Pushing Daisies

First of all — better and better and better…that’s what this show is becoming, which makes it all the more bad. *sigh*.

This week, the relationship between Chuck and Ned encounters a major hiccup in the presence of Chuck’s undead father…who has become this overprotective, selfish father. He has expressed to Ned to stop seeing his daughter again, even went and tussled him for it. If this was intended to be one of the story arcs Pushing Daisies was going into in the future, it would have been a very interesting one.

Part of Charles Charles’ animosity breeds from the fact that it was Ned who accidentally unintentionally killed him. Another part of it is because he’s going through the process of his little girl having a boyfriend for the first time. He is being a typical father to a daughter he sees so precious.

Also going through the process for the first time? Chuck and Ned had their first major fight because of him.  You think keeping a relationship where they can’t touch each other is hard? Dealing with a difficult dad is probably harder.

Charles Charles rationalizes with his daughter that there are still so many things, so many adventures, she has yet to do, than be kept in the kind of life she has now. He asks his daughter to choose any place they can go together, but she chose to stay with Ned. Her dad meanwhile chose to be somewhere else. Is this the last we’ll see of him? Will Ned have the chance to touch Charles Charles again?

Meanwhile, because Ned and Chuck are dealing with this personal issue, Emerson is working with his new Junior Assistant, Olive, in helping solve the case of the week — the murder of the lighthouse keeper in Papen County. It wasn’t an especially confusing case to solve but the scenes between Olive and Emerson were so right on the money. It’s a very interesting partnership I would love to see go on and on (chest bumping and all!), if only…

And for a detective just starting out, Olive Snook has the nose for it! She also has the right wardrobe to go the occasion. Those raincoats she got for them were hilarious! I wonder where one gets something like it for real?

Anyway, love the developing dynamics between the Cod and Olive. It’s touching to see their final scenes together — Emerson offering her a place to go in case this love and pining for Ned is too much for Olive to bear. Watching this and knowing it’s going to end soon — that’s also too hard to bear!

We briefly see Aunts Lily and Vivian in the beginning. They almost catch Charles and Chuck camping at Ned’s house. Will this also have closure by the end of the series?

And lastly — what are you by the way, a pie person or a cake person? I have been having cake all my life… Cake, I can get anywhere. Pies, on the other hand? Not so much. Which is why I want it more.

Is it getting harder and harder to watch Pushing Daisies?

This week’s episode, Olive takes center stage. She was perky, exceptionally funny, quick-witted and showed a bit of a tough side going up against a competitor in this really crazy colorful cook-off. Of course, Olive also sings a very moving song, which I will link to down the page.

Picking up where last episode left, Aunt Lily was so ready to take on Dwight. Who jumped to their seats when she blew him up with her shotgun? Before I could say “Oh no”…I was glad it was just actually her fantasy. Because we wouldn’t want to complicate things now and have Aunt Lily locked away for murder, would we? Her disgust and distrust for Dwight was too much, she was really contemplating on shooting him.

But nature took care of this for her. Or rather, her daughter, Chuck, did. Chuck’s decision to trick Ned and keep her own father alive meant Dwight ended up dying in his place. Which makes Chuck all the more guilty — for not telling Ned about keeping her undead father and for killing Dwight in the process.

At the cook-off, a murder also took place. And without Emerson to help solve the case this time (coz he was helping out Chuck sort through her own problems with her undead father), Ned has Olive as an assistant detective. One of the contestants, Colonel Likkin who made tasty fried chickens, had been fried to crisp. And someone was also sabotaging the cook-off. One and the same people? Not so much. The saboteur had a different agenda altogether, she so desperately wanted to win the contest. While the murderer was asking for payback and was also out to steal the fried chicken recipe.

This week featured the much talked about cross over of the character Mary Ann Marie Beetle played in an episode of Wonderfalls, one of Bryan Fuller’s show from the early 2000’s. You can view some of her scenes from Wonderfalls here.

Back to Olive — it seems her love for Ned is still there, burning.

I don’t know about you but this scene teared me up. Maybe Kristin Chenoweth sang it with so much heart, maybe it was her beautiful voice, maybe my hormones is driving up the wall or maybe it just reminds me how this good show is coming to an end really soon —- I actually cried watching this:

Last night’s episode ends with a cliffhanger. We’re about to see Chuck’s dad in the flesh! If you’ve been reading up on Pushing Daisies news, then you’re probably aware he shows up in the next two episodes. Yep, Ned is reviving Chuck’s dad after twenty years. They need him alive as he is probably the key to the mystery surrounding an old friend of his who has come back to town asking and poking into their private lives. An old friend, who may endanger his daughter, Chuck and her secrets (and Ned’s secrets); and an old friend who has Aunt Vivian smitten.

Aunt Lily is less enthralled by this person, Dwight. Chasing him off with a shotgun may have given him the warning Aunt Lily was someone to be reckon with. In fact, she was able to steal back the pocket watch that belongs to Chuck. But Dwight knows a lot of secrets, including the fact that the daughter Aunt Lily thought was dead, is very much alive in The Pie Hole.

Meanwhile, the case of the week seemed like a classic story of a gold-digging young wife who murders his aging husband. Jennifer Elise Cox, as the annoyingly superficial and dense young wife played her part so well that I wish she comes back to do more of it (unlikely that’s every gonna happen now!). Except this wasn’t a classic case. In solving the case, it seems what it was, was actually an unfortunate accident.

I loved the scene with Olive Snook dressing up as a character Eva Gabor played in an old series, Green Acres. And Pigby was all dolled up too!

Ned saying, “I love you too much to make you suffer like that…” when Chuck suggested they dig up her dad to help with the Dwight situation. Ahh, Ned. This is the reason why you’re in my subconscious and I’m having dreams about you!

After a three (two?) week hiatus, Pushing Daisies comes back to deliver one magical episode in terms of visuals effects, writing, acting and quality of story. Oh Oh Oh…It’s Magic has been called it’s best episode yet. And I can’t debunk that. This really was one of its most beautiful. The last five minutes of it were purely golden…I’m so sure it left every fan welling up and hugging someone. Didn’t you just die watching Chuck and Ned inside the car, with Ned wanting to touch her as she listens to her mom? I was watching this one alone and I hugged my knees to my chest! It was sad but oddly, so beautiful.

At the back of my mind though, I almost wish this show was less of a clever, spectacular, spontaneous ensemble. Because bewitching as it was, I think that it does have the tendency to tune out viewers who only mindlessly watch a TV program at 8:00 in the evening. Oh Oh Oh…It’s Magic was so high up there in terms of distinction that I sense regular viewers may feel…choked. So many things went on. Most of your senses have to work when watching this episode, that I’m afraid it’s only us true blue fans of the series who watched with smile on our faces last night. I hope I’m wrong and ratings prove me otherwise.

Anyway, best moments? I can’t zero in on one particular instance. But I did love —

• Cementia — funny word!
• Emerson’s one liner always cracks me up. I loved that rats ass quote. I should put that up later with the quotes for this week.
• The twins are adorable… sometimes too adorable, too sweet, too stiff. I feel they are wind up dolls or something.
• Big half-brother Ned, consoling his twin half-brothers when their surrogate dad died. Big half-brother Ned who’s against vigilante killing. Big half-brother Ned who is also sweet-boyfriend Ned. I still can’t get over that last few minutes. No-touching policy aside, Ned would have gotten some good lovin’ the way he pleases Chuck in so many ways, emotionally.
• Chuck listening to the story of her birth — wonderful! So emotionally charged.
• Aunt Vivian on a date. Flirty! Hah.
• Fred Willard. What about him, huh? He was great, wasn’t he?

And what is up with Dwight Dixon huh? Is he the reason why Ned’s father disappears on his family? Is Ned’s father a spook?

About the same time as last year’s we learned of Ned’s relationship with his father. This week’s episode of Pushing Daisies dug deeper into that and what we saw was this really, really sad side to Ned (I mean if the last fourteen episodes since Season 1 did not give you a complete picture of how he is) — one who carries “a colorful mix of anger, chronic distrust and misplaced guilt”.

I did not want to see an “angry Ned”. For some reason, that hurt a lot. It’s like I really felt what he was going through and it was the worst feeling of all.

But on the bright side, it set up for such a magical, feel-good moment. All the hurt was overshadowed by just one scene where it came to that part where he finally decided to go back to his dad’s house to meet his half twin brothers for the first time. When they went and hugged him? It made my eyes misty.

But this week was also Emerson Cod’s week and he continues to be the driving force to why this show is such a treat to watch. Just look at him in this scene when the bad guy caught them:

I could not stop giggling watching this and didn’t hear what the narrator was saying when it was important because it was something about his dad.

Anyway, Emerson’s character got more action in this week’s episode, too.

And by action, I mean dressing up and going undercover ala Shack, complete with the big and the bling. Their charade worked for me. It didn’t work for the bad guys.

And by action, I also mean his tryst with Simone, one of the women he’s helped in season one and incidentally a woman he’s been enamored with then. Will she potentially be a recurring character in Emerson’s life?

The case of the week, as I gathered (since the whodunit’s getting more and more complicated week after week!), involved a cook at a Chinese restaurant who secretly operates some sort of gambling joint involving, not cards, but Dim Sum. The cook lost to the restaurant’s manager, promising his daughter’s hand in marriage. When he tried to win her back, he failed and gave his life insurance policy claim as collateral. The manager wanted to collect the pay-out and killed him.

A scene straight out of Scooby Doo. I love it!

Ned keeps a clue pad tucked under his jacket. It’s something we didn’t know before. Cute!

Hello, Ned’s twin half brothers! (played by Alex and Graham Miller)

• Ned: “Maurice and Ralston? I’m glad my dad got so creative with naming after I left. Hello, Mercutio and Ribald.”

The brothers will be back in another episode.

This guy introduced himself as a friend of Ned’s Dad and Mom and went to the Pie Hole to ask Ned for his father’s whereabouts. He gives Ned the “piss-jitters”.

• Ned: “You ever shiver when you pee? That’s how it felt when he spoke.”

What is dad’s friend up to, eh?

Finally, we saw a little something from Emerson’s life when his mom pays him a visit and she tells her she was on to a case. Calista Cod (played by Debra Mooney) is also a Private Investigator. She taught everything his son now knows. And their relationship isn’t only about being mother and son, they were each other’s best friend. But as friends aren’t supposed to keep secrets from each other, Emerson is ashamed he has not told her mother about his daughter. And it was eating him up. He resolved to sit down with her and finally fess up.

Except, Mama Cod wasn’t really there on a case. Her case was finding about Emerson’s secret, when she learned of the book he was trying to get published. Calista thought it was Emerson writing about his crazy childhood. When he finally told her everything and what that book meant, the two ended up fighting. But they patch things up later and Calista offers some advice about rewriting Gum Shoe (the pop-up book Emerson wrote) so that he can finally find his long lost daughter.

This week’s case involved the murder of a Frescort — friend + escort or someone who is paid to be your best friend especially when you’re a loner (which makes a lot of sense to Ned). Buddy was a delusional guy who had issues that go back during high school when the Star Quarterback he thought was a friend, actually wasn’t. Buddy ended up killing him. This what started his obsession with becoming everybody’s best friend and formed the Frescort company. It’s also where he met Joe, who  triggered the same kind of delusion for Buddy, as with the Star Quarterback. When Joe wanted to leave the company, Buddy got all crazy again and killed him.

And yes, the weirdo in the story, Randy Mann, is played by David Arquette (great casting!), the murdered victim’s room mate. While Randy Mann did not turn out to be the murderer, he instead stood as the one friend Ned had outside of their Pie Hole circle which was actually nice to see.

Ned is fretting over the fact that he has less time with his girlfriend now that she and Olive are room mates (and BFFs!). The two ladies made quite a comfortable arrangement, until everything broke down when the two are trapped in the locker trying to solve this week’s case. Old feelings and issues (like Olive being in love with Chuck’s boyfriend) resurfaced, leaving one to storm out of the room in disgust. This is Olive and Chuck’s first big fight.

But as Chuck plans to move back in with Ned, he comes to realize, though his new friend Randy, that living alone is something he has to learn to deal with.  He also knows Chuck and Olive have to make up and mend their friendship. They all have to work their problems out.

This week was yet another solid episode with plenty of good story arch and cute moments.

My favorite scene would have to be the mother and son team investigating their clients. They do their work alike! I also loved this expression on Emerson’s face when they were going over Buddy at his office:

I also got a kick out of Olive and Chuck arguing inside the locker. And that little interview they had with Barb, the Frescort’s front desk person, who also happens to be Joe’s girlfriend.

The look of “constipation” from Olive and Chuck

The way Barb spoke…she reminded me of Mary Murphy on So You Think You Can Dance!

Media Blvd recently sat down with the two leads of Pushing Daisies and had a very long interview with them. I picked this to highlight taking note of the fact that David Arquette appears in next Wednesday’s episode and this little story was funny —

• MediaBlvd> What’s your favorite Pie Hole pie?
• Anna> I always ask for apple because I’m a traditional type of girl.
• Lee> I like apple. In the script, there is a lot of talk about rhubarb custard, and that sounds good.
• Anna> Lee put a testicle in my trailer.
• Lee> It was not a human testicle. David Arquette was our guest star, and he comes to make meat pies, so he brings all these awful innards to make these pies. So, before Anna got to work, I took one of the bull testicles and put it in her trailer.
• Anna> And, I have a really weak stomach, so I was on the set, retching.

The complete interview is here.

I knew that an Olive-centric story would be something worth my time. I am hoping this is the episode that finally wins the viewers back. We should be so lucky as to have witnessed how talented Kristin Chenoweth is.

In case you didn’t watch last night’s show — you have missed a real class act! A lot of things really worked for this episode, and dare I say it is mostly thanks to her. In fact, Bad Habits may just be one of my favorites.

First, let’s talk about the disguises (we’ll get to Olive later) — To get to the secluded convent where Olive witnessed how one of the nuns died, Emerson, Ned and Chuck have to come disguised as holy servants from the Vatican Police. Father Dowling (Emerson), Father Mulcahey (Ned) and Sister Christian (Chuck), the “part-time Italians”? That scene had me laughing really hard.

Ned felt really uncomfortable waking up the dead in the presence of Mary and Jesus statuettes. I love the exchange between him and Emerson who reminded Ned — “It’s not like he never done it before. Lazarus and all that.”

Sleuthing for more clues, the two end up in secret wall, revealing a restaurant’s kitchen where they meet Sister LaRue’s contact from the outside. She has been bringing contrabands in exchange for favors. Sister LaRue was working on a top secret project she intended to make lots of money from. Mo Collins was a riot as Sister LaRue, the nun in seclusion who wasn’t really keeping all her vows intact. And she had such a foul mouth for a dead body. Drowning her expletives and outbursts with the sound of church bells was classically funny!

And then there’s Olive Snook —

Loved how she came to hire Emerson to check the case. These two bantering really leave me with my eyes wide open and with a smile in my mouth.

Loved her tender moments with Pigby. Digby will have a new friend!

Loved her confrontation/closure with Ned (touching!) and loved how she revealed Lily’s big secret to him, without really breaking any promises. (They did something like that game Charades, only a lot more fun to watch!)

Loved her concern for Chuck. Loved that they finally came to a closure, too. She said she was never really angry at her and they both were each others’ sisters. And now that Olive has expressed to come back to the Pie Hole (YAY!) will Chuck and her become roomies?

The final scene with Ned telling Chuck the true nature of her family history was also touching. Now that she knows who her mother is, the story is expectedly going to unravel more layers.

Plus, this episode also revealed snippets on Emerson’s daughter and Ned’s father. It’s just getting better and better. You should all come and watch this one regularly!

Like last week, last night’s episode was once again packed and so very layered with characters, stories and plots. I’m not even sure I got the case of the week all figured out! But I’ll try…

With his reputation as a private investigator now very solid, Emerson could have picked any case he can work on. But instead, he takes on the case of a rather insistent woman who left him with no choice but to find her missing daughter, Nikki.

With no dead body as lead, the trio takes Nikki’s best friend in the Pie Hole for questioning. She wasn’t willing to talk but thanks to Chuck’s unorthodox ways of interrogation, they crack their first lead. Nikki apparently had dreams of becoming a star so she ran away from home to join her boyfriend, a mime.

This information led them to discover the mime who they found dead inside his van. Using Ned’s powers they learn from the him that Nikki ran off with a clown who was willing to take her as apprentice at the Circus of Fun.

Once there, Ned and Emerson talked to the Ringmaster who doesn’t supply them with any leads and Ned suspects the Ringmaster was hiding something. Further investigation led them to discover a clown car swallowed into the lake, with all its passengers in it. The parade of dead clowns was funny stuff! It was a gag that had me laughing in stitches.

(more…)

Ooh, where do we begin? A lot of things went on in this episode. Did one hour just fly by? It was definitely packed.  Every character had their time on the screen.

For someone watching this show for the first time, I bet you would be plenty confused. Fortunately, there was a good two to three minute recap of what went on in the first season at the beginning of Bzzzzzzzzz!. And if that wasn’t enough, you can always watch the five minute Season 1 Starter Kit ABC has prepared.

For long time fans though —- wasn’t this episode just what we needed? The last nine-ten months was worth the wait, wasn’t it? It had plenty of everything we love!

An intimate Chuck and Ned…

(Alright, not exactly…Chuck had a swarm of dead bees she would like Ned to bring to life again)

Emerson and his pop-up books…

(Is he dedicating this to his long lost little daughter?)

Olive freaking out with all the secrets she is keeping…

… and subsequently learning more of Lily’s secrets while she finds resolve in a convent. (Aunt Lily just told her Chuck’s biological father was Aunt Vivian’s fiance!)

Speaking of Aunt Vivian, she unexpectedly shows up at the Pie Hole again (the first time was with Aunt Lily which was what triggered Olive’s freak out moment). Aunt V was looking for someone to talk to, with Lily gone and she doesn’t know where she is (convent, with all the secrets!).

“Everyone seems to be leaving me. Home isn’t my haven now.
Everything there just reminds me of everything not there.”

We just want to give Aunt Vivian a hug, don’t we?

Speaking of home, Chuck decides to occupy Olive’s apartment (next door to Ned) now that Olive is off to the nunnery. Ned isn’t open to the idea at first because he thinks he has to be near Chuck all the time. He thinks that’s the best way to keep her safe. But he began to understand that this is not a “separation” but an “expansion”.  He adorns Chuck’s new house with all of her old stuff.

This week’s case involved a bee murder, which I must say, felt like a storyline used in order for the main characters to interact and transition from where we last saw them. Ned, Chuck and Emerson proceeded with their investigations but the real drama unfolded away from the crime scene and into their personal lives.

For an episode so packed, I was still waiting for more. Next week is such a long wait, isn’t it?  Especially when we know, Ned’s been having a special visitor at The Pie Hole… his father (who looks awfully short, compared to Ned).

[ACADEMY SCIENCE LAB: a portrait of the stern founder with a snarling German Shepherd hangs over the blackboard where the students are lined up against; the subject of the day is "Flight"]

Narrator: The motto of the Longborough School for Boys was “Institutem Superior Omnibus” or “Tradition Over All”. But on this morning, whether it was the topic of flight or the brandy in the teacher’s parlor, Mr. Galt threw tradition to the wind and let the students choose their own lab partners. [the science instructor nods and all the boys immediately run to their tables with their partners, leaving Ned and an Indian boy in orthodontic headgear standing alone] Young Ned, however, found his chosen for him. Eugene Mulchandani was an exchange student from Gorakhpur, India. Young Ned felt a gnawing pity growing in his stomach, as was tradition. But beneath Eugene’s headgear thrived an active imagination and a useful gift for aeronautical model building, as well as the hope that someone might not dislike him for the simple fact that he was different. [Eugene tears several pages from a composition notebook and folds it into an elaborate paper airplane, then inflates a balloon with gas and ties it to the airplane. Ned smiles admiringly as they watch it float in the air, then notices a classmate sitting in front of them getting ready to shoot down the balloon with a spitball] Young Ned found himself breaking with his own tradition and in a moment of passion … [Ned throws a book and nails the bully in the head] … he fought back. For the first time since his father dropped him off, Young Ned made a friend. [outside during recess, the boys run through the trees; Eugene jumps and lands on a pile of leaves, then lets Ned have a turn] In a surge of emotion, he forgot his mother had died, his father had left him, and that he missed a girl named Chuck. He also forgot he was jumping into a pile of dead leaves that were once alive. [Ned jumps on the pile and as he swims through the leaves, the brown ones turn green; he fearfully looks up at a shocked Eugene, who runs away] Eugene Mulchandani fled in a flurry of saliva and fear. Eugene would eventually forget Young Ned’s mistake and chalk it up to magic leaves. But Young Ned would never forget that happiness borne of passion is always short-lived. [the classmate that Ned nailed with a book approaches and warms up his fist]

[THE PIE HOLE KITCHEN: Ned is sitting at the table waiting for the toaster to pop up; Chuck enters happily and sits next to him]

Narrator: Yet, through no fault of his own, he had once again stumbled into happiness …

Chuck: Good morning!

Narrator: … which terrified him.

Ned: Morning. [muffins pop up and he places a plate in front of Chuck; she starts cutting strawberries for their breakfast]

Chuck: Guess what day it is today?

Ned: [smiling] World Hello Day.

Chuck: Oh, you finally put up my calendar of Obscure of Holidays!

Ned: Yes, and “hola”! That’s Español-a.

Chuck: “Merhaba”, “selamat pagi”, “o-si-yo”! That’s Turkish, Indonesian and Cherokee, although the Indonesians really says “Good Day” which I think is much better than “Hello”, because what does that say? That says “I’m here, your turn to talk”! Kinda selfish. [Ned chuckles and smiles] What?

Ned: [fondly] Nothing.

Narrator: The Pie Maker wished to express to Chuck exactly how intense his feelings were for her.

Ned: [suddenly] Am I your boyfriend? [behind the counter, Olive’s head pops up in shock] I realize that boyfriend-girlfriend are familiar, trite labels – if convention were soaked in boyfriend would be dripping with it – but we’ve never actually said it. And not that we need to define the relationship, but it might be helpful in a familiar, trite way – the way on a holiday created to sell greeting cards – it’s still nice to get a card … and are you going to cut me off with a “Yes” anytime soon?

Chuck: [bemusedly] Yes. [behind the counter, Olive lets out a breath. So does a relieved Ned, who proceeds to put jam on Chuck’s muffin]

Ned: You never said what today is.

Chuck: Thank you. Today is my daddy’s birthday. You know he would’ve been sixty today if he were still alive?

Narrator: The mention of Chuck’s father sent The Pie Maker’s thoughts spinning. [Ned’s face falls and he drops the jam jar on the table]

Chuck: What’s wrong?

Ned: Nothin’.

(more…)

[ACADEMY – NIGHT: Young Ned is lying awake in bed; turns and looks at the clock, which reads 2:01 a.m. Digby is lying at the foot of his bed]

Narrator: At this very moment at the Longborough School for Boys, young Ned was 9 years, 41 weeks, 14 hours and 3 minutes old … and exhausted. [Ned sits up; Digby whines in sympathy] For despite the endless waking hours spent assuring himself that his heart was on the mend, Ned discovered the truth in his sleep. Sadly, not a single night had passed since the death of his mother that he didn’t dream of her coming back to him. [gets out of bed and leaves the room] Realizing he couldn’t rush his heart into healing, he concocted a plan: to reconnect with his mother in a way that only he could. [KITCHEN: in the dark, vast industrial room, Ned looks up on a high shelf and sees fresh strawberries out of his reach. He looks at his reflection off toaster and sees the image of his smiling mother handing him a pie]

(more…)

[ACADEMY - NIGHT: In the community sleeping quarters, slumbering boys occupy the beds, except for one noticeably empty bed …]

Narrator: Bedtime at the Longborough School for Boys was a time for dreams, dreams filled with the bliss that came from a happy childhood. But on this night, one boy chose to dream with his eyes wide open. [Ned is wearing a makeshift Pterodactyl outfit and holding two Play-Doh figures modeled after his mother and himself, along with a model of Chuck] Eleven weeks, 1 day, 7 hours and 41 minutes ago, young Ned was living that happy childhood, complete with a lovely home, caring mother and boyhood sweetheart, a girl he called Chuck. [Digby pops his head out from inside a trunk in front of his bed] But when his mother died – twice – young Ned awoke to a new reality. Though he could reanimate the dead, young Ned could only animate the inanimate with his imagination. On this lonely night, he tried to recreate his past life … [the clay models of Ned and Chuck come alive and approach; just as they reach one another, the clay models of Chuck and himself collapse and fall apart, struggling to touch one another. Ned’s face falls as reality sets back in]

Narrator: … But he’d lost his ability to dream and found even his imagination failed him. [Digby whines and goes back inside the trunk. Ned turns away and looks sadly out the window at the full moon] Still, he wore hope on his head. What young Ned didn’t know was at that very moment, the girl he called Chuck was wearing hope on hers. [CHARLES’ HOME: Young Chuck is staring wistfully at the same moon wearing her dinosaur outfit] They were together even if they were far apart.

(more…)

[ACADEMY HALLWAY: Young Ned stands at the end of a long line that leads to the mail room; all the boys receive letters and packages]Narrator: The season was autumn, his first year away
Young Ned is at boarding school, the times are not gay
Tucked away in her lair, dark, dank and cool
Stood the Postmistress of the Longborough School.

Every week, young Ned would hope for a letter
Some contact from home to make it all better
But from his father, there was never a word
His grieving young mother they said, Ned had concurred. [Ned pokes out his head; the Postmistress shakes her head no and he sadly turns away]

Then one day before All Hallows’ Eve [on Halloween, young Ned pokes out his head; this time the Postmistress nods, and with a smile, Ned goes up to her]
She gave him the nod, it was hard to believe
He was stunned to be summoned
Guessed what he’d been given:

Candy corn treats or masks of dead risen? [she hands him a postcard and he reads it:]
But the thing was more frightening than a demon
Winged or hoofed
A pre-printed card from his father: “We’ve Moved!!” [NED’S FATHER’S HOUSE: Halloween Night. Ned and Digby are dressed in matching bedsheets; he holds up the postcard to check the address]

(more…)

[ACADEMY PLAYING FIELD: Boys are playing kickball together while Ned is off to the distance, bouncing an orange ball off a tree]

Narrator: At this very moment, at town of Northrush, young Ned was lonely. Unable to make friends at the Longborough School for Boys, he often found himself playing alone, with nothing but memories of happier times to keep his company. What young Ned did not realize was that beyond the meadow under the same orange sky, someone he loved was remembering him. [Ned misses the tree and it bounces away deeper into a field. NED’S OLD HOME: There is a "For Sale" sign out front and the house appears abandoned … except for Digby lying patiently on the front porch]

Narrator: His dog, Digby. In fact, three days prior, Digby had made a decision: wearied by his own loneliness back in Coeur d’Coeurs and sensing his master’s sorrow, Digby set out on a mission. [Digby perks up, runs off the porch and down the street] Uncertain as to his exact destination, he ventured into the great unknown and guided only by the compass of his heart. [Digby trots through the town when he looks up and sees an apartment on fire. He goes to a fire box and pulls the lever down; a fire truck soon arrives and he continues his journey] Despite numerous distractions, Digby was determined to find young Ned – the boy who had given him a second chance at life. And who was his best friend. [ACADEMY FIELD: Ned looks around for his orange ball and sees Digby running toward him, holding the ball in his mouth; Ned grins and runs toward him] Upon doing so, Digby proved that love can overcome any obstacle. The reunion was bittersweet, however, as they instantly remembered the restrictions of their friendship: they could not touch or Digby would die. [both stop and stare happily at one another; Digby drops the ball in for his master. Ned picks up a stick and pets Digby with it, then throws the ball in the air] Still, it was enough. That day, Digby vowed he would never allow himself to separated from his master. [THE PIE HOLE: Digby catches an orange ball in his mouth, while his master looks off into the kitchen and smiles upon seeing Chuck]

(more…)