Pushing Daisies

Ooh, so much goodness! I can’t even begin to say what I liked best about last night’s episode. Pushing Daisies just keeps getting better, isn’t it?

This week, Ned is faced with the one thing he’s afraid Chuck would learn — that in order for Chuck to remain alive, someone else has to die and take her place. Inevitably though, as Chuck continues to seek answers, Ned has to own it up and tell her the truth. And this revelation was to take place in the funeral home where Chuck’s body was laid, right before Ned and Emerson found her.

The timing could have never been more wrong. Just as Chuck and Ned’s relationship begins to develop into something so close (that they would actually need a saran sheet for that!), Emerson arrives at The Pie Hole and propositions Ned with a new business. But it isn’t the type of murder investigation that would appease Ned. For the mystery surrounding the dead he is supposed to revive is something directly related to him.

Lawrence Schatz was someone Ned “accidentally and involuntarily” killed when he revived Chuck. His mysterious death was identified as a heart attack and only Ned and Emerson know what the real deal is. Now, Lawrence’s twin brother Lewis wants to know if the death was, in fact, murder, for fear that the killer may also be after him. Why is this so? Well, the brothers own a funeral home in Coeur de Coeur, and as it turns out, Lawrence was robbing the dead of whatever valuables they were wearing at the time. When the town folks got wind of this, the mails from bereaved relatives started pouring in and Lewis was at the receiving end of it, dealing with all their angry clients.

Seeing Lawrence inside the coffin made Ned very agitated that he refuses to wake him up. It was at this point that Chuck learned the truth of the circumstances surrounding her rebirth:

“I didn’t actively kill. I’m not an active killer. I’m not a killer. ”
“It wasn’t my fault. It’s a random proximity thing. There was no choice or decision making whatsoever. It just happened…I was incapacitated with not being able to think.”

When the three returned from the coroner, Ned became distressed and upset at Emerson for taking the Schatz case because this was exactly the kind of thing he was trying to avoid with Chuck. But Emerson tells him he wasn’t about to let someone else crack the case, lest they will be able to solve it (and learn Ned’s secret).

Emerson’s plan was to speak to Lawrence, to know where he’s hiding the items he stole from the dead, hoping that it would eventually stop his brother from digging deeper. Later, Chuck, who was actually upset of what she learns, also tells Ned he needs to wake Lawrence so she can talk to him and also so Ned could apologize to him.

Convinced by Chuck, they go back at the funeral home to see the dead. Once Lawrence is revived, they sought to do what they were supposed to — Ned apologizes, Chuck is appreciative for her second chance and Emerson learns the truth. Lawrence tells them that his brother, Lewis, knew where the stolen items are all along. He apparently deceived Emerson of this little fact.

Back at the Pie Hole, the trio rummage through all the hate mails the brothers have received, hoping to tie it to the murder of Lawrence and also to get Lewis to admit where the stuff is hidden. But at this point, it seems another murder has also taken place. One of the angry relatives, Wilfred Woodruff, was actually planning to kill the remaining brother. He made no attempts to hide his discontent in his letters .

Wilfred Woodruff finds Lewis eating in his room and was almost ready to attack him. But surprised upon seeing Wilfred Woodruff, Lewis choked on his own food and dies. And while he didn’t exactly kill Lewis (but had planned to) Woodruff decides to plant the body of Lewis inside Ned’s freezer at The Pie Hole. He also puts an anonymous tip with the police.

Seeing the dead body in his food ice box and realizing that this was a frame-up, Ned, Chuck and Emerson, bring Lewis’s body back to his office. But while there, they also come across Woodruff, who, as Chuck has previously learned from the letters, was looking for the items the brothers have stolen; in particular, the sword/heirloom his ancestors left him.

Ned and Wilfred engage in a swordfight but our hero manages to win over Wilfred. He also manages to uncover where the stolen items were. It was all in a shelf in the basement all along. Later on, Ned and Chuck decide to do the most noble thing — they return the stolen pieces to its rightful owners.

The Aunts, Chuck and Olive

At the funeral home, before Lewis died, Chuck learned a few things about her aunts from him…

Aunt Lily and Aunt Vivian were set to go back to performing again after Chuck’s “death”. With her gone, it made them realize that life is short and that they both needed to get out and experience it. As they were about to leave for their show’s tour, an old post card from Chuck arrives in the mail and causes the aunts to grieve for their dead niece once more. They cancelled the tour as a result and they remain secluded in their house once more.

When Chuck learned of this, she suddenly longed to see her aunts. But Ned sadly tells her, it was never gonna happen. So, she instead bakes a pie for her them and adds her personal touch knowing that her aunts will remember her by it. The pie was delivered by Olive.

Olive, meanwhile, grows more and more resentful of Chuck. And it only got worse when she saw the childhood sweethearts kissing (with the saran!); she fumes with jealousy. When she arrived at Chuck’s aunts house bearing the pie she didn’t know Chuck baked for them, she gathers information that she wasn’t supposed to know: 1) that Chuck is their niece and 2) that the aunts were not aware their dear niece is alive and is in The Pie Hole with Ned.

And things should get a little bit more interesting after this….

Also in this episode, we are introduced to the the character of Alfredo Aldarisio, a traveling saleman whose items for sale include alternative medicine. He appears to be one paranoid person. He also appears to be quite intrigued by Olive.

And I suppose this will not be the last viewers will see of him. Here’s hoping that with his backround in Broadway, he and Olive should do another song and dance number in the coming episodes.

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