3 Twisty Mystery Shows To Watch After ‘Poker Face’ Season 2
The second season of Poker Face has officially arrived, spelling out another fantastic outing for Natasha Lyonne’s reluctant private detective, Charlie Cale.
As with its previous installment, Poker Face Season 2 doubles down on everything fans know and love from its earliest episodes, including a massive cast of guest stars, rewarding murder mysteries, and an overarching emphasis on comedic subject matter (in sharp contrast to the homicides typically displayed in a given episode).
As wonderful as Poker Face’s second season has been, some fans might be wondering what to watch once Peacock’s latest murder mystery wraps up on July 10. From similarly-veined whodunits to Victorian-inspired buddy comedies, here are three shows for fans of Poker Face to check out.
Sherlock
Like Batman or James Bond, we’ve seen so many different iterations of Sherlock Holmes, it’s almost hard to know even where to begin in describing them. For as many versions of the character we’ve seen in the past, however, our attention routinely flocks back to Benedict Cumberbatch’s breakthrough performance in BBC’s Sherlock. Providing a fresh and modern portrayal of the famous armchair detective, Sherlock serves as a suitably fun, attention-grabbing murder mystery based on some of the character’s most famed stories, including such fabled classics as A Study in Scarlet, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” and The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Murder, She Wrote
In the past, Poker Face showrunner Rian Johnson hasn’t shied away from his love of classic whodunit series like Angela Lansbury’s Murder, She Wrote. A notable narrative influence on Poker Face, Murder, She Wrote finds Lansbury as a prolific writer-turned-amateur detective tasked with solving all kinds of mysteries in her unassuming New England town. A delightful blend between quirky comedy and sometimes chilling mystery, it’s a perfect companion piece to Johnson’s latest project, with Lyonne owing a major debt of gratitude to Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher.
Columbo
Poker Face may bear some similarities to Murder, She Wrote, but no series has had such a direct impact on Johnson and Lyonne’s series to the same extent as Columbo. Among the most iconic TV series of the 1970s, Columbo also offered a refreshingly unique take on the “murder-a-week”-style mystery story, ingeniously infusing comedy with more cerebral crime thriller elements. Led by Peter Falk’s everyman detective, it’s a TV series that holds up from one decade to the next, delighting everyone interested in a memorable mystery, vivid characterization, and predictably zany comedy.