Let me lay it on the line right from the start – the world of gym culture is an alien landscape to me. (Just as I admitted earlier this season that baseball isn't my cup of tea, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't feign astonishment.) However, one emotion I can certainly relate to is the nagging sense of inadequacy when everyone else seems to be soaring to new heights, while you remain stuck in a rut. This is precisely where we find Rodney (played by Jason Ritter), who, despite his daily gym visits and lifestyle overhauls, finds himself making zero progress. ("I'm consuming enough protein; I had a whopping 18 eggs today," he insists.) Rodney – or, spoiler ahead, his murder – stands at the heart of "The Big Pump," an episode meticulously crafted to gently usher us into Poker Face's new normal. Charlie has indeed made up her mind to plant her roots in New York City, and she's even acquired a fresh sidekick in the guise of Patti Harrison's Alex, whom we briefly encountered last week. It's still uncertain how long the series will embrace this more fixed setting, but it's undeniably a charming locale.
Rodney, conversely, feels anything but at ease – his high school reunion looms on the horizon, and he's desperate to bulk up before confronting his former bully, now a swaggering firefighter. He's also firmly convinced that his trainer and gym owner, Brick (played by Chris Smith, aka Method Man), is keeping the good stuff from him. Rumors abound in the gym about the miraculous potion that Brick purportedly peddles, and Rodney wants a piece of the action. Brick is aghast at the very notion of selling steroids; the Brick House prides itself on being an all-natural, eco-friendly sanctuary. Yet, indeed, there's a clandestine substance that the other gym bros are indulging in, and Brick can't afford to turn Rodney away, given the gym's mountain of debts, which he's painstakingly kept hidden from his wife, Lil (Natasha Leggero). As it turns out, she's his supplier of the fabled elixir: human breast milk that she pilfers from her job at the Brooklyn Birth Center. Realizing Rodney is a health inspector, Lil warns Brick to steer clear of selling to him, but he's already promised him a cut. His plan is to fob Rodney off with some innocuous protein powder and hope it satisfies his curiosity.
It's the aroma that ultimately becomes the undoing. After two weeks on his new regimen, Rodney notices no changes and suspects he's being duped. He takes a whiff of the protein shakes the others are sipping and instantly knows he's been had. When Rodney confronts Brick after hours, he reveals a chilling fact: "I can pick up the scent of fresh human breast milk from a mile away." There's no point in Brick denying it, and while Rodney might have overlooked actual steroids, his duties as a health inspector compel him to report the "health-code disaster" he's uncovered. Brick panics – selling the good stuff is the sole means by which he's kept the Brick House afloat, and Lil will lose her job if her employers discover her side gig. As the gym owner hastily attempts to flush the evidence down the drain, Rodney reveals his true colors – a black belt in karate who isn't deterred by a scrap. The two men engage in a tug-of-war, and Rodney surprisingly holds his own against a far more formidable adversary. That is, until Brick hurls a weight at Rodney, instantly crushing his throat. Though Brick didn't intend to kill him, there's no going back now. He positions the lifeless body on the bench press and allows a heavy barbell to crash down on his neck, staging the murder as a gruesome accident.
In this particular episode, Rodney is hardly the sole sufferer of neck woes. Charlie, still residing in Good Buddy's apartment, inadvertently strains her neck during a simple stretch. ("I just yawned," she clarifies later, "you know, one of those tired yawns. Aging sure has its embarrassing moments.") While sipping her coffee at Pour and Ponder, her new local café, Charlie catches sight of a flyer advertising spinal realignment services at the Brick House, a potentially enticing solution to her discomfort. An added incentive arises when she learns that Alex, her new café buddy and fellow regular, has been on the lookout for a nearby gym. Charlie invites Alex to join her, and soon they're both on their way.
Brick efficiently alleviates Charlie's neck pain, sweetening the deal by convincing both her and Alex to sign up for a trial membership. The free Brickbit fitness trackers, capable of pairing and offering access to the gym's social media app, BrickedIn, seal the deal. Before long, they're finding workout companions, perhaps more than just friends. While Charlie puffs on her vape between dumbbell curls, Rodney interrupts Alex attempting to bench press without a spotter. His male-oriented explanation about the importance of a spotter and muscle group rotation reveals a subtle spark between them, which Charlie immediately notices.
Unfortunately, Alex can't explore this connection as she and Charlie meet at the Brick House the following morning to find Rodney deceased. Alex's suspicions are immediately aroused: Why was Rodney bench pressing solo in the middle of the night? Why even use the bench press when he'd already trained his arms and chest earlier in the day? Charlie, however, insists on steering clear of the mystery. As she'd shared with Good Buddy earlier, she yearns for a normal life devoid of murder investigations. Her lukewarm enthusiasm for forming a bond with Alex, describing herself as a "lone wolf," is evident. While I wish Charlie's sudden aversion to attachments was more explicitly linked to her recent encounters with death, such as Maddy's murder in the previous episode and Bill's demise a couple before that, it's refreshing to see her acknowledge the peril and demise she attracts, alongside her desire to break free. For now, she's content to chalk Rodney's death up to a tragic accident, regardless of Alex's eagerness to investigate.
Meanwhile, Brick finds himself in grave jeopardy. Not because he's a murderer – the detectives find Rodney's death lacking in suspicion. However, their presence is enough to deter Lil from supplying the contraband Brick needs to sell, leaving his finances in peril. Desperate, Brick resorts to passing off soy-based infant formula as breast milk, causing the bodybuilders to suffer from gurgling stomachs and suspicions of being duped. Despite Charlie's inclination to ignore the gym's underlying tension, Alex, aware of Charlie's lie-detecting abilities, decides to confront Brick about Rodney's death in her presence. Charlie can't help but notice Brick's lies, yet she still hesitates to delve into a full investigation, mindful of the inherent dangers. It's only when the clues surrounding her – including an unappealing yet humorous detail: the smell of baby burps – suddenly come together that she realizes she can no longer suppress her innate crime-solving instincts. Brick is peddling human breast milk to his gym patrons to keep his business afloat, and he likely eliminated the health inspector who threatened to expose him.
It's somewhat exasperating that, despite Charlie's repeated warnings about the perils of meddling in murder investigations and confronting suspects head-on, she decides to venture to see Brick all by herself. She even syncs her Brickbit with his—I was half-expecting some fitness-tracker deus machina to intervene—and sets off for the sauna. There, she discovers that Brick had set a new record for barbell curls at 1:55 a.m., roughly the time when Rodney would have met his demise. In an unfortunate twist, Charlie inadvertently taps the heart icon beside the record ("I do not approve of murder workouts!" she insists, hastily attempting to reverse her action), sending Brick a notification and eliciting groans of relatable distress from those who have mistakenly liked a photo on Instagram during an ill-conceived scrolling spree.
Brick didn't intend to kill Rodney, but there's no denying his intentions to terminate Charlie when he traps her in the sauna and cranks up the heat to unbearable levels. With her pleas for assistance going unanswered, Charlie takes the next logical step and messages Alex through their linked Brickbits. Despite the sauna's temperature soaring, she performs heel raises, arm circles, lunges, and push-ups in rapid succession—a desperate, albeit cryptic, SOS. Clearly, "HELP" would have been more direct, but her message conveys the urgency nonetheless.
Alex slips into the gym unnoticed and manages to extricate Charlie from the sauna's clutches, only to encounter Brick on their way out. By this juncture, he's so desperate that he's willing to murder anyone who stands in his way, leading to the episode's second, weight-laden brawl. Just as Brick is about to crush the two women with a barbell, Lil bursts in, demanding answers. Rodney breaks down in tears, confessing his sins. His wife soothes him with a baby bottle filled with something sinister (yuck!), and instructs Charlie and Alex to call the police.
It's evident that the Brick House's days are numbered, a fact that weighs heavily on Charlie. "Another community bite the dust," she mourns over coffee at the Pour and Ponder. "If lies are what it takes to keep something afloat, it deserves to sink," Alex replies sincerely. Charlie notes that Alex has been unwaveringly truthful since they met—a rarity in Charlie's experience. Unlike nearly everyone else she's known, her new companion is steadfastly committed to honesty. And while this may be the reason Alex lacks other friends, it makes her the ideal partner for someone with Charlie's uncanny ability to sniff out bs.
