Pushing Daisies: Kerplunk

By Sonia Aurora

I had a hard time writing this article. I pretty much avoided it. And I actually did miss the episode, at first. I was away and my DVR didn’t cooperate, then my computer wouldn’t launch ABC.com’s player so I felt like the universe didn’t want me to watch the very last Pushing Daisies episode that would ever be made. Plus I knew I would feel sad, disappointed, upset, angry, whimsical, and who wants to invite those feelings in? (except whimsical, I love that one).

After about a week’s worth of struggle, I finally got my computer to play the episode and I braced myself.

I experienced all the emotions I expected, and I hate to say but the disappointment and anger were the strongest of the two. Not so much at the episode as a whole; everyone delivered, no one phoned in (necessarily) until the tacked-on “let’s try and wrap this up quickly” ending. The colors were vibrant, the language still razor-sharp witty. Guest-stars Nora Dunn and Wendie Malick were delightful, and our regular cast were their quirky awesome selves. No, the anger and disappointment came from the place it’s come from ever since the cancellation announcement – directed towards the bureaucracy and mismanagement of a much-loved and better-deserving show that had to be aborted due to the higher-ups being bureaucratic and mishandling their management. Truthfully, I was down, and I didn’t have the heart to write Pushing Daisies’ obituary.

Yes, there is discussion of it re-living in comic form. But as much as I have been delving more and more into that art form and appreciating it, it still won’t allow for the dimension a television show has. I love the Buffy Season 8 comics, but I still miss the embodiment that the actors give to the characters they create and evolve into weekly. Looking at Ned’s lovelorn face drawn will evoke what I felt watching Lee Pace, but I’ll miss the facial quirks that can only be still on a page. If Olive breaks into song, how much can I force to try and hear Kristen Chenoweth? So the truth is, while the story might continue, while a more complete (satisfying) ending may be in store, it just really won’t be the same. The TV Show died, and Ned cannot revive it with his super power touch. And for that, I’m still in mourning.

As for the episode, the facts were these: Young Lilly always put Vivian before herself, the only exception being Charles Charles. That betrayal lead her to give up swimming and then, with Charles Charles’ death, forced her into further seclusion, dragging Vivian and Chuck with her. Now, with Chuck gone, the aunts, still hiding from the world, celebrate her half-birthday, which was a tradition of the aunts and Chuck. Vivian convinces Lilly to attend Jimmy Neptune’s Aquacade, another tradition that happens to be a traveling water circus. Chuck, also celebrating her half-birthday at the Pie Hole, gets a 1st edition of Lil Gumshoe, Emerson’s book (and secret plea to find his daughter).  Ned, who stresses himself to the point of psych-out for the perfect gift (and then doesn’t get one anyway) seizes the opportunity to get tickets for all of them to the Aquacade, also. As the gang enters and hides behind animal balloons to escape being seen by the aunts, the Darling Mermaid Darlings run into their arch-nemeses – the Aquadolls, Coral and Blanche Ramona. Some snide-y banter ensues and, while Vivian didn’t expect the stress, Lilly decides to push ahead and stay. The Aquadolls begin their act, Coral sends Blanche up in the air, and in an unexpected show-stopping moment, Galveston Gus’ shark, Bubba, leaps up and snacks on Blanche! 

While Vivian mourns the idea of losing a sister, and Lilly could give a crap, Jimmy Neptune appears at their doorstep with an invitation to resurrect the Darling Mermaid Darlings act and replace the Ramona siblings – swapping one sister act for another. Lilly reluctantly caves into Vivan’s want to do so. Meanwhile, Galveston Gus hires Emerson to clear his shark’s name, and his own – he knew he locked the gate and doesn’t know how Bubba got out. Ned, Chuck and Emerson go visit Bubba and Blanche, whose hair is looking a little gray, and smells a bit like lard…which would attract any shark…aha! It seems this wasn’t just an accident, but murder via “homicidal hair gel”. While trying to figure things out back at the Pie Hole, and realizing it was an inside job, the newly revamped Darling Mermaid Darlings visit, synchronizing their every move and word on land as practice for their resurgent water act. The gang decides to use them as their cover, and they go undercover as: Hair and makeup (Olive); Team Coach (Emerson) and Dealmaker/Agent (Ned).  Coral and Blanche’s dim-witted widower husband Shane (also the Aquadolls’ manager) are outraged that the Darlings are joining the troupe, though everyone else is accepting and loving towards them. Olive goes to check out the Aquadoll’s dressing room and runs into Sid Tango (amazingly fun Wilson Cruz) who struggles with being a man in “aqua entertainment”. Then, Emerson and Olive later watch as Sid pirouettes and notice something interesting – the shark gate opens and closes when he touches his belt. Further investigation reveals the belt is rigged to the shark gate lock…could we have found the killer so soon?

Sid proclaims his innocence (and in a really funny bit, Olive asks if he wants her to call the warden for a favor – and she means it – the warden is a Pie Hole regular).  Sid insists that Coral had been wanting the spotlight for herself, and now she has that chance. Meanwhile, Jimmy isn’t liking her pitch to do a one-woman tribute to A Chorus Line; he wants to replace Galveston Gus and Bubba’s daredevil act with another daredevil act, and he’s pitching her to ride a motorcycle. (And, as he describes the act to Ned, you hear the roar of the motorcycle, the oohs and ahhs of the crowd). Ned, meanwhile, is trying to negotiate the Darlings’ demands, and Jimmy is happy to oblige on one condition – he plans on taking the Aquacade on a European tour. Vivian won’t agree to it, until Lilly does. It’s about time they started to be happy again, allow themselves to be happy, again. 

Ned encourages it and he’s so proud of himself because he believes that’s exactly what Chuck would want for them. 

Coral, meanwhile, in attempting the motorcycle act almost drowns, and it’s revealed she was sleeping with Shane (remember, he was married to Blanche!). Lilly identifies with Coral sleeping with Shane and is disgusted by it, and herself and Vivian, to compensate for her tragedies, invites Coral to be part of their act. Olive and Emerson piece together that Shane the Himbo did it, who rides away on the motorcycle. 

Ned excitedly breaks the news to Chuck about the European tour, and she flips out – at least in Coeur d’ Coeur she could spy on them without revealing herself, but now she’ll have no idea how they are. Ned’s distraught that his good encouragement drives an emotional dagger through her heart.

Lilly realizes Coral’s planning on sabotaging the new Darling Mermaid Darlings by attempting her Chorus Line act. Foiled, she confronts Lilly about her pregnancy which she noticed years ago, but it seems there is no child. Odd. Coral also realizes that Vivian has no idea, so the secret baby Lilly’s hiding must be a big deal, and she threatens to tell Vivian. 

Emerson catches a lurker in the shadows, but it’s Chuck in disguise. She’s trying to sabotage the act – so is Ned – but they both know that would be unfair. They watch the act unfold in the water, and suddenly Mr. Himbo Shane is back, proclaiming his love for Coral and threatening to throw the microphone in the water and electrocute our Darlings. Coral’s furious that he unleashed the shark to potentially harm her, but he states that he great thing about people thinking you’re stupid is you get away with so much. He also had the foresight to smear her costume with shark repellant. Himbo tosses the microphone in the air, with the Darlings oblivious to what’s happening, and our Ned catches it in a net. The audience applause is two-fold – for the Darlings’ act and for their rescue.

Ned admits to Chuck that he’s been a bad boyfriend by keeping her away from Lilly and Vivian and the fear of losing her and the fear of being revealed for what he can do. Lilly is in a happy mood, until she sees Coral leaving the house and Vivian confronts Lilly, piecing together that her daughter was Chuck, and also that she slept with Charles Charles. The doorbell rings and Vivian supposes its the cab she called for Lilly, and that she can go anywhere but here. Lilly tells Vivian she always put Vivian first, she gave up Charles and Chuck, and that she “knew the truth would break your heart, so I broke mine instead.” The anger and heartbrokenness is palpable between them, and they open the door to reveal Ned and Chuck standing in the doorway, Mouths agape, and time stops, according to our trusted narrator, causing present, past and future to collide.

And then, the wrap-up ending of life events, expressed with minimal scenes, rolling hills, and voiceover:  

• The Darling Mermaid Darlings forget their fight and stay with the Aquacade for a worldwide tour twice around the world; 
• Emerson’s daughter Penny, prompted by the Lil’ Gumshoe pop-up book knocks on his detective door, finally finding him;
• Olive stays with Randy Mann and opens a Mac & Cheese joint called The Intrepid Cow (which is actually a large Cow building, naturally).

We zoom back to see Chuck and Ned again at the Aunts’ doorstep, and Chuck tells them that she’s alive (duh, but it’s a beautiful and tender scene). Then, as Digby (Ned’s dog we hadn’t seen in too long) runs through a colorful field of grass and yellow flowers and sunshine, the narrator ends by telling us that: “At that moment, in the town of Coeur d’ Coeur, events occurred that are not, were not, and should never be considered an ending. For endings, as it is known, are where we begin.”

As the end credits roll on, the theme song plays slowly, maudlin and mournful.

*Sigh*

I can’t say I hated the finale because hate is a strong word. I just hated it had to be the end, despite what our trusty narrator was trying to tell us. We will probably never know the source of Ned’s power or how and why it became entrusted to him. Or if he was able to ever lose it, even if temporarily, so that he could finally touch Chuck without consequence. Or learned that, if he lost his power, he could bring greater harm to Chuck (could she also die if he didn’t have it? I feel shades of Superman 2…). Or how long it took for Emerson to meet Penny again. Or why the heck did Olive open a Mac & Cheese place? I don’t recall any mention of her passion for mac OR cheese. 

But I am glad that Chuck decided to reveal herself to her aunts (or her aunt and mother, as it were). To have that be part of the ending definitely was satisfying, and my imagination can fill in some blanks, for sure. Still, as it often happens when things are so rudely interrupted before they can rightfully end, there always lingers a dissatisfaction.

More details to note that I loved:

• Ned in subdued panic inching away from the 2 mink coats Olive had in hand and she eases next to him in the Pie Hole booth;
• Chuck telling off revived Blanche after she insults Lilly and Vivian and screeching to Ned to touch her (touch her!) so she can’t respond;
• Olive introducing herself to Sid Tango as Sally Boot, a fly girl doing a running man arm pump.

Favorite quotes:

• Emerson to Coral after her failed motorcycle attempt and reveal that she was sleeping with Blanche’s husband: “You put the “Evil” in Knievel lady”;
• Chuck about the Darling Mermaid Darlings: “Prepare to be amazed. There hasn’t been this much talent around a body of water since Moses played the Red Sea”;
• Emerson: “In the third grade I did a report on Great Whites. Discovered we’re a lot alike, seeing as how we’re both misunderstood badasses”;
• Olive (spelling it out): O-M-G! G-R-8!. T-T-F-N. No, B-R-B. And then, Emerson’s response: “She’s got a case of the dumb A-S-S”.

So yes, I am disappointed there will no longer be Pushing Daisies week to week. And while I had to keep in mind the rush cancellation and slipshod way ABC handled things, Bryan Fuller tried his best to do us a solid. And for that, and for the two seasons we did get, I want to thank him for bringing such a unique and lovely show into our homes, and, for many, into our hearts. Ned, Chuck, Emerson, Olive, Lilly and Vivian, you will greatly be missed. 

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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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