(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
On Poker Face, getting close to Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) is like being marked for death. But in the Season 2 finale, Charlie learns there might be a worse way to lose a friend when new BFF Alex (Patti Harrison) is unmasked as the deadly international assassin, the Iguana.
While Columbo provides the blueprint for the Poker Face howcatchem formula, creator Rian Johnson and showrunner Tony Tost take a page from the Sherlock Holmes playbook in turning Alex from a kooky Watson into a devious Moriarty. A spin on the infamous Sherlock Holmes Reichenbach Falls fight switches Switzerland for Indiana’s fictional Grand Canyon Canyon (“it’s more of a gorge”).
There is also a hint of Villanelle (Jodie Comer) from Killing Eve in the events that transpire in the twisty second season closer, including Alex’s ability to lay waste to a target no matter how tricky the circumstances (like Villanelle, Alex shares a penchant for dressing up for the occasion).
Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Alex has been deceiving Charlie since the moment she met her seemingly at random outside a New York coffee shop in the ninth episode. No one can lie to Charlie without earning a “bulls—” in response, but Alex cracked the code. In fact, Alex only took on the job to assassinate mob-boss-turned-informer Beartrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman) because of Charlie’s unique ability. Of the many tricky assignments Alex has completed, fooling Charlie is the “greatest challenge” of Alex’s career.
“This is like a dream role for me. I have always wanted to play an assassin or a hitman. I was obsessed with Kill Bill when I was a kid. Obsessed‚” Patti Harrison tells The Daily Beast’s Obsessed (and has definitely come to the right place to discuss this). “The movies I loved were movies I shouldn’t have been watching at the time, and have warped my brain into thinking that some day I could be a ninja assassin.”
Poker Face has been the perfect playground to live out this childhood cinematic fantasy without the danger of Harrison cutting herself with a katana sword.
At the start of “The End of the Road,” like Charlie, we believe that Alex is being framed for murder and that Justin Theroux is playing the deadly Iguana. It is only when Charlie and Alex arrive at Beatrix’s safe house that Alex accidentally drops the ball (saying yes to a stick of Big Red despite telling Charlie she has a deathly allergy to cinnamon). Still, by then, it is too late for Beatrix.
What follows is a deadly game that ends with Charlie’s beloved 1969 Plymouth Barracuda taking flight into the Grand Canyon Canyon before plummeting to the ground. Charlie leaps out in time, Alex’s body is nowhere to be found, and this great rivalry will live to see another day.
Harrison is best known for scene-stealing comedic roles, such as spiky assistant Ruthie on Shrill, memorable appearances in I Think You Should Leave sketches (including “New Printer”), and contributions to the Big Mouth writers’ room, which added authenticity to transgender character Natalie (voiced by Josie Totah).
Starring in Nikole Beckwith’s 2021 movie Together Together as a cisgender surrogate (Harrison is transgender) saw Harrison ditch the sardonic for warmth, highlighting her range. Across four Poker Face episodes, Harrison adds action to her roster, as well as the myriad pivots the assassin projects from sincere to Machiavellian.
When I ask what about Harrison’s body of work made the Poker Face creative team think of her for this pivotal role, she doesn’t have a definitive answer. Acting was a byproduct of doing comedy (“I think a lot of agents and managers are like, ‘Oh, you’re a comedian, so you want to act”), and starring in an earnest movie like Together Together opened doors and gave Harrison the tools to play the many Poker Face layers.
“It was a very out-of-my comfort zone to play a character that was a lot more grounded [in Together Together]. I tried to get back into that space first [in Poker Face],” says Harrison. “I had a lot of support, structurally, from the writing and humor there, so I didn’t have to invent anything on the spot.”
Alex’s arrival comes when Charlie is avoiding bonding with new people because she has grown weary of making new friends (and lovers) who wind up dead. I originally wanted to discuss the friendship that forms in these circumstances with Harrison. Those plans quickly changed when I saw the finale. It is a devastating moment when Charlie realizes Alex’s true identity and the depth of the deception. With that in mind, Harrison had “to feel out what would make sense and feel painful because of the callousness” of Alex’s entire raison d’être.
Due to production schedules, Harrison had to figure out the two extremes of this character simultaneously. “It was a challenge to figure out both [sides of Alex] at the same time,” says Harrison. The latter was particularly true when Harrison had to shoot her first scene as the Iguana: “There’s a scene where I was having a phone call as the Iguana that is a flashback in a future episode [the finale]. I remember being so freaked out because I was like, ‘Oh s—, I haven’t even necessarily figured out Alex yet, let alone how she twists.”
That episode was directed by former Poker Face guest star and Natasha Lyonne’s IRL bestie, Clea DuVall. “I think it’s helpful with people who are both actors and directors, where they can understand what questions you might have before you ask them as an actor,” says Harrison. Lyonne took the reins on the finale, wearing a director and co-star hat in an episode that cranks up the tension without sacrificing the humor or emotional core.
“They were so collaborative about letting me find it [Alex and the Iguana]. I didn’t come in being like, ‘I’m gonna make this character funny.’ I wanted to serve the story,” says Harrison. “The show is so funny in a lot of ways, but I think it’s ultimately tragic. The amount of trauma Charlie endures and the sense of loneliness she feels. I didn’t want to do anything that would undermine it.”
Being typecast is something that comes up early in our conversation, which is taking place the day after the second of two sold-out Don’t Ask: NYC Pride Edition comedy shows at Brooklyn’s The Bell House. An array of performers, including Las Culturistas co-host Matt Rogers, SNL’s Sarah Squirm, and Together Together co-star Rosalind Chao, a TV and film legend, appeared in Harrison’s outrageous showcase.
“I do these stage readings, and I wanted her [Chao] to get to play something outside of what people box her in as. They want her to play the regal, older Asian lady,” says Harrison. “She’s the zestiest person I know, I want her to be able to play a slutty cave woman who wants to get railed all the time.”
Likewise, it would be easy for casting directors to slot her in the sardonic friend or co-worker box. Poker Face does not do this even if Harrison slips between answering my questions sincerely and telling irreverent, exaggerated stories throughout this chat (I wouldn’t want it any other way).
For instance, when the crushing blow of the Alex deception comes up, Harrison begins by noting that “it’s absurd in a way, but it’s also so relatable.” As I nod along at this notion of a fast friendship going south fast, Harrison takes me on an unpredictable journey from the perspective of Charlie that I quickly gather is playfully sending relatability: “You’re like, What the f—?! Then they [Alex] put you in a car, hold you hostage, and there’s a car chase. Then they drive the car off a cliff, and they play this twisted game while they do that. Then you jump out, and you survive. We’ve all had those friendships. That’s the core of the show’s relatability, first and foremost.”
Harrison also jokes that avoiding spilling Iguana spoilers on the Poker Face red carpet came easily, as much like the character she plays, “lying is one of my superpowers.” However, one area she doesn’t exaggerate is her eagerness to do any stunts, including the fight sequence in the gym murder episode, directed by DuVall, the penultimate episode’s frame-up at the wedding (which Alex had a hand in), and the Plymouth Barracuda car sequences. Harrison was thrilled to collaborate with the stunt team led by Thomas Price, getting to sit alongside Lyonne’s stunt double, Becca GT, during the car sequences.
“There was only one stunt that I didn’t do, and it was the jumping into the water off the boat at the wedding,” says Harrison. The penultimate outing was set during summer but shot in the dead of winter with Harrison’s stunt double, Noelle Therese Mulligan, diving into the below-zero water. Harrison describes the team as having “preschool teacher energy” in how they encouraged her and made her feel safe to try things.
While we don’t see Alex kill Beatrix in the final cut, Harrison did shoot this scene with Perlman’s stunt double Dina L. Margolin, who has a musical past. “She played Rumpleteazer in the Broadway production of Cats, which is the most insane f—ing thing I’ve ever heard,” says Harrison. “I had to grab her and throw her off a chair a couple of times, and I felt really bad about it. She was like, ‘It’s all good.’ She was really cool in that regard.”
Other memorable deaths, like Alex slitting Theroux’s assassin’s neck in the boathouse, left an impression. “I got to watch him die on the ground so many times. It was so unsettling. He’s so good at having his throat slit, he should look into that as a full time job,” Harrison deadpans the last part.
A flashback scene shows the lengths the Iguana goes to pull off a hit with a Poker Face director and executive producer playing the target:“I got rigged to a ceiling, and slit Adam Arkin’s throat. Adam Arkin [is] another badass, good at getting his throat slit.” It is bad for Charlie Cale, but living out her Kill Bill dream looks good on Harrison. No bulls—.
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