Now that she has been caught by the mob, how will Charlie (Natasha Lyonne) get out of this one? A star-studded ensemble delivers one of the funniest episodes of Poker Face yet. Yet “Whack-a-Mole” also makes a Rhea Perlman/Natasha Lyonne scene pairing possible for a half dozen sequences. That alone makes “Whack-a-Mole” worth your time. With John Mulaney, Simon Helberg, and Richard Kind on the edge of the episode, there are plenty of laughs and strange bits to elevate this to one of our favorite comedy episodes of the year.
Poker Face — “Whack-a-Mole” Recap
One year ago, Beatrix called Charlie to tell him the five families will hunt her. Charlie remembers the call and tells her to get on with it. Beatrix needs her to help evade the FBI. Beatrix’s organization has crumbled, and her remaining capos are holed up in a safe house. However, Beatrix knows there’s a rat on her team. Her loyal team will fly out of the country, but she needs Charlie’s abilities to figure out who turned informant.
They stop at a gas station, where Beatrix steals snacks and locks Charlie to the wheel with handcuffs. As she leaves, she speaks with a man in a suit, who hands her a can of Vienna Sausage. Inside is a note telling Beatrix her safe house is compromised. Charlie drives to a hotel and tells Charlie to pretend to be a forger. Beatrix tells Charlie she will kill the person who has turned rat.
Charlie meets Jeffrey (Richard Kind), Beatrix’s husband, inside the hotel room. He isn’t involved in the business but knows what she does. Beatrix sends Charlie next door, and she spots the three crime bosses in the corner. Beatrix tells her to play it cool. Charlie asks the group directly and determines that none of them are lying.
After relaying the news to Beatrix, she asks Jeffrey if he’s talking to the feds, but he also clears her test. With no obvious suspect, Beatrix tells Charlie she’s joining them until they cross the border. Jeffrey worries about being stuck outside of the life he’s used to living, but Beatrix tells him it will not be long until they’re safe.
Charlie uses a walkie-talkie to give the all-clear to Beatrix. However, Beatrix does not trust her, so she gets sent ahead to board the plane in case of an ambush. Sure enough, as soon as Beatrix boards the plane, the police come out from all angles. Jeffrey runs for the airplane, but Agent Clark (Simon Helberg) shoots him down. After he does, Beatrix shoots Clark in the head before boarding the plane. She blames Charlie for Jeffrey’s death, and the gun goes off.
Earlier in the week, the FBI holds a briefing about the raid. They have a mole on the inside with Beatrix, and Clark was able to turn them. He’s close with Mulaney, but something else seems off. He tells Clark to trust him if he’s needed for anything. Afterwards, Mulaney gives the information to Beatrix at the gas station. She sees him as incompetent, but he blames her for his ulcer. Both are high-strung, but their quid pro quo has worked out well to this point. She leaves the gas station with Charlie.
Clark, Danny, and Chief Hooper wait for Beatrix to arrive at the safehouse. When Beatrix and her crime family do not show, Clark leaves to meet with the source. He meets with Jeffrey in a parking lot, but Jeffrey does not think Beatrix will turn FBI witness. Jeffrey does not know much but lets it slip that there’s a mole in the FBI. From a distance, Danny watches with a lip reader. Jeffrey knows who the mole is but will not give it to Clark until he’s in witness protection.
Jeffrey and Clark run through a plan where Clark will shoot at Jeffrey with blanks while Jeffrey runs. This will allow Jeffrey to fake his death. They each express their love for Sondheim, which Danny also joins in on from afar.
At the motel, Jeffrey and Beatrix discuss the plan to escape. Charlie confirms that the cappos are telling the truth and asks Jeffrey if he’s the mole. While he responds no, it’s clear that Charlie caught the lie. Charlie heads to the bathroom and reveals she was able to steal Beatrix’s phone from earlier. She calls Clark, who is actively loading blanks into his gun. He tells her to hide in the cockpit as soon as she boards.
After the raid, Clark gets up and shows he was shot at close range with a blank. When Beatrix tries to shoot Charlie, she becomes aware that the gun only has blanks in it and asks why a fed would have a gun without bullets. When Clark goes over to Jeffrey, he is actually dead. We flashback and see that Danny tampered with the bullets from Clark’s gun before the raid. Slipping real bullets into the magazine and then hiding them with additional blanks.
Now that Jeffrey is dead, Clark gets chewed out by his boss. Hooper puts Danny in charge of the negotiation, but it goes sideways when Jeffrey’s death is revealed. Beatrix threatens to expose the mole in the FBI, but only if she gets a pilot to fly her out. Hooper agrees to the terms, telling Danny that catching a mole is more important than a single gangster.
To get Beatrix talking about her mole, Charlie hides the cell phone in her boot and puts it on speaker. Charlie talks about the mole and tries to describe him (a middle-aged, nondescript white man) out loud to Clark. She almost gets Beatrix to give up the mole to her, but one of the agents yells. When they do, Beatrix hears the phone and destroys it. Beatrix feels more upset about Jeffrey, but as the two speak about it, they realize that the mole is the person who killed Jeffrey.
Clark boards the plane, without permission, and tells Beatrix he was responsible for Jeffrey. He feels the loss too but tells her that Jeffrey always loved her. As they open up, Beatrix tells Clark the name of her mole, whom she knew as “Maverick McTitacutty.” Everyone thinks it’s a fake name, but when it’s revealed he’s always drinking milk and has an ulcer, Clark realizes it’s Danny.
As Beatrix tries to tell Hooper the name, Danny boards the plane. He shoots Clark and gets ready to shoot Beatrix. However, a brawl starts on the plane, which ends with Charlie shooting the ironing board and having it fall on Danny’s head. Clark takes the gun and arrests Danny. Outside the plane, Danny tries to bribe Charlie to turn against Clark, but she refuses. Beatrix agrees to testify for the FBI, and in return, she calls off the hit on Charlie. The fresh start is what Jeffrey would have wanted.
Charlie returns to her car and wonders what the next step will be for her. Realizing she does not need to run anymore, she pulls out a map of the United States and picks a random place to go.
Is the Poker Face episode “Whack-a-Mole” worth watching?
Yes, “Whack-a-Mole” is one of the funniest episodes of Poker Face, which is no surprise given the comedy actors involved. Mulaney would be good on his own, but with Perlman, Helberg, and Richard Kind, it’s an all-star guest cast. Despite being one of the shortest episodes of the season, it’s also full of unique jokes that any Mulaney fan will love and still feel reasonable to tell within the context of Poker Face.
Perhaps nothing is funnier than the discussion about Sondheim and the recurring bits of lip readers being very bad at their jobs. The entire bit about Assassins being underrated is not only very funny (and accurate), but also the kind of niche joke that can far outlive a series. With Poker Face laying out bits and jokes like this, without necessarily playing it through Mulaney (arguably the best Sondheim-based comedian living), it is a testament to the writing staff.
Meanwhile, Mulaney delivers an absurd bit that slowly becomes a defining moment for the character. Before we know about his ulcer, Mulaney pops open a carton of half-and-half, and in what might be one of the most vile things I’ve seen on TV in years, downs the glass in one sip. It’s a somewhat obvious character for Mulaney, yet the staff sets up the comedian to thrive within the Poker Face ecosystem.
Having Perlman and Lyonne in a showdown for most of the “Whack-a-Mole” is the most important piece of the puzzle. There’s a small baton pass going on here, with each of the women comedians showing their power as performers and joke creators on a scene-by-scene basis. While each actress has made their mark on the small screen, they consistently find ways to change the tenor of a scene with a single line reading. These scenes in “Whack-a-Mole” subtextually honor the history of television while also ensuring that we never forget their power as performers.