Pushing Daisies Review:
"Robbing Hood" (Episode 207) and "Comfort Food" (Episode 208)

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"Comfort Food" (Episode 208):



First things first: "Comfort Food" saw Olive bust out her considerable singing chops again, which is always a slightly odd but nonetheless extremely enjoyable part of the show. Watch the clip above to bask in her "Eternal Flame" glory.

The cliffhanger with Chuck and Ned bringing her father back to life took a swift, shocking and unexpected turn (to me, at least). The thrill of being reunited with her still-decomposing deceased father was enough for Chuck to make an impulsive decision based on feeling, rather than thinking. She made her father wear her glove, so when Ned went to touch him after the 60 seconds, he'd pretend to be dead instead of dead-again.

Of course, in the world of Pushing Daisies, happy endings do not exist. There's always a catch. In this case, it meant someone else had to die. Chuck enlisted Emerson to investigate who the unlucky poor soul turned out to be. "It could be a sweet old lady with insomnia bringing flowers to her husband's grave," Chuck wailed. Luckily, her impulsive, reckless decision turned out to save her life. Well, save her second life. Dwight Dixon was lurking in the shadows, shotgun in hand aimed squarely at Ned and Chuck. "I've just earned three points on the cosmic scoreboard," she remarks, having saved three lives by inadvertently taking Dixon's.

Still, Chuck chose not to tell Ned until he walked in on the two hiding in his childhood home at the end of the episode, and it will surely cause some interesting friction between the couple. It's one thing for Ned to bring back his mother, because he didn't know (at the time) it would end up taking Chuck's father's life. But here, Chuck is no child. She was aware of the consequences, and ignored them. Worse, she used Ned's ability to her own advantage, and for what? So she can hide her father from the world in bandages, forcing him to be a shut-in worse than her two aunts ever were? Things are undoubtedly about to get messy from here.

One complaint: am I wrong, or were Dixon's true motives never fully explained? And what was the deal with the pocket watches? Chuck's father mumbled something about an insurance policy, but nothing came of it. Dixon's purpose as a catalyst for bringing back Chuck's father is more meaningful than fully fleshing out his story, but I still thought it was a bit underdeveloped.

Elsewhere, Ned and Chuck teamed up to win the blue ribbon in the "Best in Belly Cook Off," which apparently brought a character from Fuller's critically acclaimed but similarly low-rated show Wonderfalls back to life. Marianne Marie Beetle (Beth Grant), the steely owner of the Muffin Buffalo desperate to win the big prize, appeared on that beloved show back in the day. (I didn't watch it. If you did, feel free to comment and enlighten me). Marianne was, to put it bluntly, a raging bitch and evil "pastry slayer," going so far as to sabotage the Pie Hole, the Waffle Nazi (Patrick Fischler, from Mad Men) and the poor Colonel Likkin (Tim Bagley). I say poor because Colonel Likkin was found dead and extra crispy moments after the cook off began. Leo, the purveyor of the competition, pushed him in a batch of his own batter in an act of revenge. Colonel Likkin's chicken turned a once slender man into a scooter-bound "tugboat" afflicted with "diabetes, obesity and night-blindness." It's as good a motive as any.

Everything about the "Cook Off" was pretty amusing, right down to the strange Pilgrim-esque costumes and Olive's cherry pie hat. I'm not sure what was funnier: seeing the Colonel lick himself, or watching Olive spread pie batter over her face and cry "my eyes are bleeding" as a distraction. The mad dash to the judges table at the end was a season highlight, if only to see Olive's look of euphoria as she passed Marianne on Leo's scooter. While the episode did rehash her feelings for Ned (feelings I thought she had put behind her), Chenoweth pulled off the comedy and drama so convincingly the retread didn't matter. Someone give this lady her own show after this, please. She's got charm in spades, and then some. 

Finally, there are now over 60,000 electronic signatures on the Save Pushing Daisies petition. A lot of people mention that it's the only show on TV that brings the entire family together, or that it's even the only show on TV people watch. But while perusing some of the comments, one in particular stood out: "Pushing Daisies makes me smile and hope. Don't take that away!" What a lovely and simple comment. How many TV shows can inspire such sentiments?