Diksha Sundriyal
The seventh episode of Peacock’s ‘Poker Face’ Season 2 pays homage to the heist genre by following the story of Kendall Hines, whose dream is to write heist stories and have them made into movies. He has done the first part, of cooking up stories and turning them into full-fledged scripts. His friend, Bill, reads every single one of them, and he appreciates Kendall’s talents, even encouraging him to go to LA and try to find a producer for his scripts. However, Kendall is too stuck in his life, and when Bill tries to push him out of this slump, he pays an incredibly hefty price. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Kendall Brings Heists from His Scripts to Reality
In an effort to encourage Kendall to go to LA, Bill fires him from the job as a salesperson at his store, Super Save. He believes that once the tie has been cut off, his friend will finally make the leap he should have made a long time ago. However, his move does not have the intended effect as Kendall becomes angry at Bill. While leaving the store after getting fired, he meets a man whom he knows is going to steal stuff from the store. Instead of reporting him, he helps the guy, and later meets up with him at the bar. Kendall shows him ‘Heat,’ which impresses the guy so much that he is ready to invest in Kendall’s script, if it is anywhere near the Michael Mann movie. But for that, they will need money, and the only option they can think of is robbing the store.
At this point, Kendall is still angry at Bill, and his inside knowledge of the place means that he knows all the blind spots of the store and its owner, which can be exploited easily. This allows Kendall to come out of his scripts and plan an actual heist with the criminal he has just met. What’s more is that not only does he know how to get inside the store, but he also knows how to open the safe. He knows that his friend uses a certain type of oil for his hands, which leaves marks on the numbers on the safe. This gives him four numbers, and after a few tries, he finally gets the combination that opens the safe.
During the planning, Kendall expected the money to be about $200k, but it is much more than that when he opens the safe. When his partner leaves the room to inspect a disturbance, he quickly hides some of the money and takes the rest back. He hides the extra money in his locker at the store, but as he turns, he finds Bill standing there. Before either of them can react properly, Kendall’s heist partner shows up and shoots his friend in the back, killing him on the scene. Bill’s death jolts Kendall to the reality of the situation, and he watches his friend’s body being dragged away; he is forced to clean the crime scene. Before he leaves, he also takes away the script that he’d given to Bill, following which he was fired.
Charlie Finds Romance in an Unexpected Place
While Kendall was still working at Super Save, Charlie got hired at an Indian restaurant called Tandoor. The first time she delivers the food to Super Save, she catches Bill’s eye. So, he repeatedly orders from the same restaurant after asking if Charlie is working. Soon enough, it becomes clear that he has a thing for her, and encouraged by her boss at the restaurant, Charlie also indulges in the possibility of a romance. She likes Bill, so when he asks her out on a date, she agrees to it. Discovering that their date night coincides with his birthday, she seeks out Kendall and asks him what his friend likes so she can gift him something meaningful. Later that day, Kendall is fired.
Bill reveals that he recently broke up with a serious relationship, which is why the store is his home at the moment. He decorates the whole place for their date, which touches Charlie’s heart. He talks about Kendall, his talent, and why he fired him. Then, Santa Claus in the store caught her eye. It is a highly realistic mannequin that catches her off guard, but she and her date laugh about it. At the end of it, they both express their desire to see each other again. Because the coming weekend is Black Friday, he tells her that he will call her on Monday. But then, Monday comes and goes, and there is no word from him.
After a few days of no word from her suitor, Charlie becomes anxious. Eventually, an order from Super Save is made, which she and her boss take as a sign of Bill calling her. But when she reaches the store, she finds cops there, who tell her that he has run away after stealing all the money from the store. This does not sit well with Charlie because a few days ago, she heard Bill talk about how much he loves the store and his life there. It doesn’t make sense that he would rob the place and disappear. Trying to make sense of the situation, she goes inside the store, where she notices that the Santa Claus mannequin is lying in a corner, and in its place is Bill’s dead body.
Kendall’s Story Meets a Filmy End
When Bill’s body is discovered, it doesn’t take much for Charlie to put two and two together. The most important clue is the CCTV, which is prevented from recording anything by placing a photograph in front of it, like in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ movies. She knew that Bill kept the camera on the loop, so even if he needed to steal something, he didn’t have to go all heisty about it. The only person that she knows who is so much into heist films and wouldn’t know about the loop thing is Kendall. Later that night, she digs into his locker and finds the money he had stashed.
Meanwhile, Kendall’s partner discovers that more than $400k has been reported missing from the store, which means Kendall lied to him. The man confronts Kendall but, in a freak accident, ends up getting stabbed by a sword. Believing him to be dead, Kendall comes for the money in the locker, but is forced to improvise when he sees Charlie there. While he holds her at gunpoint, he doesn’t want to kill her, so he gets a hold of the money and is getting her out of the store when his partner-in-crime shows up with a sword in his chest.
He has a gun with which he shoots up the place, asking for his money. But, eventually, his injury gets the best of him, and he falls down, most likely dead. Meanwhile, Kendall tries to run, but a few minutes ago, Charlie pressed the emergency button that Bill had shown her. It was a surefire way to get cops at the store within minutes, and sure enough, right as Kendall is at the doorstep, the cops show up and arrest him, putting an end to his short but deadly criminal streak.
