Poker Face has gifted us with so much throughout its first season, from fiendishly clever mysteries of the week to human lie detector Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne). Its finale, “The Hook,” is no different, but it gives us a little something extra: an answer to a question that has been nagging at me since the very first episode.
In episode 1 of Poker Face, casino owner Sterling Frost Jr. (Adrien Brody) loops Charlie into his scheme to infiltrate high roller Kazimir Caine’s (Eddie Gorodetsky) private game. As he does, he tells her, “When my dad handed me the keys to this place, he told me three things. He said, ‘Keep the carpets clean, keep Caine happy.'”
“What was the third thing?” Charlie asks.
“Doesn’t matter,” Sterling Jr. replies.
‘Poker Face’ review: Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne deliver marvelous murder mystery mayhem
The episode continues, but I couldn’t escape the feeling that that third thing actually did matter. After all, this is Poker Face, where anything from a spare quarter to a piece of dental floss can be used to solve a murder. Nothing is a coincidence in the world of Charlie Cale.
Given Poker Face‘s mystery-of-the-week formula, the question of this “third thing” understandably doesn’t come up in the show’s following episodes. So imagine my surprise when Sterling Frost Sr. (Ron Perlman) meets Charlie in the season finale and launches into a speech that sounds very familiar.
Ron Perlman in “Poker Face.”
Credit: Peacock
“There’s three things I said to my kid before I gave him the keys to the casino. First two don’t matter,” Sterling Sr. says. “The third one? Keep Beatrix Hasp out.”
Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman) owns Hasp casino in Atlantic City, where the finale takes place. She is also the head of the Five Families, a sinister crime syndicate that Sterling Sr. reveals has always wanted a piece of his town in Nevada. Sterling Jr. was doing business with Beatrix — hence, his cover-up that this piece of his father’s advice didn’t matter.
Not long after Sterling Sr. informs Charlie about the Five Families, he dies at the hands of henchman Cliff LeGrand (Benjamin Bratt), who was in cahoots with Beatrix this whole time. However, by the end of the episode, Cliff has sold out the Five Families after evidence from Charlie gets him arrested by the FBI. Suddenly, Charlie has a whole new set of enemies: five families’ worth.
The fact that one line in Poker Face‘s first episode foreshadows not just the arc of the Season 1 finale but also the Big Bad of Season 2 is further proof of the show’s killer rewatch value. Every time you go back through an episode, you notice little things you didn’t catch on your first go-through: hints at Charlie’s presence in the lead-up to murders, details about certain clues, and even little jokes you may have missed.
But out of all these, learning Sterling Sr.’s third piece of advice may take the cake for my favorite payoff of the season. Sure, it may seem small at first, but it has huge consequences down the line. It really solidifies that Poker Face knows exactly what it’s doing: This is a show that’s comfortable playing the long game and keeping its cards close to its chest — something it will surely continue to do in Season 2. Bring on Beatrix Hasp, the Five Families, and of course, more Charlie Cale.
Poker Face Season 1 is now streaming on Peacock.(Opens in a new tab)
