It’s always good when a show goes out on its own terms, and that’s more or less what happened with Rian Johnson’s Poker Face. Yes, it was cancelled, but it was also supposed to be just a two-season run, at least as far as Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie Cale, the human lie detector, is concerned. There were so many charms to Poker Face when it was at its best. Like with Johnson’s Knives Out movies it’s a murder mystery with style and a willingness to embrace the humor inherent in human nature. And, also like Knives Out, it’s functioning at its peak when the protagonist pairs up with another individual to solve that mystery.

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Cale is such a lovable character, and so uniquely brought to life by Lyonne, that it’s hard to imagine the show moving on without her as the primary focus. There’s been talk of it coming back with Peter Dinklage as the lead, but that’s looking less likely with each passing day. Time will tell, but even if that never happens, we’ll always have Cale’s 22 adventures. Though, as you’re about to see, they are not all equal. Not by a long shot.

22) “The Taste of Human Blood” (S2 Ep4)

Poker Face is in part a comedy show, but a meth addict gator is just a bridge too far. But that would be fine if “The Taste of Human Blood” weren’t so overly complicated and burdened with two such unlikable characters (Gaby Hoffmann’s Fran Lamont and Kumail Nanjiani’s “Gator Joe” Pilson). Not to mention, Charlie being at the scene of the murder, a police office awards ceremony, is pretty silly. She’s there to help rescue Gator Joe’s gator, but the moment she saw it’s a room full of cops she’d be out of there.

21) “Rest in Metal” (S1 Ep4)

The murder in “Rest in Metal” is committed by people who aren’t particularly well-drawn. They’re a trio of bandmates who want a comeback and, when a new drummer plays for them a song he’s written, they see an opportunity. So, they electrocute him and claim the song as their own, only to learn that he inadvertently stole it from a sitcom’s theme tune. The thing is, they could just introduce him as the newest member of their band in an official capacity and start a new phase of their careers.

20) “The End of the Road” (S2 Ep12)

Some people really like the two-part Season 2 finale, which ended up being the two-part series finale (definitely as far as Charlie Cale is concerned, and likely overall unless they end up going the Dinklage route). I’m not one of them. A big part of the issue is Patti Harrison’s Alex. It’s not fair to say that it’s easy to tell at the beginning of her four-episode arc that Alex is a big bad, but the revelation is such a lame one that it feels like Poker Face‘s first cop out. Really? Alex just trained herself to lie really well so Charlie wouldn’t catch her? That doesn’t just require suspension of disbelief, it requires acceptance of the show breaking its own rules, and that’s too much to ask, especially in a show so good.

19) “Day of the Iguana” (S2 Ep11)

“The End of the Road” is the worse episode of the two-parter finale, but “The Day of the Iguana” isn’t much better. Even someone as good as Justin Theroux doesn’t manage to standout. At least the device he uses to drain the blood out of his hit’s body is pretty cool, though. Either way, this was the beginning of a super disappointing end.

18) “Last Looks” (S2 Ep2)

“Last Looks” gets a few points for making Cale feel as though she’s in danger and giving Katie Holmes one of the best roles of her career, but it kind of just comes and goes. And, speaking of Holmes, she’s a bit on the underutilized side. Giancarlo Esposito makes for a great villain here, be he’s kind of stereotypically villainous, resulting in an episode that doesn’t feel fully quirky Poker Face. It even shorts the audience on a good mystery solving partnership between Cale and Kevin Corrigan’s Tommy Sullivan. Just as they start to dive into it the episode does away with the dynamic.

17) “The Big Pump” (S2 Ep10)

The accidental killing that occurs in “The Big Pump” is caused by a health inspector busting his gym’s owner for selling stolen breast milk to his clients who want to really bulk up. It’s a very strange crime to hinge another crime slash premise of an episode on. But this installment does have its merits, with Cale’s “friendship” and mystery-solving partnership with Alex reaching its likable apex and Jason Ritter turning in typically likable work as the health inspector.

16) “Exit Stage Death” (S1 Ep6)

The big problem with “Exit Stage Death” is that we’re supposed to believe Tim Meadows’ Michael Graves and Ellen Barkin’s Kathleen Townsend have publicly hated each other for years yet have secretly loved each other the whole time. Why hide it?

What was the plan, for Graves to marry the lovely and supportive (and rich) Ava, stay married to her for a few years, and then have Kathleen come back in with a revival play that she just needs him to co-star in? How long had they been planning this play? How much are we supposed to suspend our disbelief? Plus, Townsend treats everyone like such dirt that we can’t believe her belittling Graves was a full-on act. She really doesn’t seem like a good person. Why is he in love with her? The episode never really tells us.

15) “The Future of the Sport” (S1 Ep7)

Season 1’s “The Future of the Sport” does one thing very well, and that’s making the viewer think one person is the villain only to reveal that the intended victim is actually far worse. Toss in convincing villain work by Charles Melton and a fun friendship between Cale and the mother of Melton’s character and this is a perfectly fine episode, even if it ends up running out of track by the end.

14) “Hometown Hero” (S2 Ep5)

Ever since Scary Movie 3 it’s been obvious Simon Rex is an on-screen natural, and his work in “Hometown Hero” does nothing to dissuade one of that notion. He plays a great villain here, but it’s a very average episode overall.

It’s not nearly as clever as the series’ best, with a simple blackmail plot solved by Charlie asking the murderer point blank if he did it. Not to mention, the tripping scene (pictured above) is the type of thing that makes the viewer wonder if Hollywood has any idea what drugs are like, because it’s a safe assumption you don’t see talking, glowing socks or B.J. Novak.

13) “The Hook” (S1 Ep10)

The finale of Season 1 was way better than the finale of Season 2. Even still, “The Hook” is mostly just a fine way to wrap up the season’s threads, not a revolutionary one. That said, points go to having the big bad of a season of television get the protagonist in front of him only to forgive her (and then immediately get killed).

12) “Dead Man’s Hand” (S1 Ep1)

Poker Face had to start somewhere, and it was wise to start with a murder very close to Cale. We get to understand who Cale is, how she reacts when she loses someone she loves (and how she reacts when someone thinks they can get away with wronging others), and we get the establishment of the season’s big running threat, which is the father of this episode’s Sterling Frost Jr.

11) “The Sleazy Georgian” (S2 Ep8)

“The Sleazy Georgian” is a favorite in some Poker Face fan households, and it does have a few things going for it, but it’s still overrated. For one, it wastes Melanie Lynskey, and that’s always at least a misdemeanor. The bigger issue is that it’s predictable. John Cho’s conman character is such an ass to one of his crewmembers that we know he’s going to turn on his leader. And then that’s exactly what happens.

10) “Sloppy Joseph” (S2 Ep6)

It’s a gutsy move to make a kid the villain, but “Sloppy Joseph” pulls it off. It could have easily blown up in everyone’s face, but Eva Jade Halford knocks the role of young sociopath Stephanie Pearce out of the park. But the best performance of this private school-set episode belongs to David Krumholtz, who is heartbreaking as the widower father of a good kid who gets in Stephanie’s crosshairs. The man can definitely play a convincing father, which bodes well for Supergirl.

9) “The Night Shift” (S1 Ep2)

The series’ sophomore episode, “The Night Shift,” coasts on its intimate locale. All we get is a Subway, an auto body shop, and a convenience store. The episode does a great job of making us feel the space. Furthermore, it does a great job of making its characters feel like real humans in a relatively small town.

But what really makes the episode land as high as it does are a pair of little moments. For one, it’s very charming how Cale gets a restaurant full of people giddy about helping her solve the episode’s murder. And two, there’s the third act scene where John Ratzenberger’s Abe, a mechanic who has long employed Jed (the murderer), turns off his hearing aid when Jed tries to lie his way out of having been caught tampering with Cale’s break line.

8) “The Stall” (S1 Ep3)

With “The Stall” we get a one-two punch of contemptable villains, a chunk of the United States that feels very lived-in, and a wonderful supporting performance by Larry Brown as the ill-fated George Boyle. It’s one of those “business under threat” narratives that feels contained, intimate, easily palatable, and fully enjoyable. It also benefits from great casting, including the aforementioned Brown, Lil Rel Howery, and Shane Paul McGhie.

7) “Whack-A-Mole” (S2 Ep3)

After the darker “Last Looks,” Poker Face came back with something much lighter in “Whack-A-Mole,” and it was a highpoint of the sophomore year. It doesn’t follow the typical pre-Cale murder scenes followed by the establishment of how Cale fits in.

Instead, it finally pits Cale and big bad Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman) together, at which point the latter’s plan goes to hell and Cale bears witness. From the pacing shakeup to Perlman’s work and John Mulaney in the villain role, “Whack-A-Mole” is extremely solid.

6) “A New Lease on Death” (S2 Ep9)

“A New Lease on Death” is one of Poker Face‘s more underrated episodes. As far as genuinely frightening villains in the series go, it’s hard to beat Alia Shawkat’s Amelia Peek. We believe her capable of murder just as we believe she’s empty enough inside to fake a romance with her victim’s aunt all for a rent-controlled apartment.

It was also a nice little turn to have the murder committed in a building in which Cale is currently living. It gives off some Only Murders in the Building vibes. Further points go to David Alan Grier for his hilariously cold performance as the landlord.

5) “Time of the Monkey” (S1 Ep5)

We’re in top tier Poker Face territory now. When it comes to the show’s rug pulls, it’s hard to beat the jaw-dropping revelation that charmingly brash assisted living residents Irene and Joyce are actually terrorists.

When a face from the past comes to the assisted living facility, we know that he turned them into the cops (by that point it’s heavily implied, anyway), but we don’t know that they were planning to bomb a high school. Talk about a pair of contemptable villains. Points also go to the scene where they murder that face from the past, because it’s a tension-builder, no doubt about it.

4) “The Game Is a Foot” (S2 Ep1)

Besides Lyonne, there’s a strong argument to be made that the best performance in Poker Face history belongs to Cynthia Erivo. Well, performances, plural, because Erivo plays five different characters, and makes them all convincingly different.

“The Game Is a Foot” was a great relatively straightforward way to kick off Season 2, and it’s a bit of a mystery why there are quite a few Poker Face fans out there who don’t think it’s all that great. It’s fun to watch Erivo swap personas left and right to try and secure an inheritance, the twist of an artificial leg on the murder victim does a great job of upping the stakes before Cale even enters the plot, and Cale’s friendship with Delia (one of the four twin sisters) makes for one of the best Cale-other character partnership dynamics.

3) “One Last Job” (S2 Ep7)

The most meta Poker Face ever got, “One Last Job” is just as good as many of the best heist movies of its era. Sam Richardson is wonderful as the aspiring screenwriter slash recently fired department store employee who partners with a real criminal to rob his workplace blind, but that whole plot isn’t the best part of the episode. Instead, it’s the chemistry between Corey Hawkins’ Bill Jackson and Cale. Poker Face was never fully against giving Cale a romantic interest, but this was the show delivering on that in full, and the audience fully believed they were a good match.

So, when we watch him die, it’s devastating. To that point, it’s also devastating for Richardson’s Kendall Hines, who just watched his genuine criminal of a partner kill his lifelong friend and the only one who supported his screenwriting career. Instead of seeing the love in his friend’s choice to fire him Hines sought revenge, and it cost him more than he could have ever predicted. Lastly, the late James Ransone does an excellent job as the episode’s true villain. Rest in peace.

2) “Escape from S**t Mountain” (S1 Ep9)

Poker Face Season 1 really did produce some gold on its way out. Both “Escape from S**t Mountain” and the episode that preceded it, which we’ll get to in a second, are genuinely perfect.

This is another Johnson-helmed episode, and it’s the one that is most obviously his, due in no small part to the fact that it features Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the villain. And, speaking of Gordon-Levitt, he’s convincingly deadly as the ultra-rich sociopath Trey Mendez, but equal credit needs to go to David Castañeda for his tender performance as Jimmy, the man Trey ropes into his misdeeds. If any episode made Charlie feel in true danger it’s this one, and on top of its tight narrative its bolstered by its visuals, which oscillate between snow-coated, dark forestation and the neon of a hotel sign. It’s the best-looking episode of the series, but there’s still one that is a bit deeper.

1) “The Orpheus Syndrome” (S1 Ep8)

It’s only fitting that the first episode Lyonne herself directed is the best episode of the season. It’s just a shame that Season 2’s “Last Looks” and “The End of the Road” didn’t come close to meeting its high bar. “The Orpheus Syndrome” has an interesting mystery, but what makes it work so well is how that mystery ties into the character of makeup artist Arthur Liptin, played to tear-jerking perfection by Nick Nolte.

Of all the team-ups Cale had throughout the series’ run, few felt as organic as her relationship with Liptin. As fun as it was watching Cale solve mysteries it was just as compelling seeing her wander her way across the world and meeting people whose lives she changed and vice versa. Toss in brilliant villainess work by Cherry Jones and “Orpheus” is Poker Face at its finest.

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