‘Poker Face’ Recap: Season 1 Finale, Ending Explained — [Spoiler] Cast

TVLINE | Charlie went again dwelling to see her sister Emily, performed by Clea DuVall, which was a terrific little But I’m a Cheerleader reunion. Did you guys have that in thoughts while you forged her?
NORA | I don’t know if we had her in thoughts, however the second that her identify got here up, we have been like, “Natasha, call in your favors. Start texting.” In some methods, it’s a little bit of a cheat as a result of Clea and Natasha have such a historical past and a friendship that you simply instantly learn them as sisters. There’s simply this beautiful historical past between the 2 of them, and watching them act collectively was severely one of many highlights of the season for me. It’s such an exquisite, bittersweet scene that implies numerous historical past and issues additionally unsaid about what occurred in that household and the burden of Charlie’s means and the way that impacts others round her, and we actually lucked out having Clea are available in and do it. She’s additionally extraordinarily busy. She’s a director and an actor, and he or she has her personal tasks and her personal reveals. So having her take the time to come back out and turn into Charlie’s sister was simply such a get for us.

TVLINE | Plus, it was actually the largest look into Charlie’s previous that we’ve gotten all season. Will we see extra of her household or individuals from her previous in Season 2 to assist fill in that backstory?
LILLA | I believe we’ll. But like in Season 1, we’re all the time going to make use of a really mild contact with regards to Charlie’s backstory. I really feel like Charlie’s a personality that’s all the time dwelling within the current and all the time pushing ahead. So after we do get these little glimpses, I believe it does really feel extremely particular and actually distinctive. We discuss rather a lot about the place Charlie got here from and who was in her life earlier than we meet her within the sequence. But I believe what’s actually nice is that we haven’t landed on something concrete, aside from what we’ve proven you, and we are able to sort of fill in and form in her previous little by little. But she’s all the time going to be shifting forwards.

TVLINE | I need to discuss Cliff’s love of Burn Notice and Blues Traveler, these very middlebrow tastes of his. How did you come across these as examples of who he’s as an individual?
NORA | Well, the Burn Notice reference, that line was within the pilot. But there was one thing so lovable about his unabashed affection for Burn Notice. When we noticed the montage of him on this episode and what he went by in that 12 months… you already know, you retain the issues closest to you that you simply love while you’re going by a tricky time. So the truth that he can be in a motel watching Burn Notice to attempt to make himself really feel higher, to get by it, I assumed was actually fantastic. And it actually humanizes any person who could possibly be just like the Terminator, simply going after his prey. But additionally the truth that someplace in Cliff Legrand’s mind is the total John Popper rap from “Hook” is simply so weirdly endearing.

LILLA | Endearing and spooky on the identical time. I really feel like that sequence the place he’s monologue-ing “Hook” to her? It’s simply indicative of the tone we’re making an attempt to hit on a regular basis in Poker Face the place it’s humorous, but it surely’s additionally scary, and we’re undecided the way to really feel about it. It’s sort of subverting these moments and these expectations in such an surprising method.

NORA | And Benjamin [Bratt] did an exquisite job. He had to try this so many occasions. When you’re driving and capturing on the identical time, you simply do takes over and time and again. I ought to discover out the precise depend of what number of occasions he carried out “Hook,” however lethal critical. I believe he actually solely screwed up possibly a couple of times, in at the very least a dozen occasions that he did it. It was actually one thing to witness.

TVLINE | Simon Helberg additionally got here again within the finale as Luca. He ended up providing Charlie a job, and so they appear to have shaped a sort of friendship. Could we see him popping in in any respect in Season 2?
NORA | Well, I hope so, as a result of I believe Simon did such a tremendous job.

LILLA | Simon additionally simply made such fascinating selections. He actually introduced Agent Clark to life. I’m an enormous fan of Agent Luca Clark. I hope we get to see extra of him. I like the connection that he has with Charlie. I like him making an attempt to actively make out what she is and what’s occurring together with her in actual time. He’s drawn to her, and sort of perplexed by her, and I positively suppose that if Simon desires to come back again and play on Poker Face, I’d like to see these two collectively once more.

NORA | There’s one thing fantastic about how he mainly offers her credit score for his profession. He’s sort of like, “I am here because of you.” So there’s one thing actually self-deprecating and self-aware about that that makes your coronary heart exit to him. So yeah, I hope so.

TVLINE | It’s humorous: Charlie’s lie-detecting abilities didn’t actually play that massive of a task within the finale. Is she changing into a greater detective, outdoors of her distinctive present?
LILLA | I believe so. I believe that she is selecting up abilities alongside the way in which. We all the time prefer to have her be taught one thing new in each episode. For occasion, after the barbecue episode, the place she makes use of her sense of odor that’s been extremely attuned and the style of the wooden… it’s not like we spend the remainder of the season together with her sniffing issues and listening to music in her head. We’re all the time going to be innovating ways in which she will uncover and detect the foul play that’s occurring round her. But sure, clearly the boring model of this present is her all the time counting on her lie-detecting abilities. So we all the time need to give her a contemporary method for every episode that isn’t her marching as much as the assassin and saying, “Did you kill them?”

NORA | We joked about it, and now it’s not that a lot of a joke: Because Charlie doesn’t have a mobile phone, she’s not staring into her cellphone like the entire remainder of us are. She’s extra observant, and he or she detects the lie as a result of she’s listening as a result of she’s not buried in a display screen all day. So I believe in some methods, possibly if all of us removed our telephones, we is likely to be higher detectives.

TVLINE | I like how every episode is mainly its personal mini film, its personal self-contained case with completely different visitor stars and the whole lot. Did you guys have a private favourite case from Season 1 that stood out to you? I do know it’s onerous to decide on.
NORA | Yeah, [Episode] 9 was particular to us as a result of it was very a lot our child. It was the primary episode that we shot, really. We shot it first as a result of it was set in winter, so we needed to reap the benefits of the truth that the buds hadn’t sprouted on the bushes in New York but. It was so early within the spring, it was weeks away, however we knew the clock was ticking. So that turned the primary episode we shot, so there was one thing actually particular about [Episode] 9. But we had a blast with all of the episodes.

LILLA | My favourite episode to interrupt within the room was in all probability “Exit Stage Death,” the dinner theater episode, as a result of it was essentially the most intricate and complicated by way of having this crime being solved because the play was operating in actual time. For me, that was enjoyable as a result of it was the scariest one. As quickly as we threw down the problem to ourselves, can she resolve this thriller whereas the gamers operating on stage? Can we do it? And we wound up doing it, and I simply really feel just like the ingenuity that was concerned in breaking that episode, that’s my favourite reminiscence by way of breaking one thing.

NORA | Yeah, I believe we had sort of, at that time, found out the way to break the present in a great way and use all people within the room in the easiest way. So that turned form of like, “OK, now we know the path. Let’s hit the ground running.”

TVLINE | Well, talking of the trail forward: We know the present is returning for Season 2. Can you tease something about the place Charlie is headed from right here?
NORA | I believe Charlie is all the time going to be on the transfer. I don’t essentially see her settling in a small village in Maine, a la Jessica Fletcher. We haven’t begun these discussions but, as a result of we haven’t began the room but. But yeah, I believe she’s all the time going to be on the transfer. We love the shark-like nature that Charlie has, all the time shifting ahead.

LILLA | I’m excited for Season 2 as a result of I really feel like now we’ve actually received the rhythm of this present in our bones. We know the format, we all know the character, we all know the rhythm of it, and so how can we innovate on it each week shifting ahead? We’re going to proceed to problem ourselves and proceed to push ourselves. Like, I’ve so many episode concepts boiling inside me proper now. I can’t wait to get again into the room and begin breaking.

NORA | Yeah, there was numerous stuff we needed to do in Season 1 that we have been like, “OK, keep the notes. Put it on the backburner. Let’s figure out a way to do it again.”

TVLINE | Are there any potential visitor stars you may have in your want record?
NORA | You know, after we had all our visitors in Season 1, we all the time would discuss to them in regards to the present within the custom of Columbo that had these recurring visitor stars like Robert Culp and Patrick McGoohan, and they might come again and play villains a number of occasions as completely completely different characters. So we’ve all the time saved the door open to the concept we may definitely use a few of our actors which can be already within the Poker Face Players and produce them again. I imply, Rian [Johnson] has such a tremendous Rolodex of those that he’s labored with on his movies. As lengthy as he retains making ensemble movies outdoors of Poker Face, we’ll all the time have a listing of visitor stars.

LILLA | It was simply identified to me that we’ve already had two individuals from Cheers, so if we may get the remainder of the forged of Cheers in there… I’m simply placing it on the market into the universe.

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