Pushing Daisies

Chuck gives Oscar (Paul Reubens) a piece of her hair so he can find out the truth about her smell. Emerson tells Ned he has a daughter but later blames carbon monoxide poisoning as the culprit for his sharing mood (but we know the potato was inserted in the tailpipe after he shared that information). High as a kite from a mood enhancer, Lily tells Olive Chuck’s her daughter. Oh my! All sorts of secrets came out of hiding tonight.

On the run from Ned after he told her he’s responsible for the death of her father, Chuck goes to the only other place she knows she’s welcome: Olive’s. And because it’s the last place he thinks to look, Ned scours the city before knocking on Olive’s door. But now that she and Chuck are friends, Olive’s not about to give her up. I was happy Chuck got to tell someone the real story of how she died and was resurrected by Ned, even if Olive ending up not believing her. I may have mentioned it before but I’ll mention it again: I am so glad these two are friends. Chuck does need someone other than Ned to talk to and Olive is usually there to scratch that itch. But since she can’t be entirely honest with her, Chuck is feeling the need to confide in someone else. It’s a good thing Oscar’s there.

Oscar, whom we met a few weeks ago, is back and drawn more than ever to Chuck’s smell of honey and death. He sought her out on her rooftop and admits to taking some hair from Digby’s butt because, like her, Digby smells of death. Oscar wants a piece of Chuck’s hair, too, but she doesn’t allow him to have it at first. Oscar is more interested in having Chuck tell him her secrets than discovering them in her hair. When Oscar offers Chuck her hair back, she takes it and refrains from telling Oscar her story. I, for one, am glad Chuck kept her secret because telling anyone can really get Ned in trouble. I just hope this isn't the last we see of Oscar. I think his fascination with Chuck’s smell is a little morbid but his presence brings a nice tension to the show.

Speaking of smelling dead, let me get to the case. Three dead insurance agents/adjustors keep Emerson and Ned occupied. Well, mostly Emerson since Ned’s thoughts are on Chuck. The first corpsicle, Victor Narramore (Jeff Marlow), is discovered by a snowplow operator. Victor isn’t sure how he was killed but the last thing he remembers is seeing a baseball bat with the word "kindness" on it flying at his face. The second and third corpsicles, Bill Richter (Michael Merton) and Ken Vandenick, are discovered on the lawn of heart-transplant hopeful Abner Newsome (Colby Paul). He’s been turned down numerous times as a bad insurance risk. He can’t be the murderer because of his bum ticker and his shriveled little legs. But when Emerson and Ned realize Abner told Madeline McClaine from the Wisher Wish Foundation of his desire to see the insurance guys drop dead, she took matters into her own hands. Emerson and Ned make it to Uber-Life Insurance just as Madeline’s about to send the latest insurance guy on the case, Steve Kaiser (Grant Shaud), to his maker. Her bonobo Bobo accidentally puts her car in gear and helps Madeline make another one of Abner’s wishes come true: He gets her heart. Was it just me or was that kid seriously caustic? Maybe all those years of wishing and hoping for his transplant made him sour. At least he was smiling on the operating table. And what kind of name is Abner? I don’t know any person under 70 who has that name. It’s like when Matthew Perry’s character was named Murray on Scrubs. I’m sorry but it’s definitely an old man’s name.

But lets bring it back to this show. Olive takes over pie-baking duties for Chuck and puts the whole bottle of mood enhancer into her pie. When Lily eats the entire thing, she feels its affects, and boy is she happy; so happy she hallucinates. She’s also a lot less guarded than usual. How fast do you think Olive will tell Chuck about the truth about her parentage? We know she can’t keep a secret. And what about Emerson’s bombshell? I’m so happy he’s opening up a bit more because he’s such an interesting character and I absolutely want to know more about him. I’ll even take the tidbits we get when he’s trying to get Ned to stop talking about Chuck. Speaking of which, I think she and Ned are going to be OK. Chuck needed to be mad so she could get over Ned's betrayal but I hope she doesn’t stay mad at him for not bringing her father back, however briefly. For all of us who’ve lost our fathers, I can’t imagine mine only being back for sixty seconds. I also can’t imagine not hating the person who has to take him away again.

The great words:
Narrator: “Chuck would never see [Ned] again. Not for as long as she lived.”

Vivian: “All this fuss about global warming.”
Lily: “Can’t happen soon enough if you ask me.”

Olive: “…I peeped my peeper out the peep hole…”

Oscar: “Then I guess the dog’s ass shavings will have to do.”

Ned: “You don’t need me to talk to the living.”

Emerson: “Freezer burn. Go ahead.”

Abner: “Actually I was wishing for a better knife so I could pop out its heart and use it as my own.”

The fabulous images:
• A double-barrel shotgun poking it’s way out of Vivian and Lily’s mail slot at Ned
• Olive removing the mistletoe from above Ned’s head as he stands in her doorway asking about Chuck
• Olive’s pajamas matching her wallpaper and her bedspread
• Emerson making a hole in the ice on the second corpsicle so Ned can get some skin-on-skin action
• Emerson removing Ned’s hand from his neck and staring accusingly at his index finger after he’s revived
• The frozen corpsicle breaking apart as the EMTs accidentally drop it on the ground
• Madeline pulling a ginormous gun on Emerson and Ned and Emerson dropping his much smaller gun…quickly

Random fact:
• Olive’s tell is answering questions with questions

I’m sure you’ve already heard that when the writer’s strike is resolved there’s a good chance Molly Shannon’s Dilly Balsam will become a regular. I’d love to see that happen. Any other stunt casting you’d like to see? I thought just for a moment Abner’s mom was Megan Mullally. I love that woman. I’d love to see her on this or any show.

Thoughts? Favorite moments or lines? Please feel free to share below. I think we won’t get another fresh episode until next year so until then feel free to check out our Online Video Guide for more Pushing Daisies.

Some things we know:
• Ned is Chuck’s boyfriend
• Emerson’s ok with lying by omission (well, and outright lying)
• Ned cleans when he’s upset
• Dilly really does stutter when she’s upset

There was a lot going on in tonight’s episode. We had the arrival of rival small business Balsam’s Bittersweets Taffy & Sweet Emporium and not one but two murder cases. And, of course, Ned’s confession to Chuck at the end of the episode. Let’s start with the highly anticipated (at least by me) arrival of Molly Shannon’s Dilly Balsam. Well, I guess I should really start with the arrival of Mike White’s Some Guy. I loved how he came into what would shortly be known as The Pie Ho to talk about the arrival of the new candy shop. Ned, Olive, and Chuck do the neighborly thing and offer a welcome gift in the form of one of Ned’s delicious and pungent pies. The only problem is that all the customers love the smell of the pie so much that they leave Dilly’s store and head over to The Pie Hole. Dilly sees what they’re doing and declares war, much to Ned’s horror. He’s happy to coexist peacefully and without confrontation but Dilly has other plans.

After health inspector Andrew Brown (Steve Hytner) pays The Pie Ho a surprise visit and shuts the place down, Emerson, Olive, and Chuck want Ned to retaliate. Ned’s against it but Chuck and Olive break into Dilly’s place and liberate some rats in the shop. When Ned hears about it he goes to collect the rats and accidentally touches Billy, who met his untimely demise in the taffy vat. He doesn’t have a chance to ask him about his murderer before Dilly shows up with the police and has Ned thrown in jail. Is it just me or does Ned look kind of cute in his orange jumpsuit? Things don’t seem to be going too badly for him in the big house until he meets his new cellmate Burly Bruce (Michael Cornacchia). Considering Ned’s the one who got Bruce locked up he’s not too pleased to see him at first.

Burly Bruce believes his girlfriend Sheila murdered his friend Tony DiNapoli. The only problem with that is Sheila’s a doll. No, not that kind of doll. She’s a Lars and the Real Girl kind of doll. When Burly Bruce invites his friend Tony and his girlfriend Tina (Abbe Meryl) over for a double date and Tony has the audacity to insinuate Sheila’s not real things get violent. Bruce believes Sheila’s guilty of Tony’s murder but it’s really Bruce who’s the culprit. But after Ned gets to know a little more about Bruce’s relationship with Sheila he doesn’t think it’s that horrible to be living in such a detailed dream world. Bruce is happy and he’s created a pretty wonderful imaginary world. Ned can’t fault Bruce for finding happiness with a fake woman. At least Chuck’s real. A real pain.

Chuck cleverly goads Emerson into using his rusty detective skills to solve Billy Balsam’s murder the old fashioned way. The coroner helps by telling them Billy bit off the finger of his killer. They can’t get a print from it however, since it’s been percolating in Billy’s acid-filled stomach. Instead they get Olive to distract Dilly so they can go into the store and inspect the crime scene. They deduce that there was a struggle and get the handprints (instead of fingerprints) of the killer. Health inspector Andrew Brown did it. He’d been blackmailing the Balsams for the surprise inspection to The Pie Ho. When things got heated between Andrew and Billy, Andrew ended up with nine digits and Billy ended up in the vat. Ned is released from jail but Andrew remains at large. Dilly makes sure he’ll never be found.

And what about the romantic relationships, you ask? How are those resolved? Ned, who had been acting strange and distant, blurts out that he killed Chuck’s father. I understand that he was overcome with emotion but it probably wasn’t the best time to confess to that particular crime. And Olive finally realizes Alfredo’s in love with her. But it’s too late. She was too distracted to hear him tell her earlier about going back out on the road to sale his wares. Who knows when he’ll be back?

Fun visuals:
• The picture of the founder of Ned’s school and his barking dog
• Young Ned jumping into the pile of dead leaves and turning them green again
• Tina’s photo coming to life to ask for Emerson’s help
• Burly Bruce using Sheila to kill Tony
• The scene right out of The Birds with Dilly

Usually I quote a number of lines but tonight I thought I’d keep it short:

Narrator: “Happiness born out of passion is short lived.”

Emerson: “Well that was a crime of passion.”
Ned: “What? It was a minute. I’m having a bad day.”

Dilly: “What I see I want. What I want I take.”

Chuck: “Footloose and finger free.”

Narrator: “The truth could knock all it wanted but Burly Bruce would never open the door.”

Ned: “Yay to not telling the truth.”

What did you think about tonight’s developments? I’m glad Olive seems to be ready to move on. I do enjoy all the crazy things she does and says to get Ned’s attention but I’d like her to have a requited relationship. To that end I hope we see more of Alfredo (Raul Esparza) very soon. I’m also very pleased Ned and Chuck are officially dating. I’m even glad Ned confessed to killing Chuck’s father. I think some build up to spilling the truth would have been better, but it’s good that Chuck knows. I think they can recover from this. Now we’ve got to find someone for Emerson. She needs to have a frightening love of money and not be afraid of a man who knits. Do you have any suggestions as to which actress might make a good match? And on an entirely separate note I’d like see the Darling Mermaid Darlings next week.

Pushing Daisies returns in two weeks. In the meantime, check out our Online Video Guide for more.

Tonight we finally learned why Ned decided to become a pie maker and how he became so set in his ways. The smell of pies reminded 9 year-old Ned of his mother and feeling safe, loved, and warm. He knows he can’t eat the pies but he derives pleasure from making them nonetheless. Years later when Chuck buys cupcake pans and suggests offering cup-pies on the menu, we get a glimpse of how averse Ned is to change. Can you really blame him? I can’t even imagine the trauma of having a bearskin rug come alive beneath me.

I really enjoyed Chuck enlisting Olive in her scheme to get the Darling Mermaid Darlings (DMD) back in the water. Hard nut Lily really likes torturing Olive and I like seeing just how far her invective will go. Olive does her best to put Phase 2 in motion but Lily passes her fleeting smile off as gas.

Our mystery death of the week involves apprentice Anita Gray. She works for olfactory genius Napoleon LeNez (Chistopher Sieber), who is publishing a book on smell. When she’s killed in LeNez’s lab Chuck, Ned, and Emerson visit LeNez but not before being subjected to his decontamination chamber. His nose is so delicate he has to cleanse people before they’re allowed to be in his air space. LeNez’s sense of smell is so good that he smells death on Chuck. He explains it away as the components of her perfume but Chuck almost exposes her secret by saying she doesn’t wear a scent.

Since LeNez’s book is being pushed up, Emerson figures there’s an angry author out there blaming LeNez for the cancellation of his book. His theory takes them to a pop-up bookstore where author Chas Spielman (Tim Conlon) is working on a pop-up for adults. Ned mistakes it as a book for perverts but Emerson confiscates it and a few other books as part of the investigation.

Back at The Pie Hole a drain clogged with a sewer sock leads the team to LeNez’s ex-lab partner Oscar Vibenius (Paul Reubens). LeNez and Vibenius parted ways when Oscar thought they should appreciate both the good and the bad smells together. LeNez stayed in the world aboveground while Vibenius retreated to the world below. Chuck, Ned, and Emerson descend to the sewers and stumble upon Oscar, who it appears they’ve caught in the act of trying to blow up LeNez’s car.

Chuck is forced to stay home when Ned and Emerson go to be interviewed for a piece on LeNez. Chuck visits Olive who is decked out in all her DMD finery. Olive also gives Chuck one of her sweaters, given to Olive by Chuck’s aunts. There is some crying. And While Emerson gives his interview, and can’t help but shill for himself, Ned does a little snooping. He finds evidence that LeNez is behind Anita’s death and his incinerated car. With all the publicity LeNez is getting pre-sales on his book have skyrocketed. He traps Ned and Emerson in his decontamination chamber and plans to kill them but Oscar saves the day and helps knock LeNez off his pedestal. The only problem is that Oscar is now obsessed with Chuck. He smells something on her he’s never smelled before and he’s got to find out what it is.

There is so much great dialogue to appreciate. Here’s some good stuff:

Olive: “…unless that’s not a rolling pin under your apron.”

Chuck: “Pungent.”
Emerson: “Pungent like friend chicken grilled on a bed of hair.”

Emerson: “Death by scratch-n-sniff. What the hell happened to people shooting each other with guns?”

LeNez: “Don’t speak. A smell tells so much more.”

Emerson: “Your book was a bomb.”
LeNez: “Who are you to criticize my life’s work?”

Emerson: “…I’m getting me some cash potpourri.”

Emerson: “I love pop-up books. And if the secret cash cow I worship is mooing down on us our killer likes pop-ups too.”

Emerson: “…I ain’t your paps. Paps has a lady connotation.”

Olive: “Look carefully ladies. This is your future.”
Lily: “Is it Vodka?
Olive: “Water.”
Lily: “As in Russian for water?”

Chuck: “I may be clean but my mind’s in the gutter.”
Ned: “Dirty thoughts? Lascivious pinings?”

Chuck: “He’s not a very good killer. He keeps blowing things up but never who he wants to blow up.”

Olive: “Do me. Do me. What do I smell like?”

LeNez: “When I suggested you leave I didn’t mean the penthouse. I meant this mortal coil.”

The look of the show is always arresting, but I wanted to highlight a few fun visuals:
• Ned struggling with flowers for Chuck’s bees
• Anita’s grandmother and smoking neck hole
• LeNez sniffing Emerson, Ned, and then Chuck
• Chuck pretending to be a bear and making bear-claw hands
• Ned catching the zip-locked sock
• Chuck, Ned, and Emerson following the yellow thick hose
• Olive hopping around in her DMD outfit and posing
• Vivian singing in the rain and the DMDs performing

Random fun facts:
• Emerson reads Knit Wit Magazine and loves pop-up books
• Chuck fears CHUDs – Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers
• Lily thinks chlorine tablets are like bottled sunshine

I wanted to send a special thank you to Katie for blogging for me last week while I was on vacation. I really enjoyed her comments. And it looks like Oscar is recurring so I'm looking foward to seeing what kind of trouble he stirs up for Chuck and Ned. I'm also very excited about Molly Shannon and Mike White being in next week's episode. Is it just me or does this confection just get sweeter and sweeter?

How about you? What did you think of tonight’s episode? If you need a little Pushing Daisies cup-pie to brighten your day check out our Online Video Guide.

Written by guest blogger Katie Bottner


Chuck and Ned fans, I can hear you breathing a sigh of relief that the Olive/Ned kiss was just a dream sequence. Though for a moment I thought that was real Chuck that tripped and was going to fall on Ned — I got scared for a second there. But alas it was all in Ned’s head as he became conflicted over being able to touch Olive but being in love with Chuck. And lucky for us, poor Emerson got to once again be the soundboard for this dilemma. Kudos go to Olive for coming clean to Chuck about the kiss, which Ned did not mention, but I feel sad for Olive — and my sadness for her deepened throughout this episode.

The facts of the case are these: One Harold Hundin (Joel McHale), president of a local kennel and breeder of the perfect dog, Bubblegum, is found dead. As we know, "where there is a reward, there is Emerson Cod," who with Ned and Chuck found out at the morgue that Harold was murdered by his wife. Simple? Not so much — he had four wives.

Emerson let Olive play detective with them this week — but just play play, not for money. I loved seeing them all on the case again like in the last episode. The montage of each one undercover with each of the wives was great. I think Ned’s was my favorite — his alias was Mr. Digby and Digby's was Ned, and he used the therapy session to sort out his own issues with Chuck and Olive. Olive, in her red wig, was too cute as usual. Did you catch that little backstory we got on her horse being named Pie, and after its death her finding The Pie Hole?

A poisoned cup of coffee pointed to the fourth wife, Hallie, the Seeing Eye dog instructor, but after being brought back on the case — thanks to the blind children — Emerson and the gang believed that Hallie was framed by one of the other wives. When it is discovered that Bubblegum was alive — after being believed run over by third-wife Simone the same day Harold died — the finger gets pointed at dog breeder competitor Snuppy. Snuppy, unbeknownst to the wives, made a deal to buy Bubblegum from Harold before he died, as he had plans to mass-market the perfect pooch.

Emerson slowly starts to put the case together... through his dreams. When he goes to confront the suspected killer, Simone, she ties him up, and we find out that she has Bubblegum and he's still alive. By the time Emerson breaks free and gets to The Pie Hole to fill everyone in, they are too late: Snuppy has been murdered. They hatch a clever plan to take Snuppy to the funeral and awaken him from the dead in front of the wives to see which one is the real killer. This works flawlessly, as the first wife, Hillary, runs screaming from the church. Hillary, being the first wife — and for a while the only wife — was not happy about how her life had turned out, and when she found out about Harold’s plans for Bubblegum, who was like a child to her, she only wanted to spare him the type of shared existence that she had lived.

I must admit, at the end I was distracted by my wallowing at seeing Ned and Chuck sitting in front of the gazebo. But not just any gazebo — those Gilmore Girls fans out there know what I am talking about. And was that the town of Stars Hollow in the background? Ah, I digress…. Thank goodness I have Pushing Daisies to ease my disappointment over the loss of Gilmore Girls.

The ending was perfect, with Olive letting go of Ned (somewhat) and giving him her blessing for his relationship with Chuck, and Ned telling Chuck she is the only one for him. Awww…

Of course, one of the best parts of the show is the dialogue. Here are a few of my favorites:

Emerson: "Someone in love is like a gangsta. They be like, 'Oh baby, you bleeding. How did that happen?' while they're hiding the razor in their weave."

Olive: "You don’t touch. I have been watching — not obsessively, but I have been paying attention. You don’t touch." And "That’s the most tragic story I have ever heard — notwithstanding the big-ticket items like genocide and famine. But tragic nonetheless."

Emerson: "Now that’s gangsta love. Don’t you worry, ol’ honey is going to get what’s coming to her."

Olive: "They make children for their polygamy cult?"

Olive: "Pickle loves some D&G. [Digby barks] He'd like to know if that comes in green?"

Ned to Emerson: "Your conscience calls you on the telephone?"

Chuck: "You’re taking money from blind children?"
Emerson: "I suppose I could pay my bills with the blind kids' smiles — but their money is a lot easier."

Emerson: "Why do I always have to be here for this stuff?"

Emerson: "The never-been-dead kind of alive."

Narrator: "Olive pondered the black mark on her relationship with the pie maker she feared was inked with a permanent marker."

Emerson: "I don’t work for Snuppy. A bunch of blind kids with too much money paid me to exonerate your sister-wife Hallie."

Emerson: "See, that’s what’s rubbing me. If she was gangsta, she would have busted a cyanide cap in my ass the minute I sniffed out her dog — but she didn’t."

Emerson: "Would you prop him up? He looks like a wino on New Year's."

Chuck to Ned: "I’m going to hug Digby and pretend he’s you."

Other mentionables:
• Missed the Darling Mermaid Darlings this week
• Poor young Ned and his sad Play-Doh family
• The puppy store being called, "Snuppy’s Puppies."
• The squeaky toy in Emerson’s mouth
• Emerson’s fear of the dark from being locked in a washer for two nights as a child
• I think Emerson and third-wife Simone make a good couple.
• The Vertigo homage in Emerson’s dream

Next week's episode guest-stars Molly Shannon, who opens a saltwater-taffy store to rival The Pie Hole. And Kara will be back to recap the show.

If you need a second helping of Pushing Daisies, check out our Online Video Guide.

Comment away my fellow PDAs (Pushing Daisies addicts). I am eager to hear your thoughts and favorite quotes.

Interesting episode title and interesting episode. And by interesting I mean excellent, as usual.

I like that we spent some serious time with Olive this week. I know many of you love her, and tonight we got a little glimpse into Olive’s past. Since she’s so short — 4' 11" to be exact — it would make sense that she was a jockey in a former life. She’s one of the sport’s best and brightest until a tragic accident brings her career to an end. When Olive’s jockey friends start going to that big racetrack in the sky, Olive knows she needs Emerson’s help to discover what’s really going on. She’s afraid the ghost of John Joseph Jacobs (Hamish Linklater) is returning to kill every jockey who crossed the finish line in the race that cost him his life. Turns out his witchy (with a b) mother (Barbara Barrie) has been impersonating him — on a horse that breathes fire, no less — to revenge the earnings and glory her son lost in that race. And better yet, he’s still alive and about 2 feet taller — his destroyed legs were surgically replaced with the legs of his beloved horse "All That Gold."

On the Ned and Chuck front, Chuck and then Emerson catch Ned in lies. Halloween is Ned’s least favorite holiday — he doesn’t decorate or celebrate — because he discovered his father’s secret on that day many years ago: His father has a new family. Every year after that Ned revisits his old house to remember his happy childhood and instead of helping with the case, Ned returns to his childhood home again. But this year Ned discovers everyone in town thought his father was a jacka-- and they’re glad Ned doesn’t take after him in any way. Another important realization Ned has while he’s home is that Chuck has been sending her aunts pies from his shop. For the first time, Ned really seems to understand what Chuck is giving up by pretending to be dead.

I know many of you still don’t appreciate all the narrator has to offer but I loved that he started the episode with some rhyming voiceover. I’m still a fan. I also enjoyed the fire-breathing horse and loved the ghost angle — oh so appropriate for Halloween. At first I thought they might explain the horse away somehow but I’m pretty happy they didn’t. It made me laugh and added to the overall drama.

I know some of you have been debating the family friendliness of this show but I think my favorite, favorite thing was the name of that ill-fated horse race: Jock Off 2000. Come on! It’s genius. Not so genius? Ned’s dad. How old do you think his new sons were? I think they’re probably not Ned’s biological brothers but for a moment I was thinking very dark, evil things should happen to Ned’s father.

But on to happier things... how sweet was it that Ned thinks his gift is magic? I like that he thought about it and decided it was magic. I guess there aren’t too many other things it could be though. And it was somewhat bittersweet at the end when Olive got what she’s been craving from Ned for a while: a kiss. Unfortunately for her, he couldn’t put her down fast enough to go to his injured Chuck.

Great lines:
Olive: "Yeah, I guess I know Ned better than you do and now I know you better than Ned does."

Emerson: "Check please. Or cash. Cash is good."
Olive: "I want to hire you. Technically I already have since you were so grabby with the cash."
Emerson: "Think of it in escrow between my thighs."

Emerson: "The money don’t care. Touch him."

Chuck: "You go and do whatever private secret alone thing you need to go do by yourself. Alone."

Mrs. Jacobs: "You’re a modest dresser as always."

Mrs. Jacobs to Chuck: "What did you say your name was? Brandon? Butch?"

Lily: "I don’t know how we survived without it. It’s like a sex addiction.... I would imagine."

Olive: "Don’t you owe it to your horse to stand up on his two legs and get out there and live?"

Olive: "Tell Ned I love… his pies."

Fun visuals:
• Olive jumping for joy on her bed. And falling off of it.
• Lily and Vivian’s heads exploding
• Mud flying up in Olive’s face on her fake horse during the race
• Emerson’s conversation with Olive’s money
• Ned petting Digby with Lem’s arm
• Olive trying to open the casket and dangling off the ground
• Digby in his ghost costume next to 9-year-old Ned
• Mrs. Jacob’s crazy wallpaper house with the lawn jockeys
• Olive digging around under her mattress for booze
• Olive’s nose covered in ashes

I can't wait to hear your thoughts.

I’ll see you back here in two weeks (the CMAs preempt us next Wednesday night on ABC). If you need a Pushing Daisies fix in the meantime, visit our Online Video Guide.

Another Wednesday, another delightful episode.

Poor Ned. It looks like he’s gone through most of his life being lonely. After he discovered his "gift," he kind of lost touch with people. Sensing something is amiss with Ned, Digby sets off to find him, but he somehow knows he and Ned aren’t allowed to touch. The only reason I’m willing to go along with this little leap in logic is because this show is a fantasy. Well, that’s not the only reason. I don’t really have a problem with Digby being an extremely smart doggie who is able to infer "the rules" of Ned’s gift, but I did think we’d get a little more on how Digby’s managed to stay so youthful all these years. I know quite a few of you had questions about that as well.

OK, that’s my only quibble. Ned, Chuck and Emerson go to investigate a plane crash after Emerson smells some money in the suspicious circumstances. In the apartment, Chuck and Ned have a near-miss touching incident that leads to Chuck being in another man’s arms. Ned is none too pleased by this. He’s so distracted, in fact, he asks Conrad Fitch to stop touching his girl. Much to Ned’s chagrin, Chuck stays behind when he and Emerson go to the morgue to investigate the case. The coroner is suspicious but Ned does his thing and discovers the plane was hijacked. Fifty-three-year-old pilot Bradan Caden didn’t commit suicide as his insurance company assumed.

While Ned, Chuck and Emerson follow their leads, Olive takes an injured bird and Chuck’s pie to Aunts Lily and Vivian. And something happens to her while she’s there: She starts to like them. Together they fix the carrier pigeon and when the bird makes its escape, Olive convinces them to give chase. They end up at N.A.R.M. Ned, Chuck and Emerson also end up there. But let me back up.

After Ned gets the information he needs from Bradan Caden, he and Emerson return to Conrad’s apartment. They discover the real Conrad stuffed into his coffee-table trunk. That means the man they met earlier is the escaped convict who hijacked Bradan Caden’s plane. Ned finds Chuck holding hands with said convict at the Pie Hole and is more than a little perturbed. He tries to stop the mystery man from getting away, only to be left with his detachable arm. They discover the escaped convict is Lefty Lem (Dash Mihok), in jail for a white-collar crime at an energy company. His cell mate, Jackson Lucas, was in the clink for a diamond heist. Emerson sees an opportunity for an even bigger payday.

Ned reanimates Jackson to get the location of the diamonds. They also discover Lefty Lem also knows that information. In search of the mill that houses the diamond treasure, Ned, Chuck and Emerson go to a mill curator for information and that’s how they end up at N.A.R.M.: the National Area of Retired Mills. Turns out Lefty Lem and Elsita (Jayma Mays), the current resident of the mill, have been corresponding via the carrier pigeon. Just as Ned, Chuck and Emerson are about to break up this happy party, Olive does something curious. Realizing she doesn’t want to see the Darling Mermaid Darlings in pain, she prevents Lily and Vivian from seeing Chuck. Olive might be jealous that Chuck has Ned’s heart but she’s not heartless. Emerson barges in on the party after Olive and the aunts have cleared out. He calls the police and counts his cash as the cops try to cuff Lefty Lem and take him back to jail. Elsita promises to keep corresponding with Lefty. Back on Ned’s rooftop, he and Chuck dance in their bee suits.

Favorite lines:
Emerson: "Is that a dead bird? Why you touching a dead bird? Throw that away. It’s swimming with disease and you serve food."
Olive: "Don’t be such a drama queen."

Ned: "It’s raining dead birds."

Emerson: "Because Big Daddy needs some new yarn."

Ned: "I can’t catch her, Emerson."
Emerson: "You can’t suck on her toes neither. [crickets] Some women like that."

Coroner: "Well then. Flies land on me they pay rent."

Ned: "DNA-ish."

Lily: "Uh hum. It's a carrier pigeon."
Olive: "Diseases or messages?"
Lily: "Both."
Vivian: "A bird with gossip. How exciting."

Ned: "Was this the hand you were holding?"

Chuck: "If you’re referring to the touching thing, I see it as more of an obstacle than a problem."

Elsita: "Oh, no. You didn’t use bows to tie me up did you? You take a hostage like you tie your sneakers."

Some funny visuals:
• Olive forcing Ned to put his hand on her chest and moving it to the rhythm of her heart. When Emerson happens upon them, Ned can’t pull his hand away fast enough.
• Olive ripping off a taxidermied parrot’s wing and giving it to Lily to bejewel on the wounded carrier pigeon.
• Emerson using Ned’s hand to slap the windmill curator awake only to discover she’s not actually dead, she's just got a bad case of narcolepsy.
• Elsita revealing the hiding place for the diamonds is her fake wooden leg.

Random things:
• Chuck’s been a stay-at-home juror
• Vivian giggles, something she apparently hasn’t done in years.
• Looks like Lily has an eye-patch for every occasion.

Did you recognize Jayma Mays as Charlie from both Heroes and Ugly Betty?

Did you see Chuck touch Ned in the graveyard? I don’t know if she actually touched him but her hand got awfully close to him. I DVRed back a few times to see if I could make out whether or not there was contact in that dark cemetery. Thoughts?

I love it when Kristin Chenowith's Olive sings, so I liked her duet with Ellen Greene's Vivian. I also enjoyed Lily’s surly attitude to their singing. I really enjoy Swoosie Kurtz.

As always, I’m looking forward to your thoughts on the episode.



If you want another delicious slice of Pushing Daises, check out our Online Video Guide.

Hi all. You may have already heard but Ausiello just broke the news about a full season pickup. Yay! How's that for having your pie and eating it, too? Sorry, I really couldn't resist.

Chuck was bound to find out sooner or later that there’s a price to be paid for reviving and keeping her alive. I’m glad she found out tonight, although the way Emerson sprung Lawrence’s corpse on her and Ned wasn’t that nice.

And the Darling Mermaid Darlings made another appearance. I, too, missed them in last week’s episode and was pleased to see them return. The funniest sight gag from tonight’s episode is their mermaid-fish-tail-shaped garment bags. I TiVoed back (well, really DVRed back; I don’t have TiVo) to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. I’m still totally enamored of this show.

Let’s spend some time with the corpse, who we already met in the "Pie Lette." Lawrence Schatz (Brad Grunberg) was the dirty funeral director who unwittingly gave his life to bring Chuck back from the dead permanently. Ned felt he could justify Lawrence’s death because Lawrence was a grave-robber; he had been separating corpses from family heirlooms for years. Convinced his twin brother was murdered, Louis Schatz hires Emerson to discover the truth. Obviously Emerson already knows the truth but he’s trying to protect Ned. Well, he’s really trying to protect his income. He doesn’t want anyone else to take the case and discover what Ned’s capable of. Well, everyone except Chuck.

When Chuck finds out the cost of letting her live — and after those sweet plastic-wrapped kisses they shared — she looks at Ned like he’s no longer her knight in shining armor. To take her mind off Ned, she bakes her aunts (who she desperately misses) a pie with some of Alfredo’s happy juice in it. Olive goes out of her way to deliver the pie — how hilarious was she at the gate and going to the front door? The Darling Mermaid Darlings let her in and through talking with them Olive assumes Chuck faked her own death. She doesn’t know why, but Olive’s going to keep this information in her arsenal until she can find the right time to use it.

Whoops, back to the case. After Lawrence was exposed as a grave-robber, his twin, Louis, received 1,867 hate letters. Chuck, ever one to do a good deed for the dead, takes the time to catalog them. She wants to find all the missing family heirlooms and get them returned to the proper families. Ned reanimates Lawrence to apologize for killing him. Chuck thanks him, and just before time runs out, Emerson asks Lawrence about the heirlooms. Lawrence says grave-robbing is a family business and his brother knows exactly where the treasures are.

When Ned finds Louis’ body in his refrigerator, he determines (with Emerson’s help) that he’s been set up. With the cops pounding on his door, Ned reanimates Louis to get him out of there. Back at the funeral home the gang wants to put Louis back where he died so he can be discovered there by the police. Ned accidentally touches a few corpses (so, so funny), but the one person he can’t put back to sleep is Wilfred Woodruff. Wilfred watched Louis choke on his tongue (the cow tongue, of course) before recovering his family heirloom.

As always, there were many lines I enjoyed. Here are a few of my favorites:

Olive: "Why can’t sugar be enough?"

Coroner: "I could write a book on hand moisturizer. Nobody wants the last thing they’ve been touched with to be ashy and dry."

Alfredo: "It’s homeopathic."
Olive: "Meaning it deeply related to gay people."
Alfredo: "Gay only in that they are bright and happy."

I also am enjoying Chi McBride’s comic turn in this series. We’ve seen him in a number of dramatic roles (remember him on House?) but I think his forte is comedy. He just keeps the funny going and it’s especially nice to see considering how many dead people populate this show. There were other laugh-out-loud moments, namely Ned reanimating the two corpses at the funeral home. The funniest scene, though, was Ned trying to put Wilfred back to sleep. The way Ned kept touching his face and the way Wilfred reacted to it was really hilarious — I’m laughing just thinking about it.

And Hurricane Olive met a kindred spirit in The Pie Hole (as in shut yours). She couldn’t recognize Alfredo Aldarisio (Raul Esparza) for what he is as she’s hung up on Ned, but he fixed her espresso machine. Is it weird he sells happiness in a bottle? I don’t think so. I also enjoyed Wilfred Woodruff’s backstory. It’s little touches like that that make this show so delightful.

Questions:
• Now that Chuck knows the price of Ned keeping her alive, how long do you think it will take for her to discover what really happened to her father?
• When and how do you think Olive will use the knowledge she has about Chuck?
• When are we going to see what else Emerson’s been knitting?

I’d love to hear your favorite lines and your thoughts about tonight’s episode. If you need a second helping of Pushing Daises, check out our Online Video Guide and this Q&A.

Color me charmed, again. If you don’t like quirky this is definitely not the show for you. I think at least one, if not a few of you, expressed concerns about the procedural element of the show. If Ned can touch someone and ask who killed them, their cases are going to be pretty cut and dried. But as we saw in this episode, they were given what Chuck called a clue but Emerson called evidence to help them solve the case.

New things we learned:
• Emerson is a closet knitter. That knitting needle definitely came in handy when they were trapped in those body bags. And he makes a mean gun cozy.
• Chuck knows Japanese. Living with her shut-in Aunts, Chuck developed a curiosity about the world. She learned quite a few languages before her untimely demise.
• The narrator will never lie to us. I know some of you aren’t big fans, but I still love how Jim Dale is the voice of reason. Even when every single person is spouting nothing but lies, Jim tells the truth.

Let’s get to the case. The corpse is Bernard Slaybaugh (Jonathan Mangum). He’s 35 and married, an engineer working on the Dandy Lion SX, a car of the future. When Ned reanimates him, Chuck does waste some of their time asking about any last requests but I think that she does that. She knows what it feels like to come back from the dead and I think she wants these people to be at peace. In the meantime, Emerson is only interested in getting enough information to get his monetary reward and Ned just wants to make sure to touch them again before the minute is up. I did, however, enjoy their whole back-and-forth about whether or not Emerson is God, especially since Bernard is Buddhist. Just before his time is up, Bernard tells them a crash test dummy killed him. I also have to say the presentation of the corpses wasn’t that bad. Last week’s dog-mauling victim wasn’t too graphic and considering Bernard was run over by a car, he looked pretty normal. Thanks for not grossing me out.

So Chuck, Ned, and Emerson go to the company in search of Bernard’s true love — Jeanine from promotions. She’s a bit of a binge-purge eater but she loved Bernard and knew something was up when he started working later and later with the imminent launch of the car. Her Dandy Lion SX also blows up as she leads them to more evidence. After Chuck, Ned, and Emerson discover one of the crash test dummies is missing its face they decide to go back that night. In place of the dummies, they find corpses. Ned brings two of them back and discovers they were all killed — naturally, from accidents — and they’ve agreed to become crash test dummies in death. They are discovered by a crash test dummy and stunned. Upon waking up they find they’re all tied up in body bags. Ned and Chuck share a kiss while Emerson frees himself from them. The crash test dummy, revealed to be car inventor Mark Chase (Patrick Fabian), pursues them as they escape. Mark Chase is sent to jail, Emerson puts his money in a sock he’s knitted, Jeanine gets some nutritional help, and Ned reveals to Chuck the addition of a glass partition in his car. Now she can call shotgun. And he’s added a hole with a glove, just the right size for Chuck’s hand. He claims it’s for driving emergencies but Chuck knows it’s really so they can hold hands.

Some favorite lines:

Ned: “She said she didn’t climb out of a coffin for me to keep her in a box.”

Emerson: “The fun part’s counting my money in the bubble bath.”
Ned: “Nice image.”

Olive: “What’s the poop…poop, the scoop, the haps, the dealio, the 411. P.I. lingo.”

Chuck: “Don’t you have any hidden talents or hobbies? I mean regular ones.”

I’m really enjoying this show. I just find the characters' quirks more and more endearing. I like that they’re unexpected and I love that we’re getting to know them all better. Ned’s so scared of sharing himself with anyone but Chuck finally seems to breaking through all his defenses.

And what about Olive’s rendition of “Hopelessly Devoted to You?" I know a few of you mentioned wanting Kristin Chenoweth to sing and you got your wish. So far, I’m a pretty big fan of Olive. Kristin’s a great comic actress and although Olive’s probably doomed to love Ned unrequitedly, there’s probably only so long that whole “no-touching” thing is going to play for Chuck and Ned. I think someone mentioned options for getting around it, but I think I either read or heard Bryan Fuller say Chuck and Ned would never be allowed to touch. Ever. Ouch.

Before I forget, I also liked the opening with Ned as a kid. It was funny seeing those reanimated frogs hop around and freak his classmates out. But then all those birds died. I definitely wouldn’t want what Ned’s got.

Thanks for all your great comments so far. If you want more finger-linking good action on Pushing Daisies, check out our Online Video Guide.

I’m thoroughly charmed by this show. I was a little afraid all the great things I’ve been hearing would lead to disappointment, but I must admit I loved the episode.

The rules:

• Ned’s first touch to something dead brings life, the second brings death forever.
• If the person he brings back stays alive for more than one minute, someone else in close proximity will die.

Ever since Ned (Lee Pace) was able to bring his trusty golden retriever Digby back from the dead, he has known he has the gift of reanimation. He was 9 when he found out. Unfortunately he didn’t realize his gift came with a price until he revived his mother only to watch his next-door neighbor and best friend Charlotte, aka Chuck (Anna Friel), Charles’ father die as a result. Soon after, Ned is shipped off to boarding school, and Chuck goes to live with her aunts, also known as the Darling Mermaid Darlings because of their synchronized-swimming careers. But before they are parted, they share a first kiss.

Nineteen years later Ned is obsessed with pie making — his gift of bringing the dead to life also works on fruit — and has avoided forming any close personal relationships. He has a business partner — private investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride), with whom he works murder cases. Ned uses his gift to find out why and how victims are murdered and splits the reward money with Emerson. I have to admit I was a little worried about how this procedural element would fit into this modern-day fairy tale. But I think it’s pretty seamless. Ned, Emerson and now Chuck can use Ned’s gift to be sleuths. Considering what happened to Chuck, I’m sure she wants to make other corpses who were once in her position get some justice and maybe a bit of closure.

But let me back up for a moment. Ned poses as a dog expert to get into the morgue to see Leonard Gaswint. Gaswint's dog, Cantaloupe, is accused of mauling him to death and will soon be put to sleep. Leo’s family is offering a reward for the real culprit. Ned does his thing and finds out Leo’s secretary sicced her Rottweiler on him. It might just be me, but that doesn’t seem like a good way to go. I’ve known one Rottweiler in my lifetime and although I’m not a dog person, she was sweet to me. But that’s probably only because I fed her and played in the yard with her. She wasn’t my dog.

And how does Ned run into the recently deceased Chuck? There’s a reward posted for information about her death, so Emerson brings Ned to the funeral home where she’s currently resting in peace. When Ned brings her back and discovers how she died but not the identify of the person who killed her, he can’t fathom putting her back to sleep forever. The dirty funeral director takes a permanent dirt nap after Chuck’s 60 seconds is up.

Here’s what we know about Chuck’s case:

• Chuck is given her vacation getaway cruise package gratis in exchange for picking something up for Deedee Duffield, the Boutique Travel Travel Boutique’s proprietor.
• Chuck, Ned and Emerson find Deedee dead when they go to question her. They get almost no new information out of her, other than she knew picking up the monkeys would be dangerous, before Deedee touches Ned and keels over, dead again.
• Chuck’s murderer goes to the house she shares with her aunts to get the monkeys back only to attack both Aunt Lily (Swoosie Kurtz) and Ned, trying to suffocate them with a plastic bag, before Lily takes him out with a shotgun.
• Chuck and Ned discover the monkeys she was sent to retrieve are solid gold.

There were a lot of great lines. My favorite exchange (besides the whole pie metaphor debate Ned and Chuck had) was:

Emerson: "Words that sound alike get mixed up in my head."
Olive (Kristin Chenoweth): "Me too. I used to think 'masturbation' meant chewing your food.… I don’t think that anymore."

Favorite stand-alone lines:

Chuck: "I was hoisted by my own petard."

Aunt Lily: "Unless she enjoyed vomiting and diarrhea, I can’t imagine she had a good last meal."

How Ned manages to touch Chuck without actually touching her:

• He asks Emerson to give her a hug on his behalf.
• He holds his own hand and pretends it’s hers. And she does the same.
• He kisses her monkey with his.

Other characters I can’t wait to get to know better:

Olive Snook — a waitress at The Pie Hole with a crush on Ned.
Aunt Lily — one of Chuck’s aunts. She lost her eye in an unfortunate encounter with dirty cat litter.
Aunt Vivian (Ellen Greene) — Chuck’s other aunt. She, like her sister, likes fine cheeses but she doesn’t like to be touched.

One thing I would recommend pronto is Ned coming clean about Chuck’s dad. It’s a pretty big secret and ultimately I think she’ll understand. I mean she has to, right? But there’s so much great dramatic tension with Ned continuing to keep his secret so I guess I’m not that eager for him to be honest. We’ll see.

The narrator, Jim Dale, is quite amusing. I like how some of what he says contradicts what the characters say, which reminds me of the narrator in Little Children. The narrative there and here really adds something to the story.

I want to mention the visual palette at play here, too. It’s like everything’s in bright, vivid Technicolor. It’s cool. I hope they’ll keep the look of the pilot (or pie lette) throughout the series.

I’ve been a big fan of writer/creator Bryan Fuller for a while. He created Dead Like Me (but was only around for the first season; Mandy Patinkin seemed to be happy working in TV at that time) and Wonderfalls (executive-produced by Tim Minear, probably best known for his work on Angel. He’s another favorite). I think I’d pretty much watch anything either one of them was a part of. Yes, even Drive, but that was mainly in support of Nathan Fillion. Mr. Fuller did good work on Heroes, too.

OK, I’m sure you’re tired of me drooling over this like I would a piece of yummy pumpkin pie. Hey, it’s fall. Why not? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts. What were your favorite lines? What do you think of Ned and Chuck’s burgeoning relationship? Now that the Darling Mermaid Darlings are no longer shut-ins, what sort of mischief do you think they will get into? What’s your favorite kind of pie?

In the meantime, take a bite out of our Online Video Guide for more on Pushing Daisies.