‘Pushing Daisies’ is back with a ‘Bzzz!’
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- October
- 2
So how sweet is it to have the delight that is “Pushing Daisies” back on the air?
Hmmm. As sweet as … honey, perhaps? (Snicker, snicker.)
The most adorably odd show on TV returned with an opening flashback to Chuck’s father’s funeral, which opened the door for a terrifically done recap that informed those who hadn’t tuned in last season, without boring those of us who’d watched every second.
Then we were off and running to solve the mystery of the night: The murder of Kentucky Fitz, the No. 1 saleswoman at Betty’s Bees cosmetics, who was found stung to death in her Betty Beemobile.
If you thought Kentucky looked familiar, that was Autumn Reeser, who played Taylor Townsend on “The O.C.” You might have also recognized Missi Pyle as Betty: Pretty appropriate casting, given that Pyle’s been in a few Tim Burton movies (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Big Fish”), and the weird world of “Daisies” has a lot in common with that director’s vision.
Anyway, Whodunnit never really matters on “Daisies.” In this case, it was Woolsey Nicholls—you gotta love all the names on this show—the evil CEO who was in love with the very married Kentucky and got mad when he found out she was sabotaging the company with Betty.
What really charges “Daisies,” however, is the charming little path our private detectives take us on in finding out the killer’s identity each week.
Little details are perfect, like Emerson’s comment after finding out about Betty’s house full of bees: “Suddenly, crazy cat lady don’t seem so crazy.” Or the way Ned gets a job undercover as Betty’s temporary assistant: The piemaker turns to the weapons he knows best, and feeds Betty’s real aide a prune pie.
Then there’s the secondary drama, involving our favorite wee waitress, Olive.
Was that freak-out of hers absolutely awesome or what? She compares herself to a rifle about to go off, but instead of spilling the secrets that Lily is really Chuck’s mother or that Chuck’s really alive, she quits her job and goes off to a nunnery. (Where she, of course, befriends a pig she names Pigby, a play on Ned’s dog, Digby.)
Any other show wouldn’t be able to get away with such nonsense, but with such fantastic writing and such a quirky premise to begin with, “Daisies” makes it work.
Not to mention that, somehow, the show manages to get in all the emotional angst of a couple who are madly in love but can never touch. Sheesh, normal relationships are hard enough, aren’t they?
So where did we leave off with our star-crossed lovers? Chuck had moved into Olive’s vacant apartment, and Ned was trying to deal with his own loneliness while trying to make Chuck comfortable in the first place she’s ever lived by herself.
As for Olive, get ready for some more “Sound of Music” moments, because she’ll be at the convent for awhile.
And looks like we’ll eventually see Ned’s father, who returns after not speaking to his son for 20 years.
Ah, only in Coeur d’ Coeurs. It’s such a nice place to visit every week, isn’t it?
(Photos courtesy of ABC)
This entry was posted
on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 9:00 am by Heather Salerno.
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