Pushing Daisies: Bitches

By Sonia Aurora
In this week’s episode – Emerson flirts??

This week showcased the repercussions of Ned and Olive’s ” friendly expression of innocent gratitude” from last week- their roadside kiss when Ned saved her from Momma Jockey run amok. Ned is extremely awkward around Olive. No, Ned, is always awkward, in an aw shucks way, that is perfectly played by Lee Pace where it doesn’t get too annoying. If you’ve been following the show like I have, you have at the very least a soft spot for Ned and, at the most, a tremendous crush on him (count me in the 2^nd group).

But I find that the characters do evolve on this show, things progress and incidents of the past definitely define the present and future. It would be easy for a show of whimsy like this to concentrate on just the bright colors and quirks, but there is a heart here, and that is why I flock week to week to see it (that reason, and this column, of course).

So Olive (to quote Emerson) “dropped a bomb in your subconscious with her saliva.” By episode’s end, Ned is still in love with “the one to have” (Chuck) and realizes he does not love “the one to hold” (Olive). But he does love her, just not in the way that she’d hope. And Olive, growing to like Chuck, and understanding that happiness for someone else sometimes supersedes one’s own needs, wishes Ned happiness, with whomever that may be. Olive was sweet and heart-breaking, and having her take the step back far enough to be supporting again made her shine all the brighter.

Oh, ummm, oops. Did I stray from the “Emerson flirts” lead-in? My bad.

Let’s get back on track to the mystery of this particular episode: the facts were these (our Jim Dale narrator prefaces each flashback unfolding story with that phrase; it was only a matter of time before I used it too).

One Harry Hundin, dog breeder is stabbed, no, poisoned, by his wife. Open and shut? No, he had 4 wives. Our Scooby sleuths breakup and interrogate each wife and unfortunately conclude Wife #4, sweet Hallie, served coffee with almond flavoring (thus masking the almondy flavor of the cyanide). When Emerson is offered $25K to exonerate Hallie, he agrees. In the process he falls for his “wife”, Hundin Wife #3 Simone, a black British beauty with a militant way about her. We learn about the super breed of dog Harry created with help from the 4 Mrs. Hundin’s: Bubblegum, a “Col-A-Dor-Russell-A-Poo” (Border Collie/Labrador Retriever/Jack Russell Terrier/Poodle mix). Turns out Mr. Snuppy of Snuppy’s Puppies was gonna go in with Hundin to breed or clone Bubblegum for mass production and the wives were not to happy about that, especially Simone and Hilary.

I liked the flirting. I liked Emerson breaking out a little from the curmudgeon, but not so much that he was gooey. He was still Emerson, all about the case, and not above accusing Simone of being the killer (turns out it was Wife #1 Hilary anyway). He kept himself the same while smiling just bit more in this episode (and the smiles were perpetuated by something other than dollar signs).

And while I again loved much of the wordplay in this episode, the word of the episode is rigmarole (feel free to scream Pee-Wee fans, especially since Paul Reubens guest stars on the show next week). How can you not like a show that uses that word…seamlessly?

And so we end this episode with Ned and Chuck discussing wants and needs and wishes, and what makes for happiness. What makes Ned happy? “You,” he says to Chuck (even though I stared at the screen and pretended he was talking to me).

Swoon, indeed.

Never miss an update. Subscribe to Pink Raygun by Email or subscribe via RSS

Related Stuff: