(S01E08) "Am I your boyfriend?" - Ned
"Yes." - Chuck
It was announced about two months ago that Molly Shannon would guest star on ABC's Pushing Daisies and the day, err... evening, has come. I've read a lot of comments from fans saying that they were somewhat scared after hearing she would guest star mostly because they thought her acting wasn't good enough for the show. In retrospect, her acting wasn't that great but it wasn't that bad either since Daisies is over the top at times.
Shannon's storyline line was an entertaining one because it not only involved murder but also a war between 'The Pie Ho(le)' and 'Balsam's Bittersweets Taffy and Sweet Emporium' (try to say that name with a mouthful of pink taffy!). The war showed new sides to all characters. We discovered that a past event (Ned throwing a book at a schoolmate and later paying for it) set Ned on a path of "no retaliation" and that pals Olive and Chuck were not afraid to go in Mission: Impossible mode to do what Ned was too afraid to do! It also put Emerson in an uneasy situation because Ned was put behind bars. Poor Emerson had to work more than usual! He had gotten way too comfortable lately since Ned's ability was helping Emerson cut corners and, in a way, he was also taking Ned for granted. That "thank you" sort of speech at the end was probably not an easy thing for Emerson to do but I'm glad he did it because not only will it help cement his (business) friendship with Ned but also because it's fun to watch Emerson be uncomfortable! 
At first, I thought the case of the week (Tony's death) was resolved way too quickly; they found the killer about 10 minutes in the episode. I prefer episodes that have a one-hour case of the week and not two distinct storylines. To my surprise and enjoyment, the killer resurfaced in Ned's cell! Allowing him (Ned) to bond with Burly Bruce and decide that he would not tell Chuck the truth. The Bruce/doll storyline (which seems similar to the movie Lars and the Real Girl) was a mirror of what the Ned/Chuck relationship is: Bruce can never really be with his doll, nor can Ned and Chuck. How long can someone be in a romantic relationship with someone they can't fully interact with?No matter, Chuck and Ned decided they were boyfriend and girlfriend. That decision, added to the fact it was Chuck's father's birthday, had a ripple effect over the entire episode! Olive's world made a few 360s, which made her be angry and in somewhat of a denial throughout the episode. Her chances with Ned were officially crushed. It's clear Alfredo has a thing for her and it would be great for Olive to have her dream (the one where Alfredo rushes in the Pie Hole and kisses her) come true. As for Ned, it put him in a "should I tell the truth or not path." Emerson was pushing for him to lie to Chuck but Ned wasn't so sure it was the right decision to make. After a few hours in a cell, Ned decided to not tell Chuck but the happiness he felt at the end of the episode made him blurt out the truth: "Chuck, I killed your father!" What a way to end the episode. Luckily, there is one episode left before PD goes into indefinite hiatus so we will know how Chuck reacts to this bombshell. If you have ideas, share them below!
Question of the week: My mind is blank so I'm asking you for help. Was it ever established how Ned can revive dead fruit and not touch them again (so going past the minute), yet no one (including other fruits, insects, etc.) dies?
Other tidbits of interest:
- Emerson faking sleep while Chuck talked was hilarious!...
- ... so was Alfredo speaking so quickly that it reminded me of Gilmore Girls. Olive's reply to Alfredo saying what he would do if he was in a relationship with someone he couldn't touch was so... Olive! "Forget it!"
- I loved the over-the-top and toy factory like feel of the Emporium.
- Chuck and Emerson were quite creative when lifting off the fingerprints so was Ned when using his petting hand to capture the rats.
- The gun-filled pie was cute. However, wouldn't the prison guards have checked what was inside Olive's box?
- Olive giving a double hug to Ned was refreshing.
- "How you doin'?" - Tony, using Joey Tribbiani's technique to flirt with Chuck
- "Yay to not telling the truth! - Ned
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-28-2007 @ 11:49PM
Oreo said...
I enjoyed the episode and will skip to the end.
Am I the only one whole felt like they were planning this story to continue next week and changed their mind at the last second? It felt like the ending was very rushed.
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11-29-2007 @ 12:02AM
Ryan said...
I remember one episode in the past where he was reviving the fruits for his pie and by the window were flowers that died as a result.
But before that episode, that question also irked me. Now I just assume he has a huge "liability garden" somewhere.
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11-29-2007 @ 12:07AM
BC said...
This was the second episode to feature an overt homage to a Hitchcock film, "The Birds." The episode "Bitches" did "Vertigo" and "Psycho."
I've wondered about the fruit thing, too. We don't know that other plants aren't dying, it's just that plants are dying all the time all over the world. It would be a real problem if Ned's pie making were causing rice to rot in Bangladesh. Although with animals it's usually seen to be a nearby victim, so the effect is localized to some relatively short range around Ned. It would certainly be odd if all the houseplants on The Pie Hole's block were continually dying. OTOH, it's possible that the more minor the life force, the greater the range for the compensating deaths, so a human or large mammal gets exchanged for one nearby, but plants exchange at longer distances. For that matter, what happens to the bacteria in Ned's gut and intestines, and what happens if he gets an infection? This gets into the same realm of speculation as to how Superman could ever have sex with Lois Lane, because she'd be killed when he cums.
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11-29-2007 @ 5:26PM
Karen said...
Good call on the "Birds" homage! I'm surprised Isabelle didn't mention it. As soon as they said "Bodega Bay," I could feel my memory cells starting to rev up, and then when the first bird flew into the picture it all clicked. They even had Shannon in Tippi Hedren's hair and wardrobe! That was fantastic.
11-29-2007 @ 5:27PM
Isabelle Carreau said...
My brain didn't remember "The Birds" at all, which is why I didn't mention it. Thanks for pointing it out.
11-29-2007 @ 2:03AM
Mari said...
Am I the only one that caught the Godfather reference?
"Fredo, I knew it was you."
Very cool.
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11-29-2007 @ 2:46AM
Midnight13 said...
Last week I said I wanted to see someone pine for Olive, and this week we got someone pining for Olive. Guess this show follows the Whedon rule of romance, either something huge is preventing two people from being happy together, or by the time one realizes they feel the same way that another character does about them, its too late. Laugh out loud moment of the night was when Ned tried to grab the dead rat in the taffy and ended up touching and reviving the dead co-owner of the BitterSweets candy shop. Enjoyed Mike White's guest-star role as the Bitter Sweets shop co-owner. You failed to mention him in your review. Any fan of "Freaks and Geeks" would admonish you for such an error.
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11-29-2007 @ 8:08AM
Sara said...
About the fruit...if you notice, the fruit has mold, etc. all over it, but the mold disappears when Ned touches it. Maybe "killing" the mold/fungus/whatever is enough to offset reviving the fruit.
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11-29-2007 @ 8:33AM
Tele-Toby said...
In connection to the fruit question, I always wondered how he was able to make his pies without touching the fruit again - once he revives it, does he then wear surgical gloves?
It looks like Paul Reubens is coming back next week, and Molly Shannon appears to be a recurring character. Both of them pose threats to the Pie Holians (sorry), so maybe - once the writer's strike ends - we'll see them team up.
Along with Mike White, it was nice to see Steve Hytner again. Seeing his name in the credits, and the way they eased him into his first scene (sitting in the background), I got the idea he'd be the culprit. But what happened with him caught me off-guard and makes me wonder how dangerous Dilly really is to Ned's group.
And of course the shout-out to Hitchcock's "The Birds", right down to the use of Bodega Bay, was excellent.
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11-29-2007 @ 9:07AM
Ryan said...
Oh and a great moment last night was when Olive and Chuck left the Bitter Sweets store and they were both
"You don't mess with the pie hos"
"Mm hmm."
I pretty much fell in love with the show all over again (like every 2 minutes but still).
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11-29-2007 @ 9:57AM
Ray said...
Another comment about the fruit... it's been irking me too about how he can revive the strawberries and no other strawberry/plant is shown to die in it's place. I don't think you can have the mold be the offset since mold isn't a plant and so they're not in the same species/type/whatever as a strawberry.
And what about the tables that they sit at in the Pie Hole - they're made of wood which were trees, so wouldn't they come alive when Ned touches them? Or do we assume that Ned has already touched all of the tables twice to kill them off permanently.
In the end though, I put all of these questions into the back of my head and just enjoy the show for what it is - a fun time.
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11-29-2007 @ 10:19AM
Kevinc said...
Worst episode yet.
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11-29-2007 @ 10:31AM
Greg O. said...
I feel the need to squash the speculation before it starts to run away.
In the introductory scene of the third episode it's shown that as he's reviving the peaches and tossing them to Chuck, the flower bed along a window sill is the (probably intended) victim. It's also been reiterated a couple times that trades are roughly equivalent. A dog for a squirrel, a bird for a bird, a plant for a plant, and a human for a human.
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11-29-2007 @ 10:56AM
bella said...
Also on the fruit front, there was a scene in one episode, I can't remember specifically but he picked up dead fruit with one hand and revived it and then passed it to the other hand, which was gloved.
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11-29-2007 @ 1:59PM
cathie said...
as I recall when Ned revived the fruits, he had a lot of plants around, flowers and the flowers wilted while the fruits florished, and that was the trade off. Once the fruits are in the pie he doesn't touch them again, the crust and pie tin are the barriers.
sort of a nice recycle factor.
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11-29-2007 @ 3:06PM
fred said...
This is such a lovely show! I really love it.
As far as I'm concerned I never really liked the aunts, so I liked that. And as long as Emerson stays around one way or another, we're sure to have a good time!
I've been wondering about the whole dead fruits thing as well, I'm also wondering if Chuck's flowers (on the roof) could be affected... I doubt it, that'd suck, so Ned has to be some secret garden of always dying flowers.
http://88.191.26.34/i_watch_tv/2007/11/29/pushing-daisies-bitter-sweets/
Those are going to be two long weeks for sure...
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11-29-2007 @ 6:24PM
getherSpoon said...
Also, on the comment of the fruit: So we've seen that if he eats a pie created with his fruit, it dies again...
so what would happen were he to eat meat? Or anything that used to be dead for that matter.. wouldn't it all come back to like then die the next time he touched/chewed it?
perhaps it's best not to think about.
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11-29-2007 @ 7:05PM
Ashley Boyd said...
Spoke about this with others before and we kinda came to the conclusion that meat is a bit different anyway. Its been chopped up. Maybe theres a 'no-head' rule. Because how freaky would an animated porkchop be?
11-29-2007 @ 7:06PM
Isabelle Carreau said...
Ashley, that's a good theory. I guess that everything that is not whole anymore cannot be revived. That is why objects don't get reanimated when Ned touches them.
11-29-2007 @ 7:43PM
Ken Shane said...
I loved seeing Kenny Banya as Andrew Brown. I was expecting him to say at any minute, "that's gold Ned. Gold".
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