“Poker Face” is an “on the road” series in the vein of “Kung Fu,” “The A-Team,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “The Fugitive,” etc. Charlie, a drifter, travels all across the United States and encounters different murders in different towns. But after “The Sleazy Georgian,” she doesn’t leave the Big Apple like you’d expect. Instead, she settles in and the next episodes leading to the finale take place in NYC.

In episode 9, “A New Lease on Death,” Charlie crosses paths with Alex (Patti Harrison) at a New York coffee shop and they become friends. In the next episode, “The Big Pump,” Alex helps Charlie crack a mystery at their local gym and bring the killer to justice. Since “Poker Face” and Charlie have planted their roots in the city, is there room for another recurring character, a sidekick, a Watson to Charlie’s Sherlock?

Nope, because the season finale blows that up. In episode 11, “Day of the Iguana,” an assassin wearing a latex mask disguise (Justin Theroux) frames Alex for the episode’s murder. The victim (Haley Joel Osment) is the son of flipped mob boss Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman), who Charlie helped back in season 2 episode 3, “Whack-A-Mole.”

While Charlie is out to prove Alex’s innocence and save her from mob hitmen, the FBI realize this is the work of the Iguana, a ruthless assassin and master of disguise. The Iguana is trying to find Hasp, who’s disappeared into witness protection, and has devised a complex scheme to get Charlie to do the hard work of finding Hasp so the Iguana can simply follow Charlie to the target and take Hasp out.

In “The End of the Road,” “Poker Face” season 2 pulls its final twist. The previous assassin wasn’t actually the Iguana, just another pawn of the real Iguana: Alex. Charlie only pieces that together once Hasp is already dead. “Alex” had heard of Charlie’s reputation and wanted to see if she could fool Charlie’s BS detector; turns out she’s the only one to ever do it. As the episode itself spells out, Alex isn’t Charlie’s Watson, she’s her Moriarty. 

The episode even includes flashbacks to the previous three episodes to recontextualize Alex’s scenes with her true intentions. These sorts of exposition denouements are common in whodunnits, but “Poker Face” is usually not that kind of murder mystery show. If someone is a killer, we usually already know it by the time they meet Charlie. Maybe in another detective show we would’ve suspected Alex, but not this one. “Poker Face” is a show without twists about the killer’s identities, so this surprise became both a structural twist and a plot-based one.

“Poker Face” season 2 ends with Charlie on the run from the FBI, who hold her responsible for Hasp’s death. This might annoy fans who thought the overarching story of Charlie running from the mob was the biggest problem with “Poker Face” season 1, but it puts our heroine back on the road with (Peacock willing) more mysteries ahead. If “Poker Face” returns, and as the writers hopefully keep experimenting, we’ll know not all murders on this show are what they initially appear.

“Poker Face” is streaming on Peacock.