Poker Face was back with another winner this week, as we saw Ellen Barkin and Tim Meadows, play out of their prime actors in a tired dinner theater stage play where Charlie happened to be waitressing. They went in a different direction this week with the ending in a way that will ensure the show stays fresh.

Yeah, we’ve got some spoilers. So, watch out.

After Kathleen (Barkin) and Michael (Meadows) are discovered in the murder of Ava (Jameela Jamil) they decide to go all out on “The Ghosts of Pensacola” play. Their dressing room was bugged when they told on themselves after Charlie saved Rebecca on stage (which was funny as hell) and they knew they were going down.

“We use it, Baby” Kathleen says to her longtime lover.

So, they acted their tails off as the cops started entering the theater, with one of them even tearing up. Charlie herself is impressed as the two doomed actors leave it all on stage in what is their last performance. And the credits begin as soon as Kathleen drops through the trap door.

Basically, there wasn’t a “mop up period”. That part in crime shows where the cops normally reflect on the events of the episode and tie up any loose ends. Poker Face has done this a few times, where we usually see Charlie move on sometimes with gangster, Cliff (Benjamin Bratt) pursuing her.

This creativity is why Poker Face is one of my favorite shows on TV right now, and it keeps it from falling into that tired procedural space.

Excellent episode. Next week can’t come fast enough.

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