Poker Face "The Sleazy Georgian" Guest Stars Explained: Melanie Lynskey and John Cho
Poker Face's latest episode brought in a couple of very recognizable guest stars.
Poker Face always packs its share of recognizable guest stars, but some episodes are more packed than others.
This week's installment, "The Sleazy Georgian," is something a little more intimate, with a twist on the format that sets it apart from other episodes in Season 2 so far. It's got fewer guest stars, but the ones that do show up really make their moments count.
So, now that "The Sleazy Georgian" is out in the world, let's take a closer look at its two major guest stars, and where you've seen them before.
SPOILERS AHEAD for this week's episode of Poker Face.
RELATED: Every Heist Movie Reference in Poker Face's "One Last Job"
Melanie Lynskey and John Cho star in "The Sleazy Georgian"
"The Sleazy Georgian" finds Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) popping up in a hotel bar early in the morning, where she runs into a con man who's been running the title con for a while now, claiming victims along the way. Intrigued, Charlie decides to spend time with this con man and his crew, only to find that their motives and methods are not as noble as they made it sound.
Melanie Lynskey as Regina
Regina, "Reggie" to her friends, arrives early in the episode at the hotel bar, not to have a drink, but to wait for a nearby bank to open. See, she's a fundraising specialist for a nonprofit specializing in orphans, and the night before she raised $20,000 for that nonprofit, which she now needs to deposit in the bank. While she's in the hotel, she meets a con man named Alec, who's able to talk her into what's possibility a one-night stand, but turns out to be a con to get the money she's carrying. In the middle of the con, Reggie is (falsely) convinced that two men have just died in front of her, and runs off distraught with the money, later taking her own life from the distress of having stolen from a guy she thought was above board.
Melanie Lynskey is perhaps best known to audiences right now for her work on the hit survival horror series Yellowjackets, for which she's received two Emmy nominations. But her career goes back 30 years, when she made her film debut in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures. Her other credits include TV shows like The Last of Us and Castle Rock, and films like But I'm a Cheerleader, which also starred Poker Face's own Natasha Lyonne.
RELATED: Rian Johnson on the Difference Between Poker Face and Knives Out
John Cho as Alec/Guy
Though he goes by Alec in the hotel bar, John Cho's conman is actually named Guy, and leads a multi-man crew on his con jobs, many of them revolving around the "Sleazy Georgian" scam which involves a fake Georgian Prince (from the country Georgia, not the state), a tale about money exchange, and the eventual fleecing of the mark. When he meets Charlie, he's fascinated by her human lie detector abilities, and vows to be the first person to fool her. Along the way, Charlie befriends the crew, but goes on to distrust Guy, especially when she learns about Regina's death. In a battle of wits, Guy has to face off against Charlie, and he just might be good enough to fool her. Maybe.
John Cho is immediately recognizable for a string of high-profile roles in genre projects, most notably his three-film turn as Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond. He's also well-known for the acclaimed thriller Searching, and for the Harold & Kumar comedy films. His other TV roles include Sleepy Hollow, Charmed, and FlashForward.
Catch new episodes of Poker Face every Thursday, only on Peacock.
