Well, I didn’t LOVE the second season of Russian Doll — the first was excellent — but Natasha Lyonne was really good in it, and I’m pleased that she’s not only still working but has an active hand in developing her own projects. Her latest, in conjunction with Rian Johnson, is Poker Face, a Peacock series in the vein of Columbo where you know who did it and the question is how they’re caught. (This all explains why she’s on Benoit Blanc’s bathtub Zoom in Glass Onion.) There’s an extra layer of shenanigans because I gather Natasha plays a casino worker on the run and Benjamin Bratt is chasing her, I assume very attractively, as would be his wont. The Wikipedia page has a LONG list of impressive guest stars, which includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Stephanie Hsu, Ron Perlman, Rhea Perlman No Relation, Ellen Barkin, Chloe Sevigny (“as Ruby Ruin, the frontwoman for a heavy metal band”), Dascha Polanco, Lil Rel Howery, the always amazing Hong Chau, Judith Light, Nick Nolte, Cherry Jones, S. Epatha Merkerson… I could go on, as there are more, but that’s a pretty solid murderer’s row — a phrase that’s doubly apt as several of them probably will BE murderers.

Anyway, I know opinions of Knives Out and its sequel do vary, but I rather enjoyed them, and I did not hate The Last Jedi either. So I’m putting some trust in Rian Johnson here and hoping he works well with Natasha’s very specific, unique Natashaness, which… come to think of it, her picking up what Peter Falk laid down is not such a huge leap, is it? That makes sense to me.

[Photo: Matt Baron, AFF-USA/Shutterstock]