The thirteenth episode of Poker Face was titled Whack-a-Mole and was the third episode of the show’s second season. Charlie comes face-to-face with Beatrix Hasp and her dispute with the mob reaches a climax. In this podcast Gerry and Iain look at pursuit.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
This week, Charlie is taken hostage by Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman) and brought to a motel to meet her husband Jeffrey (Richard Kind), who doesn’t go in for all the mob stuff. She’s worried about moles and rats and potentially even snakes in her organisation, despite having an FBI mole of her own in Daniel Clyde-Otis (John Mulaney)
In a dramatic showdown, Charlie’s friend Luca Clark (Simon Hellberg) shoots Jeffrey in an apparent set-up to shut down Hasp’s operation, but things take a tragic twist leaving FBI Chief Hooper (Chris Bauer) and Agent Clark in a tense standoff with their target.
This episode was directed by newcomer to the show Miguel Arteta. The writing credit goes to regular contributor Wyatt Cain, who penned The Stall and Time of the Monkey in Season 1.
If you have thoughts on any aspect of Whack-a-Mole, please share them below, or find us on Twitter at @columbopodcast or on Threads at the same handle.
The Columbo Podcast is widely available – on iTunes, Spotify, tunein, Pocket Casts or pretty much wherever you choose to receive and manage your podcasts. If you enjoy the show it would be greatly appreciated if you consider leaving ratings and reviews on these sites – particularly iTunes – as that can make a big difference to growing the podcast’s audience.
Whack-a-Mole was released in 2025. It is 40 minutes long and originally aired on Peacock. Episodes continue to stream on Peacock internationally and on Sky in the UK.