Poker Face (Season 1) Episode 6: Natasha Lyonne got famous through the oddball comedies from her early career. With her recent turns in Orange Is the New Black and Russian Doll, she established herself yet again in the realm of comedy-drama. Be it her raspy voice or her general carefree demeanor, she has become a strangely irresistible actor in her appeal.
With Rian Johnson’s ‘Poker Face,’ she gets another chance to excel in unapologetically being herself! Her indelible charisma makes the seductive charm of its mystery narratives even more appealing. With the sixth episode, the show takes us through a mystery thriller narrative involving professional actors. Let’s find out what happens in this new episode, which is available on Peacock.
Poker Face (Season 1) Episode 6 Recap:
Episode 6: Exit Stage Death
Directed by Ben Sinclair, ‘Exit Stage Death’ takes us into the delirious world of actors. We meet Kathleen Townsend (Ellen Barkin), a has-been actress who cannot handle the loss of fame and fortune too well. Much like Ruby Ruin (Chloë Sevigny) from episode 4, Kathleen cannot get over the fact that her life did not reach a crescendo. Meanwhile, her long-time acting partner, Michael Graves (Tim Meadows), lives a life filled with luxury, all thanks to his new partner – Ava (Jameela Jamil), who concocted a successful start-up plan that provided them with this life of utmost comfort.
Kathleen is jealous of both the things he possesses – the wealth and the respect he still receives. She meets him in his lofty villa to pitch him a plan – to do a play with her called ‘Ghosts of Pensacola,’ which they had done together years ago. He does not see any point in doing it since he does not need to earn to survive. Kathleen pokes fun at his present situation, where he lives off the allowance from Ava. Their interaction takes a wrong turn as a result. Upon seeing his refusal to act in her play, Kathleen storms out. She even curses Ava before leaving, perhaps for being jealous of her success at such a young age and for being with Michael.
Sometime later, we see Michael enacting a scene from the play along with Kathleen. He is furious because she added a clause in their contract so that she could direct it. Meanwhile, Rebecca (Audrey Corsa) gives out instructions to the crew about her allergies and diet. She even suggests speaking with a person from the community since she is playing a person with a clubfoot. Kathleen gets angry at her and expresses it to the entire generation of millennials for their heightened awareness in every situation! What she is rather angry about is her not being able to throw such tantrums or not being treated with the utmost respect by either of her co-stars.
Still, she is passionate about bringing this play to life exactly according to her vision. For the same plan, she wants Phil (Chris McKinney) to introduce a trap door drop while not realizing that it has not been used for years due to safety concerns. Despite this, she intimidates the set manager to include it in their play. Throughout this time, she keeps her chin so high that her head might fall down! She almost feels (and looks) like she is imitating Norma Desmond from Sunset Blvd, an actress trying to rekindle her days of glory.
Later, during their rehearsal, Kathleen tries to showcase her investment in the play while mocking Michael for not being able to follow the blocking. She suddenly hears random sounds that disrupt her concentration. So, she leaves the set abruptly while Michael walks up to the cusp of the stage and falls down the trap door. Since that accident almost breaks his arm, he confronts Kathleen about neglecting safety. He also threatens to disclose nasty secrets involving her from the time they worked together. She reminds him of the NDA they both signed and notes his insignificance without Ava, which hurts his ego.
Then, on the opening night of their play, Kathleen thanks Ava for persuading Michael to act in the play. Ava clears the air by saying that she did it not to help Kathleen but for her selfish reason, thinking that the terrible play will get rid of Michael’s acting bug for good. This agitates Kathleen, and yet, she goes along with her play. During Rebecca’s long monologue, Kathleen and Michael leave the stage. While they keep cursing one another, Michael goes to Phil’s basement room, sees him dozed off, and inserts a dry ice stick underneath the trap door. Meanwhile, Kathleen loosens the screw of one of the lights so that it would fall exactly on Michael. Then they both return to the stage.
Michael keeps noticing Kathleen’s walk, who eventually walks up to the trap door to another side. Later, she watches him when he walks up to his blocked location. But he keeps walking around it and never sets direct foot on the cross. As a result, when the light falls down, it falls just next to him. Still, it ends up raising his blood pressure, which makes Ava from the audience run all the way up to him. The moment she reaches the trap door, it suddenly falls down, and she drops dead in a pool of blood. After this terrible accident, one would expect both of them to be scared or at least a bit anxious. But, in the makeup room, they rejoice since their elaborate plan worked out, and they got rid of Ava from the picture.
The fun of Poker Face, like every other episode, is in the order in which it tells its information based on who gets to know what information at what point. So, after explaining the events, it takes us through them all again, this time through Charlie’s (Natasha Lyonne) eyes. She is hired as a waitress in a nearby place and gets fired in no time. That’s when Phil offers her a gig the way she prefers it. So, she started working now at Seneca Lake Dinner Theater, where Kathleen’s play is supposed to be played.
In her early days at this job, Charlie sees white people’s Broadway enactment, which makes her cringe. She sees the audience that watches it with hearing aids. So, she decides to use a pair herself to keep this noise out! Then three weeks later, Kathleen’s play starts getting rehearsed. Charlie is well acquainted with the kitchen stuff, but the chef’s orders irritate her. So, she plugs her buds in, which makes almost everything inaudible. Then she takes the ice cubes and dumps them in the frozé dispenser next to the stage.
This was the sound that Kathleen heard during the rehearsal and made her agitated. So, she goes to the kitchen and questions Charlie about her unprofessional behavior. Kathleen professes the importance of her work as bringing truth to life in those brief moments. Charlie laughs at it and calls a spade a spade. She mentions some truthful performances from the past and compares them to Kathleen’s, which was anything but believable. Sensing she must have messed up her work prospects, Charlie starts removing her apron. But Kathleen asks her to keep insulting her further since, in her opinion, she feeds off of such harsh criticism.
Then, on the opening night of the play, Ava asks Charlie to get her drunk since she cannot tolerate the terrible play. After doing that, Charlie goes back to the kitchen. There Jeremy (Adam Enright) tells her about the backstage fight between Kathleen and Michael that they all can hear, which means even the hearing-impaired audience can hear it through their earbuds. Later, when both the veterans arrive on stage, Charlie believes the fear and anticipation in Kathleen’s eyes. This was around the time she was staring at the light, hoping it would fall down.
Since Ava’s death, Phil speaks with Charlie about feeling guilty about the tragic incident. However, Charlie keeps seeing it as a mere accident since she can find a reason for every small action leading up to it. Meanwhile, Kathleen is delighted by their murder plan working out and also to see Michael give a performance of his lifetime. While he is worried for Phil, she starts making big plans for them both since the accident made their play go trending online. He is not ready to take such quick steps in their romance, whereas she persuades him not to wait any longer.
Soon after, the pair starts cashing on this success and getting great reviews. But that makes Charlie suspicious since the staff is made to work instead of giving them grief counseling support. While she starts investigating this further, Rebecca goes up to Kathleen and Michael’s dressing room to speak about something. She discloses the proof she has against the pair stating that they killed Ava. She overheard their backstage argument, which she knew wasn’t part of the script. Since Kathleen always demeaned her by mocking her intelligence and acting skills, Rebecca decides to take revenge with this knowledge. She threatens them to give a certain amount by the end of their play; otherwise, she will go to the police with the evidence.
Hearing that, Michael thinks to give Rebecca her expected amount. However, Kathleen isn’t one to get intimidated and decides to plan against this young actress. She adds peanut butter snacks in a bowl from their play, knowing all too well that Rebecca has a peanut allergy. Meanwhile, Charlie understands the safety protocol, which makes it mandatory for Phil to ensure certain safety measures. Since it included the trapdoor drop, he wouldn’t have been the reason for the accident. Obviously, this means that someone changed the positions of the safety props after he arranged them.
Then, Charlie goes through the video footage from the opening night and sees fog coming out of the basement due to dry ice. It was supposed to showcase a mysterious mist from their play about ghosts. She goes up to hold it and ends up hurting her palm. Then, she goes behind the set to inform Kathleen about it. But Kathleen keeps shushing her away. Charlie decides to speak with Michael and finds similar red burns on his palm. So, she makes up her mind that it was Michael’s plan to kill Kathleen.
She again tries to convince Kathleen about Michael’s involvement in the murder attempt. Kathleen considers it impossible since he was on stage during that time. But Charlie’s bright mind figures out the brief break during Rebecca’s monologue, where he could have placed dry ice inside the bolt under the trap door. Kathleen ends up mentioning the drop of light, which did not kill him. Charlie finds it odd that she mentioned it. So, she goes to the top and finds some threads hanging there, similar to Kathleen’s costume. When these threads fall down by a breeze, Kathleen and Michael look up, and Charlie realizes the truth about their co-conspiracy.
She then goes down backstage to tell Rebecca about it, who keeps denying its possibility. However, the moment she goes on stage, she starts directing Charlie’s attention to the script from an overcoat, revealing all that she needs to understand. Charlie then goes into their dressing room to find a torn-out piece of this note. It was the same piece that Rebecca gave Kathleen, noting the amount she wanted to keep the truth a secret. Charlie deduces that immediately. Then she feeds peanut butter treats to Kathleen’s dog, Fosse. Those treats remind her about Rebecca’s peanut butter allergy. This makes Charlie think that Kathleen may have used them to kill Rebecca so that she does not have to pay her.
Poker Face (Season 1), Episode 6 Ending Explained:
Does Kathleen’s plan against Rebecca work out?
After deducing Kathleen’s plan, Charlie runs up to the stage to save Rebecca. Seeing her pick up a handful of cookies, Charlie throws them off of her fist. But that makes her part of the play. So, she starts improvising and calls herself a ghost of Pensacola! Through her dialogue, she clears out her understanding that Kathleen was about to kill Rebecca with the nuts from her cookies. When Michael feels Rebecca’s realization, he tries to save himself by apologizing to her. Rebecca immediately requests a price increase, while Kathleen maintains that she is guilt-free. It makes for a clever blend of real and reel scenarios!
Then Rebecca’s long monologue starts, and both the veterans return backstage. They remove their lapel mics and start arguing about what they should do. Kathleen is persistent in her resolve to kill Rebecca. Meanwhile, the sheriff is sitting among the audience, hearing Kathleen speak about Michael’s plan to kill Ava. Soon after, Kathleen realizes that Fosse is replaced with a wig and two eyeballs and that their argument is being recorded. Realizing that the cat’s out of the bag now, Kathleen tells Michael to go on stage with her and give a performance of their lifetimes.
Then on the stage, Kathleen’s performance is so believable that it even tears up Charlie. Kathleen then falls through the trapdoor after speaking about her life filled with regrets (reflecting on her real life filled with failure through her performance). So, the ending is suggestive of more than disclosing the mystery. Through it, you see a woman tormented by her internal demons to the point where she chooses to at least end her legacy on a high note.
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