DISCLAIMER: This recap of the Poker Face episode “Time of the Monkey” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
Welcome back, drifters! Okay, this outing might be my favorite yet. “Time of the Monkey” features stellar, nuanced performances from powerhouse guest stars Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson. You can’t take your eyes off them when they’re onscreen. Natasha Lyonne meshes well with the two titan performers, proving to be a worthy sparring partner comedically and dramatically. I wish Irene and Joyce weren’t murderers so they could join Charlie as she solves murders across the country.
“Time of the Monkey” is a bitingly hilarious, well-acted and cleverly written whodunit helmed by Lucky McKee with a script by Wyatt Cain.
Ready to delve into “Time of the Monkey”? Let’s get to it.
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We open with shots of Mossy Oaks, a retirement home. Irene (Light) and Joyce (Merkerson) are chatting about everything from Pluto’s planetary status to whether strawberries are nuts. Joyce tends to her marijuana plants. They seem cool as hell. I aspire to be like them one day. Irene’s line about watching teens on Euphoria who think they “invented f*cking” is hysterical.
At Mossy Oaks, they interact with the Fletchers as the latter watch their crime shows (undoubtedly nicknamed after Jessica Fletcher). Irene also gives Billy (Darius Fraser), a caretaker, a hard time regarding her heart monitor bracelet. Betty (K Callan) reminds Joyce and Irene about the upcoming zoo trip. Then, the pair spot a man, Luca (Simon Helberg), standing next to Ben (Reed Birney), a new resident of Mossy Oaks. Irene and Joyce look gobsmacked.
Later, the duo decides it’s high time they commit a crime — Ben has got to go. A montage shows Joyce giving the gardener weed for some gardening chemicals. She mixes a substance while Irene signs them up for the zoo trip. Then, Irene rams her wheelchair into Billy, who has a cart full of supplies. She surreptitiously pockets a few syringes when Billy’s not looking.
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Then, on the day of the zoo trip, Joyce wheels Irene to the bathroom. Irene clambers out of the bathroom window and scales the trellis on the outside using solely her upper body strength. She climbs into Ben’s window, where he snoozes. Irene whips out a syringe full of the deadly cocktail. She removes Ben’s heart monitor bracelet and replaces it with her uncharged one. Next, Irene injects Ben with the murderous mixture. When Irene returns to the lobby, she secretly discards the syringe.
Later, Irene and Joyce are at the zoo. They step into a dimly lit area devoid of people to alert the Mossy Oaks attendants to Ben’s corpse. Joyce uses a taser on Irene while she wears Ben’s functioning heart monitor bracelet. It indicates that Ben has a heart attack. Of course, when Billy and the others arrive, Ben’s already dead.
Next, the Fletchers snap at Charlie (Lyonne) while the latter vacuums. Why? Because they’re watching their crime shows, of course. Charlie encounters one Mossy Oaks resident named Pervy Pete, but Betty saves Charlie from future interactions with him. She gives Charlie the scoop regarding the retirement home’s residents. She urges Charlie to steer clear of Joyce and Irene.
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Naturally, Charlie forgoes that advice and spends time with her new besties. Her new crime-committing besties that is. They’re three peas in a pod. They smoke weed and play shuffleboard together. That feels like a game that would significantly improve with the addition of the devil’s lettuce. Charlie learns all about Irene and Joyce’s protesting days in the ’70s. She also hears about Gabriel, one attractive and well-endowed man with whom the pair had a threesome. A band called The Droopy Hues even put their picture on an album cover.
Later, the women tell Charlie about a protest gone wrong. Gabriel sacrificed himself by going outside to face the police. Irene and Joyce discovered the cops were there to raid. They barged into their hideout, guns blazing, and shot Irene in the spine. She’s been in a wheelchair since that day. Then, the women sat in jail for three decades.
Next, we see Luca and Ben arrive at Mossy Oaks. Charlie escorts the pair to Ben’s new room. Luca claims he’s Ben’s nephew and awkwardly embraces his uncle before departing. Charlie tries to initiate a conversation with the aloof Ben, but he would rather be left alone. That night, Ben visits Joyce and Irene. Plot twist: Ben is actually Gabriel!
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Gabriel apologizes profusely for what happened to them. He discloses the truth — he worked in concert with the police so they’d pardon him. Gabriel led law enforcement to the group’s hideout and left once the cops started raiding. He’s been in witness protection ever since. Joyce and Irene are flabbergasted. Irene reminds Gabriel that she lost the use of her legs that day. However, Joyce forgives him begrudgingly, as does Irene. After he leaves, Joyce and Irene decide to kill him. The acting in this scene, especially those silent moments between the lines, is superb—a masterclass.
Later, the gang is at the zoo after Irene and Joyce kill Gabriel. Charlie shows her besties her new t-shirt: The Droopy Hues album cover featuring a young Irene, Joyce and Gabriel. You can always snag interesting finds on Etsy. Joyce and Irene head off to do their taser/heart monitor act while Charlie becomes enthralled with Melanie, the monkey. After learning about Gabriel’s death, Charlie attends his funeral, wherein she reunites with Luca. Luca admits Gabriel — well, Ben — was in witness protection, and he was the late man’s case agent.
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While paying their respects, Charlie notices a photo of a young Ben who resembles the young Gabriel on her Droopy Hues shirt. It’s the same man. Charlie lets slip that she’s best friends with Irene and Joyce. Of course, Luca knows who they are. He realizes why Ben/Gabriel wanted to stay at Mossy Oaks — to make amends with the two women. Later, Luca and his agents pull Joyce and Irene aside for questioning. Betty gives her two cents regarding their deviancy and penchant for smoking pot.
Charlie and Luca concur that the women’s alibi checks out. They were at the zoo when Gabriel died. Luca reveals why Irene and Joyce spent so many years behind bars. They were planning to bomb a model UN group on the day the police raided their hideout. Oh, that’s not cool. Charlie chats with the ladies after Luca departs. She gets confirmation from them regarding their plans to bomb children. Well, the children of the assholes they were trying to hold accountable. Charlie realizes Luca was right. Once she leaves, Joyce and Irene decide to kill their new bestie. Murder isn’t the catch-all solution for everything, you know.
Later, Charlie consults with the Fletchers, the crime experts. She learns that potassium chloride, calcium chloride, epinephrine and sodium nitrate are great for triggering heart attacks. Watching these ladies geek out over murder cocktails is hilarious. Side note: There’s another Skarsgård? Wolfen is the secret brother!
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After confirming with the Mossy Oaks’ gardener what Joyce took from him, Charlie calls Luca with her latest findings. She notes that the monkey telling time at the zoo around the same time Gabriel died seems like a coincidence. Additionally, Irene and Joyce didn’t attend the monkey show. Speaking of the monkey: I, too, would watch a Minority Report-style show starring Melanie the monkey.
Charlie muses the ladies faked Gabriel’s time of death, so she digs deeper into this theory with the help of Billy. He shows her the monitor chart for Gabriel. They discover a specific time on the chart, around the time they left for the zoo, that looks suspicious. Almost as if someone else was wearing the bracelet at that moment. Charlie calls Luca back and presents her theory of what transpired, including the ladies faking Gabriel’s cardiac spike at the zoo.
Next, Charlie calls Betty to get some intel. Betty witnessed Irene and Joyce doing shady sh*t at the zoo. She assumed they were engaging in something of the sexual persuasion with a dildo (even though it was a taser). Betty gave Irene a stern talking-to after the fact. The zoo is no place for debauchery! Unfortunately, Betty perishes during her phone call with Charlie when her pressure cooker starts ticking. It explodes. Irene got her payback.
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Then, Charlie greets the women after they murder Betty. She lays out precisely how they murdered Gabriel. Joyce knocks Charlie on the head with a bedpan. Charlie retaliates, and the pair duke it out in the living room. Irene joins in on the fighting fun and stabs Charlie in the leg with a knitting needle. Joyce chucks a lamp at Charlie while she reaches for the taser. Joyce also has a syringe full of the deadly chemical cocktail to administer to Charlie.
Charlie tases herself, which triggers a cardiac spike. We know this because she’s wearing one of the retirement home’s heart monitor bracelets. Billy barges into the house with Luca and the agents hot on his heels. Bye, ladies!
Irene and Joyce sit in the back of a police cruiser while Luca chats with Charlie. He offers her a spot at the FBI. She asks him if he received the email she sent to the FBI about Kazimir Caine. He looks confused by that question. Charlie politely declines Luca’s offer to become a fed. Once Luca leaves, the golf cart Charlie’s sitting in explodes. Thankfully, she jumped out prior to said explosion. Irene and Joyce glance at each other satisfyingly before the cruiser pulls away. Charlie rightfully flips the bird in their direction.
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Poker Face accomplishes something few shows execute well — it fleshes out its guest stars. We see their motivations, hopes and dreams. “Time of the Monkey,” in particular, depicts this perfectly. Despite Joyce and Irene’s heinous crimes, we understand them and, perhaps, love them. Combine that with its Columbo-style format and Lyonne’s easy, raspy-voiced charm and you’ve got a consistently solid murder-of-the-week series. Rian Johnson is a hitmaker.
Side note: who knew two ladies past their prime could battle it out like that? That fight scene had me on pins and needles. Also, Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson deserve Emmy nods as guest stars for their work.
Poker Face drops new episodes every Thursday on Peacock.
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What I do: I'm GGA's Managing Editor, a Senior Contributor, and Press Coordinator. I manage, contribute, and coordinate. Sometimes all at once. Joking aside, I oversee day-to-day operations for GGA, write, edit, and assess interview opportunities/press events.
Who I am: Before moving to Los Angeles after studying theater in college, I was born and raised in Amish country, Ohio. No, I am not Amish, even if I sometimes sport a modest bonnet.
Bylines in: Tell-Tale TV, Culturess, Sideshow Collectibles, and inkMend on Medium.
Critic: Rotten Tomatoes, CherryPicks, and the Hollywood Creative Alliance.
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