Diksha Sundriyal
In Peacock’s ‘Poker Face,’ Charlie Cale goes on the run from the mob after she tries to get justice for her friend. The second season begins with her still on the run, but by the third episode, that issue is resolved, and she is a free woman, through and through. In the fourth episode, she explores her newfound freedom, where she doesn’t have to worry about being chased down by dangerous men with guns shooting at her. However, this doesn’t mean that she has escaped the cycle of death and murder that she has been stuck in since the beginning. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Florida Alligator Framed for Murder
The episode begins with a Florida cop named Fran, who is one of the most diligent ones out there. At the beginning of the episode, she answers a call about a break-in, but seeing that the culprit is a desperate man who committed this crime for the first time to feed his family, she decides to let him go. This compassion of hers is what makes her a well-respected cop, and she is nominated for the Florida Panhandle Cop Awards, aka the FlopaCopas. At first, she doesn’t take it seriously and doesn’t even care when another cop, Joseph Pilson, wins it. The only thing of interest is Joseph’s pet alligator, Daisy, whom he adopted after rescuing her following a drug raid. But that was then, and this is now.
It has been eight years since Fran’s first nomination, and all eight years, she has lost the award to Joseph Pilson. No matter what she does, the winner is always Joseph. The situation has become so dire now that she has become obsessed with winning the award, and spends hours looking at Joseph’s TikTok account, GatorJoe911, where he goes around, solving crimes, throwing catchphrases, and catching the bad guys with Daisy, who is a full-grown alligator now. Her behaviour is so disturbing that even her boss is worried about her now. This time, however, she thinks she will win. She made headlines after solving two of the biggest cases of her career, which were also of great social value. She arrives at the Flopacopas ready to win, but then, she gets a peek at the trophies and is heartbroken to discover that once again, Gator Joe has won the award.
She starts to cry and is found by Joe, who is ecstatic at winning again. Fran finds an empty room to compose herself, but discovers Joe’s Daisy in the cage and his box of meds and tranquilisers. From his videos, she knows he takes minor doses of the laxative meant for Daisy. After finding out how much of it is safe to consume, she spikes his laxative by increasing the general quantity. It is only much later that she realises that she read the situation wrong and gave Joe a fatal amount of the laxative, and he dies in the lavatory. To hide her crime, Fran gets a highly docile Daisy to Joe’s dead body, gives her meth, and then leave her alone to destroy her owner’s body such that whoever reads the room comes to only one conclusion: Daisy killed Joe.
Charlie Tries to Rescue Daisy
Fran would have gotten away with murder if it weren’t for Charlie. The only problem she had was that Joe always wore glasses with a recording device. He was wearing it when he found her crying, and later posted that recording on his socials. He was still wearing the glasses when Fran found him dead and framed his alligator for his murder by giving her meth. When the cops discover that Daisy has eaten Joe, they reveal that the only thing that can be done now is to kill her because she has tasted human blood and will continue to kill other people. They also reveal that when Daisy dies, her stomach will be cut open to get whatever remains of Joe, including his sunglasses, which will be filed into evidence. This bothers Charlie, which is why, when Daisy is revealed to have escaped, she decides to find the animal first and get rid of the evidence.
Dialling the clock back a bit, we find Charlie trying to decide on where to go and what to do next. She befriends a kindred spirit on the radio, and later ends up at a farm working with alligators. The people there want to rescue Daisy from Joe as they believe that he keeps her drugged up, which is his own form of abuse. Because Charlie is a new face, she has the best chance to sneak in during the FlopaCopas and rescue Daisy. Though thrown off by the fact that the FlopaCopas is a cop convention, Charlie rises to the occasion and locates Daisy. But getting her out is the main issue. She crosses paths with a crying Fran and with Joe, whom she sees running towards the bathroom. She is told to get Oreo, Daisy’s favourite, to lure her out, but by the time she comes back, the animal is gone.
Charlie Helps Fran See the Real Side of Daisy
Before Charlie discovers that Daisy has eaten Joe, she has a moment where she looks into the animal’s eyes and sees nothing but peace. This otherworldly connection convinces her that Daisy is not the real killer, but has been framed by a human who lured her with Oreos and gave her meth to turn her into a crazed killer. But she doesn’t have time to continue her investigation as the cops go all out on finding and killing Daisy. Fortunately, Charlie finds the alligator first, followed immediately by Fran. Together, the women get the animal out to the swamp. Here, Fran tells Charlie to leave, and the latter sees that the cop is lying about letting the animal go into the river. As Fran is about to shoot Daisy, Charlie stops her. She puts two and two together and realises that Fran is the killer, but she didn’t do it intentionally. It was an accident that she tried to cover up using the innocent Daisy.
She asks Fran to look into the alligator’s eyes, and the cop has the same experience as her. It also brings her face to face with her reality and what she was ready to do to save herself. She decides to let Daisy go into the water and live her life, while she goes back to the station and confesses to the crime. She also gives Joe’s glasses, which Daisy had previously let out of herself, as evidence. Her boss, however, doesn’t want her to pay for the one mistake she has made and refuses to let it ruin her life. He asks her to forget about it as the case is already closed, with Daisy seen as the culprit, but her conscience is too strong to allow her to do that. She resigns from her post and finds a place at the farm where Charlie worked, to help and save alligators and other animals. Meanwhile, Charlie bids goodbye to Daisy and moves on to her next adventure.
