At the time of writing this article, there’s no official announcement of a Season 3 of Poker Face from Peacock. But the showrunners have clearly left the door ajar for more stories featuring the human lie detector, Charlie. At the end of Season 2, Charlie found out that Alex, the woman she had seemingly randomly befriended at a coffee shop, was actually one of the best assassins out there, who was merely using her to get to Hasp and kill her. While Alex succeeded at that, she was surrounded by the police, thanks to Charlie’s quick thinking. This led to an intense car chase, with Alex holding Charlie hostage, which concluded with Alex flying off a cliff in Charlie’s Barracuda, while Charlie barely managed to avoid plummeting to her death. Luca advised Charlie to go on the run because the FBI was about to come after her for aiding and abetting the individual who killed Hasp and her son, Kirby. Also, since Alex’s body was never found in Charlie’s car, or whatever was left of it, Charlie probably has to worry about the greatest assassin in North America coming after her. On that note, allow me to speculate about what may or may not happen in the yet-to-be-announced third season of Poker Face.
Spoiler Alert
Alex
The golden rule of TV is that until and unless you have seen the dead body of the character in question, don’t assume that they’re dead. So, yeah, even though we saw Alex going off the cliff in Charlie’s Plymouth Barracuda, since her corpse wasn’t there after the car hit the bottom of the ravine, it’s pretty obvious that she’s alive. I mean, if Charlie, who isn’t the most athletic person in the world, can jump out of the car in the nick of time, then so can Alex. Yes, she was nowhere to be found near the crash site, but that’s because she is the best assassin out there. She was probably hanging from the face of the cliff, and by the time Luca rescued Charlie and Annie inspected the burning car, she found a safe place to hide until everyone was gone. If Charlie didn’t suffer any injuries, there’s a good chance that Alex got out of the situation unscathed as well. Therefore, based on these parameters, I’m predicting that she’ll make a triumphant return in Season 3. I don’t know if she really wants to kill Charlie or not. It’s pretty evident that they stimulate each other in ways that they didn’t know existed. However, the only issue is that, since Charlie has been accused of aiding and abetting in the murder of Hasp and Kirby, she’ll try to clear her name by getting Alex arrested. Alex obviously doesn’t want to go to jail, especially since she has just found out that there are more things to learn about her own profession. So, that’s one of the main reasons why she’ll be inclined to put Charlie in the dirt. That said, it’s also possible that Charlie’s goodness will force Alex to see the error of her ways, and in order to save her from a punishment that she doesn’t deserve, she’ll surrender, thereby getting the FBI off Charlie’s back. That’ll be wholesome, right?
The FBI
As mentioned before, the FBI sees Charlie as the one who has helped Alex kill Kirby and Hasp. Hasp was going to testify against the entire East Coast mob, and that would’ve allowed the FBI to nab every known mobster out there. But with Hasp gone, they’re back to square one. Now, before they find another way to stop organized crime, they’ll definitely try to get some revenge for their recent failure by at least arresting Charlie. Luca has been a great supporter of Charlie, but even he has run out of excuses to keep supporting her preposterous methods of crime solving. Yes, he knows that Charlie is innocent, but there’s no way for him to prove that. Additionally, he needs to prove that he is a competent agent who should be out in the field, and the only way to do so is by capturing Charlie or risk getting ousted by SAC Darville, Agent Annie, and Agent Radquist. It’ll be quite the moral dilemma for him, because he clearly likes Charlie a lot and sees her as a good friend; however, the circumstances are such that he has to forget those ties and abide by the law. So, much like Cliff was hounding Charlie in Season 1, Luca and the FBI will be hounding Charlie in Season 3. By the way, I’ve a feeling that Alex will be keeping the FBI at bay so that she can have Charlie all to herself. Because if the FBI gets to Charlie before she can, her main source of motivation will be extinguished all over again. I think a big final reveal of Alex telling Charlie about all the ways she thwarted the FBI on her behalf will be quite romantic. I know I said earlier that maybe Alex will surrender to the FBI to save Charlie. However, I don’t think the FBI should get a win just because they are the FBI. In this house, we are against all forms of “copaganda.”
The Mafia
I don’t think there are any loyalists of Hasp who’ll be willing to go after Charlie for having a hand in Hasp’s murder. Instead, I can see them helping out Charlie after learning that she aided and abetted in the murder of the mobster who was about to rat them out in a court of law and send the FBI after them. Sure, Charlie won’t like to take credit for something that she hasn’t technically done, but given her predicament, she might take all the help she can get. But, come to think of it, someone from the mafia must’ve hired Alex to kill Hasp. Alex’s agent, Cedric (at least that’s what I think his name was without the aid of subtitles), didn’t mention who was paying them to take out Hasp, but it’s pretty obvious that it’s the East Coast mafia. If they learn that there’s a loose end out there in the form of Charlie, who can highlight their involvement in Hasp’s murder, they might join the FBI and Alex in the search for Charlie. There’s also a good chance that Kirby’s widow, Victoria, and those who were a part of the Ballzilla pyramid scheme might just take the help of the mafia to hunt down Charlie and/or Alex because they see them as the orchestrators of their lives’ worst day.
Good Buddy
Good Buddy, the guy who Charlie was talking to on the radio throughout Season 2, is voiced by Steve Buscemi. You don’t hire the one and only Steve Buscemi and then not have his character amount to anything. Showrunner Tony Tost has said that Good Buddy will continue to be a background character, communicating with Charlie from afar. But now that Charlie doesn’t have access to her radio, won’t he be worried for her? I was almost expecting the trucker headed for Wichita to be Buscemi’s Good Buddy, but it wasn’t. However, I fully expect him to commence an investigation of his own in order to learn what happened to Charlie and why she stopped communicating with him all of a sudden. If the FBI is after her, there’s a good chance that her face will be broadcasted across TV, radio, and the internet. Good Buddy knows what kind of a person Charlie is. I don’t think he is going to buy the narrative that the FBI is selling. And he’ll try to find a way to help her. Will we see Buscemi in the flesh in Season 3? Yeah, I hope so. I know that the internet believes that he’s some kind of a serial killer who is stalking Charlie. I think revealing Good Buddy to be the next villain right after he’s done helping Charlie out of the pickle she is in will be quite something.
Charlie
Charlie ended Season 1 on quite a triumphant note after going through hell in the penultimate episode of the show. She went through hell yet again in the last 2 episodes of Season 2, and when we see her boarding the truck headed to Wichita, she’s at her lowest point yet. Her signature Plymouth Barracuda is gone. All her clothes are gone. I’m not sure what her financial situation is. She is going to Wichita (of all places), with a dog that she rescued from the streets, while the FBI, Alex, and the mafia are coming after her. Things can only go up from here. She’ll definitely need to maintain a low profile. I’m sure that she’ll find herself in the middle of some weird and quirky cases. She’ll undoubtedly try to use her lie-detecting skills to help out good people and punish bad people. But won’t it be interesting if, in Poker Face Season 3, her superpower stops working? I mean, it’s a classic trope where the hero can’t function properly due to their turbulent emotional state. Charlie has clearly been rattled by the fact that people can lie to her and get away with it. Alex might be the exception. However, what if there are more? That’s going to mess with Charlie’s head. And if her lie-detection powers don’t work, who is she in this world then? I suppose it’ll be quite fun to see what Charlie is made of when she doesn’t have her superpowers. I don’t know if the showrunners will be able to spend an entire season with a powerless Charlie. If they can, it’ll be amazing to see how she earns her powers back. If they can’t, they should dedicate at least half of Season 3 to putting Charlie in the shoes of all the regular people who have to deal with a world full of liars without relying on lie-detecting superpowers. Anyway, those are just my theories for the 3rd season of Poker Face. What are your expectations from the show? Feel free to share them in the comments section below.
