Author: Thomas Degroat

This episode is the required Halloween special for the series. Now I recognize that usually Halloween specials are often cop-outs as the writers can turn off their brains and write a generic script around something “spooky”, but I love Halloween specials. In fact, I love all holiday specials. I have no idea why, but they all seem to have a charm about them that just draws me in. This one is especially good as the writers of this series always came up with the most interesting ideas.

Summary:

Another cold open with a flashback. In this one, we see Ned in a line waiting for mail. He usually gets nothing, but on Halloween he gets a postcard from his father. His initial excitement wears off as he learns that its a notification that he moved. This prompts Ned to run away from the boarding school and visit his father’s new house in costume. When there, he’s heartbroken again as he finds his father with a new wife and two new sons. The cold open then flashes back to the present and we come to focus on a man in a horse stable. His night ends early as he gets trampled by a costumed, fire-breathing horse.

After the cold open, we move to the Pie Hole where we see that Chuck has decorated for Halloween. Olive explains that its a bad idea since Ned hates Halloween. Chuck dismisses this because, as a child, Ned loved Halloween and the time they spent together. The two then discuss Chuck’s secret with Olive believing that Chuck faked her death.

Ned then enters the diner and sees the Halloween decorations. Even though he is visibly distraught, and Chuck offers to take them down, Ned lets them stay up. From this scene, we move to Olive’s bedroom and see her reveling in the fact that she knows more about Ned than Chuck does.While jumping on her bed in excitement, Olive learns of the murder of Lucas Shoemaker on the news, clearly recognizing the victim.

In the meantime, Ned and Chuck talk in the kitchen about Halloween. Ned deflects the questions about his newfound hatred of the holiday, and Chuck deflects the questions about why mentioning Olive made her visibly nervous.

After this, we follow Olive to a safety deposit box, where she takes out a large trophy and a bag of money. We return to the Pie Hole and Olive hires Emerson to investigate the murder. We learn from Olive that the victim was a farrier and an old competitor of hers when she was a professional, and quite renowned, horse jockey. This causes a giggle from Emerson, but Olive is quite serious.

At the morgue, Ned and the other two find the body of Lucas Shoemaker. Ned reawakens the body and Chuck cements herself as lead interpreter of the group since she is the only one that can understand him because of his broken jaw. Shoemaker believes that he was killed by the ghost of John Joseph Jacob and warns that he will kill again. With the other jockeys in danger, they return to the Pie Hole and tell Olive. She faints at the mention of John Joseph Jacob and the gang splits up: Emerson and Olive going to a jockey bar, Chuck going to the stables, and Ned going on his own personal, secret mission.

We cut to a flashback of Olive’s days as a horse jockey. We learn that while Olive was exceptional, John Joseph Jacob was the best in the world. At the “race of the century” where the best jockey compete, John Joseph Jacob falls off his horse and is trampelled by his competitors. Olive wins the race, but the trauma forces her to quit racing. This points us to the possibility that someone might be looking for revenge.

At the bar, we come to meet Pinky, bar owner and past competitor in the race, and Gordon, a drunk who was also in the race. Gordon believes that it was actually the ghost of John Joseph Jacob and he will come for revenge against the other jockeys. This leads Olive and Emerson to the tomb of John Joseph Jacob. While Olive comments on the cracker crumbs scattered across the floor, Emerson finds that the lid of the coffin is broken, like Gordon had suggested. They open the coffin and only find the bones of a horse, curiously with its legs missing.

We then cut to Chuck at the stables at night with Digby. While initially scared, she finds courage in the fact that both herself and Digby have already been killed once. She also finds cracker crumbs on the ground before running into Emerson and heading off to investigate more.

Before the audience heads off with them, we join Ned on his quest. We find him in his childhood home, lamenting his past and the holiday. He gets distracted and sees Chuck’s aunts across the street, scaring off local kids.

Emerson, Olive, and Chuck meet at the house of John Joseph Jacob’s mother. After entering and the mother making backhanded compliments to Olive and Chuck, we find that she has made peace with the death of her son. We also find the urn of John Joseph Jacob, the mother explaining that he always wanted the horse to have a proper hero’s burial, so she cremated her son and buried the horse in secret. The mother says she forgives Olive and the trio prepares to leave. After suggesting that they should make sure Pinky is safe, we cut to his bar, where we find him being attacked by the same horse that killed Shoemaker.

While all this is happening, we find Ned in the house of love’s aunts. We come to realize Ned’s motivations as he asks the aunts about his absentee father. Lily simply insists that his father was a jackass and he was better off without him. While sharing this conversation, Ned recognizess that the pie he was going to enjoy was actually from his diner after a strawberry rots from the touch of his mouth. He realizes that Chuck has actually been having this secret connection with her aunts this entire time. As he goes to leave, Vivien stops him and comforts him.

The audience meets up with Olive, Emerson, Chuck, and eventually Ned at the bar. On the floor in Pinky’s dead body with Olive grieving over him. Chuck takes Olive out of the bar so that Ned can perform his magic. They reawaken Pinky and find that he also believes the ghost of John Joseph Jacob killed him, though he explains the motive better, Pinky actually cut the saddle of John Joseph Jacob before the race. Olive reveals that the other four jockeys kept the sabotage secret since none of them could prove that the others did. Olive initially protested the idea, but was forced into it. When the two are alone, Chuck tries to convince Olive to confront the ghost and also thanks her for keeping the secret of her death.

While at her apartment, Olive finds a golden horseshoe outside her window. Recognizing this as a gift she gave to John Joseph Jacob before the fateful race, she climbs up to the roof to confront the ghost. As Olive reaches the roof, she finds the very alive John Joseph Jacob, only now much taller. He reveals that he had actually survived the fall and his broken legs were replaced with the horse’s. We also learn that he believes the fall was an accident and that he has been in his mother’s basement ever since. After their talk, John Joseph Jacob becomes ready to leave his mother’s basement.

We move to his mother’s house with Olive and Chuck in tow. He leaves them to grab some crackers, explaining that he’s hypoglycemic and gets angry when his blood sugar gets low. This immediately tips off Chuck as she realizes that were crackers at every crime scene. They grab the urn and check to see what’s actually inside. Olive recognizes that it is the ashes of a saddle and that John Joseph Jacob’s mother knew the secret of the sabotage all along. Just as this realization comes to fruition, a horse kicks down the front door.

We cut to Emerson and Ned in a car with Gordon. Gordon tells the two that Shoemaker had actually revealed the secret to John Joseph Jacob’s mother before he had died. They connect the points and figure out that she was actually posing as the ghost and killing the other jockeys.

Back at the house, the mother reveals her plan. The two run from her and initiate a chase. Chuck falls and Olive decides to sacrifice herself, knowing that the mother is really only after her. But at the last minute, Emerson and Ned appear and save her.

In the epilogue, we find the mother in jail and Olive has donated her trophy and winnings to John Joseph Jacob. We also see Ned and Chuck in a car in front of the aunts’ house. Ned reveals that he knows about Chuck’s secret pies and he is okay with it. He lets her visit the house in costume and trick-or-treat so that she can see her aunt’s face-to-face again.

Pros:

-This mystery is really well written. It’s complex without being too hard to follow.

-The focus on Olive is very refreshing and we get to see some new combinations of characters in this show.

-It’s always great to see backstory, and while Olive being a jockey is out of the blue, it totally fits her character and this weird universe.

-Ned backstory is heartbreaking and beautifully done. It creates a nice compliment to the forced estrangement that Chuck has with her aunts.

-Everything perfectly makes sense without relying on coincidence. The twist at the end is also surprising, but not unbelievable.

Cons:

-Not very many cons at all, the only problem is the horse’s fire breathing. It’s never explained and it’s never utilized in any way.

Overall:

This is probably one of the best episodes of the series. While the mystery isn’t very quirky and charming like they can often be, it’s very engaging and well written. The twists are completely unexpected, but make sense in context. In addition, seeing Olive in a more active role is great as she is quickly becoming one of the more interesting character on the series. The parallel between Ned’s and Chuck’s family relations is handled very poignantly without having to explain the metaphors. It also leads to the possibility of more plot threads down the line.

Rating:

9/10 Daisies

As we near Martin Luther King Jr Day and the yearly symposium that the university plans in his honor, I believe it would be beneficial to look back at last year’s and at one particular event. I attended this event and it was perhaps one of the hardest things for me to sit through, and not in a good way. This event was Erik Wahl’s Embracing the Art of Change.

When I first read the seminar planned for the 2015 symposium, I was excited to possibly attend many of them. In particular, I was most interested in an event discussing queerness in our prison system and Erik Wahl’s event where I hoped they would be discussing the intersectionality of art and Black culture. While the prison system one appealed to me slightly more, I decided to attend the Erik Wahl event as a few friends were planning to go as well and I believed I should be spending MLK Day learning about race and racism, which I thought would be discussed more at this event.

The day started off great as I also attended the keynote presented by Marc Lamont Hill. This was an extremely powerful speech as he unashamedly discussed the hard topics that we should focus on during MLK Day and throughout our lives. I was lead to believe that the university’s annual MLK Day Symposium was an effective force of positive change and that the university was actively trying to educate it students on the intrinsic racial disparities in our society. My opinion changed after the Erik Wahl event.

Let me first start off by saying that I cannot put too much blame on Erik Wahl. Yes, he was very clumsy and ineffective in altering his standard motivational speech to try and include social justice, but we should place more blame on the event planners who believed (for some ungodly reason) that a white “grafitti artist” who spent most of his time working in corporate America was a good fit for the MLK Day Symposium. Perhaps it’s my fault for believing I would see something poignant and intelligent about the criminilization and debasement of Black art without looking into who the actual speaker was.

Now luckily this event was packaged with it’s own perfect metaphor to explain the inappropriateness of this event for this symposium. Throughout the event, Erik Wahl would take time out of his speech to paint his “graffiti”. The last one was the icing on the cake as he flashily painted Martin Luther King Jr. in white on a piece of black canvas. He literally whitewashed one of the most important social activists in American history in front of hundreds of people. Looking back on it, it’s pretty humorous.

But we should focus on the particulars as to why this event was such a dark cloud over MLK Day. First, let’s discuss how absolutely trite the motivational speech was. This was clearly one of Erik Wahl’s most popular speech and the one that he always has in his back pocket in case he needs to give one. This would be fine if it was original, but it wasn’t. Everything he said was just a rewording of phrases that I have heard from hundreds of other motivational speeches, only this time he peppered in a few social justice buzz words. It was one of those substandard “get out of the box, get creative” speeches that have been drilled into all of our heads by now.

In addition to this, the multiple paintings that he did, while fitting the theme of diversity, were unfortunately misutilized. I don’t remember specifics, but I remember he painted two famous athletes and finally MLK Jr. in white. While these could have been great points of access into discussions as to why these people are idolized and the barriers they had to break in order to become successful, he instead used them as talking points into how they affected his privileged childhood. He preferred to discuss why they were some of his heroes, but shied away from the racism they overcame in his shallow anecdotes.

All of these aspects came together to present me with a pandering, purposeless event that had me writhing in my seat from frustration. It was clear that Wahl didn’t feel comfortable actually discussing race and instead preferred to discuss his famous sports stars, his pretentious music, and his hollow philosophy. The part that continually plays in my head when I think about this event is the Q&A portion. A homeless woman came to mic and wished to talk about the affect of homelessness on the Black community. Instead of taking this opportunity to actually learn something, Wahl instead decided to climb off stage and hug the woman in a perfect display of this event’s pandering nature.

It’s clear that the Business & Finance Convocation simply used “graffiti” as a connection to Black culture, when all they really wanted was a another white guy to discuss business practices with. This could have a been a great event with an actual Black artists who could discuss the nuances and depth of Black art and Black culture, but instead we got Erik Wahl and his whitewashed Martin Luther King Jr.

This episode contains a relatively simple mystery, but with a complex twist ending that some may find to be too coincidental. The real stars of this episode, though, is the further development of Ned’s and Chuck’s relationship and the continuing adventures of Olive with Chuck’s secret.

Summary:

We start another episode with a flashback to Ned’s childhood at the boarding school. This trend is becoming interesting as we are learning that this season is really focused on Ned’s life and his development as a character (as well as Chuck’s since we often flashback to her life as well). This will be in contrast to season two (when we get there) as that season seems much more broad with its on characters and closer to Olives journey, rather than Ned’s. I wonder how the show would’ve progressed and if each character would’ve gotten their own season (Emerson’s probably being the third season’s character arc).

Back to the flashback, we see Ned alone at school and Digby back at the house, also alone. This prompts Digby to run away to attempt to find Ned, which he eventually does. The meeting is bittersweet, though, as both remember that they can’t touch. This scene mirrors the present day as Digby’s vow to never leave Ned’s side, even with the drawbacks, represents the various relationships in the show. This is in direct reference to Olive’s dedication to Ned, Ned’s dedication to Chuck, and Chuck’s dedication to her aunts.

We then transition to the Pie Hole where Ned nearly catches Chuck making her mood-enhancing pies for her aunts. This leads to Chuck to ponder “the little things” like if her recently more extravagant dreams are due to her status as formerly dead, or if bee’s honey will taste different if they were also brought back to life. At this point, Ned reveals a gift to Chuck. On the rooftop, Ned has created a new bee hive for Chuck to care for, knowing that she missed her life back home.

We also see Olive’s internal thoughts in a new scene as she ponders about her feelings towards Ned and wonders what she should do now that she know’s Chuck’s secret. While grabbing Chuck’s pie to deliver to the aunts, a pigeon flies into the window, distracting all of our main characters. While arguing outside, Ned accidentally reawakens the bird, and is unable to touch it again. This causes another bird to fall out of the sky. The group (Ned, Chuck, Olive, and Emerson) look towards the sky, just as a cropduster flies into a nearby apartment complex.

Emerson, looking for another opportunity for cash, and Ned and Chuck go to the apartment complex to assess the situation. Here, Chuck shows off her law knowledge by explaining to Ned that there could be a lot of money involved in the accident. During this time, she trips and, Ned being unable to catch, she falls into the arms of Conrad Finch, the strapping owner of the apartment. Chuck stays behind with Conrad, while Ned and Emerson head to the morgue.

At the morgue, we run into the body of pilot and learn of his past through narration. We also get to see Ned’s jealous side as he is concerned about not being able to catch Chuck and her staying behind with Conrad. Ned reawakens the pilot and learns that he was actually hijacked by an escaped convict. He reassures the wife of the pilot that it was not a suicide.

After this, we cut back to Olive and her delivery of the pie to Chuck’s aunts, along with the pigeon that flew into the window, hoping that the aunts could help. We learn that the pigeon is actually a carrier pigeon with a message and Olive becomes determined to fix up the pigeon so that it could deliver the message. She also tries to convince the aunts to go to the Pie Hole afterwards to try and expose Chuck’s secret.

Emerson and Ned arrive back at the apartment, with Ned immediately noticing an off-putting smell. He moves over to the trunk serving as a coffee table and open it. Inside is a dead body, who we come to learn in the actual Conrad Finch. The impersonator was the hijacker.

We travel back to the Pie Hole, where Chuck is sharing Pie with the unknown hijacker. During their conversation, Chuck reveals that she finds a kind of thrill in her new life. She can discard the parts of herself that she did not like and maintain the parts that she did. While revealing this part of herself, the fake Conrad takes her hand. Chuck, enamored with the new physical intimacy, asks him to continue. She closes her eyes and pretend it is Ned’s hand that she is holding.

Chuck is reawakened by a slam on the window and finds Ned there, glaring at them. Conrad makes a break for it through the kitchen. Ned almost catches him, but loses him after his prosthetic arm comes off in his hands. After this ordeal, Emerson comes back with knowledge about the hijacker. We learn that he is actually a whit-collar crook who was arrested for insider trading. He shared a cell with a diamond thief who nicknamed him Lefty Lem (for his missing left arm). Lem’s cellmate died with his treasure still hidden and the trio goes to his grave site to find more information.

At the graveyard, the trio digs up the dead body of Lem’s cell mate. We learn that the diamonds are still under the stairs of a retired windmill. The trio decides to go investigate, believing that Lem is also looking for these missing diamonds.

Back at the aunt’s house, Olive helps Lily and Vivien to create a prosthetic wing for the bird, which they have affectionately nicknamed Pidge. The aunts continue to lament to Olive about how much they miss Chuck and this only furthers Olive’s determination to reveal her secret to them. During an aside, Olive tries to convince Vivien to open Pidge’s message and read it, but she refuses, alluding to an event in their past where Vivien read a message she shouldn’t have and Lily never forgave her for it.

After the production of the prosthetic wing, Pidge flies out the window without its message. The aunts and Olive chase after it trying to deliver the message. We find that they are actually heading to the same windmill as Lem and the trio of investigators. We cut to the car containing Ned, Chuck, Emerson while Ned and Chuck are discussing their relationship problems. Chuck find Ned to be too jealous and misses the physical intimacy that usually comes with a relationship, whereas Ned is concerned about Chuck’s romantic interaction with Lem.

Unfortunately, Lem makes it to the windmill before either of the two cars and finds a woman there. Bored, she allows the stranger into her house and becomes his hostage. The two share some romantic banter (while she is tied to a chair) before the car containing Olive and the aunts arrives with Pidge.

During an unusually cordial tea time, we learn that Pidge has actually been sending messages between Lem and the woman in the windmill all along. We then flashback to learn how this is true. We learn that Lem’s old cellmate actually met the original owner of the windmill while hiding his jewels and the two fell in love at first sight. After getting captured, the two sent messages to eachother through the carrier pigeon. Both of them died and they ensured that the other would continue to get messages so as to not break their partners hearts. Lem was trusted to keep sending messages to the owner of the windmill and the owner asked her daughter to keep sending messages to the convict. After the flashback we learn that the woman actually had the diamonds hidden in her prosthetic leg the entire time.

The group suddenly gets interrupted by a knock at the door. Olive looks through the peephole and finds Chuck, along with the others there. She goes to open the door to reveal the secret, but think backs on her time with the aunts. She realizes that they shouldn’t go through more trauma and warns Chuck so that she can remain hidden. Olive sneaks the aunts out the back and drive off, though Lily catches a glimpse of Chuck through the rear-view mirror.

In the end, the trio catch Lem and turn him over to the police. Lem and the windmill lady continue to write and Olive tries to console the dead pilots wife their new found information.

Pros:

-There is some much needed depth added to the relationship between Ned and Chuck

-Olive’s softening to Chuck at the end helps to make the character more likable. We get to see a more compassionate side to her and her relationship with the aunts is touching.

-The relationship between Lem and the woman in the windmill is well executed and well acted, if a bit coincidental.

-Aunt Vivien’s allusion to a mysterious note helps to create a larger, overarching plot thread that helps to keep the audience invested and eager for more episodes.

-Every character is imbued with the right amount of humor, especially Jayma Mays’ windmill woman.

Cons:

-The mystery was a bit lackluster, but this helped to keep the audience more focused on the character relationships.

-The pigeon plot thread seems like too big of a coincidence and may break a few watchers’ suspension of disbelief.

Overall:

This episode is a bit disappointing when compared to other episodes in the series. The mystery in not very engaging and the twisting plot thread can be a bit exhausting to watch. Especially since we are still getting necessary exposition at the very end of the episode. What saves the episode, though, is the relationships between Ned and Chuck, and Olive and the aunts. It’s great to see negative aspects to Ned and Chuck’s relationships, when in the past, any problems were solved by the end of the episode. And it is especially great to see more empathetic emotions shown by Olive. Her adventures were really the best part of the episode, from her quirky relationship to the aunts, to the wonder we see on Chuck’s face when she learns the aunts are at the windmill too. The episode was good, but could have definitely been delivered better with a deeper mystery, more delving into Olive’s plot, and better use of all of the characters.

Rating:

7/10 Daisies

This is the episode where we really start to see the show growing into its world and becoming better than the first two episodes promised.

Summary:

We once again flashback to Ned’s childhood to when he first starts experimenting with his powers at his boarding school. Through experimenting with fireflies, Ned learns what I will now be calling the minute, that once he has brought something back to life, he has minute before he must touch them again, otherwise something else will die. After this, he vows to never bring something back for more than a minute (that is until Chuck, of course).

When we come back to the present, we find Ned and Chuck baking pies. The two discuss Chuck’s new-found freedom to become someone new, which leads to Chuck’s questioning why he can only bring someone back for a minute. Ned skillfully avoids this question. This leads to probably one of the most remembered scenes of series when Chuck spontaneously kisses Ned through cling wrap.

Unfortunately, Olive sees this and is distressed. She goes to help a customer, Alfredo, and he comes to find her as a kindred spirit when she admits that it feels like all the oxygen has left the room. Through their conversation, we learn that Alfredo is a travelling alternative pharmaceutical salesman, which will come into play later.

Immediately after, Emerson enter and has a quick conversation with Olive about their mutual dislike of the sudden appearance of Chuck. We’re then moved forward to an explanation of the mystery of the week, though Emerson is much more reluctant than usual with the new intrusion of Chuck into their business. Emerson refuses to tell Ned about the case until he sees the body for himself.

The three then meet up at the morgue and Ned uncovers the body to find that it is the grave robbing funeral director that died in Chuck’s place. Ned runs away without touching the body. Finally, the truth comes out and Ned explains to Chuck that someone had to die in her place in order for her to still be alive. This obviously distresses Chuck.

Afterwards, we move back to the diner and another interaction between Alfredo and Olive. Alfredo shows that he clearly has a connection with Olive as he adeptly understands Olive’s inner feelings without discussion. This mood is broken, though, after he offer her some of his homeopathic medicine.

Emerson and Ned enter the kitchen of the Pie Hole and Emerson explains that he accepted the case to protect Ned from other private investigators and to find the stolen loot that the funeral director, Lawrence, had stolen. The crew then head to the funeral home because Chuck insists that Ned brings Lawrence back so that they can talk with him.

This brings us to a non sequitur where we learn what happened to Chuck’s aunts after the events of the first episode. Getting ready to start a new tour of their synchronized swimming routine, they go to leave their house. Here, they find a belated postcard from their previously dead niece and fall into a bout of depression.

At the funeral home, we learn of Lawrence’s twin brother Lewis and how Lawrence was caught grave robbing. Incredibly angry at Lawrence, the families of the deceased confronted the brother, leading to Lewis believing that he was murdered. Of course, Lewis insists that Lawrence never confessed to where he had hidden the treasures. After Lewis’s departure, Ned  touches Lawrence and apologizes while Emerson asks where the treasure is. Lawrence tells him that grave robbing was a family business and that Lewis had actually hidden the treasures.

After a fight with a casket to touch Lawrence the second time, Chuck breaks down, now distraught that she had learned that her aunts had fallen into depression again (learning this from Lewis before he left). Even though Ned sympathizes with Chuck, he insists that they cannot visit them. The trio then head back to the Pie Hole to go through the pile of hate mail for the funeral director brothers.

While sorting through the hate mail, Alfredo notices Chuck’s somber mood and offers a free sample of his wares. She agrees, but decides to bake them into pies that she could send to her aunts instead. Unfortunately, the aunts’ house is outside the delivery route, so Olive decides to deliver it herself.

That same morning, Chuck explains to Ned that she understands the emotional turmoil that Ned has been going through with this case and attempts to make amends. This is cut short as Ned finds the dead body of Lewis in his freezer.

After this, we jump to Olive’s story as she delivers the special pie to Chuck’s aunts. She is invited inside and learns that they are the famous Darling Mermaid Darlings. This leads to Olive’s discovery that Chuck is the thought to be dead lonely tourist Charlotte Charles. This shocks her, but doesn’t tell the aunts of Chuck’s new life.

We jump back to Ned and Chuck as they try to move the body before the cops come to investigate. This leads to Ned waking the dead and finding out that he died choking while being confronted about a missing Civil War heirloom. Because of her meticulous reading of the threatening mail, Chuck knows exactly who it was. The trio head back to the funeral home to return the body and learn more.

At the funeral home, Ned comes to find the confronter, William Woodruff. This leads to a sword fight between the two. During the fight, we learn that he was trying to frame Ned for Lewis’s death because he was afraid that he would face the blame. Surprisingly, Ned wins the swordfight and accidentally uncovers the hidden treasure that was behind a curtain in the basement.

During the epilogue, we find that Alfredo had left a romantic gesture for Olive, William was arrested, and Ned and Chuck return the stolen items.

Pros:

-There was a lot of great development for the characters in this episode.

-Anna Friel’s performances during her sad scenes were amazing. She can really sell the characters emotions.

-The cling wrap scene was very cute and well executed.

-Further development between the relationship between Olive and Emerson was much needed.

-The introduction of Alfredo leads to the hope of a more rounded character for Olive.

-Continuing of backstories for minor characters is great.

Cons:

-The mystery is again disappointing compared to later episodes.

-The audience couldn’t play along with the mystery like other episodes.

Overall:

This is a great episode for being so early in the series. The continuing introduction of Chuck’s conflicting emotions with Ned and her new life was beautifully handled and felt incredibly genuine. The reintroduction of the aunts was great and allowed for better plotlines for Olive outside of her puppy love for Ned. Alfredo’s introduction was strange but also helped to further Olive’s character. My only real problem was the disconnected nature of the narrative of this episode. There were a lot of jumps between the various, unconnected stories going on, making it tiring to retain attention. But this was only really a problem, because of the multiple times I have watched this episode.

Rating:

8/10 Daisies

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

Last week, I wrote an article praising the show Pushing Daisies. Since I wasn’t able to go into too great depth and since I’m rewatching the show anyways; I figured I could turn it into a series of articles. So every week, I will be watching an episode of Pushing Daisies and reviewing it for the blog. This week is the pilot, “Pie-Lette”. (Clever, right?)

*Spoilers*

Summary:

Since this is the pilot, most of the time of the episode is spent on universe building and exposition. It opens with an explanation of Ned’s (The Piemaker) powers. Ned first learns of his power, at age 9, when his dog, Digby, is hit by car. With one touch, Digby is back to life. He later learns the price of his gift when his mother dies of an aneurysm while baking pies. He brings her back to life and a minute later, his neighbor dies in her place. Unfortunately, this isn’t any neighbor, this is his childhood sweetheart’s, Charlotte “Chuck” Charles, father. More tragedy strikes, though, when his mother tucks him into bed and gives him a kiss on the forehead. This second touch kills her and Ned is no longer able to bring her back to life. After this incident, Ned gets placed into a boarding school and Chuck moves in with her aunts. their separation marked with Ned’s first kiss.

We then fast forward to Ned’s adulthood, where he is the owner and head baker of the Pie Hole, a pie bakery where he brings rotten fruit back to life and uses them for pie filling. Here, we are also introduced to Emerson Codd and Olive Snook. Emerson Codd is a private detective who learns of Ned’s power after he sees Ned accidentally bring back a thief he was chasing. Emerson decides to bring Ned into his business as it is much easier to solve crimes if you can speak to the victim. Olive Snook is a waitress and only other worker at the Pie Hole. She is in love with Ned, but can’t bring herself to make a move.

After our introductions, we see Ned and Emerson in action as they solve a murder. Immediately after, Ned learns of the death of sweetheart Chuck after she was suffocated to death on a cruise ship. This becomes their new case. They meet the thieving funeral director and enter the room that Chuck’s body lies in. After Ned wakes her and find out all he can, he comes to find that he can not touch her a second time and the funeral director dies in her place.

Ned and Chuck head back to Pie Hole and she learns of the new rules of her life, including not being able to touch Ned, not being able to see her aunts, and having to use a pseudonym in public. Chuck becomes disturbed by her new celebrity through her death, but also comes to learn of the $50,000 reward for her killer. This is her first step into the murder-solving business and becoming Emerson and Ned’s new business partner.

With this new partnership, Chuck shares the information that she was only able to pay for the cruise ship by agreeing to smuggle two monkey statuettes in her luggage. When they cross paths with the travel agent that Chuck smuggled for, they find her dead, but bringing her back to life proves futile as she prematurely touches Ned’s cheek and dies again. This leads the detectives to Chuck’s aunt’s house as her luggage (with the monkeys) was sent to her next-of-kin. This is where we are introduced to the aunts for the first time and learn of their history as famous synchronized swimmers, known as The Darling Mermaid Darlings. The murderer knows of the luggage as well and finds Chuck’s aunt, Lily, with the (empty) suitcase after he sneaks into the upstairs. Meanwhile, Ned is busy talking with the other aunt, Vivien, and Chuck attempts to sneak into and out of the house with the monkeys. This all comes to head as Ned heads upstairs, finds the killer, and a seemingly dead Lily. Ned is saved as Lily springs up with a shotgun and takes out the killer.

Pros:

– Everything in this episode is beautiful. The universe is bright and colorful and the settings are amazingly unique.

– The storytelling is engaging and the exposition dumps are enjoyable as it follows the rule of “show don’t tell”.

– The humor still works after multiple viewings.

– The characters are incredibly interesting and their interactions feel natural while also being fun to watch.

Cons:

– This is clearly a pilot that was made to convince producers of the marketability, not made for the television.

– This episode is largely expositional, so it can be dragging to watch if you’re not engaged by the nature of the show.

– This episode does create some small, inconsequential plot holes since this episode was not necessarily created for TV.

– The introductions to characters seem rushed. It would’ve been nice to make the show into a two-parter and only introduced Chuck at the end of the first part. This would have allowed us to better understand the relationships between Ned, Emerson, and Olive.

Overall:

While this episode is great and a wonderful introduction to the series, it does have many problems that make it less than perfect. This mostly comes from the previously mentioned fact that this is clearly a pilot that was created to convince producers. If you do not know, often a show will be asked to create a pilot that will be viewed by producers. From this pilot, they judge if they want to put the show on the network. Often times, this pilot becomes the first episode of the series. This damages the episode as Bryan Fuller had to explain too much of the universe’s rules in under half-an-hour. In addition to this, Fuller tried to create a completely self-contained narrative in the single episode, which only separates it from the rest of the series and creates plot holes. While this episode is great, it cannot be considered one of the best of the series.

Rating:

7/10 Daisies