Poker Face Episode 5 Time Of The Monkey Ending Explained- The Droopy Hues, Primate Precogs, And Sexual Zapping

Poker Face Episode 5 opens on a retirement home and hilariously irreverent Irene(Judith Light), who is over Euphoria(amen sister) and free thinker Joyce(S. Epatha Merkerson) bickering the way only time-tested friends can. To say they aren’t popular is an understatement. All of their hilarious banter and taunting halt when they see a new man moving in.

Paraplegic Irene is wheeled into the restroom, where she then shimmies out of the window and pulls herself up the trellis to his room. She switches health monitors with the man and injects him with something before climbing back down the trellis and into the restroom and her chair. Later at the zoo, she has Joyce tase her making the bracelet she is wearing that is assigned to the man alert the staff that there is an emergency. When the group returns from the trip, Joyce and Irene switch back the bracelets and think they have gotten away with murder.

Enter Charlie, who is now working at Mossy Oaks. Personal aside, this might be the funniest retirement facility name I have ever heard. In case you wondered, there is a real Mossy Oak assisted living home in Georgia. Proving that horndog men do not get better with age, Pervy Pete verbally assaults her. She is warned away from Irene and Joyce, but of course, they are exactly her cup of tea. They have been together since college when they met a man named Gabriel, who ran a group that wanted to make the world a better place. The group was planning a big event when they were raided, and Irene was shot. This was when she became paralyzed. Almost everything about this story is slanted.

How did Charlie become involved?

As usual, Charlie is at the right place to help someone find justice and, in this case, picks up a valuable contact. Now that you know how Ben died, the why and the how Charlie figured it out can be revealed. The electric combination of dumb luck, keen observation, and her internal lie detector get Charlie into trouble, but it is fun to watch. Here’s how it all shook out in Poker Face Episode 5.

Joyce and Irene initially present as women Charlie can relate to. At first, they seem like independent women who will not be pushed around by the Bettys and Karens of the world. They have amazing stories from their checkered past, but it is all a little too glossy. So when they tell Charlie about their group leader and boyfriend, Gabriel, and his band, Charlie seeks out a band t-shirt which begins the process of unraveling all of their lies.

Who was Ben, and why did Irene and Joyce kill him?

At Ben’s funeral, Charlie talks with Luca, who is not his nephew as originally advertised but his handler. Ben was once Gabriel and was under witness protection. Charlie recognizes the generously endowed former hippie leader as the one that Irene and Joyce were involved with from their story and her t-shirt. But, unfortunately, what would have been a fun coincidence turns deadly when she learns Irene and Joyce weren’t rebellious college students looking to stage a sit-in to protest animal rights. Instead, they were domestic terrorists planning on killing kids in a bombing designed to make the entitled take notice.

The night before Ben/Gabriel’s death, he confessed everything to the ladies. Until then, they had thought he had somehow escaped, but when he told them he was an informant, they snapped. When we heard them say, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” that was later that night when they learned he was a rat. They kill him for being instrumental in their years in prison and Irene’s injury.

How did Charlie figure it out in Poker Face Episode 5?

Suspecting that Irene and Joyce were involved, Charlie confronts them. She still thinks they are hippie rebels who wouldn’t hurt anyone, but she knows better the minute they lie. The pair glare at Charlie and try to scare her. They also can’t help but admit that they targeted the kids at the prep school because it was the only way to hurt their elitist parents. It is a chilling moment played to perfection by Light and Merkersen. It also makes Charlie very vulnerable as they know that she knows everything. She knows they did it, but she doesn’t know how yet. The rest of the information comes from the Fletchers, the gardener, Billy, and Betty.

The ending of Poker Face Episode 5 explained

The Viking-loving Fletchers give her all the poison options that can kill without being undetected. Sodium Nitrate becomes the top contender because it is commonly used by gardeners and is undetectable as a naturally occurring element. The Gardner confirmed he has some, and Joyce used it in her closet pot garden. He further said she asked for extra just a few days later. Charlie now knew that poison was injected into Ben but didn’t know how they did it when they were at the zoo at the time of Ben’s death.

Timing is everything, and when Billy lets Charlie see the health tracker data, she has all the information she needs to solve the crime. The data from the bracelet betrayed the ladies. Betty told Charlie she saw Irene and Joyce sexually zapping each other at 2:23 pm, which was the exact time Ben went into arrest. Charlie noticed that the data showed a strange change in heart pattern, as if a different heart was introduced at 11:10 am. This was because Irene had put the bracelet on her own arm, so it was a new heartbeat.

At this point, Charlie calls Luca but doesn’t have enough evidence to arrest the ladies. Talking to Betty gives her all the information she needs. The data never showed the life-saving jolts the facility gave Ben trying to save his life. It would have shown those jolts if he had been wearing his bracelet. However, because Irene was wearing it when they were trying to save Ben’s life, those jolts did not register. This is how Charlie confirms that the ladies killed Ben/Gabriel. Shortly after, Betty is blown up by an Instant Pot bomb.

Charlie goes to Irene and Joyce’s villa to gather more evidence, and a highly entertaining scuffle ensues. The pair is not willing to go down without a fight. Luckily Charlie is clever and daring enough to use the taser the women had to shock herself, bringing everyone to her rescue. She was wearing a health tracker like the residents, and they used the tracker as a distress symbol. Right before Joyce injects her with Sodium Nitrate, the cavalry arrives and arrests the pair.

As Poker Face Episode 5 ends, Luca gives Charlie his card and tells her she can call him if she needs him. She asked him if they got the evidence she emailed in Episode 1, which he, of course, knows nothing about. However, Charlie has made a valuable friend that could come in handy as Cliff gets closer. Charlie tries to drive off in a golf cart but narrowly escapes as a bomb goes off. The facility better be swept for additional bombs. Irene and Joyce are a dangerous duo.

Poker Face gets better with time. Every episode dials into the brilliance of Natasha Lyonne and her assorted episode stars. This is a hot series that is only getting hotter. Find all our Poker Face coverage here while we wait for next week’s episode.