"Pushing Daisies": Be Prepared to be BeDazzled

Published: October 25, 2007 at 07:23 PM GMT
Last Updated: October 25, 2007 at 07:23 PM GMT

By Lisa LaValle

Since we've been together for four episodes now, I've decided it's time to Learn About Your Blogger! In case anyone was wondering, in order to prepare myself for writing my blogs, I take notes while I'm watching the show. They can be anything from plot points to lines I love to random reactions like "WHOA" (just like that, in all caps). This strategy proves useful for that other show I recap (coughHeroescough), but I'm not sure it works as well for Pushing Daisies.

This show manages to pack so much into one hour (okay, 44 minutes) that as I'm writing things down, I'm not sure if they're important or if there will be a twist in the next scene, undoing what I've just written. There are plot twists, turns, jumps, and somersaults, new characters that out-quirk the ones we already know - and then there's a B-story to worry about too. As you can tell, my job is extremely exhausting.

But enough about me - here's the thing: despite how convoluted this show can get, I love it. I eat it up like a piece of tart apple pie with gruyere baked into the crust. This week, for example, we started with a dead pigeon and a crop duster crashing into a luxury apartment building, and we ended inside a windmill with two lovers, each with a different prosthetic limb. How did we get there? Well, it was all connected by the pigeon. The pigeon was not only the cause of the plane crash, but also the connecting thread between the two lovers and the reason Chuck's aunts finally left their house. It was the means for Olive to get closer to Vivian and Lily so she could expose the truth about Chuck, but in the end she realized that it would crush the aunts and chose to keep Chuck's secret to herself. It's Six Degrees of Pidge the Pigeon.

And in the course of it all, there was bedazzling taxidermy (literally - taxidermy using a BeDazzler), buried diamonds, an insurance scam, illicit handholding, insider trading, an unfortunate accident with a paper shredder, a They Might Be Giants sing-along, a narcoleptic, and a very sweet scene with Ned and Chuck dancing in beekeeper suits. Of course we got some great lines too, as is becoming par for the course with this show: "That one-armed bitch is speedy," "To let go of everything about me that I didn't like and hold onto everything about me that I did," "I'm here as a concerned citizen of the world," and "Heaven's closer than you think," to name a few. Also, "Hand up!" when Emerson busted into the windmill to arrest the one-armed bandit (think about it for a second... there you go).

It's the little things that get me, and they all add up to one pretty fantastic package. I really feel that Pushing Daisies has found its groove: solving the murder of the week, exploring Ned and Chuck's relationship, and checking in on Olive's quest for Ned's affections. Speaking of Olive, it's odd to actually like the character who serves as the foil to The Couple being together, but I'm finding myself rooting for Olive. It might be a little early to call this, but I wouldn't be surprised if Kristin Chenoweth got some recognition for her perky, persevering performance.

Next week, for Pushing Daisies' Very Special Halloween Episode, I'm not taking notes. I don't know if I'll be able to completely refrain from writing anything down, but I'll do my best. I have an inkling that I'll enjoy the show even more without thinking so much.

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