"Pushing Daisies": Cause and Effect

Published: October 18, 2007 at 07:17 PM GMT
Last Updated: October 18, 2007 at 07:17 PM GMT

By Lisa LaValle

This week on Pushing Daisies, the whodunit-of-the-week got a little more personal. Remember when Ned revived Chuck and the grave-thieving funeral director died? Seemed like things were even, right? Not quite. Though Ned thought the death was justified because Larry Schatz was a bad person, it turns out Larry's twin brother Louis is convinced Larry was murdered and has hired Emerson to investigate it. All the relatives of Larry's victims are mighty ticked off about their missing heirlooms, so Louis provides the Emerson with hate mail and death threats that Larry received when the grave robbing scandal was revealed.

Ned and Emerson decide to go right to the source and revive Larry to ask where he stashed all the heirlooms. Larry says Louis would know… because he was in on the whole thing. Good thing Louis has now been murdered and conveniently placed in Ned's freezer for easy access. The only information they're able to get is that Louis died by choking on a big old bite of cow tongue when confronted by a relative looking for a Civil War heirloom. Chuck remembers reading a particularly detailed death threat from one Wilfred Woodruff, citing a great-great-great-grandfather who fought in the Civil War.

Ned finds Wilfred in the funeral home and they have a pretty sweet sword fight, thanks to Ned's devotion to the Jedi lifestyle. Surprisingly, Wilfred is Asian, which is explained in flashbacks involving his ancestor working on the railroad then donning a dead Civil War soldier's uniform and gaining a prestigious family tree in the process. With the help of a donkey kick from Emerson the Pooh (I loved that Chuck wouldn't let that comparison go), Wilfred is knocked out and Ned reaffirms his place in Chuck's heart as her Prince Charming. Conveniently enough, the curtain that is serving as his heroic cape is concealing the heirlooms, which Chuck and Ned lovingly wrap and regift to their rightful owners.

There are the facts - now let's dig in. I love how Pushing Daisies seems to exist in its own little universe, where Ned would never have to defend why he kept Chuck alive or deal with being a murder suspect, when in fact, this universe exists within our own universe - a universe with policemen and crazy great-great-great-grandsons who will murder in the name of their great-great-great-grandfathers. It's not all sunshine, rainbows, and waking up your dead childhood sweetheart so you can spend the rest of your lives together; there are consequences to Ned's actions. This is seen most literally in the one-minute rule, but there are more things at stake. Should Chuck be upset or happy that Ned kept her alive even though someone else had to die? Should Ned keep using his power or lay off because of the consequences of leaving someone alive for too long? He can't go around reviving people willy-nilly, and I'm glad this fantasy world has strong roots in reality.

I'm also glad the character of Olive is being more developed, since she barely registered in the "pie-lette" and seemed a little one-note (except when she was singing) last week. Kristin Chenoweth had some of the best lines of this episode, with gems like, "Why can't sugar be enough?" and, "It's homeopathic, meaning it deeply relates to gay people," as well as her waxing philosophical on whether it was bad to simply imagine setting someone on fire. Her blossoming relationship with the espresso-craving traveling salesman is sure to be a good distraction from Ned, but I'm more interested in the fact that she now suspects Chuck has faked her death.

I was afraid Chuck's aunts would be left on the sidelines since Chuck can't exactly hang out with them, but after hearing about their cancelled synchronized swimming comeback tour due to an emotional relapse, Chuck bakes them a pie spiked with anti-depressant herbs from the traveling salesman, which Olive winds up delivering. The aunts spill some details about Chuck and Ned, and Olive starts putting two and two together. There's no way she can figure out Ned's power, but I'm sure she'll confront him eventually. Will he lie to her or let her in on the secret? So far the truth has worked for him, but I don't know how long it will last.

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