“The Hook” wasn’t just Poker Face’s season one finale—it was also, apparently, Rian Johnson’s “love letter” to Benjamin Bratt.

There are only two constants on the Peacock hit: lead character Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), and Bratt, whose steely security goon Cliff is on Charlie’s tail. Since his introduction in the show’s pilot, Cliff generally appears once an episode to miss Charlie by a hair. But the Johnson-scripted (and Janicza Bravo-directed) finale put Cliff front and center, tracking him as he tours the country in search of his elusive target. But eventually, tired of his assignment, he decides to turn on his boss, Sterling Frost (Ron Perlman), killing him and framing Charlie for the crime. 

Just as she’s done all year, Charlie evades the law. She then seeks Cliff’s help, not realizing that he’s responsible for Frost’s death. She eventually escapes Cliff’s grasp…only to wind up on the radar of Frost’s rival, Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman), who hired Cliff to carry out the murder. Meanwhile, FBI agent Luca Clark (Simon Helberg) returns to arrest Cliff. 

Early in the episode, Cliff chillingly recites the Blues Traveler’s “Hook” to Charlie: “The hook brings you back,” he says. It’s “inevitable.” At the end, on the verge of going to jail for the rest of his life, with a slick smile and a bloody eye, Cliff shakes his head and simply says, “inevitable.”

“In a way, there’s a cynical resignation,” says Bratt, “but I really believe there’s a twinkle in his eye because he knows he’ll be back.”

Vanity Fair: We finally got our big Cliff episode!

Benjamin Bratt: How about that finale? Holy cow.

I have to start with the most pressing question: What’s the initial reaction when you are told that the climax of the finale is going to be you getting punched in the face with a dildo ring?

No one told me that was going to happen. [Laughs.] I discovered it as I read the script for the first time, and I immediately fell into uncontrollable laughter. But that's really emblematic of Rian and his writing. He's got such a unique sensibility, and not only is masterful at building these mystery puzzles, but also inserting a quirky sensibility. So although it was surprising, it wasn't necessarily shocking, and it's just something you roll with. I'll probably include it in my reel: “The scene where I got stabbed in the eye with a dick ring.” It'll be my most memorable moment on the small screen.

Before getting deeper in “The Hook,” what was it about Poker Face and Cliff that originally convinced you to sign on?

I had been told that they wanted to offer me the role, and the first step was to have a conversation with Rian. They sent me the script, easily the best script that I had read in three years. Cliff remained a bit of an enigma, though. So I really wanted to talk to Rian. We got on the phone, and, obviously, I was a fan of his because he's just an incredible filmmaker, and I told him, "Look, my answer is already yes, but can you enlighten me as to what you're thinking?" He said, "Well, all I can tell you is that it'll all pay off, that it'll be worth it." And so with that promise, it was enough to jump on board. 

I showed up on set one day and Natasha said, "Oh boy, Rian loves you." I said, "Excuse me?" She said, "I just read a version of episode 10, which he's writing alone, and it is a straight-up love letter." [Laughs.] It was like Christmas morning, man. When I read it, I have to tell you, I was really quite moved at just how much he was bringing the story around to reveal who Cliff is as a person and what drives him. We learned a lot about him in the finale, so I count it as a real blessing, with real gratitude, to be able to play someone beyond a two-dimensional villain.

Once you dove into the finale script, was there a specific moment or scene that you were really looking forward to?

The “Hook.” I read that scene without knowing where those words had come from. I thought Rian had written a poem for this guy, true to Rian's own kind of quirky sensibility,. And this is the way Rian works—he never said, “Hey, this is where it comes from, this is what it's about.” He didn't direct it, so he wasn't even on set for it, and rather than call to ask him about it, with glee, I just Googled the first four lines, and it popped up in the form of the song: "The Hook,” from Blues Traveler. I was like, “Oh, okay, right, this episode is called ‘The Hook,’” and then I started rereading the whole episode and seeing that there were all these hook motifs throughout the story. 

And whether it was Cliff reciting this song, or Cliff's obsession with Burn Notice, these are just little flashes that really round out his complexity. He's not a cardboard villain; he's someone that has a life, an internal set of emotions. He's not a villain with malice. He's a villain with menace, but malice is a different thing. He doesn't do what he does with evil intent. He does what he does because he's practical; he's good at his job. I mean, he was trained as a soldier, and the first thing you learn as a soldier is to follow orders, and the second thing you learn is how to be a proficient killer. And he's both of those things, until, of course, his loyalty is tossed by the wayside and he has a different sense of mind about things.

How familiar were you with Burn Notice?

I think Rian’s smart enough to have designed this purely as a meta-moment, because Jeffrey Donovan—who's the actor in Burn Notice—is now a detective on Law & Order, a role that I played some 25 years ago. Beyond that, I don't have any familiarity with the show. But it's very indicative of the kind of person that Cliff is. He's a man of routine, a man of a certain kind of taste. There's almost something square about him.  

The thing that I found really interesting was that, while he does find Charlie to be a pain in the ass, I feel like he has a begrudging respect for her perseverance and ability to elude him. They are oddly similar in that they're both, ultimately, loners, survivors, and crafty in the way they manage to stay on their feet. There is something familiar in her that keeps him from outright despising her; he admires her pluck.

How did you want to play Cliff’s final moment? Between the evil laugh and smile, it’s really peak villain stuff.

In the moment, there's clearly a level of resignation to the circumstances; he's not going to fight it. But what was going through my mind, and part of the smile is, okay, yeah, she got me on this one. Up until that point, I think Cliff feels like he's beaten her in every instance. I mean, it's my own theory, but I think Cliff secretly relishes the idea that he's the only person who's consistently beaten Charlie at her own game. If you think about it, she's never once called bullshit on him, never caught him in a lie. 

And so, in a way, there's a cynical resignation, but I really believe there's a twinkle in his eye because he knows he'll be back. That's my thought about the character, and that's also my hope as an actor. I'm just putting that out there in the universe!

I mean, it sounds like Rian is obsessed with you, so I think you might be in line for a season 2 return and a Knives Out 3 role!

For the record, I never said that Rian Johnson's obsessed with me. [Laughs.] I said he wrote me a love letter!

Speaking of obsessed, I have to confess that my biggest pop culture disappointment of 2022 was not getting to see you back playing more pickup basketball as Doctor Strange’s Jonathan Pangborn. The sequel really needed a Pangborn scene at Rucker Park.

Oh man, you and me both. Yeah, it was disappointing, to be sure. But that's the way it goes sometimes, and the good news is that Marvel has many multiverses, and so we may find him someday down the road in one of them. Fingers crossed.