Like a child telling his dog to scram, they say goodbye with tears in their eyes.
Meanwhile, Agent Milligan gets to the car wreck down below only to find it empty of any bodies. Seems like Alex also made an emergency exit. A fantastic bit of news on my behalf as I'd love to see Patti Harrison continue her story on the show. She can ham it up as a villain with the best of them and we only got it for basically half an episode. We demand more!
The episode ends with Charlie catching a ride with a trucker to Wichita. It's not where she was going but it works for her. She also picks up a new dog companion.
I've always thought Poker Face was more comedy than drama, and that's likely still the case, but I think this finale episode was rather heartbreaking in a way that the best dramas can only deliver. Charlie had been on the run for so long and the story of her trying to find real community (one without so many deaths preferably) made sense. Just as it seemed she had found the closest thing to a friend, it's all ripped out from under her. I assumed the move to end the FBI story after three episodes of the second season was them trying to get out from under a premise they didn't think was working and to be able to create formulaic one-off episode arcs with guest stars. I was totally wrong and Rian Johnson & crew have found a new angle that has me supremely invested in next season.
I'll happily follow Charlie Cale along for the ride again, even if it means going to Wichita!
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