LIE TO ME (POKER FACE, SEASON ONE)

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So here's one for you fans of murder mysteries.

Some of you might recall a scene in Rian Johnson's Netflix hit 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery' last December where Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc played the online game 'Among Us' with some famous faces.

Angela Lansbury, Stephen Sondheim, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Natasha Lyonne all appeared as themselves in the scene as they tried to raise the spirits of the Louisiana sleuth while he sat in his bathtub.

What many viewers may not have realised at the time was Lyonne was collaborating with Johnson on another project.

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The fruit of that labour, 'Poker Face' hit US TV screens in March on NBC's Peacock streaming service.

Now it has come this summer to the UK and Ireland via Sky Max, Sky Glass and NowTV.

'Poker Face' is a very much a throwback to the TV detective shows of old - even using the same kind of fonts for its titles as 'The Rockford Files' or 'Columbo'.

The premise is pretty simple.

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Lyonne plays Charlie Cale, a sassy Las Vegas casino cocktail waitress with a flair for being able to detect lies that people are peddling.

At the end of the first episode, she's forced to go on the run after cracking the mystery of who had her friend and co-worker, Dascha Polanko's maid Natalie Hill gunned down.

The discovery of who's responsible has messy consequences for Charlie, leading to Benjamin Bratt's Cliff LeGrand, the casino's Head of Security being ordered by his boss, Ron Perlman's Sterling Frost Sr to find her as she legs it across America.

Each episode delivers a stand alone crime mystery as Charlie flits from state to state, earning a living on the road by taking various jobs.

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The problem is everywhere she goes, Charlie encounters skullduggery and because she can sniff out a lie, our heroine finds herself inevitably being drawn into unmasking the guilty - often at risk to her own life and limb.

Once she uncovers wrongdoing, she moves on - jumping into her sky blue 1969 Plymouth Barracuda car to keep one or two steps ahead of Cliff.

Occasionally, he comes very close to catching her during his year long hunt.

In addition to the opening casino murder mystery, though, Charlie solves the killing of a Subway employee and social media influencer in New Mexico.

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In Texas, our heroine comes across a cantankerous dog but also gets to the heart of how and why a renowned barbecue cook was murdered.

There's a brief stint selling merchandise for a washed up, one hit wonder heavy metal band Doxxxology whose new drummer is shockingly electrocuted.

Another job in a retirement home unveils a story about a cult.

Work as a waitress in a dinner theatre results in Charlie witnessing the tragic death of an heiress.

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On finding work in a games arcade in Tennessee, she witnesses the petty rivalry of two rival racecar drivers escalate to dangerous proportions.

Charlie comes across a reclusive horror movie filmmaker who is haunted by the death of his leading lady on the set of one of his movies.

Stranded in a mountain resort in Colorado's Rockies in the depth of winter, Charlie also has two close brushes with death.

With scripts by Johnson, Alice Ju, Wyatt Cain, Christine Boylan, Charlie Peppers, Chris Downey, Joe Lawson, Nora and Lilla Zuckerman and Lyonne, 'Poker Face' goes about its tales of murderous deception with brio.

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Johnson, Lyonne and their collaborators know the show shouldn't be taken too seriously.

They and their fellow episode directors, Iain B MacDonald, Tiffany Johnson, Lucky McKee, Ben Sinclair and Janicza Bravo just have a blast delivering fun stories about petty jealousies, soul destroying greed and desperate cover-ups.

And in the telling of those tales, they recruit an impressive roster of guest stars.

Adrien Brody features as Sterling Frost Jr in the opening episode.

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Hong Chau turns up as a trucker and John Ratzenberger as a mechanic in the story about the Subway employee.

Lil Rei Howery and Danielle MacDonald appear in the barbecue episode.

Chloe Sevigny is the lead singer of Doxxxology in the heavy metal band.

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Reed Birney pops up as a resident in the retirement home story.

Ellen Barkin and Tim Meadows are two actors in the dinner theatre troupe whose careers have seen better days, while Jameela Jamil is the heiress who meets an unfortunate end.

Tim Blake Nelson is the Tennessee race car champion whose rivalry with Charles Melton's up and coming star takes a sinister turn.

Nick Nolte is the reclusive horror film director and Cherry Jones, his longtime collaborator in a story which features Luis Guzman as an archivist in their film company.

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a white collar criminal who breaks his house detention conditions in Colorado, while Stephanie Hsu is a drifter and petty thief in the same episode.

Simon Hellberg from 'The Big Bang Theory' also appears as an FBI agent, Luca Clark in two episodes.

Clea DuVall turns up in the final episode as Charlie's estranged sister and Rhea Perlman as the voice of another casino owner with Mob connections.

But as fun as these guest stars are, 'Poker Face' mostly trades on the strength of Lyonne's extremely likable performance.

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Charlie is undoubtedly more Columbo than Jessica Fletcher and you can definitely see Peter Falk's influence as Lyonne mulls over every little detail in the mysteries and cackles her way through each adventure.

Each episode stands up pretty well in its own right.

Although the heavy metal, dinner theatre, racecar and white collar criminal episodes are the definite standouts.

With its 'Quantum Leap' approach of a new story each week, Johnson and his team of writers and directors do a good job keeping their audience invested.

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He also nicely tees up the next season.

Keeping their tongues wedged in their cheeks, Lyonne and Johnson get 'Poker Face' off to an enjoyable frothy start.

Yes, if it were real you would probably have to avoid Charlie like the plague if she turned up in your neighbourhood because fraternising with her probably means someone you know or you is going to die.

But just like 'Murder, She Wrote,' that's how the show rocks.

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Once you accept that premise you have to admit it does that pretty well, with cleverly constructed, time inverted tales.

It's a fun ride that doesn't make too many demands of its audience and it doesn't patronise them either. 

Keeping the show grounded in Season Two will be a challenge.

However if Johnson remains closely involved alongside Lyonne, you can't help but feel it has more than a fighting chance of doing that. 

(Season One of 'Poker Face' was broadcast in the UK and Ireland from May 26-June 23, 2023 and is available for streaming on Sky Glass and NowTV)