S02.E07: One Last Job

[AnimeMania]

Charlie meets a cute big box store manager accused of heisting the store's Black Friday profits.

Premiere Date: June 5, 2025   Peacock

Corey Hawkins as Bill Jackson, a manager of a superstore who has a crush on Charlie 
Sam Richardson as Kendall Hines, ex-employee at a big-box store, a movie nerd
Abena Mensah-Bonsu as Tonya
James Ransone as Juice, a criminal
Grace Mercedes as Officer Grace Hardy
Geraldine Viswanathan as Jenny Singh
Jordan Dean as Officer Lancelot Judd
Elizabeth Ramos as Erika Diaz
Brian Shoop as Customer

[AnimeMania]

James Ransone as Juice

Sam Richardson as Kendall Hines

Geraldine Viswanathan as Jenny Singh

[ofmd]

Poor Charlie... her romances are doomed! Didn't long-haired wilderness dude also meet an untimely end?

Btw, according to the credits, a police officer was named Lancelot Judd... Does that mean anything to heist movie fans?

[Snazzy Daisy]

An episode with a mashup of a heist movie and a rom-com.

Bill is charming despite having some red flags — he lives in SuperSave where he works. He organizes their first dinner date in that store. They hook up in the bedding section of the store, in front of a Santa mannequin. 

The way Kendall finds the safe combination using the blacklight/canola oil method is quite interesting. 

But Charlie being able to guess Kendall’s locker combination so quickly based on his MI movies’ ranking is just not believable. 4613 — Ghost Protocol being the best MI movie? Come on. 🙄

I like Jenny from Tandoor Indian Restaurant. She’s cool.

[Pike Ludwell]

When you watch a whole bunch of shows from the last ten years or so you see a lot of stuff - things in virtually every show - that don't jibe that much with most peoples' actual social lives, and which seem artificially inserted to push certain thinking.

[NaughtyKitty]

I love Sam Richardson so much but he will forever be Aniq (from Afterparty) to me.

[catsitter]

Is this the first episode where Charlie hasn't used her super lie-detection powers?

[susannot]

I didn't expect Bill to turn out to be the good guy in the second half.  Feel a little sorry for Kendall.  He didn't want any of that to happen, but if you make bad choices, you reap the consequences.

[tennisgurl]

This is why you don't randomly team up with a guy you caught robbing a store, they might not be trustworthy. I felt a bit sorry for Kendall, he really didn't want to hurt anyone, but then he kept doubling down. You would think that such a crime movie buff would see how this would all play out for him. 

Poor Charlie, Bill seemed like a nice guy and they really seemed to be getting along I definitely don't think she would consider him living in his store to be a deal breaker. I like that the episode was sort of a mashup of crime movies and romantic comedy's and how the characters were trying to make life choices based on their favorite movies, which of course didn't work out for them. 

Sam Richardson is so great, and overall we had a really solid guest cast. I liked Charlie's rom com obsessed friend as well, she was so here for this romance.

"Like my chastity?" 

"No, something valuable."

Edited June 6 by tennisgurl

[EtheltoTillie]

Kendall and Jenny would have made a good couple. They were both movie nerds. 

I liked all the movie references. Felt so sorry for Bill and Charlie. 

[catsitter]

One thing that puzzled me - how come the store had so much cash in the safe? Wouldn't the vast majority of customers pay by card, phone, or some other method? And if they really did have that much cash, wouldn't there be more security?

[EtheltoTillie]

55 minutes ago, catsitter said:

One thing that puzzled me - how come the store had so much cash in the safe? Wouldn't the vast majority of customers pay by card, phone, or some other method? And if they really did have that much cash, wouldn't there be more security?

They said it was Black Friday weekend. Even nowadays I guess some people pay with cash. 

Edited June 6 by EtheltoTillie

[iMonrey]

By now Charlie must be wondering why she runs into a murder she has to solve no matter where she goes. 

Maybe the show should do other mysteries besides murders?

[shapeshifter]

Sam Richardson is such a gifted actor. 
The dialog didn't have to tell us his character and Corey Hawkins' were more than just employee and boss. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I love Sam Richardson.  Have you all ever seen his little known show Detroiters?  That's how I first heard of him.  

[Irlandesa]

29 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I love Sam Richardson.  Have you all ever seen his little known show Detroiters?  That's how I first heard of him.  

I knew him from Veep where he was terrific.  I follow him many places and Detroiters is amazing.

[EtheltoTillie]

I will have to try Afterparty.  I didn’t know it at all. It has a great cast. 

Edited June 7 by EtheltoTillie

[possibilities]

On 6/5/2025 at 5:50 PM, catsitter said:

Is this the first episode where Charlie hasn't used her super lie-detection powers?

She did use her power. I remember seeing it happen because I was checking it off in my head, but now I can't remember what it was... I think it was "I came back to get something I left in my locker" and also "I didn't kill him, but I will kill you" but not only those times.

It occurs to me that if you 100% know when someone is lying, it would make you a much more trusting person in general, because you wouldn't be worried about whether you could trust someone.

If you live in your car, you probably don't mind that someone else lives at their job.

[Haleth]

Yeah, Charlie knew Ken wasn’t lying but we’re so used to her calling bullshit when someone does lie to her it’s not as obvious that she is using her gift.

Dressing dead Bill as Santa is almost as gross as sloppy Joseph. 

[iMonrey]

3 hours ago, Haleth said:

Dressing dead Bill as Santa is almost as gross as sloppy Joseph. 

That was dumb. Juice wanted the cops to think Bill ran off with the money so why put his body somewhere the cops would surely find it? Then they'd know it wasn't him. Unless the whole point was that Juice is stupid.

[justmehere]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

That was dumb. Juice wanted the cops to think Bill ran off with the money so why put his body somewhere the cops would surely find it? Then they'd know it wasn't him. Unless the whole point was that Juice is stupid.

Plus leaving the mannequin right out in plain sight. Plus the smell factor that would happen pretty quickly. 

-------

Sam Richardson to me is Edwin Akufo from Ted Lasso.

[Toonces464]

1 minute ago, justmehere said:

Sam Richardson to me is Edwin Akufo from Ted Lasso.

Thank you! It's been driving me crazy where I knew him from!

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, justmehere said:

Plus leaving the mannequin right out in plain sight. Plus the smell factor that would happen pretty quickly. 

-------

Sam Richardson to me is Edwin Akufo from Ted Lasso.

That was a great appearance. His mother is from Ghana so he was able to do that accent. 

[shapeshifter]

16 hours ago, iMonrey said:

That was dumb. Juice wanted the cops to think Bill ran off with the money so why put his body somewhere the cops would surely find it? Then they'd know it wasn't him. Unless the whole point was that Juice is stupid.

Yes, Juice was a particular villain stereotype. Or maybe a composite of villainous stereotypes?
Apparently none of us here are familiar enough with this specific genre of movie to fully enjoy the tropes depicted.
I’ve watched most of the Fargo incarnations, but I am not a film buff like Kendall, the antihero(?) of this episode, so none of the dumb-f’ery of Juice was an obvious call-back for me. But his reappearing alive with the sword in his chest, firing a vintage(?) machine gun, seemed vaguely familiar. Kendall name-dropped Breaking Bad as a body-disposal method; maybe Juice’s last stand was based on another scene from that show?

The corpse dressed as the mannequin seems familiar…?

 

On 6/6/2025 at 12:08 PM, iMonrey said:

By now Charlie must be wondering why she runs into a murder she has to solve no matter where she goes

Not a rhetorical question:
Did Jessica Fletcher ever mention it being odd that there was always a murder wherever she was?

Edited June 8 by shapeshifter

[EtheltoTillie]

Ted Lasso fans:  Are you going to watch the new golf show on Apple?  Stick.  I tried it and I think I will "stick" with it.  It's with Owen Wilson and Marc Maron.  

@shapeshifter.  Good question.  I don't think she mentioned it, but I don't know for sure.  

They threw in the phrase "Kill Bill."  for one reference.  The sword play was from Kill Bill.

[EtheltoTillie]

https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/poker-face-one-last-job-heist-movie-references-explained

Here's a list of the movie references.  The Santa suit corpse is from Die Hard.

[merylinkid]

"I pressed it 3 minutes ago because this isn't a fucking action movie."   Thank you Charlie.   I mean yeah the bullets started flying from the not dead yet guy.   But yeah, she wasn't going to wait for the dramatic moment to reveal it and then push it.

So many things in action movies happen because the script says so.   Real life, not so much unfortunately.

Hubby rides motorcyles.   When Charlie was handing Manager Hottie a gift I was all "please let it be a gremlin bell, please let it be a gremlin bell."   I was SO HAPPY it was.  I have gifted hubby such bells (he has more than one bike).   You can't buy one yourself, it has to be a gift or it doesn't work.  

When notdead guy was pulling the sword out I was all "don't do that, its the only thing keeping you alive.   the minute it comes out, you are dead, the blood will spurt out."   And ... he did.   That's why when you have a puncture wound, never remove the object unless ready for medical care.   

 

(God, I am as bad as they are with my weird trivia knowledge)

[iMonrey]

On 6/7/2025 at 3:29 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

That was a great appearance. His mother is from Ghana so he was able to do that accent. 

Sam Richardson is on Conan O'Brien's travel show "Conan Must Go" on MAX. And it's the episode where Conan goes to Ghana.

On 6/7/2025 at 5:03 PM, shapeshifter said:

Did Jessica Fletcher ever mention it being odd that there was always a murder wherever she was?

Never watched that show, but there are countless other crime fighting/mystery shows where every crime isn't a murder. I get why a show called "Murder She Wrote" would cover murders, but not why Poker Face has to. I think Charlie's ability would work just as well to solve other crimes that could be just as interesting.

Edited Monday at 03:32 PM by iMonrey

[Irlandesa]

9 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Same Richardson is on Conan O'Brien's travel show "Conan Must Go" on MAX. And it's the episode where Conan goes to Ghana.

I believe Conan's previous travel episodes are packaged under a "Conan Without Borders" title and can be streamed on Max.  His new Conan Must Go series is also on Max but they didn't go to Ghana. I only point that out in case people would like to look for it and can't find it.

Edited June 9 by Irlandesa

[possibilities]

I've been thinking about how Charlie indicates she is tracking someone with her gift. We all know that when someone lies, she says "bullshit". But when someone tells her the truth, I think she notes it with a slight head nod/eye blink/pause, and usually also says "true".

[paigow]

On 6/5/2025 at 12:15 PM, ofmd said:

Poor Charlie... her romances are doomed! Didn't long-haired wilderness dude also meet an untimely end?

No. She dumped him.

[iMonrey]

19 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I believe Conan's previous travel episodes are packaged under a "Conan Without Borders" title and can be streamed on Max.  His new Conan Must Go series is also on Max but they didn't go to Ghana. I only point that out in case people would like to look for it and can't find it.

Oops you're right. I was watching all the shows in a bunch. The Sam Richardson episode was an old one.

[paigow]

Too bad NBC hates Conan... He would be ideal as a victim of Sona seeking revenge for workplace toxicity... and she frames Andy...

[meep.meep]

On 6/7/2025 at 6:25 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/poker-face-one-last-job-heist-movie-references-explained

Here's a list of the movie references.  The Santa suit corpse is from Die Hard.

I thought the point of the episode was to have Sam Richardson say "I did not Kill Bill"

If anybody hasn't seen Veep, you've missed classic Richardson.

Did she interact with Good Buddy at all?

[EtheltoTillie]

25 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

I thought the point of the episode was to have Sam Richardson say "I did not Kill Bill"

If anybody hasn't seen Veep, you've missed classic Richardson.

Did she interact with Good Buddy at all?

I think it was to have "I did not kill Bill" plus the sword reference.

Yes, we all should mention Veep as another great Richardson character.

I think there was no Good Buddy interaction this week. 

[seacliffsal]

For those wondering about an episode without a murder, last week's take on the 'bad seed' was just that (the gerbil was 'murdered' but not a human).  It was more about who framed the magician boy and the blackmailing of the school director.

[SomeTameGazelle]

On 6/6/2025 at 9:54 PM, possibilities said:

She did use her power. I remember seeing it happen because I was checking it off in my head, but now I can't remember what it was... I think it was "I came back to get something I left in my locker" and also "I didn't kill him, but I will kill you" but not only those times.

Charlie also detected that Bill meant it when he said he loved his birthday gift and he said "why would I lie?" in a totally chill and gentle way.

On 6/5/2025 at 1:09 PM, Snazzy Daisy said:

I like Jenny from Tandoor Indian Restaurant. She’s cool.

Loved Geraldine Viswanathan in Miracle Workers.

On 6/5/2025 at 9:41 PM, tennisgurl said:

"Like my chastity?" 

"No, something valuable."

I did see Charlie leave her glasses in Bill's office on top of Kendall's script. Did I miss a follow-up where that led her to a clue, or was it just the evidence of Charlie's presence for the audience in the opening scenes before we see Charlie in person? 

On 6/7/2025 at 9:25 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/poker-face-one-last-job-heist-movie-references-explained

Here's a list of the movie references.  The Santa suit corpse is from Die Hard.

They don't list any rom-coms. I imagined that "Joni Mitchell CD" in the list of possible birthday gifts that Jenny had categorized was a reference to Love, Actually. 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

Charlie also detected that Bill meant it when he said he loved his birthday gift and he said "why would I lie?" in a totally chill and gentle way.

It was almost sweet to see her use her gift that way, but not quite. 
It was sort of like it ruined it for her to know he liked the gift because of her inner lie detector instead of the usual TV schmoopy "Do you really?" "Yes, I really do" with gazing into each others' eyes.

[paigow]

12 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

They don't list any rom-coms. I imagined that "Joni Mitchell CD" in the list of possible birthday gifts that Jenny had categorized was a reference to Love, Actually. 

Likely other references exist because Kendall wanted to broaden his genre coverage...

[Orbert]

18 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

I did see Charlie leave her glasses in Bill's office on top of Kendall's script. Did I miss a follow-up where that led her to a clue, or was it just the evidence of Charlie's presence for the audience in the opening scenes before we see Charlie in person? 

I noticed that, too.  But when Kendall came back "later" (we'd seen it earlier) to grab the script, Charlie's shades weren't on top of it, leaving me a bit confused.  It turned out that Charlie didn't need to come back for them because she and Bill hit it off that night, but what was the follow-up to her leaving them there?

[Paloma]

Was the shoplifter who was taking a bunch of big-screen TVs and who was told how to get out of the store with them by Kendall the same criminal who later met Kendall and convinced him to rob the store? I thought that the shoplifter told Kendall to go meet his (the shoplifter's) buddy, and the buddy was the one who robbed the store with him. The shoplifter and the robbery partner (Juice?) looked like different people, but maybe the shoplifter was just Juice wearing a bleached blond wig? For a minute I thought the shoplifter was played by Ryan Gosling, maybe in an uncredited role. Did anyone see the name of the actor playing that part?

[shapeshifter]

5 minutes ago, Paloma said:

Was the shoplifter who was taking a bunch of big-screen TVs and who was told how to get out of the store with them by Kendall the same criminal who later met Kendall and convinced him to rob the store?

Yes. With a blond wig disguise.

[RobertDeSneero]

On 6/5/2025 at 4:50 PM, catsitter said:

Is this the first episode where Charlie hasn't used her super lie-detection powers?

I am pretty sure she used them after discovering the body, when she heard Kendall tell one of the workers that he didn't know what was going on.

[Jaundiced Eye]

Charlie didn't seem all that upset by Bill's murder. Ho hum.