Poker Face Season 2 Episode 11, “Day of the Iguana,” is a wildly entertaining penultimate outing. It’s a ton of fun, and it cleverly interweaves multiple overarching Season 2 plotlines. Once again, the creatives shake up the show’s episodic formula by incorporating a professional killer and staging the murder at the very beginning. This keeps things fresh. I’m curious to see how it all ends next week (fingers crossed Alex survives).
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Poker Face, “Day of the Iguana”
We open with Todd (Justin Theroux) watching a YouTube video on how to tie a tie. A man shows up at his door, claiming he’s Todd’s chauffeur for Kirby and Victoria’s wedding. We don’t see his face. Todd had no idea he was getting a chauffeur. He asks the man to wait a few minutes while he finishes tying his tie. Todd turns around and shuts the door. However, the driver silently grabs the door and sneaks inside. He carries a duffel bag.
The driver offers to fix Todd’s tie for him. He chokes Todd to death. RIP. We see Todd’s fake eyeball roll across the floor. Then, the killer zips Todd up in what looks like a giant vacuum-sealed bag. After this, the killer applies prosthetics and a special contact lens in his eye to look like Todd. In fact, the murderer is the spitting image of the man he killed.
Guts and Eyeballs
Next, the killer dumps files out of a folder. Said files are all about Kirby Kowalczyk (Haley Joel Osment), the groom. A photo of Columbo is inexplicably among Kirby’s files. Oh, and the vacuum-sealed bag? It completely liquified the real Todd. He’s basically a bunch of guts now. Fun times.
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Now, the killer — I’m calling him “Fake Todd” from here on out — drives to the wedding. It’s abundantly clear that Kirby is the next target. Fake Todd is a professional hitman. He adjusts the special contact lens, which keeps trailing off to the side in his eye. Inside, a server offers Fake Todd a Ballzilla and vodka (Ballzilla is Kirby’s energy drink enterprise). Then, he takes his seat as the ceremony commences.
Victoria (Emma Pfitzer Price) walks down the aisle as Kirby eagerly awaits her. Fake Todd notices Luca (Simon Helberg) standing off to the side. He has a camera embedded in his boutonnière. Fake Todd storms out of the ceremony and calls his boss. He didn’t know the feds would be present. His boss, who distorts their voice to disguise their identity, orders him to stay the course. Find a patsy.
The Patsy
Fake Todd wanders into the boathouse. Suddenly, Alex (Patti Harrison) barges into the boathouse to retrieve a bag of oysters. She’s dressed all old-timey. Fake Todd pretends he’s talking to his dad before hanging up. Then, he flirts with Alex. After Alex departs, Fake Todd mutters that he’s found his patsy. Uh-oh.
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Back inside, Fake Todd seeks out Alex. He hands her a drink. Alex asks if anyone has ever called him “Hot Toddy.” She’s smitten. Kirby embraces Fake Todd. The real Todd was his teacher. Kirby points out Fake Todd’s faulty eye, reassuring FT that he’ll make it up to him. As it turns out, a rubber band launched by a young Kirby made contact with the real Todd’s eyeball. And … you can guess what transpired next. Anyway, Kirby wants Fake Todd to join him on a new business venture, involving an expansion of the Ballzilla brand.
Then, Kirby orders Fake Todd to do an impression of Columbo. The hitman had a photo of Columbo with Kirby’s files because Kirby loved it when the real Todd did his wildly accurate Columbo impression. Kirby doesn’t know who the famous detective is, though. I love this homage to Poker Face‘s biggest inspiration.
Oh, and One More Thing
The impression sends Kirby and his bros into a fit of raucous cheers. Victoria urges her new husband to keep a lid on the bro energy. Osment plays douchebag so well. After Kirby excuses himself, the murder muse awakens in Fake Todd. He grabs a few Ballzilla caps and an oyster knife. He also unplugs the fridge that keeps all the oysters chilled. This is clearly to frustrate Alex.
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Later, Fake Todd knocks Kirby out in the bathroom. He injects Kirby with a mysterious substance before slamming the latter’s head on the urinal. That does the trick. Then, he Weekend at Bernie’s the situation by pretending Kirby is simply inebriated as the pair “stumbles” toward the boathouse. Meanwhile, Alex notices that someone unplugged her oyster fridge. How dare they!
Alex discards the product in the fridge before venturing to the boathouse to retrieve fresh oysters. There, she discovers Kirby’s body. Fake Todd situated Kirby so he’s sitting in the boat with an oyster knife protruding from his eye socket. Ew. Alex stares in abject shock as Fake Todd approaches her from behind with a syringe.
I Didn’t Do It
Next, Victoria wonders where Kirby is. Fireworks decorate the sky overhead, but Victoria complains that they’re supposed to go off while she and Kirby speed away in the boat. Then, she discovers Kirby’s corpse in the boat. Alex wakes up beside him. She realizes she’s holding the oyster knife with Kirby’s eyeball on the blade. Alex tells the amassing crowd that she didn’t kill him.
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Flashback time — we find Charlie (Natasha Lyonne) waking up in her apartment. Well, Good Buddy’s apartment. She takes a broom and knocks on the ceiling to alert her upstairs neighbor, who’s back in the tap dancing game. His incessant dancing is interrupting her sleep cycle. Alex visits with coffee and breakfast. She has an opportunity for Charlie.
Later, we see Charlie and Alex arrive at the wedding. Alex notes that the Barracuda seems to be on its last legs. Aw. Alex has a new business venture — Yippie-Ki-Yay Oystershucker. Cute name. She’s all about wedding oysters now. She informs Charlie that they stand to make $7,000 at this wedding. Charlie’s more enthusiastic now. She’ll even wear the old-timey outfit.
Da Balloon Guyz
Inside, Alex explains the precise temperature the oysters must remain at, otherwise they’ll make everyone sick. Meanwhile, the FBI, including Luca, SAC Darville (Lili Taylor), Agent Radquist (Anthony Johnson) and Agent Milligan (Taylor Schilling) sit in a van with “Da Balloooon Guyz” emblazoned on the side. They see Fake Todd pull in, and Luca refers to him as the real Todd, a teacher. Luca must name every guest to determine who might be a threat. Why are the FBI here? Reason unknown. Milligan thinks this is dumb, but c’est la vie.
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Elsewhere, Alex tasks Charlie with handing out oysters to the wedding guests. She meets Fake Todd and assumes he’s overcome with emotion as he’s hunched over, attempting to adjust his contact lens. She notes that his eye keeps veering to the side. Then, she notices a scar on the palm of his hand. Charlie asks Fake Todd how he came by that. He claims it was a pool accident. In a knee-jerk reaction, Charlie calls bullsh*t. Fake Todd is taken aback by her response. She apologizes.
Later, Charlie catches Luca as the latter flags down Kirby. Kirby is incensed. He doesn’t want anything to do with “her.” After Kirby storms off, Charlie asks Luca why he’s here. Luca admits that any time Charlie crops up, trouble is sure to follow hot on her heels. Luca lies about his objective, which Charlie clocks. Then, she sees what Luca tried to give Kirby — a gift from his estranged mother. As it turns out, Kirby’s mother is none other than Beatrix Hasp.
A Family Affair
Luca explains that Beatrix is in witness protection, so she can’t attend Kirby’s wedding. She hasn’t seen her son since he was born. The camera in Luca’s boutonnière live streams the ceremony for Beatrix. Perhaps this will give her closure. Charlie vows to stay out of Luca’s hair.
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Then, Charlie finds Kirby outside on a dock. She offers him a Ballzilla and vodka — heavy on the vodka. He accepts it. Charlie reveals she knows his mom. Beatrix tried to kill her. Naturally, Kirby resents his mother for giving him up. Charlie dispenses wisdom for Kirby before he ventures back inside.
Next, Alex tells Charlie about Hot Toddy, her wedding crush. Charlie asks if she can go on a vape break. Sure, she took a break earlier, but that was to drink. Alex gives her the okay. After Charlie leaves, we see that Fake Todd has already unplugged the fridge.
A Moving Target
Outside, Charlie spots Fake Todd attempting to “escort” Kirby to the boathouse. She assumes the latter, whom she can’t identify because of his hat, is some rando who can’t hold his liquor. Charlie heads back inside to find Alex missing. She notes the bags of oysters in the trash. Victoria yells for Kirby as the fireworks go off prematurely.
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Next, Charlie hears Victoria scream as she discovers Kirby’s body in the boat. Charlie peers through binoculars and spies Alex, who’s holding the bloody oyster knife and vehemently declaring she didn’t kill Kirby. Charlie knows she’s telling the truth. Innate lie detector and all that. After this, Alex swims away to escape. Charlie chats with Luca. Charlie insists Alex is innocent. She can prove it.
So, Luca offers to protect Alex if Charlie can bring her in. Darville pulls Luca aside and reveals they can’t guarantee Alex’s protection. After all, Kirby was the son of Beatrix Hasp. Word of his murder has probably already ruffled the feathers of every mobster in North America. Charlie hears this and runs.
Escape Plan
Then, Charlie and Alex reunite. Alex is in panic mode. Alex admits she found Kirby in the boat and then woke up beside him. Charlie reassures Alex that she believes her. It’s all gravy. However, they need to flee the scene. They spot Ballzilla can and gorilla costumes. After escaping in said costumes (unfortunately, Luca sees them), Alex pulls down a canoe in the boathouse. In it, Charlie spies the Ballzilla hats Fake Todd and Kirby were wearing, along with Fake Todd’s special contact lens. Bingo.
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This gets the wheels turning in Charlie’s head. She recalls her encounter with Fake Todd. He must’ve been walking Kirby to the boathouse. She realizes he did it — he killed Kirby and pinned it on Alex. And Fake Todd must be a professional killer. Luca runs across the dock and shouts at Charlie as she and Alex row away. He reminds her about the five families. The mafia will be all over Alex. Beatrix has probably already put out a hit on Alex and a hefty reward to sweeten the pot. However, Charlie and Alex continue rowing.
Darville spews vitriol at Luca, insisting he’s a sh*tty agent. Milligan basks in the glow of the bitterness. According to her, the FBI has gone too soft. At the same time, Charlie and Alex brainstorm a plan. Charlie believes they can turn to Beatrix. Why? Because Beatrix knows about Charlie’s lie detector. Charlie tries to DM Beatrix’s finsta, but the latter isn’t following her. So, Charlie takes a screenshot of a flyer in one of Beatrix’s posts for a local politician … in Greenville, Indiana. That’s where Beatrix is. They can persuade her of Alex’s innocence.
The Iguana Has It Out for Beatrix
Meanwhile, Luca and Darville school Milligan on “Iguana” — the codename of the deadliest assassin in the world. This is Fake Todd. Luca insists that the Iguana kept Charlie and Alex alive for a reason. Charlie is leading him to Beatrix. Elsewhere, Beatrix (Rhea Perlman) pulls some cookies out of the oven in her house in Indiana.
Poker Face drops new episodes every Thursday on Peacock.
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