Cynthia Erivo’s Killer Role(s) in the Poker Face Season 2 Premiere, Explained
Can’t get the “Sextuplets” straight? Here's what to know about the Wicked actress' guest appearance on the Peacock series.
The second season of Peacock’s mystery/thriller series Poker Face starts with a bang as guest star Cynthia Erivo (Wicked) does quintuple duty playing all of the “Sextuplets” in “The Game is a Foot."
The only episode this season directed by series co-creator Rian Johnson (Knives Out), “The Game is a Foot” is a showcase of old school camera techniques (think The Parent Trap) featuring locked down camera shots that allowed Erivo to leave the frame, dress as another one of the sisters and then come back into frame to do the scene again. All of those change outs were then composited to make it look like the various sisters were seamlessly interacting.
As Johnson confirmed at the recent Paley Fest panel for Poker Face, "We had a 10-day schedule to shoot that, which is a very fast schedule for the amount of script it was. It's not like we were using crazy camera technology. It was literally like, leave the camera there, then Cynthia would do half of her scene and she would go and change."
The part Johnson leaves out is that Erivo was doing those character swaps times for any scene where the sister’s shared the frame together. The central conundrum, and big part of the comedic essence of the episode, was watching Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie Cale try to suss out which sister was which. If you too had that same problem, we’ve broken down all of the twisted sisters.
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Amber is the central sister in “The Game is a Foot"
Of the four sisters who acted together in the uncomfortably adult series Kid Cop, only Amber grew up and stayed home to take care of their ailing and controlling mother (played by Jasmine Guy). Known as the worst actor of the four, Amber earned the nickname of “Hamber” from her sisters and never shed her overly dramatic demeanor.
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Sensitive to criticism, Amber put up with the cajoling and insults from her mother with the aim of eventually receiving the lion’s share of her estate once she passed. Dubbed the “Gaughin of Etsy” by her mother for her garish homemade artistic creations (often involving lots of sparkles), Amber has a whole crafting room extension in her bedroom. It’s there that she eventually concocts her scheme to subvert her mother’s revised will and get the family fortune back under her control.
Who are the rest of the “Sextuplets”?
The other three former child actors are named in alphabetical order: Bebe, CeCe and DeDe. Bebe is still working in entertainment as a DJ who mixes under the name Klones. CeCe is an associate professor of comparative literature, and now sports a thick French accent from her one year of studies in Canada. Lastly, DeDe is the wanderer that meets Charlie at the apple orchard where they both made some cash picking apples.
DeDe reveals to Charlie that she was fed alcohol by her mother to calm her nerves when she was acting and she quickly became an alcoholic. Now in recovery as an adult, she wants her share of the family money so she can buy the orchard and become a business owner.
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Felicity Price, is the surprise sister taken away after their birth and raised by their father, separate from the rest of her sisters. Amber only discovers there is a fifth sister after she finds out that her mother changed her will and intends to leave the entire estate to Felicity. A true victim of circumstances, Felicity was off the grid, living as a true starving artist when Amber finds her, murders her, and assumes her identity.
Look for new episodes of Poker Face every Thursday on Peacock into July. Stream the whole first season on Peacock now. You can also catch Erivo starring in Wicked, also streaming now on Peacock!
