The Night Shift

"**The Night Shift**" is the second episode of the first season of Poker Face. It is written by Alice Ju and directed by Rian Johnson and premiered on January 26, 2023.

## Synopsis

Wounded and on the run, Charlie is forced to make a pit stop in desolate New Mexico, where she tries to clear the name of a trucker framed for the murder of a local.

## Plot

The days come and pass for convenience store employee Sara, who is unaware Jed is watching her from the mechanic shop roof across the street with a pair of binoculars. In a subway, Damian records a TikTok video about making a new off-menu sandwich. After filming, he takes the sandwich to Sara and picks a quarter from her map to scratch off a lottery ticket. If he wins he promises to take her to Hawaii. They talk as Jed smudges frost off the fridge door to see her face. He checks out and invites her to watch the meteor shower with him from Abe's roof. Damian politely turns him down on both of their behalf and Jed leaves. Damian asks Sara if Jed is bothering her, mentioning that his has a keen sense of knowing when someone is bad. It kept him alive.

Jed returns to Abe's mechanic shop and turns off the cameras so he can climb to the roof. Damian watches Jed climb onto the roof from his spot at the subway counter. He takes a knife from the Subway rack and walks over, just as Jed is watching Sara with his binoculars. Damian has one of his beers and Jed asks about Sara, who isn't coming. Damian has seen him watching her. Jed can see everything from up there like a God. He points out a truck that is parked further away than the others. He thinks the driver has something to hide. Damian points out Jed's perception and how it could be of use in the military, but Jed isn't interested in enlisting. Damian's not trying to recruit him but it did show him how big the world is. He knows it's easy to obsess over things and tells Jed to leave Sara alone, as he's creeping her out. Jed thinks if she had a problem with him that she would tell him. This upsets Jed who screams at him that Damian might be the one who's creeping her out. They argue until Jed steps toward Damian, who grabs him and holds him still. He understands the monotony - he did paperwork and inventory in the marines where days just blurred together. It feels like there's no way out and no future. Jed admits to thinking about hiding in the back of the cars he fixes and escaping before anyone notices. Damian is sure he'll make it out someday. They watch the meteor shower and talk about luck. Damian put work into his TikToks, not luck, and the chaos is just everything else like the lottery ticket he begins scratching off. He does it because it's fun and it's a moment that makes Sara smile. He stops mid-sentence. He just won $25,000. Jed pushes him off the roof and stares up at the meteors.

Jed climbs down from the roof to find Damian's body on the ground. He picks up the lottery ticket and Damian, who is still alive, uses the subway knife to slice Jed's ankle. Jed grabs a crowbar and beats Damian to death. He uses the material around him to cover up the crime. He pushes the body across the street using a dolly, unaware of the convenience store cameras. He puts the body in the back of the truck and hits Damian again with the crowbar. He tosses it into the back with the body, then returns to the mechanic shop to cover everything up again. He picks up the knife Damian used and finds his apron, returning both to the Subway. He watches the trucker walk to her vehicle and find the broken lock. She opens the back and finds Damian. She gets in her truck and drives to the front of the mechanic shop, unloading his body out front and running away. Jed turns on the cameras so it records the trucker committing the act. He calls the police to report he just saw a murder.

Charlie Cale drives along Route 66 when the engine to her Plymouth Barracuda pops, rattles, and smokes. She pulls into a mechanic shop and reports the incident Abe, who has to turn his hearing aids back on to hear her. He can fix it for $400 which is shockingly honest. If she can put the cash in his hands by 8:00am he'll have it up and running in 20 minutes. He offers to store her car since they have security cameras and it'll be safe. He has his nephew Jed move it. She asks about a motel, but the closest one is a 20 minute drive away.

Charlie goes to the subway and Damian tries something new with her sandwich. She notices blood seeping through her shirt and asks for their bathroom, but he directs her across the store to the mini-mart. As she leans against the wall enjoying her sandwich, a man tells her about the meteor shower and scares her. She heads across the street to the mini-mart bathroom. She tries to wash her shirt out using paper towels. A woman, Marge notices the gunshot wound and they exchange witty retorts. Marge asks how long she's been on the road which has been a week. She asks how much blood Charlie has lost, but Charlie has plenty of blood. She advises her not to use Ibuprofen because it'll just bleed more. Charlie thanks WebMD and starts to leave when she faints.

Charlie wakes up in the back of Marge's truck and accepts the situation she's in and the drink offered to her. Marge uses superglue to patch up Charlie's wound. Charlie observe that Marge must not get messed with a lot. The woman confirms this - she has a dash cam and a gun to help her. She used to have Mace but she would have to get too close to use it. She gives Charlie the superglue in case she needs it again. The women sit up front in silence for a few moments. Charlie is the first person Marge has spoken to in 240 days, not counting CB radio. She has her books on tape on CD to keep her company. As they talk, Marge admits to not getting hook-up vibes and Charlie doesn't think it'll happen. Instead, they go to The Roadhouse and Marge lends her another shirt.

The women talk at the counter about being untraceable. Marge operates with no phones, no bank accounts, and fake IDs if she can get them but best to keep where people don't ask, never stay in the same place too long, and never look back. Charlie asks why she's living like this. Marge has one of those uncles. She was sent to live with him when she was 16. One day she took his money and ran. He used every means to track her down but didn't find her. She loves life, though. Charlie offers to pay for the next round with her card, but Marge stops her. Each time she uses it will be a ping, same with ATMs. She used an ATM once and her uncle showed up in four hours. She suggests finding a side hustle that pays cash. Hers is selling prescription drugs from Canada. Charlie fills out the spot the differences as she waits for Marge to return. She tells the waitress Dana, who snips that it's for kids. Charlie turns her attention to another trucker who ignores her. Dana tells her to leave so she can leave. Charlie asks if there's a storeroom she can nap in, but Dana turns her down.

Charlie wakes up on a bench with a buzzard next to her. She startles and talks to the buzzard while surrendering the picnic bench to it. She stretches before spotting cops nearby and running to hide behind The Roadhouse. Dana explains that Charlie's friend from last night was arrested for killing the kid who works at Subway for breaking into her truck. Charlie can't believe that Marge shot a guy, but the incident was caught on the mechanic shop's cameras. Dana heads back inside and Charlie thanks her for hiding out. Dana questions if that's what this was.

Charlie goes into the mini-mart and withdraws the last of her bank account, starting a four-hour timer on her watch. Abe counts out the money on the hood of her car and she asks if he knows the kid who got killed last night. Abe did - he was new and fresh out of the marine corps. Jed offers that he might have had money problems and that's why he broke into the truck. He played the lottery every day but never one. Abe tells Charlie that Jed was the one who reported the murder.

Charlie is eating a sandwich outside the mini-mart, humming to herself. A trucker gives an off-handed comment and then waves as he leaves. Abe calls across the street to Charlie.

Jed enters the mini-mart to buy a scratch-off from Sara in honor of Damian. When Sara isn't looking, he swaps out the one he bought for the one he stole from Damian.

Charlie is pulling out of the mechanic shop while Jed celebrates his win. She turns on the radio which is reporting Damian's death as a bludgeoning. She knows this isn't right and checks her watch. She has just under 3 hours left on the timer. She turns around and drives back to Whiting Bros. She approaches Abe and asks to look at his security footage from last night. Four townspeople are crowded around the set to watch the tape. They can't agree on whether or not she did it. Charlie thought they had it on tape, but all they have is her dumping the body. Charlie inspects the location of the cameras and then finds the camera at the mini-mart. She follows its point of view to where Marge was.

She tries to convince the employee to give her the security camera footage, lying that she was, but it ends in a paradox. She buys a vape and joins Sara outside. She's watching Damian's last TikTok video. She doesn't think he would break into someone's truck. Charlie wishes they had some way to prove he didn't break in.

Charlie and Sara look at the feed but it doesn't show the street. Sara remembers their nightly routine of him bringing her a sandwich and buying a lottery ticket. He used Hawaii last night and Charlie remarks on her hatred for the sand and swimming. She then recalls that Damian never won the lottery even though he played it every day, something Sara confirms. Charlie finds it weird since Sara is telling the truth about Damian not winning, while Jed lies about him not winning. Neither of them gets it and it's breaking her brain. Sara tells Charlie that Jed won $25,000 that morning. Sara adds that Jed invited them to see the meteor shower that night. Damian hung out and then went back to Subway.

Charlie learns from the Subway guy that the “camera” is a cat toy used as a deterrent. She asks about time cards or whatever the kids use these days. He shrugs that they just show up whenever. She sees Damian's apron and takes a bottle cap out of it.

She finds Jed outside the mechanic shop and observes his nasty cut. He claims it's a sharp piece of metal from work. It's his lucky day because she has super glue. They head inside where she uses it on his cut. She asks if he saw the meteor shower last night and he did. He had a few beers and watched in from the roof, alone, because he was alone. She asks about the Sandwich guy and goth girl, though he can't see why they'd hang out with him. They talk about how he's going to spend his lottery winnings and his future. She muses how Marge taught her the superglue trick and he jumps up, offering her a beer. He gives her a beer as he lies over being on the roof alone all night. She leaves abruptly and, once outside, inspects the alley with the security cameras. She watches Jed leave and Abe appears. She asks if she can use his security camera to see if someone stole her bag last night.

They watch the feed until it skips ahead an hour, the angle changes, and the tarp moves. He explains that Jed says the wind gets caught in the circuit and chunks of time go missing as a result.

Jed finds Sara stocking shelves and checks up on her. They talk about Damian's death and his shift starting soon. She snaps at him for not having respect for the dead. He was thinking of getting out of town soon and going to Hawaii. She stops stocking when he invites her with him. She turns him down as it's weird and storms off.

Charlie hums and climbs up the ladder to inspect the camera, which has a scuff mark on it and is loose. She finds bottle caps littering the floor and a Hawaii quarter. Jed asks what she's doing up there and she covers the quarter. She compliments the view and turns down his offer to sit. She asks if the caps belong to Sandwich but he quickly denies it. She found one of the caps in his apron and that means Jed might have lied. She cares because her friend is in jail and a lot of weird shit is going on. Sara also told her that Damian was headed up to see him. Jed calls bullshit. He then admits that he lied and that Damian was up there. He was embarrassed because Damian asked him to leave Sara alone. He rants over being in control of his life and puts down Sara as he does. Charlie uses this chance to pick up the coin. Jed made his life happen, but she points out that he didn't make shit happen, it was just dumb luck. Damian played every day and didn't win, which he confirms, and she calls bullshit. She leaves the roof and Jed eyes her car.

Charlie twirls the coin and rubs the dust on it between her fingers. She notices that Sara's Hawaii coin is missing. She asks Sara for one of the scratchers that Sandwich played and then buys a few more.

Jed walks over to Charlie's car and tampers with it.

Charlie carefully examines each of her lottery tickets using a pair of glasses. She spots the trash can out front.

Jed books his flight to Hawaii. Sara approaches and apologizes for being a dick to him. She vents over all the things making her weird, including birth control making her hormonal. He figures she was hormonal and forgives her. She asks to see his scratch-off as she hasn't seen anyone win more than $5. He hands it over and she walks away. He hurries after her and she hands it to Charlie, who rounds the corner to see Jed. She remarks that it's weird and explains how she just bought some scratchers herself. She noticed every ticket has a serial number. The serial numbers are in order. She saw this trucker play the Gold Rush that morning, right before she picked up her car, and before he bought his ticket. The trucker didn't win anything and threw it away. She had pulled it out of the trash and now reads the serial number which ends in 454. That means if he really bought his ticket after that ticket it should be 455, 56, or 57. But it doesn't. His ticket is 450. He suggests that maybe it's a misprint. But she thinks that maybe he didn't buy that ticket. Maybe Damian bought that ticket last night like he does every night, and maybe he brought it up to the roof. And maybe when it was just the two of them alone he realized he'd won. And maybe Jed killed him for it. Jed tearfully says he didn't do it, but Charlie knows he did. Abe appears and asks if everything's fine. He had his hearing aids up to high and offered to warm Charlie's car for her. When he's gone, Jed admits she got him. That he did it. He offers to call the cops, as they'd love to hear some half-baked theory about serial numbers from a vagrant who lives in her car. She has no proof and he isn't on camera like her friend. He offers to call the cops and tell them that Charlie Cale, a person of interest in a bunch of deaths in Nevada, wants to talk. Charlie's watch alarm goes off. Jed tells her to get out of town before he calls the cops on her. Abe returns and tosses her the keys.

Charlie leaves the shop and drives off, apologizing to Marge as she does. The radio talks about hidden cameras and she pulls into The Roadhouse. She knocks on a trucker's window and asks about his dash cam that is recording all the time. He can contact any trucker on the road with his radio. She walks into the diner and asks about a trucker who was eating a burger at the bar. But Dana sighs that it narrows it down to about ten people. His truck was parked out front of the window and had an animal logo on it. Like a cat-like badger-mouse-type animal, and some animal with legs and fur. She can't remember what it was exactly.

She tries to sketch it for the truckers and Dana who can't guess it. She quiets everyone down and tries to think. She hums a song as she does and perks up. The song that's been on her mind all day is the key. She asks if anyone knows it and sings it. A trucker gets up and belts it out. She recognizes it as a fox. She turns to see a fancy car pull into the parking lot. She tells them about the fox logo and asks if anyone knows his call sign. He's from FoxCo shipping so he must be Pickleback. She tells them to get Pickleback on the radio and tell him to take a look at his dash cam footage from last night. The cops are going to want to see it because it'll prove they got the wrong lady in jail. Dana promises they'll find him.

Cliff walks into the mini-mart and shows Charlie's picture to Sara, asking if she's seen this woman. She used the ATM about four hours ago. She just left but Sara doesn't know where she went. She sees Cliff's gun when he turns away. She quickly adds that Charlie is going to LA because she loves the beach, sand, swimming, all of it. Cliff makes a call and says he found her heading west to LA. Sara smiles and puts the Hawaii coin back on the map.

Charlie drives out of town while Jed watches. Abe approaches him and recounts how when he brought her car around, he saw that someone messed with her brakes. He fixed them for her gratis. Jed asks what he's thinking. Abe always treated him like he was his own son. Jed calls Charlie a bitch who's out to get him, but Abe merely removes his hearing aids and walks away as Jed shouts after him.

Charlie drives down the road and makes a trucker honk at her. She laughs happily as they pass.

Jed burns the lottery ticket and watches from the roof as the police arrive. He leans back in his chair and takes a drink of his beer.

## Cast

### Guest Starring

* Hong Chau as Marge
* Megan Suri as Sara
* Colton Ryan as Jed
* John Ratzenberger as Abe
* Brandon Micheal Hall as Damian
* and Benjamin Bratt as Cliff LeGrand
* Chelsea Frei as Dana

### Co-Starring

* Jaswant Shrestha as Arvind
* Lincoln A. Castellanos as Day Shift Guy
* Christopher Hagen as Weirdo Trucker
* Paul Blott as Scratch Off Trucker
* Darryl Deloach as Soul Patch Trucker
* Gwen Goldsmith as Mullet Trucker
* Bennie Taylor as Bald Trucker
* Desi Stein as Earring Trucker
* Jeanette Aguilar Harris as Early Retirement Trucker
* Tim D. Janis as Judgmental Trucker
* Vic Browder as Grouchy Trucker
* Zach Rose as Camo Hat Trucker
* Sale Taylor as Mustache Trucker
* Roy Ward as Redhead Trucker
* Tank Jones as Polo Shirt Trucker
* Rich Greywolf as Portly Trucker

## Gallery

### Videos

Poker Face - Solving a Ruthless Lottery-Winner Murder Case
## Trivia

* Released on January 26, 2023 alongside Episode 1, 3, and 4.
* One of the first idea's for Rian Johnson after the pilot episode was a highway rest stop.
* The episode was shot in Albuquerque.
* This episode was not sponsored by Subway.
* The name of the buzzard is Beauty.