Pushing Daisies: Water & Power

By Sonia Aurora

Ah, Love. It makes you do the wacky, and then some.

Young Emerson Cod – complete with zoot suit -  got into a mess of trouble visiting the Principal’s office since he was in love with said principal Ellen Spindel. Cut to present tense, and we discuss Emerson’s blinding love for his daughter, which we’ve gotten many a whiff of in episodes past. This week’s lesson: love makes you stupid. Or at last, do stupid things which makes you look, well, kinda stupid.

Olive, in an anxious attempt to get over her love for Ned has decided to set her eyes on Randy Rebound (unfortunately coaxed into it by Ned, though not on purpose). Dog trainer Ms. Simone is still seeing Emerson, back from another trip with her obedience clicker in tow, and sensing there is something he isn’t telling her. Before he can make any confessions, Mrs. Amelia Stingwell barges in to ask Emerson for help in solving Mr. Stingwell’s murder, and it’s obvious that there is a past between them, of comes kind. She is most interested in also retrieving the Dam Ruby (so named for being found at the location where the Dam that Stingwell built). The killer took it with them, so, find the ruby, find the killer.  After visiting the victim, they learn the horrible truth: the killer is Lila Robinson, Emerson’s baby momma!

The facts were these: Nine years ago Raleigh Stingwell (or, as I liked to call him, Shaft) hired Emerson to spy on his fiancée, Emily Von Alistair. Turns out her name was really Lila Robinson and she didn’t love Raleigh, but she was a grifter coming to fleece him of the Dam Ruby. She and Emerson fell in love, Emerson returned his fee to Raleigh, but Lila, unable to be on the up and up, did try and steal the ruby but stole $50,000 instead and left Emerson with Baby Penny in tow.

Our crack detective team head to the Papen County Dam (where they are greeted by their Dam Guide…and yes, it was fun hearing the use of the double entendre use of the word “dam”).

Raliegh’s secretary admits to her theory about toxic waste being dumped into the reservoir being the reason he was killed, Emerson finds a secret exit/tunnel that Raleigh would leave from, and runs into Detective Pudgeit, giving him some clues to look for Lila. Back at his office, Simone waits for Emerson, but the bad news is Lila is there holding a gun to both of them! She demands he clear her name, because she didn’t kill Raleigh and even returned the money she had stolen oh so many years ago.  She says once the trail is clear to hang a red lantern in the window and she will arrange for Emerson to see Penny. Emerson then has to confess to Simone about the existence of his daughter. Lila then shoots horse tranquilzer into their faces and they pass out.

Olive is still rationalizing the Randy Rebound situation, knowing deep down it’s not something she can do but really trying to be that girl. Even when Randy calls her on it she pretends what he says she can’t hear (the “dog whistle of crazy” she calls it). But Randy’s no fool, and you get the impression he’s also struggling with having her at any costs, even it means in the rebound capacity (so maybe he’s a little foolish).

Ned and Chuck are worried Emerson’s not thinking straight so they decide to help him entertain the disgruntled farmers theory, who now have to pay for water. Farmer #29 tells them whoever has the water has the power, and presents Chuck with some lovely yellow flowers.  They also interview what I like to call the 3 headed Mennonite lawyer, who represents them Fits & Giggles Novelty  Company, who sell their client upstream (because they can’t really lie) and confess to a little dumping of glowing stuff into the reservoir on Tuesday at 2:39am (in a deliciously fun talking-all-over-each-other scene). Olive shows up at Emerson’s, where Lila shows up, and Simone with a gun! She lured Lila there with the red lantern, and after some word play, Lila gets away, but it turns out it was all a ploy to have Randy and Olive follow her and Ned and Chuck to stow away in her car trunk to try and find Penny.

Emerson has a theory that has a 1% chance of being right but would clear Lila so he goes to pursue it with Simone back at the Papen County Dam.

Ned and Chuck chatter away in the trunk about love, and how hard it is to love, and how their love is hard. Love seems too difficult, but they ask and answer this: “Why love something?” “Because we can.” The car stops and Lila opens the truck – you see, if you’re a stowaway in a car trunk, it’s best not to talk as the driver will hear you (ugh).

Randy and Olive are back at the rendezvous point (aka the Pie Hole) and Olive confesses her plan to Randy about making him the rebound guy, and that she doesn’t want to be but she’ll also likely be difficult with him. He admits to not wanting to be the rebound guy but maybe, with time “you might forget you ever bounced.” Smooch ensues, and I’m doing a little happy dance for them.

Ned and Chuck burst in in their underpants – Lila stole their clothes and kicked them out of the car. They hurry in and notice that the flowers Farmer #29 gave them are glowing in the dark!

Emerson and Simone are also completing the pieces of the puzzle – you see, Raleigh was all set to replace all the pipes in the system which would mean that the leaky pipes at Farmer #29’s farm (his name is Michael Brunt) would lose his free water. He delivered his glowing flowers to Raleigh who figured out he must of gotten the toxic water somehow and while going to investigate through his secret exit got locked into part of the tunnel by someone wearing a Lila disguise. Farmer Brunt locks Emerson and Simone in the same section of the tunnel and goes off to find the Dam Ruby…after all, he might as well make his murder even more worthwhile.

Emerson finds the Dam Ruby in a crack in the wall while they hear the rumbling of a whole lotta
water – and Simone grabs him to stand outside the lip of the tunnel next to the shooting water to avoid being killed. Ned and Chuck apprehend Farmer Brunt before he can get away and Amelia Stingwell pays Emerson handsomely for solving the murder and recovering the ruby.

Lila meets Emerson in the woods where he will finally see Penny again. He demands that it is his turn to be a parent, and she concedes, but also mentions her car isn’t working and he gives her his car keys. Alas, I knew at that moment Lila was gonna con him, and she does – the backseat of her car has a mannequin girl in it, while the real Penny smiles and waves from the backseat of Emerson’s Cadillac as Lila peels away. Although duped, he feels a sense of strength in having seen her, and even moreso after

His Lil Gumshoe popup book was accepted by a publisher! Now, Penny is bound to find him.
So this was the penultimate episode, and I’m still bummed at the thought of no more Pushing Daisies; though I’ve tried to be aloof in these last few episodes, I really freaking loved this show. I like that Emerson at least saw Penny (as we did) and I can’t have really expected that they would be reunited that quickly, but we did at least find out about her and why she was gone. I also loved the romance between Randy and Olive (even so far as to developing a teeny crush on David Arquette in the episode).  Ned and Chuck – well, there is no resolution for their love. They continue to love one another in their sweet and forbidden way, and we don’t have the time to know if there is a cure for Ned, or for Chuck, and if they would have ever really been able to be together in the way lovers ought to be. The smallest of answers continue to unfold, but I wanna know more and more and more. There is no honor in not learning the mystery, not knowing how it’s supposed to end. And it’s completely out of my control. The only thing I can do is give ABC…the raspberry.

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About Sonia Aurora: Aspiring screenwriter and seamstress, Sonia’s dream is to write life-changing films while product-placing her own line of handbags. In 1999, she wrote, co-directed and co-starred in the short film Dr. Lovestrange, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bug, a satirical homage to Stanley Kubrick set amidst the panic of Y2K (Featured on ifilm.com & Coming Soon to YouTube!). While Sonia waits patiently for the Studios to call, she continues her selfless, humanitarian efforts (think Mother Teresa) through her scripts, short stories and sewing (a true triple-threat!), knowing all the while that someday her efforts will indeed save (or at least mildly tweak) the world. She still struggles with which picture to kiss before bedtime: her boyfriend’s or Bruce Campbell’s. And, in the interest of time, she’d like to start thanking the Academy now.

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