Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for Poker Face season 2, episode 4, "The Taste of Human Blood"!

Natasha Lyonne's Charlie Cale faces one of her strangest cases yet in Poker Face season 2, episode 4. Having finally put a stop to Beatrix Hasp and the mob chasing her around the country, Charlie is now enjoying a more carefree life on the road, with episode 4 seeing her begin working for a gator sanctuary. While there, she is convinced to help a group of animal rights activists liberate Daisy, an alligator held by Florida police officer Joseph Pilson, who's also a viral social media influencer known as Gator Joe.

Unbeknownst to Charlie, the mission to free Daisy puts her on a collision course with Gaby Hoffmann's Fran LaMont, a fellow Florida police officer who, after six years of losing the Cop of the Year award to Gator Joe at the Florida Panhandle Cop Awards, aka FlopaCopa, has grown resentful of Joe. Initially planning a revenge prank of giving him a bit of Daisy's medication, she's horrified to realize she has given him a lethal dose. As she tries to cover up the crime by having Daisy eat Gator Joe, Charlie stumbles on the situation and becomes involved in the mystery.

In honor of the episode's premiere, ScreenRant interviewed Gaby Hoffmann to discuss Poker Face season 2, episode 4. The star opened up about the nature of playing the episode's central killer character, the unique nature of venturing through multiple genres with her three different TV shows over the past year, working with the animatronic alligator, and Fran's ending. She also shared some major early praise for Jeremy Allen White's turn as Bruce Springsteen in the biopic, Deliver Me from Nowhere.

Poker Face Season 2 Episode 4's Murderer Was Unique For Both The Show & Hoffmann

"I Try To Approach Everything With An Open Heart."

While some of the killers in the show's prior episodes had something of a sympathetic streak to them, Fran in Poker Face season 2 episode 4 is certainly one of the more emotionally compelling of the group. Where others, like Giancarlo Esposito's Fred in episode 2, "Last Looks", took their heartbreak and turned it into cold-blooded murder, Fran killing Gator Joe was that of an accident, with Hoffmann's character showing doubt the entire time she goes about covering up her crime.

In reflecting on playing Fran's fluctuating morality, Hoffmann explained that she tries "to approach everything with an open heart", regardless of the morals of her character. While denoting that she "can't say I related to Fran, or understood her on a deep level", she did explain that "once you commit to a character, you're kind of all in with them", even if "she's out of her mind". "I just naturally bring my own humanity to whoever I'm playing, even if they're behaving in a homicidal or, less extremely in other circumstances, questionable way," Hoffmann explained.

Despite not fully connecting with Fran's choices, the three-time Emmy nominee did express that she holds the belief "that we all have the wide, complex breadth of the humanness in us", even if certain moments in life might leave said people "compromised". "Or, it might be compromised for most of our lives, if we're a psychopath, but it's in there somewhere," Hoffmann explained. "So, I think it's more interesting to feel that when you're taking in a character, to feel the complexity of their humanness."

Another major difference from prior Poker Face episodes is that Fran gets away with having killed Gator Joe, with Charlie preventing her from killing Daisy and letting her go after Hoffmann's character recognizes the gentle nature of the alligator. Instead, when her police chief fails to believe her confession, Fran resigns from the police force, going on to work at the gator sanctuary that Charlie began the episode working at.

When asked about what Fran's future looks like after episode 4, Hoffmann began by humorously wondering if "there are actors who think about what their characters are going to do going forward after only playing them for five days", and chuckling as she its "I'm not one of them". The star did, however, go on to express her hope that "she will discover some new side of herself, and her life will open up in ways that she could never have imagined", while also feeling that she is "grateful for having had to resign from the force".

There's so much uncertainty in the world, and I like to think that most of the time, it can bring unexpected gifts to us. So, I would wish that for Fran, as I would for anyone else.

Hoffmann Doesn't Focus On A Project's Genre During Production

"I Just Kind Of Tap Into The World & See What Happens."

Prior to ing the Poker Face season 2 cast, the past year has seen Hoffmann at the forefront of a range of projects, including co-starring in the Benedict Cumberbatch darkly comedic psychological thriller Eric and the Robert De Niro-starring political thriller Zero Day. While the Rian Johnson-created series serves as her most comedic of the past year, the Emmy nominee shared that she doesn't "consider the genre that much when I'm doing my job", but instead points to the writing and "all the pieces that come together in the end" as being where the tone lies.

"I don't consciously think about any of that," Hoffmann explained. "I think it's probably true that when I'm maybe wrestling an alligator who has Oreo cookies in its mouth, or some combination of something as absurd, I may dip into something bigger and broader, kind of instinctually, but certainly not intentionally. I don't really have that much control over what I'm doing, so I'm definitely not thinking about genre. And you know what? It's news to me that Eric was a dark comedy. [Laughs] I just kind of tap into the world and see what happens."

Hoffmann went on to recall the surreal experience of working with the animatronic alligator used to represent Daisy, even if it "wasn't there that much". She specifically pointed to her "most vivid memory" being the scene in which Fran led Daisy out of the conference by baiting her with Oreos, requiring the star to "engage with it in a different way, as if it were a child". Despite the bizarre nature of it, Hoffmann recalled having "a lot of fun doing that, more so than I would have imagined".

You get so much from a fellow actor, most of what I do is just responding to the person in front of me, and I've been lucky enough to have such incredible scenemates over the course of my career that it makes my job very easy. And I'll say, I was surprised to feel that I got that much back from the animatronic alligator, because I had a lot of fun in that scene. You just have to be in the moment, and take it all kind of seriously, as if it were real. Once I'm in that state, it's like a blackout state like that. It might as well have been a real alligator.

Jeremy Allen White's Bruce Springstreen Performance Led The Singer Himself Stunned

Hoffmann Laments Missing Out On Seeing It First-Hand

Looking beyond Poker Face season 2, another project on the horizon for Hoffmann this year is the release of Deliver Me from Nowhere, a biopic about Bruce Springsteen, exploring the time of his life in which he developed his 1982 album, Nebraska, a deeply personal reflection on his life. Hoffmann is starring in the film as Springsteen's mother, Adele, while The Bear vet Jeremy Allen White is leading the cast as The Boss himself. Based on Warren Zanes' biography of the same name, and written and directed by Scott Cooper, the movie was recently set for an October 24 release date.

At the time of our interview, Hoffmann was "sorry to say" she didn't have an update on the movie's release date or trailer. When asked about seeing White embody the classic rockstar, the Emmy nominee expressed her disappointment that, due to her busy schedule and the movie's production schedule, as well as her being only "in flashback scenes with a young Bruce", she didn't get to see White's interpretation of Springsteen herself. Instead, she's promised she's heard "nothing but incredible things" about his performance, which "doesn't surprise me at all".

One of the biggest votes of confidence Hoffmann has from the movie's production was having heard that "Bruce couldn't believe that what he was hearing wasn't his own voice when he heard Jeremy sing". She went on to express her confidence that the biopic is "going to really be as impressive as everybody is expecting", and praised White as "such a beautiful actor". "It was a great, great privilege to be a part of that film, and this story, and this very personal and important moment in Bruce's life," Hoffmann beamed. "I was very, very happy to be there, it was a beautiful experience."

More About Poker Face Season 2

Poker Face is a mystery-of-the-week series following Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road with her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve.

Check out our previous Poker Face season 2 interviews with:

• Showrunner Tony Tost
• Richard Kind (Episode 3 Post-Mortem)

New episodes of Poker Face season 2 air Thursdays on Peacock.