‘Poker Face’ Recap: Season 1 Finale, Ending Explained — [Spoiler] Cast

TVLINE | Charlie went again house to see her sister Emily, performed by Clea DuVall, which was an excellent little However I’m a Cheerleader reunion. Did you guys have that in thoughts while you solid her?
NORA | I don’t know if we had her in thoughts, however the second that her title got here up, we have been like, “Natasha, name in your favors. Begin texting.” In some methods, it’s a little bit of a cheat as a result of Clea and Natasha have such a historical past and a friendship that you just instantly learn them as sisters. There’s simply this beautiful historical past between the 2 of them, and watching them act collectively was critically one of many highlights of the season for me. It’s such an exquisite, bittersweet scene that means lots of historical past and issues additionally unsaid about what occurred in that household and the burden of Charlie’s means and the way that impacts others round her, and we actually lucked out having Clea are available and do it. She’s additionally extraordinarily busy. She’s a director and an actor, and she or he has her personal tasks and her personal exhibits. So having her take the time to return out and turn into Charlie’s sister was simply such a get for us.

TVLINE | Plus, it was actually the largest look into Charlie’s previous that we’ve gotten all season. Will we see extra of her household or folks from her previous in Season 2 to assist fill in that backstory?
LILLA | I believe we are going to. However like in Season 1, we’re all the time going to make use of a really mild contact relating to Charlie’s backstory. I really feel like Charlie’s a personality that’s all the time dwelling within the current and all the time pushing ahead. So after we do get these little glimpses, I believe it does really feel extremely particular and actually distinctive. We discuss loads about the place Charlie got here from and who was in her life earlier than we meet her within the collection. However I believe what’s actually nice is that we haven’t landed on something concrete, apart from what we’ve proven you, and we will type of fill in and form in her previous little by little. However she’s all the time going to be transferring forwards.

TVLINE | I wish to speak about Cliff’s love of Burn Discover and Blues Traveler, these very middlebrow tastes of his. How did you come across these as examples of who he’s as an individual?
NORA | Properly, the Burn Discover reference, that line was within the pilot. However there was one thing so lovable about his unabashed affection for Burn Discover. After we noticed the montage of him on this episode and what he went by in that yr… you already know, you retain the issues closest to you that you just love while you’re going by a tricky time. So the truth that he can be in a motel watching Burn Discover to attempt to make himself really feel higher, to get by it, I assumed was actually great. And it actually humanizes anyone who could possibly be just like the Terminator, simply going after his prey. But additionally the truth that someplace in Cliff Legrand’s mind is the complete John Popper rap from “Hook” is simply so weirdly endearing.

LILLA | Endearing and spooky on the similar time. I really feel like that sequence the place he’s monologue-ing “Hook” to her? It’s simply indicative of the tone we’re making an attempt to hit on a regular basis in Poker Face the place it’s humorous, nevertheless it’s additionally horrifying, and we’re unsure really feel about it. It’s type of subverting these moments and these expectations in such an surprising means.

NORA | And Benjamin [Bratt] did an exquisite job. He had to try this so many instances. If you’re driving and taking pictures on the similar time, you simply do takes over and over and over. I ought to discover out the precise rely of what number of instances he carried out “Hook,” however lethal severe. I believe he actually solely screwed up perhaps a couple of times, in not less than a dozen instances that he did it. It was actually one thing to witness.

TVLINE | Simon Helberg additionally got here again within the finale as Luca. He ended up providing Charlie a job, they usually appear to have shaped a type of friendship. Might we see him popping in in any respect in Season 2?
NORA | Properly, I hope so, as a result of I believe Simon did such an incredible job.

LILLA | Simon additionally simply made such attention-grabbing decisions. He actually introduced Agent Clark to life. I’m an enormous fan of Agent Luca Clark. I hope we get to see extra of him. I really like the connection that he has with Charlie. I really like him making an attempt to actively make out what she is and what’s happening together with her in actual time. He’s drawn to her, and type of perplexed by her, and I undoubtedly assume that if Simon needs to return again and play on Poker Face, I’d like to see these two collectively once more.

NORA | There’s one thing great about how he mainly provides her credit score for his profession. He’s type of like, “I’m right here due to you.” So there’s one thing actually self-deprecating and self-aware about that that makes your coronary heart exit to him. So yeah, I hope so.

TVLINE | It’s humorous: Charlie’s lie-detecting abilities didn’t actually play that massive of a task within the finale. Is she changing into a greater detective, outdoors of her distinctive reward?
LILLA | I believe so. I believe that she is choosing up abilities alongside the best way. We all the time wish to have her study one thing new in each episode. As an illustration, after the barbecue episode, the place she makes use of her sense of odor that’s been extremely attuned and the style of the wooden… it’s not like we spend the remainder of the season together with her sniffing issues and listening to music in her head. We’re all the time going to be innovating ways in which she will uncover and detect the foul play that’s happening round her. However sure, clearly the boring model of this present is her all the time counting on her lie-detecting abilities. So we all the time wish to give her a contemporary strategy for every episode that isn’t her marching as much as the assassin and saying, “Did you kill them?”

NORA | We joked about it, and now it’s not that a lot of a joke: As a result of Charlie doesn’t have a cellphone, she’s not staring into her telephone like all the remainder of us are. She’s extra observant, and she or he detects the lie as a result of she’s listening as a result of she’s not buried in a display screen all day. So I believe in some methods, perhaps if all of us removed our telephones, we is perhaps higher detectives.

TVLINE | I really like how every episode is mainly its personal mini film, its personal self-contained case with totally different visitor stars and every little thing. Did you guys have a private favourite case from Season 1 that stood out to you? I do know it’s laborious to decide on.
NORA | Yeah, [Episode] 9 was particular to us as a result of it was very a lot our child. It was the primary episode that we shot, truly. We shot it first as a result of it was set in winter, so we needed to reap the benefits of the truth that the buds hadn’t sprouted on the timber in New York but. It was so early within the spring, it was weeks away, however we knew the clock was ticking. In order that grew to become the primary episode we shot, so there was one thing actually particular about [Episode] 9. However we had a blast with all of the episodes.

LILLA | My favourite episode to interrupt within the room was most likely “Exit Stage Dying,” the dinner theater episode, as a result of it was probably the most intricate and sophisticated by way of having this crime being solved because the play was operating in actual time. For me, that was enjoyable as a result of it was the scariest one. As quickly as we threw down the problem to ourselves, can she clear up this thriller whereas the gamers operating on stage? Can we do it? And we wound up doing it, and I simply really feel just like the ingenuity that was concerned in breaking that episode, that’s my favourite reminiscence by way of breaking one thing.

NORA | Yeah, I believe we had type of, at that time, discovered break the present in a great way and use all people within the room in the easiest way. In order that grew to become form of like, “OK, now we all know the trail. Let’s hit the bottom operating.”

TVLINE | Properly, talking of the trail forward: We all know the present is returning for Season 2. Are you able to tease something about the place Charlie is headed from right here?
NORA | I believe Charlie is all the time going to be on the transfer. I don’t essentially see her settling in a small village in Maine, a la Jessica Fletcher. We haven’t begun these discussions but, as a result of we haven’t began the room but. However yeah, I believe she’s all the time going to be on the transfer. We love the shark-like nature that Charlie has, all the time transferring ahead.

LILLA | I’m excited for Season 2 as a result of I really feel like now we’ve actually obtained the rhythm of this present in our bones. We all know the format, we all know the character, we all know the rhythm of it, and so how will we innovate on it each week transferring ahead? We’re going to proceed to problem ourselves and proceed to push ourselves. Like, I’ve so many episode concepts boiling inside me proper now. I can’t wait to get again into the room and begin breaking.

NORA | Yeah, there was lots of stuff we needed to do in Season 1 that we have been like, “OK, hold the notes. Put it on the backburner. Let’s work out a technique to do it once more.”

TVLINE | Are there any potential visitor stars you will have in your want checklist?
NORA | You recognize, after we had all our visitors in Season 1, we all the time would discuss to them in regards to the present within the custom of Columbo that had these recurring visitor stars like Robert Culp and Patrick McGoohan, and they’d come again and play villains a number of instances as completely totally different characters. So we’ve all the time stored the door open to the concept that we might actually use a few of our actors which might be already within the Poker Face Gamers and produce them again. I imply, Rian [Johnson] has such an incredible Rolodex of those that he’s labored with on his movies. So long as he retains making ensemble movies outdoors of Poker Face, we’ll all the time have a listing of visitor stars.

LILLA | It was simply identified to me that we’ve already had two folks from Cheers, so if we might get the remainder of the solid of Cheers in there… I’m simply placing it on the market into the universe.

Alright, now it’s your flip: Give the Poker Face finale — and Season 1 as a complete — a grade in our polls, after which hit the feedback to share your personal Season 2 visitor star want checklist. 

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