MovieChat Forums > Pushing Daisies (2007) Discussion > Confused about how Lily and Vivian are C...

Confused about how Lily and Vivian are Chuck's Aunts

posted 13 years ago by scrubby21
10 replies | jump to latest

So I've gotten to the 4th episode of season 2 and I know Lily is really Chuck's mom. But what i don't understand is how they were originally supposed to be her Aunt's. So Vivian was engaged to Chuck's father but Lily slept with him and got pregnant. The father told Vivian that he had cheated on her with someone else.
So how exactly were they considered Chuck's aunts if they weren't related to her at all? And why would Vivian want to be associated with the man who cheated on her and the child that was the result of that cheating? I feel like I'm missing something. Can someone please explain this to me?

All I want is someone who'll warm me when I'm cold, feed me when I'm hungry & maybe take me dancing

[–] andromedastargazer 13 years ago

Well according to the mythology of the show Lily and Vivian's mom married Charles father after all of them were on their early twenty that is how they meet and how they had the same last name and how Chuck ended up becoming their only family. They are Chuck's stepaunts.
Hope that helps.

[–] scrubby21 13 years ago

so you're saying that Vivian was Charles' stepsister? Isn't that rather creepy that they were engaged? I mean, i realize that they weren't blood relations but it's still quite strange to me. Then again, the whole situation is quite strange so i guess i shouldn't think about it so much.

All I want is someone who'll warm me when I'm cold, feed me when I'm hungry & maybe take me dancing

[–] andromedastargazer 13 years ago

It was after all of them were over 20 they might not even had lived together at any point. I do find weird why they changed their names after all those years to Charles. Whatever their original name was there was not reason to change it once they were so old. Is weird but I don't find it creepy but then I find few things creepy so it might be just me.

[–] mcgill_j 13 years ago

Well aside from the name.. you have to remember the backstory they came up with was not true. So lily was the mom but told chuck she would have been her step sister. Not aunts as the show says.. so not sure why they are referred to as aunt.. seems like a weird goof..

[–] Franco_Zed 13 years ago

I've always wondered:

Who does Vivian think Chuck's mother is? Some woman she never met who is now dead, I guess.

_______
HULK SMASH BOX OFFICE RECORDS!!

[–] Blackbird_singing 12 years ago

Vivian is such a pure and trusting soul that it is unfortunately easy to pull the wool over her eyes. as she states in the finale (hopefully not the final finale!) "deep down, she always knew". i can relate. you want to be able to trust the people in your life and sometimes that means supporting them in something you know is a lie.
also, i dont remember the whole charles charles and the darling mermaid darlings parents marriage situation but had always assumed that their last name growing up was darling.
somewhat off topic here, but every time i revisit the land of daisies, i find myself thinking in the language and speech pattern of the narrator, lol!

[–] phyllisannewright 12 years ago

I may have missed it somewhere as I have only watched this show one time through but I don't recall where it was ever said that Vivian and Lily's last name was Charles I understood their name to be Darling. I don't know where the "mythology" of the show comes from but I assumed that since Lily is Chuck's mother that makes Vivian her Aunt (for real in the context of the show) Since Lily was hiding in plain sight (sort of) and she is the sister of Chuck's Aunt Vivian then Lily would naturally appear to be her "Aunt", too. Now from Chuck's point of view, with them showing up as her Aunts, I would think that as a child of 9 she would not question too closely mainly due to her grief. Two Spinster Aunts show up to care for her and show her love when she is all alone in the world? Well, I know I wouldn't much care or question it, in that circumstance, at that age. Legally speaking in older times (look at the car types and the general feel of a time gone by) people were not so very suspicious of someone voluntarily offering to take responsibility for an orphan. Summing it up they "claimed" to be Aunts and were accepted by all as "Aunts" and one of them was actually her Aunt. I think your exactly right about Vivian's trusting nature. It did crumble away a bit by late in Season 2, which was kind of sad.

[–] windkirby 12 years ago

Lily and Vivian became stepsisters to Charles when they were all adults. Vivian and Charles then began to court. (or maybe they were already courting, who knows)

[–] thesecretgarden_24 12 years ago

I always thought that Lily and Vivian being related to Charles by marriage was a another lie to explain away to young Chuck why she was being taken in by them? When Chuck explained how her "aunts" were related it was all very unrealistic and she couldn't see it. I thought the Aunts took on the last name of Charles to for Chuck's sake. But then again it could've been true and Charles met Lily and Vivian through his parents as adults and started to date both of them at once. That really sounds horrible on all fronts.

[–] Listenupfives 11 years ago

I think phyllisannewright has it the most correct. Vivian and Lily didn't take Charles's last name, and theirs is most likely Darling. The aunts are Chuck's step aunts, having been associated with Charles when they were much older after Mother Charles married Father Darling. Yes, that makes Charles canoodling with either sister pseudo-incestuous, but no blood's been crossed so both parents probably let it slide when Charles proposed to Vivian.

So how exactly were they considered Chuck's aunts if they weren't related to her at all?

I'm sure no-one would object to Vivian looking after Chuck if Chuck had no reported next of kin. Even if their engagement fell through, Vivian and her sister are still Charles's step-sisters. As for why Vivian would volunteer to rear Chuck, she's a sweet and trusting person. She's able to look past what Chuck represents and take care of the girl who in a way has also been abandoned by Charles Charles. Naturally, Lily would have no qualms with this either.