Pushing Daisies - Season 2

I thought that after loving the first season so much, my affection might lower after prolonged exposure to the show's unique charm and feel. But honestly, it really didn't. Ned and Chuck are still adorable. Emerson is still the best displaced film noir protagonist I've ever seen. Olive is still a great, sympathetic supporting character. The revolving door of guest actors portraying murder victims and murderers is still overflowing with talent. The visual style is still one of a kind and fun to look at. The writing is still a perfect mix of honest emotion and sharp banter. It's just a damn good show in every aspect. It really is a shame it got canceled after only 22 episodes, but the characters will live on at least for a little while in comic book form, so I can't be too depressed.

In season two, they do a really good job of expanding the story while still having a new mystery every week. Ubiquitous character actor Stephen Root (If you don't recognize him from something, then you don't watch many movies or TV) plays a mysterious stranger who starts digging up everyone's pasts, we learn more about Emerson's daughter, Olive's time at a nunnery expands her character, and Ned and Chuck develop realistically without it veering too far into melodrama. Chuck's aunts also get pretty far with their recovery from their death, and by the end I was genuinely disappointed they didn't have time to get to plot teases like Ned's father, because they definitely showed they can handle long term stuff like that. The series finale wraps up everything very quickly in a little narrated sequence that's about as good as you can expect for something put together at the last second, but it's really just the final kick in the nuts after coming to grips with the fact that Pushing Daisies never got a chance to see its full potential.