Maybe we could pop into some of the murders without already having seen them, so we don't know any more than Charlie does, and therefore we won't know who is lying until she lets us in on it.Ĭharlie is likeable, but she's a lot braver than she is smart, I would say, particularly when it comes to self-preservation. I do hope they will experiment with the structure of episodes as they go forward. It's a bit of artifice that is tricky to get around, I suppose. ('Were you up on the roof alone last night?' 'I'm always alone up there.') That made sense in the first episode when the casinos guys knew about her ability, but not so much when it's just regular joes trying to deny stuff. There's also a tick I've already seen in the writing where the suspects will phrase things in ways that are kind of unnatural just so they won't directly tell a lie. Since we see the murder play out at the start of every episode, we know more than Charlie does for most of the episode, and so every episode is an exercise in having to wait for Charlie to catch up to what the audience already knows. Three episodes in, I would say so far the show is diverting enough, but there's not much to it. It's going to be on people's annual top ten lists, inevitably, but this show is bad and it made me feel bad. It has a big name behind it, some interesting direction, some tricks with the passage of time, some interesting casting (John Hodgman! and Brodie gave a good turn) and some 'I understood that reference' referencing so a viewer can feel smart. She was really great in OITNB where she wasn't carrying the show. Lyonne gives the same performance she always gives, so if you like that then those parts of it are excellent. Nor is there a lot of comedy, or action, or anything except a lot of cursing. In episode four the guilty party was so incompetent she needn't have bothered. You might think there would be some tension but, no, she'll be solving another (inevitable) murder next week so she's pretty safe. Act four is resolving it by confronting the murderer. She does nothing useful that might prevent the (inevitable) murder and in two, arguably three, episodes of four so far she actually precipitates it.Īct three is bumbling about being sad until figuring out there's been another (inevitable) murder.

The second act inserts Charlie into a rehash of the first act. We have no particular reason to care about these non-recurring characters murdering each other over petty bullshit. There isn't any tension - we know what going to happen. The first joyless act of the show is some undeserving sad sack getting (inevitably) murdered.

Don't show a poker face