Pushing Daisies S01 E02: Dummy

Sorry for the missed week, but final projects and exams for the semester have taken up all of my time. But here is the review of the second episode.

Summary:

This episode gives us the first real mystery where Ned, Emerson, and Chuck work together as partners, but it takes some time to get to the action.

We first start with a flashback to Ned’s childhood during his time in boarding school after his mother dies. After being annoyed with the bullying against him, he decides to help with that day’s science project, frog dissections, This obviously ends in disaster as he revives all the frogs, leading to chaos. This inspires him to keep his ability a secret.

We then flash-forward to the present where we learn of the living dynamics and inner feeling of Ned and Chuck. While the two wake and up and cautiously prepare breakfast, we learn that Chuck desperately misses her aunts and Ned has difficulty keeping the secret that he accidentally killed her father.

After this, we jump right to the mystery, as Emerson gets a call to investigate the murder of a hit-and-run victim, Bernard. The three head to the morgue with Emerson annoyed at Chuck’s presence and Ned nervous about accidentally touching her. After Ned revives Bernard, Chuck decides it would be better to ask the victim if they had any last wishes. Bernard requests, that they tell his coworker, Jeanine, that he loved her. Chuck agrees and the group learns that he believes he was killed by a crash test dummy, not being able to get any more information as the minute is used up.

Following a group discussion and some heartbreaking news to Olive, the three head to Bernard’s work, Dandy Lion Industries. While trying to deliver their message, Jeanine pretends that she doesn’t know Bernard. The three then follow the CEO to the crash test facility. Here, Chuck finds a dummy without a face or clothes and comes to the realization that the murder was using them as a disguise. This then leads us to another group meeting at the Pie Hole and a wonderful performance of “Hopelessly Devoted to You” by Olive after Ned and the group leaves to check out the company after-hours.

During this trip, Emerson finds dead bodies, which the company had been using as replacements for real crash test dummies. They also come across Jeanine again. They head back to the Pie Hole and Jeanine share the story of her love affair with Bernard. In the flashback, after Bernard becomes more distant with Jeanine, she decides to follow him after work. Jeanine agrees to take the group to see Bernard’s secret after she barters for some pie, but on the way, Jeanine’s Dandy Lion SX explodes, leaving her alive but incapacitated. While in the hospital, Jeanine tells them that there is a mass of bodies in a ditch, which she was going to show them. Once they arrive there, they learn that the bodies are crash test dummies and Emerson realizes that they made the switch to real people because the company was trying to hide data on the tests. Immediately after, a man disguised as a crash test dummy tasers them.

The trio comes to and they find themselves tied up and in body bags in a Dandy Lion SX in the crash test facility. We come to find that the dummy killer is the CEO and he starts to monologue, but group can’t hear him through the body bags and the car. During this monologue we learn that the Dandy Lion SX explodes under a specific, but not improbable set of circumstances. The CEO killed Bernard and used real bodies to hide the truth. The CEO tries to send the car on a collision course, but Emerson frees everyone and they drive off with the car. This leads to a chase, but the CEO gets captured by the police while the group narrowly escapes their own explosion.

At the end of the episode, Ned and Chuck enter Ned’s car and we see that he has built a plexiglass barrier between the two front seats so that Chuck can sit in the front with him.

Pros:

-The love story between Bernard and Jeanine is cute and feels genuine.

-We learn so much more about the characters. It’s unnecessary, but really makes the characters feel alive and unique.

-The performance of “Hopelessly Devoted to You” is great.

-We get to see impressive detective work by both Emerson and Chuck. This allows to better understand why they would work so well on the same team.

Cons:

-The villain and mystery aren’t really engaging. They’re not creative like we will come to see in future episodes.

-The story tries to focus both on the mystery and on character development, but suffers in both respects.

-The fun colors of this world aren’t as prevalent as they are in other episodes.

Overall:

This episode is good, but suffers from lack of focus and a sense that the story doesn’t take place in the same, bright, weird universe that we were previously introduced to. The mystery is a bit underwhelming when compared to other episodes, but is helped by the adorable relationships between Jeanine and Bernard, as well as Ned and Chuck.

By far, the best part of this episode is the introduction of the unique traits of the main characters, such as Emerson’s knitting, Chucks “cheese box” fridge and polyglotism, and Olive’s breaking out into song. This makes the characters interesting and fun to interact with.

At this part, the series is still trying to find its niche, which will be made apparent in later episodes. It’s a good start, but disappointing when one compares it to later episodes.

Rating:

7/10 Daisies