Poker Face Season 2, Episode 8
"The Sleazy Georgian"
Writer: Megan Amram
Director: Mimi Cave
Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Melanie Lynskey, John Cho
Murder mysteries are inherently formulaic. That's part of the appeal. The set-up, the death and the reveal. Poker Face has its own formula: it's the cold open, the death, the rewind, and then Charlie Cale figuring it all out. But one of the best things about the show through its run has been that they are willing to break from the norm when it best serves the plot. It's not change for the sake of change. It's smart storytelling that bends structure to fit character, tone, and emotional payoff.
And "The Sleazy Georgian" might just be one of the best episodes to date.
This episode kicks off with Regina (Melanie Lynskey) entering a bar at 8:30 in the morning. There, she meets Alex (John Cho) who seems to be up to "something." For the head fundraiser of a nonprofit that provides medical care to orphans, it's the exact type of excitement she's been waiting for.
The two strike up a flirtatious conversation over eggs and Bloody Marys, bonding over lives that feel smaller than they imagined and choices they didn't mean to settle into. Regina, high on adrenaline and alcohol, follows Alex back to his hotel room, where he confesses that he's about to make a risky exchange involving $400,000 in cash and a potentially dangerous Georgian exile. What begins as fantasy quickly turns deadly when a gunman bursts into the room and shoots Alex. But Regina, in a shocking turn, fights back — shooting the attacker and fleeing with the money. It's thrilling.
Cue Charlie Cale.
Charlie enters the bar at 8:15 a.m. on what we presume to be the same day. She orders some eggs with a breakfast coupon she's gotten from different hotels across the country and settles in next to Alex (who, as it turns out, is actually Guy). She immediately throws a wrench in his usual routine. His well-worn charm and vague backstory don't hold up against Charlie's bullshit radar, and he's both intrigued and unsettled by how easily she cuts through the act. Instead of walking away, he invites her deeper into his world, introducing her to his crew of old-school grifters who still run cons the analog way. He has the muscle, another actor, an accountant and an intern. It's less Ocean's Eleven and more a ragtag theater troupe running a long con, and Charlie can't help but be a little captivated. She's a lone wolf but has always wanted a pack.
She starts to connect with Manny, who's an eager-to-please type. He talks of his partner Robin and when Charlie suggests Manny break out on his own, the muscle of the group says he'd never betray Guy.
The thing that holds Charlie back? She can't help but feel bad for the vulnerable people Guy is tricking. But his response is that they never con honest people. The lie Guy tells himself is that greed, not innocence, is the mark's weakness and he insists that their targets are always complicit in some small way. For Charlie, though, that logic doesn't quite land. She's seen too much human frailty to buy the idea that falling for a scam means you deserve it. And when she learns that one of their recent targets, Regina, supposedly jumped off a bridge after being conned out of $20,000 meant for a children's charity, Charlie's sense of justice starts to override her curiosity.
What makes The Sleazy Georgian so affecting is the slow, devastating realization that Regina, who was really just someone looking for some excitement in her life, is the true victim of the con. In most episodes of Poker Face, we know the victim from the start. But here, the show played with our expectations. When we learn that she took her own life days after the events of the cold open, tricked into giving away charity money meant for orphans, it hits like a gut punch.
What elevates the episode beyond a standard con-gone-wrong story is its moral complexity. Regina isn't a saint, but she isn't a villain either. She's human. She was entrusted with a large sum of money for a good cause, but she was also lonely, bored, and yearning for something more. She wanted to believe in a little adventure, a little romance, and maybe a little escape. That makes her vulnerable, but not bad. And Guy sees himself as a charming Robin Hood who only cons the greedy (or as they put it in the episode, the Dexter of conmen) but Charlie knows this is bullshit.
Guy is eager to pull Charlie into the next big con, convinced her lie-detecting skills could take their operation to the next level. Manny claims there's a high-stakes mark waiting in the hotel lobby. The man turns out to be an impulsive gambler who could get access to $400,000. And Guy takes the bait. After the mark, dubbed "Sketch," leaves, Charlie tries to quietly warn him off by slipping a note into his pocket. But Guy intercepts it just in time, exposing her attempt to sabotage the job. Charlie calls him out, reminding him of his own golden rule: walk away when there's a red flag. But for Guy, the lure of that much money is just too strong to ignore.
Sketch arrives with a duffel bag of money and a nervous energy. He's skittish, overly eager, and clearly not new to danger. When she notices Sketch has a gun, Charlie urges the group to come clean and back out. Manny enters and is shot in the chest. Charlie and Sketch tussle and Guy flees with the duffel bag.
Turns out, Guy was the one being conned. Charlie is disgusted that he was willing to leave Manny for dead without a second thought. When Guy returns to the hideout, expecting a bag full of cash, he instead finds it stuffed with hotel breakfast coupons — and a crew of furious grifters who realize he's been played. Meanwhile, Manny and Sketch are both alive. Sketch is revealed to be Manny's partner Robin. With the real money in hand, Manny tells Charlie to do the right thing and donate it to the orphanage. It's what Robin would want, Manny says, as the two share a kiss.
This is my favorite episode of the season. The combination of breaking the formula, the casting choices here (Melanie Lynskey and John Cho are excellent in their roles) and the ultimate payoff where Charlie enacts some level of revenge on Guy are pretty perfect. It's everything Poker Face does when it's at it's best. It's funny, surprising, emotionally grounded.
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