Pushing DaisiesBzzzzzzzz
The Relationships
Original Air Date: Oct 2, 2008
PMB - TwoCents Reviewer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com
First, can we all give a collective cheer that “Pushing Daisies” is back? After 10 Pie Hole-free months!!!
And in that time, the characters’ relationships have hung in suspension – sort of like when Hiro on “Heroes” does that time freeze thing. Then zip, Oct. 1, we get to start time again (sorry, got to add another little cheer there).
Continue Reading...
Click Here to Read The Recap of the Case
[photo: ABC.com]
Posts
Pushing Daisies
ReplyDeleteBzzzzzzzz
The Relationships
Original Air Date: Oct 2, 2008
PMB - TwoCents Reviewer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com
First, can we all give a collective cheer that “Pushing Daisies” is back? After 10 Pie Hole-free months!!!
And in that time, the characters’ relationships have hung in suspension – sort of like when Hiro on “Heroes” does that time freeze thing. Then zip, Oct. 1, we get to start time again (sorry, got to add another little cheer there).
The premiere episode, “Buzzzz!” perhaps tried a little too hard to jump start some of those relationships by not only addressing where they’d been before the Writer’s Strike, but also setting up new arcs that will carry us through the first 13 episodes of this season (at this time, Pushing Daisies only has an order from ABC for half a season — hopefully, that’s just an administrative thing and not a ticking clock—but this episode’s ratings won’t help). But can you really blame the writers? We all just want to move on and pretend that last 10 months never happen.
So where were we anyway? Let’s start with the biggest relationship on the show — that of Ned and Chuck. Things had been going well for the untouchable lovers until the inevitable happened: Ned blurted out the truth that as a 9-year-old boy he had inadvertently killed Chuck’s dad. To say that Chuck didn’t take this news well is a gross understatement in the same way that saying Ned’s pies are only OK. She moved in with Olive and didn’t want to talk – or even look – at Ned. In their final scene together in the cemetery, she finally asks him to wake her dad for a minute and Ned refuses (don’t forget this little plot point because it’s going to be a big part of this season). They leave the cemetery together, seemly reconciled, but not exactly the lovey-dovey couple they once were.
In other relationships, Emerson admitted he had a daughter that he couldn’t find. In an herbal mood enhanced high, Aunt Lilly confessed to Olive that she was Chuck’s biological mother. And Olive said a little too emphatically that she was over her feelings for Ned, while realizing that salesman Alfredo could be more than a friend too late only after he had already left to go back on the road. And Chuck and Olive started to become friends, despite their romantic rivalry.
Do you think Sir Walter Scott was thinking about Pushing Daisies when he said “oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive”? ‘Cause believe me folks – it’s only going to get more tangled from here on out. If ever a cast of characters need advice from Dear Abby, it would be this one.
“Bzzz” started with a recap of last season, then showed that Chuck and Ned had indeed gotten over the bumpy events and divulged secrets from last season. They use sleigh bells on slippers, Digby’s uncanny ability as a proximity detector and voice signals to live side by side in a fairly happy existence. They also use what tools they can, such as Digby’s petting device, to display physical affection. They even strip down to their underwear together in an attempt to bring Chuck’s bees back to life (ooo la la!). What could go wrong?
But if this episode had anything to say, it was that the most obvious issues facing each character weren’t the most important one.
Case in point, Olive starts the episode with a breakdown because she’s carrying too many secrets, such as Chuck being alive and Aunt Lily’s true relationship to Chuck. But the secret most troubling her is that she still loves Ned, even after months of seeing how in love he is with Chuck. Could a few episodes stuck in a colorful nunnery be what Olive needs to cure her unrequited passion?
And Emerson seemed focused on the case and money, as usual, but spends his off hours creating a pop up book about a girl detective meant to help his daughter find him. How frustrating to be a top-notch detective and not be able to find your only child.
Aunt Vivian has missed Olive, who stayed away from the aunts’ home because of Lily’s confession. Now with both Lily and Olive in the nunnery, she’s even lonelier and shows up to the Pie Hole – a good sign that she’s overcoming her fear of leaving the house. But you couldn’t help feeling sad at her abandonment by those she holds most dear. Ned tries to comfort her, not really his forte, but rightly advises her to “move on.”(Wait until you see how she does just that!)
Meanwhile, the Mod Squad’s working on case where Chuck goes uncover as an employee — and suddenly has a taste for independence. When touring Olive’s paid-for apartment, she decides to move there. So while she started off thinking she was perfectly happy except when hiding from her aunts, it was her own freedom she really wanted.
And that’s when Ned, who doesn’t like surprises, really starts to worry. He wants to keep her safe (calling his move to go undercover with her chivalrous rather than stalking) and near him. He’s right that he’s spent too much alone, but sweetly allows Chuck her space all the same, even going as far as furnishing Chuck’s new space with hundreds of books and her pillow from home. Ah, who wouldn’t be nuts about Ned?
Add two new relationship wrinkles. In the nunnery, Lily confesses that Chuck’s father was Vivian’s finance. Then we see the back of a man who could be Ned’s father – in the Pie Hole! How’s that for a soap opera?
What about you? Did you feel that too much new relationship information was squeezed into one tiny episode? Are you excited to find out if Olive squeals? If Ned and Chuck ever move back in together? Or why Emerson can’t find his daughter?
How many more days until the next episode??????? Well, at least it won’t be 10 months!