Pages tagged “anna friel”

After a three-week hiatus, Pushing Daisies returned with a buoyant new episode that further developed three of the four over-arching second-season plotlines. (Emerson's missing daughter has yet to be fleshed out.) "Oh Oh Oh... It's Magic" also guest starred Fred Willard, and for anyone who has seen his performance in this, you'd know that is a very good thing indeed. Now, onto those story lines:

You'd be forgiven if you missed the latest episode of Pushing Daisies, seeing how Barack Obama bought airtime on every major network besides ABC (although, inexplicably, the show's ratings increased by 14%, further proof people are t-i-r-e-d of this election.) Regardless, it was an especially enjoyable episode, one that ended on an interesting cliff-hanger involving what has proven to be the over-arching story for the season: Ned's father.

Well, I feel silly. I've been pretty explicit in expressing my indignation over some of the story lines set up in the second season of Pushing Daisies, but I stand corrected. Last night's episode, "Bad Habits," miraculously wove all the separate plot lines together in a profound and transcendentally touching way. It was not only one of the best episodes of the entire series, but one of the best episodes of any show on television in recent memory. Period.

My fear with Pushing Daisies from the start was it would become stale. How many times can Ned, Chuck and Emerson sleuth around and solve murders before it becomes, well, boring? Each episode is essentially the same—transposing one exotic locale for another (like say a beehive-shaped office for a vibrant three-ring circus) alongside an array of colorful characters (and possible murderers), interspersed by the witty repartee between its lead characters. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be a recipe for longevity. And as much as it pains to say, the second episode of the season—"Circus, Circus"—was even more lackluster than its premiere.

As last night's season premiere proved, there is nothing else on television that can match the dreamlike whimsy of Pushing Daisies—a comforting, sugary confection as light and sweet as cotton candy. The chemistry between the show's four leads—the endearingly boyish Lee Pace as Ned, the piemaker; the sunny Anna Friel as Ned's childhood sweetheart Charlotte, a.k.a. "Chuck"; the deadpan Chi McBride as the private eye Emerson Cod; and Kristin Chenoweth, who plays Ned's co-worker and secret admirer Olive Snook with perky verve—is so charming it's combustible. There is undeniable magic about a show built on the premise of bringing people back to life (if only for a minute, or, in Chuck's case, a lifetime).