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.

Pushing Daisies - Season 1

Pushing Daisies is one of the most original and entertaining shows I've seen in a long time. It's just a shame I didn't find out until after it was canceled. I mean, of course it was canceled. It was unique and quirky and not marketed to the right audience. After it ended, creator Bryan Fuller returned to Heroes, the show that was good before he left, but only managed to write one episode (one of the best of the season, big surprise) before leaving again. Will he ever find lasting success with a show he can call his own? Who knows.

What I do know is there are a lot of words that can describe Pushing Daisies. Several of them are words like "cute" and "sweet" and "adorable". It's the kind of cute with a Tim Burton-esque edge to it though, which you can see from the premise - main character Ned can return dead things to life with the touch of his finger, but there are two caveats. Touching them again will kill them forever, and if he doesn't do so for one minute something nearby will die instead. Of course, he can bring that thing to life too, but then the cycle starts over. Anyway, him discovering his power and the rules to it lead to an eventual future as a pie maker who works with a private detective to solve murders by asking the victim who killed them on the side. One day the victim happens to be his childhood sweetheart Chuck, who he of course neglects to kill once again after reviving her, and then the show starts properly.

It's a mix of a bittersweet romantic comedy where Ned can never touch the object of his affections and a surreal forensic mystery show put together. Two of the show's strongest elements are the writing and the visual design, which work together to create an unusual and quite funny universe, trapped between a kid's fairy tale and a hardened detective story. Each episode brings a new case to solve and new issues for Ned and Chuck to deal with in their own version of a relationship. Things are predicated by flashbacks to Ned's earlier life as an abandoned child in a boarding school which relate to whatever's going on at the time, and it's a good mix of strong dialogue, clever mystery, and a fair amount of tugging at heartstrings. The entire cast is strong, from the two leads to Emerson, the detective who's not fond of the dead girl brought to life situation, Olive, the pie shop assistant with an unrequited affection for Ned, and Chuck's two aunts who are still dealing with the tragedy of her apparent death. Even the dog is one of the better animals on television. Or was. The only thing that ever bothered me about the show was the slightly overbearing nature of the orchestral score whenever anyone shared a moment. Otherwise, I pretty much loved every minute and can't wait to check out the second and final season.