Poker Face season 1 has just ended, and it finally explains exactly how long Charlie has actually been on the run. The show follows Charlie, who is on the run from the criminal casino owner Sterling Frost Jr., which results in her traveling around the U.S. at random, finding herself in some of the most rural locations in the country. However, Charlie also somehow ends up being caught in the middle of a different murder in each episode, and given her ability to tell when people are lying, she feels the need to solve each murder case.
Poker Face continues filmmaker Rian Johnson's murder mystery streak. After writing and directing Knives Out and Glass Onion, Johnson has moved on to Poker Face, which shares themes and devices similar to what was seen in his last two films. With the connection to Knives Out and Glass Onion in mind, it comes as no surprise that the murder mystery show is full of time jumps and vague timeframes. The Peacock series makes no effort to tell viewers how long Charlie has been on the road. However, as the season concluded with episode 10, "The Hook," Poker Face wasted no time in providing a timeline on Charlie's activities.
Charlie Has Been On The Run For 14 Months In Poker Face
Rian Johnson's Poker Face show gave audiences hints of how long Charlie had been on the run, such as major time jumps like the one in episode 9, "Escape from Shit Mountain," which skips forward by three months. And as she tells George in episode 3, "The Stall," sometimes she picks a random place on a map, which alludes to a lot of time passing between episodes as well. But "The Hook" gives a definitive answer. It had been almost exactly a year from the moment she fled Atlantic City to when she was hospitalized. According to the episode, she remained in the hospital for two months.
The Poker Face season 1 finale explains how far into Charlie's road trip every episode is down to the day. The series is 92 days in when Charlie gets a job at Boyle's BBQ in Texas, 175 days in when she tours with the rock band Ruby Ruin, and 211 days in when she works at Mossy Oaks Retirement Home. But there are still huge gaps that go unexplained, as there are months between working at the arcade, being Arthur's assistant, and the events that occurred on the mountain. The series could just have likely taken place over several years and it wouldn't have been surprising.
Poker Face’s Biggest Flaw Is Now More Plausible
Poker Face is like Columbo in that it's a murder-of-the-week series, but while Columbo is at all the crime scenes because he's a detective, Charlie's involvement in 10 different murder cases is an unbelievable coincidence. Audiences could have easily mistaken the show for taking place over 10 weeks, which added to the total implausibility that Poker Face's Charlie Cale could keep involving herself in so many murder cases. However, now that it's understood that Charlie was on the road for an extended period of time in Poker Face, it's at least a bit more plausible that she could happen upon all the crimes over 14 months instead of just 10 weeks. But admittedly, some suspension of disbelief may still be necessary.