Why Christian Families Should Avoid Peacock’s POKER FACE
By Allen Rushing, Movieguide® Contributor
Most have had the experience of watching the opening episodes of a series that was rough around the edges but held great potential. This is an accurate description of the Peacock Original, POKER FACE, whose “rough edges” are never smoothed and whose potential, therefore, is never fully realized.
The series follows Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), a woman with the innate ability to tell when someone’s lying; having at one time used this ability for less than laudable purposes, she now seeks honest work wherever she can find it. However, her efforts here are futile in that she can’t help but see crime everywhere, because, well, it is. Working at a casino, she discovers a network of dark activity surrounding the death of a friend, which “doesn’t make sense”, and her gift for deception detection kicks in. Having crossed swords with proprietor, Sterling Frost, Jr. (Adrian Brody), and won in the opening episode, the scene and central characters of the series are well set. With big bad dad antagonist, Sterling Frost, Sr. (Ron Perlman) sending his bagman, Cliff (Benjamin Bratt), to find Charlie and bring her to him, the heat is on and the stakes are high. Hopping in her classic Plymouth Barracuda, Charlie resigns herself to life on the road and on the run, staying one step ahead of her pursuer, stopping only long enough to make some quick cash and, of course, solve a string of murders along the way.
POKER FACE is a well constructed and executed crime drama, with an engaging main character who is aptly referred to as “a human lie detector.” It’s streets smart aesthetics and storytelling are convincing. The eclectic bunch of characters that Charlie meets in each episode (standout guest stars include Simon Helberg, Tim Blake Nelson, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, among others) keep things interesting, while the “murder of the week” motif furnishes the protagonist with unexpected opportunities to use her unusual gift. The Columbo-style murder mysteries, in which the crime and perpetrator are revealed beforehand and the episode traces the connections made by the protagonist to arrive at what the audience already knows, are usually well conceived and inventive.
However, for all its potential, POKER FACE is a very dark series Christian families should avoid. With strong and pervasive foul language in every episode, brief but strong sexual material and nudity, outspoken woke sentiments, and on and off brutal violence, the show certainly earns its mature rating. In fact, the problematic material eventually becomes so pronounced – the writing not just offensive, but downright boring due to unrelenting, expletive filled dialogue and the plot’s unnecessary sexual content – that the show becomes oppressive in its depiction of a world without Christ. It takes a few episodes and Charlie’s making it to Southern U.S. in her odyssey, for one to recognize a key influence on the series: Grit Lit, a sub-genre of Southern Literature which focuses on the poor, desperate, and disenfranchised and the dark, drug and alcohol infused violence of these peoples’ lives. This approach to storytelling which becomes an unmistakable trademark of the show, mars what is otherwise an engaging on the run adventure, because its creative team is set on embracing its “rough edges (grit)” rather than smoothing them into something better. Down to the dirt poor squalor of the locations Charlie visits and the foul mouthed, booze hounding, chain smoking, and quite violent tendencies of most characters, the show feels a lot like a Larry Brown novel made into a series. Indeed, what one commentator has remarked about the stories of “Mr. Brown”, a leader of the Grit Lit movement, is on full display in POKER FACE, that is the fact that its “characters had dark, brutal lives, often overtaken by drinking and sex and ruinous relationships.”
These depictions of the dark and dusty “life on the bottom” of the so-called “real South” (Charlie eventually travels through New Mexico, Texas, and other Southern States) are convincing and sadly accurate. But the callousness of how the show’s creative team bombards the audience with the realities of this dark side of the South (and of all fallen humanity), as with the Grit Lit literary sub-genre, often delves too deep into the depraved.
For this reason, Movieguide® advises media conscious Christian families to pass on POKER FACE.
Now that Peacock has green-lit a second season for the original series, which like a cinematic siren lures many in with its obvious strong potential to be a gripping and entertaining tale, it is very important that Christian families are aware of the treacherous waters of this murder mystery thriller.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
