Pushing Daisies – Bzzzzzzzzz!

ABC

(Season 2, Episode 1 – Season Premiere)

It’s a second season premiere, but it’s more like a series premiere. Hell, this show got modest ratings its first time around and then it went off the air for nine months. If it weren’t for all the Emmy buzz, who would even remember it existed?

When we last saw the gang, Olive had learned something shocking about Chuck and her Aunt Lily. And Chuck had learned of Ned’s involvement in her father’s death. After only nine episodes, I thought Pushing Daisies had developed into quite a charming little show.

The buzz word for it was “quirky” so I’ll try to avoid it. But with the storybook narration and larger than life colors and characters, it did remind me of a Tim Burton movie brought to the small screen. Tonight, Lily takes drastic measures with Olive to protect her secret while Chuck discovers more and more independence away from Ned, to his dismay. Just ’cause she was brought back to life doesn’t mean she has to live with him forever, right?

I’ll give them credit for trying to recap the basic premise of the show in a quick intro. Unfortunately, burning through it in the way they did, the story became a lot less charming and far more macabre. I’m not saying there was a better way to accomplish re-establishing the setting, but maybe something shorter. After all, if the show is going to stick around they need to be able to sum up the foundation pretty quickly.

Underneath all the narration and pastel colors, Pushing Daisies is a murder mystery show. And the murderer was someone in a costume of live bees. Yes, these are the kind of stories you can expect on Pushing Daisies. But what there is about the show that makes it worth watching isn’t the mysteries, it’s the world outside those mysteries and the characters who breathe life into it all. Tonight, along with Olive, we learned even more about Lily’s former relationship with Chuck’s father, and his relationship with Vivian.

It’s nice to see the aunts out of the house and taking on a more important role in the show. Last season, they always seemed like more of an afterthought. They served to establish Chuck’s background but having them as shut-ins really limited what could happen with them. It got to the point where I didn’t understand why they were even part of the main cast.

French Stewart was the first guest star of the season, playing Woolsey Nichols, a corporate shark who took over Betty’s Bees. You just have to roll with these things. Like you have to roll with the idea of Olive in a nunnery, sacrificing her life and belongings just for the sake of keeping Lily’s secrets.

Something about the tone seemed a bit off, or else I’m honeycoating (get it!) my memories of the first season. I’ll chalk it off to cobwebs for the actors getting into their characters and maybe even for the writers and directors. It was still fun, but there was more of a dour seriousness in the angst between Chuck and Ned. There was always a tragic playfulness in the way Anna Friel and Lee Pace played off their inability to touch and I didn’t get that as much here.

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Oct 01, 2008 @ 21:19 EST5EDT