Pushing DaisiesOh Oh Oh... It’s Magic
The Relationships
Original Air Date: 19 Nov 2008
PMB - TwoCents Reviewer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com
Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller promised fans that this year would be about the sins of the fathers (Ned and Chuck’s, that is) and nowhere has that theme been more evident than in this episode.
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[photo: ABC.com]
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Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller promised fans that this year would be about the sins of the fathers (Ned and Chuck’s, that is) and nowhere has that theme been more evident than in this episode.
ReplyDeleteNed struggles with his absence of his father while trying to help his new half-brothers with the same loss. At first Ned resists with the idea of getting close to twins Maurice and Ralston. “There should be a grace period, then a getting-to-know-you period, then a dinner on a national holiday,” he tells his waitresses. “I invite them to the Pie Hole and all of a sudden it’s, “Frère Pie-Maker, come to our show.” And it’s a magic show.”
Magic, it seems is something that Ned’s father performed for him before his sudden disappearance. So now, magic gives him acid reflex. But Chuck and Olive beg him to attend the twin’s magic show at the Conjurer’s Castle, and Ned can’t fight both of them (especially Chuck).
There they meet the Great Herrmann, who has been a surrogate father to the boys after their father abandoned them during the Great Herrmann’s show (their father volunteered to be the disappearing act, but never reappeared).
The Great Herrmann hires Emerson, after offering a substantial fee, to discover why all his animal assistants have died recently. But just as they realize that the Great Herrmann the real target, the magician is murdered on stage.
That’s when Ned finally takes on the mantle of big brother by promising the boys that he will find the murder. And with the help of the Mod Squad, he does.
Finally, there is the beginning of a sense of family between them, even though Ned has to be honest to them about the kind of man their father really was. They all start to realize magic is just one of many ties that binds them, not just their shared genetic code from their father.
Meanwhile, Chuck struggled with Lily, wanting to hear from her aunt’s lips that she had had a child (Chuck, of course, is that child). Because Chuck can’t confront her face-to-face, she prank calls Lily, using different accents to get Lily to admit to her pregnancy 29 years ago.
In the only real Ned-Chuck moment, Ned devises a way to get Lily to final state Chuck’s paternity. After Vivienne is safely asleep, Olive pours Lily (yet another) drink and gets her to talk about her pregnancy and the Chuck’s birth. Olive wears a small microphone so that Chuck can hear the details of her birth while in Ned’s car (she can also ask Olive to ask questions for her).
The result was one of the most tender Ned-Chuck moments of the entire series. They touch palms through the glass divider, obviously loving each other even more.
But wait, there’s one last relationship to discuss and that’s one that’s barely beginning. The suspicious character of Dwight Dixon (DD in the way that Chuck’s father is CC) comes to visit the aunts and charms Vivienne, while hinting that he knows all about Lily’s pregnancy. Then Vivienne meets him at the Pie Hole for “a date.” Hmmm… there’s a lot more to come on this relationship, folks.
What do you think? Can Ned be a good big brother? Can Chuck ever come to peace with the idea that Lily is her mother, not her aunt? Will the twins’ magic show take off?
Please keep watching or we’ll never know!