Of course, we already know Brick’s responsible for Rodney’s death, because we saw the murder in the first 10 minutes, before the circle back. This episode has the very noir-ish title “The Big Pump,” which refers both to weightlifting and to Brick’s highly illegal side business: selling human breast milk to bodybuilders and calling it “the good stuff.” Brick, who has a bad habit of forgetting Rodney’s name—as well as his personal details—fails to realize that Rodney is a health inspector, until Rodney confronts him about the milk, at which point Brick flings a barbell weight at him, landing a blow straight in the neck.
My friend Josh Spiegel, who writes about Poker Face for Episodic Medium, likes to recommend a relevant Columbo episode in each of his reviews. I’m pretty sure I know which one he’s going to pick this week: the season-four classic “An Exercise In Fatality,” with Robert Conrad guesting as a fitness guru who murders one of his gym’s franchisees and then covers it up by staging a very familiar barbell/neck-breaking scenario. Conrad’s character is so cocky about his cleverness that he concocts an overly elaborate alibi, with multiple details that don’t make sense when closely examined. It’s fun to watch Columbo wear him down, one blunder at a time.
This is a fun Poker Face too, although Brick is more of a run-of-the-mill bumbler with big dreams and a stack of overdue bills rather than a sleazy, overconfident mogul. Even Charlie is inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt at first, because when he insists that his gym membership contracts aren’t some kind of sneaky scam, she knows he’s telling the truth. But she also knows his story about Rodney’s death is total bullshit. Soon, she and Alex are sneaking around The Brick House, piecing together the details of Brick’s milk-fed murder.
Giving Charlie a snooping partner makes for a nice change of pace for Poker Face. But perhaps the best bit of comic and dramatic invention in this episode is Brick’s smartwatch-centered self-improvement program. It’s funny when people ask each other to become watch buddies with “You want to bump bits?” It’s funny to hear Brick’s recorded voice spouting generic encouraging words like, “Great job! Lift, laugh, love.” It’s funny to hear the watch try to interpret violent physical movements: “Are you doing karate? Are you doing aerobics? Is that a discus throw?”
The watches—and Brick’s whole system—also end up providing the evidence to prove he’s lying. Charlie fumbles around with the watch, searching Brick’s workout history. She accidentally faves one of the exercises that auto-logged the night of the murder, which shows Brick placed the barbell on Rodney. Brick then locks her inside a sauna and turns up the heat, so Charlie signals her watch buddy Alex by doing a sequence of heel raises, arm circles, lunges and push-ups…to spell “HALP.” (Alex later suggests she could’ve done elbows instead of arms.)
As with last week’s real estate-focused murder, there’s an underlying theme of envy and desire animating “The Big Pump.” The Brick House is a place where people try to perfect their own bodies by constantly comparing them to other people’s with the help of gamified tech. Even the cop who shows up to investigate the crime can’t help but ask Brick, “How do you get that cool veiny look on your forearm?” (Answer: Wrist curls.)
But the reason I liked this episode more—besides the plot being snappier—is that it’s also about loneliness. Alex so very badly wants Charlie to be her friend and for the two of them to solve crimes together. Sadly, she’s catching Charlie at a time when she’s trying to mind her own business and avoid close attachments, so that she doesn’t have to deal with the psychological damage that comes from getting involved in so many murder cases.
Alex eventually wears Charlie down, because these are both nice people and nice people belong together. But there’s something else going on here too. While having a celebratory meal after nailing Brick, Charlie tells Alex, “I haven’t heard you tell a single lie.” Right now, Charlie needs to be around people she trusts. She’s found one. It’s a start.
Stray observations
- • When Alex asks Charlie how she’s sure that Brick is lying, the screen cuts to a card reading “23 SECONDS LATER,” after which the conversation continues, with Alex now fully aware of Charlie’s superpower. Kudos to the writers—including the credited screenwriter Raphie Cantor—for that one.
- • After Alex learns about Charlie’s gift, she asks to play “two truths and a lie,” and then just tells Charlie three true things. File these away, in case Alex becomes a regular character: She was born to an alcoholic teenage mother in Missouri, she has started 11 failed businesses, and she is deathly allergic to cinnamon.
- • Charlie swears like I do, sometimes adding a little extra vulgarity for spice. In this episode, while considering whether or not to go to The Brick House for a spinal realignment, she finally sighs and says, “Fuck it. Fuck it in the butt. Worth a shot.”
- • It’s never fully explained how the breast-milk diet works for Brick’s meathead bodybuilders, but it’s amusing to see him try replacing the milk with formula, making his customers sick. It’s also adorable to see Charlie piece together the final clue to what Brick was doing by smelling a baby’s burp.
- • The comedian Natasha Leggero plays Brick’s wife Lil, who works at a milk bank and is the source of Brick’s supply. Leggero doesn’t get much to do in this episode, but there’s a sharp moment at the end when she arrives at the gym as her husband is attacking Alex and Charlie. Lil assumes all the drama has to do with the breast milk before Alex says, “Actually, it’s the murder.”
- • I’ve been dropping the ball on tallying up all of the Natasha Lyonne connections in the Poker Face guest casts. I completely missed two weeks ago that John Cho was in American Pie with Lyonne, and that Melanie Lynskey had co-starred with her in both But I’m A Cheerleader and The Intervention. That latter film also co-starred Alia Shawkat, last week’s guest villain, and Jason Ritter, this week’s guest victim (and Lynskey’s real-life husband). The Intervention was written and directed by its star, Clea Duvall, who played Charlie’s sister in Poker Face season one and is also a But I’m A Cheerleader alum. Duvall also directed “The Big Pump.” And I think we’re all caught up!
