Poker Face Season 2, Episode 5
"Hometown Hero"
Writer: Tony Tost
Director: John Dahl
Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Simon Rex, Brandon Perea, Steve Buscemi, Gil Birmingham, Carol Kane
Poker Face is a very silly show.
As I've written about for the last few weeks, it feels like some sort of Stefan meets Columbo meets Mad Libs type show. And typically, that zaniness works to perfection for me. It still did this week, but this was one of those weeks where the premise of Charlie's new job was one I likely know too much about and so, as a result, I'm constantly trying to let my brain be okay with suspending my disbelief. It's a credit to this show that I was mostly able to do that.
This week's episode is "Hometown Hero" and Charlie, looking to find her purpose in life, initially finds herself working a solo office job. She's without any Dwights or Pams or Jims and so after a baseball crashes through the window, she looks for community at the ballpark. Same sister!
But as with all Charlie Cale adventures, we start before she's even arrived. The Montgomery Cheesemongers — aptly named due to their owner being the inventor of the Velvety Canned Cheese — are a down-on-their-luck minor league baseball team on the verge of setting the all-time consecutive loss record. Former can't-miss prospect Russ "The Rocket" Waddell (played by Simon Rex) has become very miss as he's lost his ability to throw 100 miles per hour.
After learning he's going to be cut from the team (though not before he'll make one last start), Rocket decides to rally his teammates together to throw five games in a row and bet big on their losses. Their plan runs smoothly until a curveball is thrown their way (we'll see how many baseball analogies I can fit into this recap). Waddell isn't starting as the team has called up Felix Domingo (Brandon Perea) and he's hitting the bump instead.
Felix, played with wide-eyed sincerity by Brandon Perea, is the kind of guy who still chews Big League Chew unironically and calls Rocket his childhood hero. Unfortunately for him, he's also unknowingly standing in the way of a very lucrative payday. Rocket's solution? Dose the rookie's gum with something to take him off his game in hopes of tanking his performance. But his teammate accidentally Doc Ellis's him — that means giving him LSD that makes him perform better, not worse. The team is able to throw the game in the 9th inning but it was much harder than it had any right to be!
Waddell gets confronted by Domingo, who found one of the co-conspirator's notebooks that gave him the evidence he needed to know the team drugged him. His LSD experience was eye-opening and he wants all the money to quit baseball and move to Belize. But Rocket's not in a sharing mood. Faced with the collapse of their plan and the guilt of being outshined by a kid high on love and transcendence, he does the only thing that makes sense in a show like Poker Face: he hurls a 100 mph fastball straight at Domingo's head, killing him instantly. Rocket sets things up so it looks like Domingo got killed by Rambo, the faulty pitching machine. Too bad Charlie Cale is here playing Ball Girl.
Flashback to Charlie joining the organization and meeting a lifelong fan in the stands and Rocket before the first game. After his dazzling start, Charlie meets Domingo and knows for certain he's high. She even accidentally drugs herself. That night, Charlie has an acid-fueled dream where she meets BJ Novak, playing the original owner of the team, who says she has to save the ballpark and the team. "Everyone's just trying to get home," he tells her.
In another encounter with Rocket, she learns that he has gotten his fastball back. The pieces start falling into place for Charlie in that classic slow-burn way Poker Face does so well. Domingo being high, the coroner's report confirming Domingo was killed by a 100 mph fastball and the fact that Rocket has his fastball back and Charlie is able to piece the clues together.
She lures him into a trap. If she can get him to throw a fastball in front of the cops, they'll know he did it. Pretending there is a scout in the stands, Rocket is fired up. Knowing he's caught, he seems defeated but he gives a tip of the cap to Charlie. In return, she offers him one last great night and he fires a pitch into the mitt.
It's a fittingly bittersweet end to Rocket's story. He gets to feel like a legend one last time, even if it's just for a moment, even if it's the thing that seals his fate. And for Charlie, it's another notch in her belt. Another lie uncovered and another strange community saved.
To me, lots of the good in this episode outweigh the bad. The story of the murder is probably one of the weakest we've had over the course of two seasons. Charlie doesn't get quite the rapport with guest stars like she's had in the past. Her dynamic with Carol Kane (who plays Lucille, the owner of the team and granddaughter to the founder of Velvety Canned Cheese) and Benny (the superfan) is fun but lacks depth. There were far less things in the episode to come back around later and be fun reveals.
The baseball stuff also didn't make a ton of sense. The pitcher died taking batting practice but that doesn't add up unless he's a two-way player. The odds of the team losing likely aren't going to be worth that much money considering the team is so bad. And finally, the idea that those guys would get away with betting that much is silly. Still, in a show built on vibes, "Hometown Hero" mostly gets away with it by leaning into heart, humor, and just enough heat on the fastball. These types of continuity errors are likely ones I'm missing when the episode has Charlie working at a bowling alley or at a car wash, so they probably don't matter that much.
There were some positives. Gil Birmingham plays the Manager of the team and has a recurring bit about not being over the fact that his wife wants an open marriage. He gives a hearty shoutout to monogamy during his rally speech. BJ Novak showing up in an LSD dream sequence is a great touch, especially after the references to Charlie binge watching The Office. And Ego Nwodim is fun as the baseball announcer who has been eating too much cheese and kindly requests a doctor to come visit her in the booth twice.
All in all, "Hometown Hero" isn't Poker Face firing on all cylinders, but it's still a solid double.
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