After the immense success of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," it seems like Rian Johnson has found some love in the smaller films. He has found a lot of success in the mystery genre, having now received Academy Award nominations for his scripts for 2019s "Knives Out" and its 2022 sequel. It was announced that he was working on a show with Peacock that would star Natasha Lyonne, and I couldn't have been more excited to see what would actually come of this insane team-up. And if the first episode is a sign, this is going to be a must watch show every coming week.
Having already crafted a new iconic detective for the big screen, it feels almost safe to bet that he was going to do that here as well. However, with Charlie Cale, he instead crafts a character that has a unique ability to tell when people are lying, but who isn't necessarily the born detective. Johnson's writing is incredibly complimentary towards Cale's gifts, but also highlights her shortcomings and shows that she's not a born detective as she embarks on a journey to find out what happened to her friend. At first, you'd be forgiven if you would think that the mystery would be her finding out the true nature of the crime, but actually, the mystery is something that is even being kept from the audience so far, which is very exciting and gives them a good reason to tune in every week. It's not a classic murder mystery in that way, but it's certainly good at paying homage to many of the old detective films and shows from the past, of which Johnson has clearly been influenced. But like a lot of those projects, Johnson is focused on crafting an interesting character study, blended in with the mystery aspects. And Charlie is a fascinating individual who has a lot of skills, but also a very complicated background that will hopefully be revealed as the show progresses. Also, Natasha Lyonne can do anything she puts her heart to, and she absolutely nails this part and makes the premiere of this show exceptional and leaves us wanting more.
"Dead Man's Hand" is not a classic whodunnit like you'd expect from Rian Johnson, but it's even more fascinating because of what it reveals and doesn't. The main character is a fascinating protagonist and Natasha Lyonne does a brilliant job of bringing her to the screen, and with Johnson's writing, this is a true dream team.