The Game Is A Foot – As the second episode of Poker Face begins, Amber (Cynthia Erivo) gets sculptures from the oven and goes upstairs. She takes the sculptures upstairs to Norma Kazinsky (Jasmine Guy). Norma knows her daughter expects her to die so she can get her fortune. Norma tells her that she sees how she’s pretending to be the faithful child. Lawyer Paul Fletcher (Jin Ha) comes to help Norma get her affairs in order. She tells Amber that her daughter says her heart will give out within weeks. Amber confronts Paul outside to try to find out what her mother did. Paul admits Norma cut her out of the will. Amber goes on a rant about why she deserves this. Paul reveals that a woman named Felicity Price is getting everything. Amber tries to learn more about Felicity Price. She goes to Vermont to see her in person. Felicity is living off the grid. Amber tells her she’s an artist and makes polymer clay figurines. Felicity says finding a long-lost twin is like finding a piece of herself.
Felicity says their dad, Benny, is dead. Amber says their mom, Norma, is dead as well. Felicity agrees to let her take an artist photo with her work. Amber snaps countless pictures of her face. Then, she begins dressing up like Felicity. Paul checks on her outside her mom’s house. Norma laughs at Amber and says she looks like that fat plumber in the movies. Amber stops her from using her call button and tells her she can go now. Norma dies. Amber gets in touch with Felicity and offers to show Felicity her home. Felicity finds Amber on the edge of a cliff. Felicity is shocked when she sees Amber’s appearance. Amber tells her she has everything she deserves. They begin fighting and rolling toward the edge. One of them goes over. Amber creates a video claiming she jumped to her death. She looks over and realizes that Felicity had a fake leg. Amber rushes to stop the video from being uploaded. Since she sees railroad tracks nearby, she sets it up to look like the train cut off her leg.
Amber finishes uploading the video and refers to herself as Felicity Price. The sisters rush to the scene to find the body. The new Felicity approaches Paul about her inheritance. Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) works with Cookie (Lucien Spelman) at a parking lot. Two men approach and yell that Beatrix Hasp says hello to Charlie. They fire shots causing Cookie and Charlie to flee. Later, Charlie listens to a man talk about capitalism at the haunted hayride. The men show up and open fire on them again. Jimmy (Tye Alexander) and Gino (Anthony DeSando) continue tracking Charlie to other locations. A woman asks who she’s hiding from. Charlie learns the woman was on Kid Cop: Nights. In that show, the Kazinsky sisters play Cassidy Kidd. Later, Charlie watches a young Amber (Zani Jones Mbayise) on the television show. Charlie tells Delia that was some bad acting. Delia says that’s her sister, Amber. Norma was a stage mommy and pitted them against each other. Delia isn’t sure they ever recovered.
Norma took all the money they made from the show. They pick apples later. Delia tells Charlie that Norma died. She wants to go to the funeral to see if she can get her money back. When Charlie drives her there, Delia invites her to come inside. Charlie is introduced to Bebe who is a DJ and Cece who is a teacher. Delia asks about the will. She’s told Norma’s lawyer is on the way. They all believe Amber is going to get the money. Cece shows them a photo of Amber. The sisters tell Charlie about their time on Kid Cop. They learn about Amber being on the bluff before rushing over to find her body. Back at the house, Paul tells everyone about Felicity who is a secret sister. Charlie watches when the police arrive and begin searching for the missing foot. She goes inside where Felicity is talking to the other sisters about herself. Bebe asks her what she’s going to do with the money. They wish they had taken Amber more seriously. Felicity eventually says she’s taking off the money. It’s her reward for never knowing her mother’s love.
Delia threatens to sue. Paul admits that’s possible. Felicity offers to give each of them $150,000 if they don’t file a lawsuit. Paul admits their chances of winning a lawsuit would be low. Bebe immediately signs and Cece does as well. Delia says she’s not having her money stolen twice. Paul says Delia’s lawsuit would hold up the estate for years and no one would get anything. Outside, Delia tells Felicity that Norma was a monster who killed Amber. Felicity tries to change her mind. Delia flees in Charlie’s car so she can clear her head. Felicity goes inside and pretends to be Delia. She signs the form and quickly exits the room. Charlie begins looking for Delia. They talk about the buffet. Charlie thinks that a lot of what Felicity is saying isn’t true. She says she has this thing where she can tell when people are lying. Charlie suggests Felicity could have committed fraud. She says they’ll figure this out. Later, Charlie speaks to Paul about Felicity. Her father had the shady creditors and a gambling addiction. Paul says she was in the car with her dad when she died just like she said.
Charlie believes Felicity’s acting is second only to Amber’s. She claims Felicity could be some sort of impostor. Charlie tells Delia she should confront the punk. Felicity or Amber, who is dressed as Delia, sends her away so she can quickly change. The real Delia returns moments later. Charlie confronts Felicity about her lies. She questions who Felicity really is. Amber eventually says Felicity is an invention and a reaction to the cruelty she’s suffered. She says Felicity Price is who she was supposed to be. Charlie seems to believe her. She goes back to Delia to say she doesn’t think Felicity is an impostor. They quickly realize that something is going on. Paul gives Delia a check and says she’s glad she changed her mind. Delia suspects one of her sisters wore her coat and pretended to be her. They discuss it. The police officers arrive and admit they haven’t found the missing foot. Charlie looks at the pamphlet of Felicity’s work and realizes it’s connected to a missing foot. They go inside to confront Felicity. Charlie says the changes to the will were causing Amber to become homicidal.
Charlie doesn’t believe the video either. She says Amber had no intention of jumping to her death. Charlie says Felicity is dead and Amber isn’t. She says Amber couldn’t fake her missing leg and she only found out about that after the murder. Felicity shows them a possible fake leg. Charlie quickly apologizes while Felicity scolds her. Charlie notices a star on her leg. She drops the award on Felicity’s foot. Amber’s foot begins spurting blood and she’s caught. She begins explaining why she did what she did. The police arrive and tell them what they already know. Delia tells Charlie that Felicity had no surviving family so all the Kid Cop money will come to them. Delia thinks Charlie should come into the orchard with her. Charlie believes she could use some settling down. The men show up shooting at her again.
Poker Face Review
The opening episode of Poker Face’s second series was okay although nothing spectacular in the least. The series is leaning heavily into the comedy aspect and it barely works a quarter of the time. Many of the jokes have been done a lot of times previously and just seem stale at this point.
For instance, Paul and Charlie argue about a specific word and saying it repeatedly was annoying. Charlie Cale definitely requires a specific taste and the character isn’t going to work for everyone. The investigation could’ve been stronger since it felt like things were wrapped up far too easily.
There’s certainly nothing award-worthy here although the series may remain watchable with the right expectations. The opening episode certainly wasn’t the strongest. We’ve just had about three shows on the inheritance topic so it might get better when there’s more originality here.
It was also ineffective to have one actress play so many roles when none of those characters went anywhere and remained underdeveloped throughout. At the very least, there’s nothing insulting here and the opener was a brainless watch that can be easily followed because it asks so little from viewers.
It scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Poker Face can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion at the Reel Mockery Forum.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.