Can I just tell you one thing? The words “full episode” should mean FULL EPISODE! Last night my tivo decided to be insane and only record 8 minutes of Pushing Daisies. Yes, I said EIGHT MINUTES. Well, no big deal, that’s what the internet is for right?
I just clicked right over to abc.com and clicked on “full episodes”. Clicked right over to Pushing Daisies, episode 2: “Dummy”. And lo and behold it starts up. I watch it on my laptop with headphones while my daughter watches Sesame Street. Everything is great until I notice the running time is only 19 minutes and 25 seconds. Isn’t Pushing Daisies an hour show? Surely, the full episode would be played on abc.com’s “full episode” page! Well, apparently not.
I watched all 19 minutes and 25 seconds and was captivated. I stared, smiled and giggled at my screen. But would occasionally wonder, “Why are they wearing plastic bags?” or “Why is he putting money in socks?” So, for what it’s worth, my review of Pushing Daisies: Dummy, all 19 minutes 25 seconds worth (with a little info filled in from new not-really-friends-because-we-never-met Kara Howland and Liz Lacy):
The plot. An engineer for Dandy Lion Car corp is killed by a car. Isn’t it ironic, dontcha think? When Ned resurrects him we find out a crash test dummy killed him. Apparently with Chuck’s sweet concern over last requests, we find out Mr. Engineer wants Jeanine in promotions to know he loved her. Chuck demands they bring her a pie and off they go to Dandy Lion Car Corp.
When we enter the lobby we see a group of Japanese investors following Mark Chase, the owner around as he speaks to them in Japanese. The Dandy Lion car company has invented the first car to run on dandelion weeds. The Dandy Lion SX is spinning on a turntable in the middle of the room. More turntables are graced with the flower girls…girls with white dandelion hats on their heads and yellow dandelion petals on their eyelashes. (This is the whimsy I love!) Chuck simply asks Mark Chase in Japanese where Jeanine is. (Yes, Chuck speaks Japanese. Oh, the things her mermaid aunts had in that house!) And this is where we find Jeanine. Jeanine, who denies knowing our victim but scarfs the pie anyway.
Chuck and Ned decide to take a tour with the Japanese group and open a few doors to discover the crash test dummies. Oh, but not any crash test dummies—this crash test dummy is missing his face!
Soon they run across Jeanine who apparently when her Dandy Lion costume is stripped off is quite chatty. After dinner with Jeanine (who ate two pies during the show), she decides to lead them to more information. But in a twist of fate Jeanine is hospitalized by a faulty switch and subsequent explosion in her Dandy Lion SX. This brings the pie trio back to Dandy Lion Corp and into the Crash Test Dummy room which has been transformed into a morgue. The crash test dummies are now cadavers–the Dandy Lion corp is using real live dead bodies to test their cars! Yuck.
After a few resurrections and interviews, Ned, Chuck and Emerson are stunned (literally, not figuratively) and wake up in body bags themselves! YIKES. But don’t worry, this is not a morbid plot twist, but a romantic vehicle for Ned and Chuck for this is when they kiss! How romantic, kissing through plastic.
The ending shows Ned and Chuck holding hands via rubber gloves, Emerson counting his money and Jeanine receiving help in the hospital. Oh yeah, and the bad guy gets carted off to jail.
My favorite lines:
Jim Dale about Olive, “her heart was so full it reached up and nodded her head.”
Chuck to Ned, “You love secrets. You want to marry secrets. And have half secret half human babies!”
The things abc.com skipped out on:
Apparently Cod is a closet knitter. His knitting needles saved the day in the body bags. And he knits socks to keep his reward money in. Perfect.
Olive belts out Hopelessly Devoted to You in The Pie Hole for our sweet pie maker. This I wish I had seen. And that’s where youtube comes in. *sigh* I still picture her as Ms. Noodle on Sesame Street and Olive is kind of annoying, but I gotta say, I liked this. A lot.
The things I didn’t like: (yes, there was actually something)
Do we have to see the steamy car and handprint a la Titanic’s car scene? This is an 8:00 show. Ned and Chuck are kissing between plastic. Let’s keep it that way, ok?
Oh, and more Jim Dale, please.
In conclusion
I’m still in love with this show. I liked that the story line was a little different. It wasn’t a whodunit. We knew how our victim died at the beginning. It wasn’t a law-and-order formula solve the crime, catch the bad guy. I love the song, I love the crazy sets, bright colors and outlandish costumes. I just hope it doesn’t get sameoldsameold and they can keep it as fresh as Ned’s pies.
(And don’t worry about next week. My mom is tivoing it for me as a back up. And fyi, I checked the abc.com site again. All 41 minutes and 33 seconds is up online now. They were just trying to give me a heart attack so Ned could come to my rescue.)
It was a great episode.. I really like reading all your comments on the show.. I have been telling my friends about the show.. Of course the ABC site doesn’t like running on the MAC..
That wasn’t a who done it? Then what’s your definition of a who done it? They were trying to figure out who killed the guy. Seems like that fits to me.
Having said that, I agree it isn’t a L&O, CSI clone, and I love it for that. And the whimsy is great. As was Olive breaking into song.
Mark
I just meant I felt like I knew from the beginning what was happening. Maybe a bad choice of words. I actually kept thinking, if they know about the crash test dummy, why are we here? It just felt like a very different plot from last week. Most of these “mystery” shows ARE EXACTLY the same every week. It’s bor-ing! (‘course, I did only watch 19 minutes of it!!)
a
Yeah, only seeing half of it may have made the difference.
And it might help that I am a mystery fan, at least of mystery novels. I read them one after the other and the fact that they are pretty much the same doesn’t bother me in the least.
Mark
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