‘Pushing Daisies’ blogging: “Comfort Food”
(previous: Episode 7: “Robbing Hood”)
Do you smell pie? I smell pie. Mmmmm, pie...
[spoilers after the jump!]
I am now as sad as Ned has been since childhood as I face the prospect of the end of this show. It’s a bright spot in my TV week, which is otherwise pretty grim and pretty empty these days. How can Pushing Daisies go away?
Why are people not watching this show? Is it not cheery enough? Or can most people only handle cheery when it is not, in fact, accompanied by deep-fried death? Can people not handle all the sex? Well, there’s no actual sex, of course, but what could be more full of sex and yearning and passion and all that bittersweet goodness than Ned’s plastic-wrapped arm hugging Chuck in his sleep? Maybe people prefer sweaty rutting bodies to genuine feeling? Do they not get the joke of the Come & Sleep Hotel? Or is that just too clever for people?
I just don’t get it.
Maybe people don’t want to be smacked in the face with such wisdom as “Lying to yourself about love never works” or “A forkful of immediate gratification can lead to a world of consequences.” Is that it? Pushing Daisies is too obscure for people who think Two and a Half Men is deep? Do people not want to hear narration that includes actual punctuation, like how you can hear the parentheses in “Dwight Dixon (gentleman caller)”? Who could not adore the simultaneous wisdom and hilarious horror and sly pop-culture referencing and sneaky astuteness of this exchange:
“I’m going to win that blue ribbon, wrap it around her neck, and strangle her with it.” --Olive
“Olive, you’re baking with hate!” --Ned
“Ah, rich, buttery, high in carbohydrate hate. You know what no one tells you about cooking with the Dark Side? The food is really good.” --Olive
It almost makes you want to bake with hate, too. Just to try it out.
Or maybe Pushing Daisies is too full of life. Or undead life. Or something. Because when Chuck explains to her now-revived father about how his dreams are gonna be more vivid and everything tastes better and even her revived undead bees now make better honey... well, doesn’t that sound like a prescription for mindfulness, a reminder that our time here is precious and should be enjoyed to the fullest? (Maybe everyone who already understands that isn’t bothering to waste time watching TV, even only this one hour of it each week. Can TV only succeed when it indulges and encourages lethargy and couch-potato-ness, and when it actively refutes mindfulness and passion? I’d hate to think that, but maybe it’s true.)
Oh, Chuck’s father? I got so wrapped up in young Ned being “awakened by loneliness-induced insomnia” and comfort baking at school that I forgot, until we jumped back to the future where Ned and Chuck were standing over her father’s dug-up and open casket, that that’s where we’d left things last week. And now: Chuck! How could you? How could you fool Ned like that? How could you use Ned like that? Sweet, sensitive, lovely, adoring and adorable Ned...
Poor Ned! No wonder Olive’s still in love with him. Who could not be in love with Ned?
I’m too upset that this is almost over. I’m declaring an emotional snow day.
(Watch full episodes at ABC’s official site for the show.)
(next: Episode 9: “The Legend of Merle McQuoddy”)
[buy at Amazon (Region 1)] [buy at Amazon (Region 2)]viewed at home on a small screen
rated TVPG-DLV
official site | IMDB
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comments
posted by Birv (Thu Dec 04 08, 10:47AM)
Please stop reminding me of all the reasons I love this show- it's too painful!! "Comfort Food" in particular was so painful, as it has been my favorite Season Two episode to date. The Bangles! Food=Love! Jokes about finger likkin (donut) holes! Come January, I'll have a hole in my heart where a Bryan Fuller show should be. I'm stress-baking now.
posted by melinda (Thu Dec 04 08, 10:52AM)
i'm surprised you didn't mention that it was a Wonderfalls/Pushing Daisies crossover episode! Muffin Buffalo!
posted by MaryAnn (Thu Dec 04 08, 10:56AM)
I've never seen *Wonderfalls,* so I had no idea Muffin Buffalo was from that show.
posted by Pat Kelly (Thu Dec 04 08, 11:39AM)
Watch Wonderfalls, MaryAnn. If you like PD, you should like that too. Caroline Dhavernas in the main role as Jaye is just hilarious, and Lee Pace plays her atheist brother, who's getting getting his 2nd degree in comparative religion.
posted by Tonio Kruger (Thu Dec 04 08, 11:41AM)
I know it's probably going to do no good for me to say this, given how often the two of us disagree on various subjects, but you really should add Wonderfalls to your Netflix queue, MaryAnn.
It's a lot better than Dead Like Me--not that's a hard thing to be--and it even gives Pushing Daisies a good run for its money.
Plus it has a female protagonist. And a guest appearance from one of the Firefly crew. And that Lee Pace fellow is rumored to appear from time to time but I doubt you'd be interested in that.;-)
posted by tom (Thu Dec 04 08, 1:40PM)
Was it just my imagination, or did Ned and Chuck touch bare hands when they were handing the watch off in the scene where they are sitting in her father's grave?
posted by Chris (Thu Dec 04 08, 2:24PM)
No frets Mary Ann. The creator of Pushing Daisies is returning to Heroes in an attempt to save the franchise. He wrote the best episodes of Heroes in the first season such as the classic "Company Man." Also soon you can watch the new season of 24 and if you havent watched them already, I suggest you hurry and catch up on Lost so you can join in on the fun Jan 21. Also why dont I read anything from you about Mad Men? Come on Mary Ann there is plenty to enjoy on televison if you just watch!
posted by SoniaDee (Thu Dec 04 08, 6:46PM)
I'm gonna need an emotional snow day when this show ends. It's not fair that there are terrible shows out there getting renewed season after season, while this wonderful gem gets the axe. And yes, it's because people can't or don't want to get it. This show is too good for its own good.
PS- I don't know why, but Emmerson's reaction to the cat screeching after being hit by the shovel made me laugh uncontrollably.
posted by Lyna (Thu Dec 04 08, 7:01PM)
It makes me so bitter that ABC has axed this show, yet keeps around utter dreck like Private Practice and all the 'reality' shows. So bitter and so angry. I feel like cooking with the Dark Side myself.
Also, screw Heroes. I'd much rather Bryan Fuller had tried to get NBC to pick up PD than go back to that POS. It feels like he just didn't try that hard to save it because he knew he'd have a job at that show...
posted by MaryAnn (Thu Dec 04 08, 11:10PM)
I'm SO there.
I'd rather he stayed with *Pushing Daisies.*
Yeah, I rewound that a couple times to watch it again, too. He pulls away instinctively so that she can't accidentally touch him.
I love Lee Pace's body language in this show, how he hunches in so that no one can touch him. And it tickles me to think that the production team probably has someone who watches to make sure that Ned and Chuck don't accidentally touch.
No, I can't, because *24* is reactionary dreck.
I'm totally caught up on watching *Lost,* and I've blogged about it when it's been on. But -- and this is key -- it's not on now.
I love *Mad Men.* But, again, it's not on now!
posted by Chris (Fri Dec 05 08, 12:07PM)
I guess I looked for your Lost and Mad Men blogs but couldnt find any, so I presumed you were not a watcher. My bad!
posted by MaryAnn (Sat Dec 06 08, 11:57AM)
I haven't blogged about *Mad Men,* and my *Lost* blogs were at Film.com -- you can find links to those here.
posted by Mimi (Fri Dec 19 08, 2:20PM)
I love the music during the opening boarding school scene, and I LOVE that a little girl is playing it on her clarinet. These little details on this show kill me! Ned in that "decorative hat" at the cook-off! The plastic arm sleeve for safe spooning! The deep-fried colonel, possibly the ickiest talking corpse yet! Emerson's eulogy over Dwight/Charles's grave ("Here lies Dwight, here lies his gun, he was bad, and now he's done. Let's go.")! The outfits on Chuck's aunts! Finger lickin' donut hole... finger lickin' donut hole?! And, oh, Olive... Olive breaks my heart.
HOW CAN THEY TAKE THIS SHOW AWAY?!
posted by JoshDM (Fri Dec 19 08, 3:07PM)
I am astounded to discover MAJ has never seen Wonderfalls.
That would be like someone who has never seen Buffy talking about Angel.
posted by Tonio Kruger (Wed Sep 02 09, 5:26PM)
All joy is temporary. All joy is temporary. All joy is temporary.
Not that I expect that mantra to help me adjust to the final episode but still...