There’s not a weak link among the rotating guest stars, but Hong Chau, Judith Light, Chloe Sevigny, and Tim Meadows are a few standouts in the six episodes available for review. It’s a small distinction but an extremely fun one, as we get to see Charlie make friends (or enemies) with all parties involved with the crime before it even happens. But in Poker Face’s case, the first act is actually a chapter from the middle of the book, as viewers then return to the main story in which the murder hasn’t actually happened yet. As with Columbo, each episode begins with a fairly extensive cold open involving a murder – and revealing the murderer. Johnson updates the typical whodunnit structure with a clever gimmick. As she continuously stumbles upon murders (the show asks us to suspend our disbelief for the sake of the case of the week premise, and it’s so great that it’s easy to oblige), Charlie heads towards danger rather than away from it, bugging suspects with a charismatic recklessness that would make Peter Falk proud. Charlie is a human lie detector, but her parlor trick can only get her so far. She’s also not a detective but a traveling gig worker who has a near-psychic penchant for sniffing out bullshit. The series has some semblance of an overarching plot, one that’s tied to the hot water Charlie finds herself in during its first episode. Rest assured, the show is far from a complete retread of a classic. Also, like Columbo, it’s clever, funny, visually interesting, and laced with confidently relayed insights about a particularly American brand of desperation.

Like Columbo, Poker Face is a great comfort watch in the making. A-list guest stars populate richly imagined worlds that Charlie pops into for the course of an hour, solving a crime before hitting the road for the next destination. The series follows familiar rhythms episode-to-episode, but the details of its case-of-the-week vary wildly. Poker Face isn’t a Columbo reboot, but it’s about as close as an homage can get without having to credit the original, and I mean that as a compliment. With his new series Poker Face, he’s created a near-perfect heir apparent to one of the most enjoyable crime shows of all time, Columbo.

With Charlie Cale, Rian Johnson has created the perfect Natasha Lyonne protagonist. She’s the exact person you’d want to meet at a gas station during hour fourteen of a road trip when your eyes are bleary, and you’re at your wit’s end. Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) is the type of person who would meet you once and proclaim that you’re “good people.” Charlie would also lend you a smoke, or five dollars, or an ear while you complain about whatever’s on your mind.

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