Poker Face – Season 2 Episode 10 'The Big Pump' Recap & Review

The Review Geek

3 days ago

Episode 10
The Murder
Episode 10 of Poker Face Season 2 begins in a gym run by a man named Brick, who claims the place is all-natural and environmentally sustainable. He's approached by one of his members, Rodney, who wants to get ripped quickly. His high school reunion is coming up and he wants to impress. He's also seen the other members talk about the 'good stuff' they get from Brick and wants in on it, even if it's drugs.
Brick agrees and goes inside his office, where we see bills scattered on his desk. He tells his wife Lily that he needs more of the 'good stuff' which turns out to be breast milk! His wife works at a birth centre and steals breast milk from there for a few select gym members.
Turns out, Brick really needs the money. However, when Lily realises it's for Rodney, she reminds Brick that Rodney is a health inspector. So, Brick gives Rodney a bag of whey instead. But two weeks later, Rodney hasn't seen much improvement. He sees another gym member break the record and, when no one's looking, takes a sniff of his bottle.
That evening, he confronts Brick about selling breast milk which is teeming with bacteria and stealing from mothers and babies. He tells Brick he's going to turn him in. Brick grabs the bottle from him and drains the liquid, leading to a fight between them. Brick throws a metal disc at him, which hits Rodney right in the throat.
Knowing he will ruin his life, Brick lets Rodney pass out and then makes it look like he was doing a bench press. He then drops a heavy weight right on Rodney's neck, so his death seems like a bench press accident. Brick then waits till some other members find Rodney's body.
The Investigation
Charlie wakes up, still in Good Buddy's NYC apartment from the previous episode. She stretches and immediately cricks her neck. She heads to a café and bumps into Alex, the woman who gave her a free drink in the previous episode. They get to talking and when Charlie sees a flyer of Brick's gym, they go together.
Brick fixes Charlie's neck in a second and then convinces the two women to take up his free 7-day trial. They get the gym's fitness tracking watches, which also let them become each other's friends on the app.
Rodney sees Alex trying to bench press and warns her to always use a spotter. He chats with her and Charlie for a bit and leaves them when he spots one of the other gym members' drink bottles. Charlie leaves with a workout high and decides to go back the next day. But when she and Alex arrive, the police are all over the place.
Alex thinks there's something suspicious about his death but Charlie, for once, wants to leave it alone. Alex asks about working out together anyway but Charlie says she's a lone wolf and would rather spend time on her own.
When the gym reopens, Brick tells his wife that the milk is almost over but with the police around, she refuses to get more. Not wanting to lose his clientele, Brick starts giving them bottles with infant formula instead.
At the gym, Charlie turns up to work out with Alex anyway. They spot one of the gym members, Kevin, complaining to Brick about the milk (although they don't know what he's talking about). Charlie tells Alex about her lie detection skills. Next time Brick goes by, Alex talks to him and Charlie realises he is lying about something.
They snoop around and find the baby formula but don't think much of it since Brick's wife works at the birth centre. They're soon interrupted by Brick and scurry off but later on, Alex reveals she swiped Brick's key card and wants to snoop around at night. But Charlie knows how dangerous this can get and refuses to do so.
When she's at the nearby café, she sees some of the gym members complaining of headaches and upset stomachs. She also sees a baby nearby and recognises that Kevin had the same smell as the baby when she had passed by him — the smell of breast milk!
Charlie goes back and chats with Brick, learning from the conversation that he was lying about not being there at the gym the night Rodney died. She then taps her watch to Brick's, making them fitness friends. She hides in the sauna and goes through Brick's workout history, ultimately finding the leader board that shows Brick broke a new record at the time Rodney died.
In her a-ha moment, she taps on it and 'hearts' the record. Brick gets the notification and realises she's on to him. He locks her inside the sauna, turns the heat up, and then rushes the other members out of the gym by claiming a gas leak.
Charlie begins to do various exercises, which sends notifications to her fitness friend Alex. Alex sees the exercises and realises they spell out HALP. She figures it out and gets into the gym using Brick's card, managing to save Charlie just in time.
But Brick catches them leaving and starts attacking them. He's going to deal a final blow when Lily shows up and he breaks down in tears. She tells the two women to call the police while she holds on to her wailing husband.
Afterwards, Alex and Charlie go out for a bite and Charlie muses about how Alex hasn't told a single lie the whole time they spent together. Alex claims that she never lies, which is why she doesn't have friends, as most people can't handle the truth. Charlie then proclaims to be her friend.
The Episode Review
Episode 10 is another solid Poker Face episode. Interestingly, at first, you can't quite tell which of the two men is going to be murdered. It can swing either way and that unpredictability is nice! The rest of the episode has a couple of nice twists too, like the 'good stuff' being breast milk and Rodney being a health inspector. Like the other Poker Face episodes, the details really come into play here such as the fitness tracking watches and even Brick's tendency to not listen to what Rodney's actually saying.
One minor gripe is that the end is wrapped up a bit too quickly, with Brick's wife turning on him way too fast. But aside from that, it's a tightly written, engaging episode. Even more so because Charlie is, for once, in the same place she was in the previous episode! It's an intriguing new phase for Charlie to be in the same area and in this one she's even gone and made a new friend. While the murder and investigation was pretty fun, the real question is what's going to Charlie do next?
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