This Friday on Pushing Daisies S2 Ep 11 : Window Dressed to Kill

I remember how eagerly I waited for the last three episodes of Pushing Daisies to be available online. The Norwegians was aired in 2008, but we had to wait until 2009 for the final three. And what a let down I felt, at that time, this one was. I mean, after the climax of The Norwegians, all the main plot aspects seemed to have been abandoned, when all I wanted to know was “what about the watches and the dads?” It was only after a long time I could see these final episodes for what they were, not what I wanted them to be. However, I still think this one was sort of a lower point.

First thing I missed in the beginning: well no more Young Ned. We gotta make do with Young Olive instead. And I liked the other Young Olive better, she was prettier and cuter. At least adult Olive learned a lesson or two on the use of double negatives.

As for Ned's decision about not using his powers anymore, Emerson, even though he didn't agree with it, worded the problem perfectly.
Emerson: “Lookee here. The zapety-zap nearly turned everything to crapety-crap on account of dead girl digging-up-dead-daddy ways.”
Chuck:[i] “I apologize for that.”
Too little too late, sweety...

The Case-Of-The-Week

To me the highlight of the episode was the case-of-the-week for a change. The nostalgic atmosphere of a traditional department store matched the winter mood perfectly. There were nice touches like the elevator doors as scene transitions, the music especially composed for the scenes at Dicker's, and the whole window-dressing culture.

Chuck offered to be Emerson's sidekick, or maybe she wants more as usual...
Chuck: “I'd be the alive-again avenger who came back from the dead to solve her own murder and stayed back from the dead to bring justice to murder victims everywhere, with the help of a crusty unflappable streetwise gumshoe.”[i]
Emerson: [i]“That'd make ME the sidekick.”
Chuck: “I'm good either way.”
Wow, how the characters of this show manage to say in so many words what can be said in a few never ceased to amaze me. But honestly I prefer Olive as the sidekick.

I loved the whole winter atmosphere. All the people wearing colorful winter clothes in the streets, so unrealistic for us, but so typical of Pushing Daisies. The scene of Chuck and Ned holding gloved hands and walking a dog and a pig is weirdly romantic, and reflects the show's winter mood very well.

One thing I like about the winter is how elegant women look. In this case, Chuck in that red overcoat and a black hat, and Olive in that yellow & black coat and a yellow beret. They were both very pretty. It's nice to see Olive wearing something that is not her usual Pie Hole uniform. And by the way, what the heck was that coat Emerson was wearing. It seemed to glimmer and had several colors.

Only in this crazy alternate universe window dressers have such fans... Or “devotees.”
Wendell Featherstone: “It was my dream to work with Erin and to a lesser extent, Coco. No, they're both gone. And my dream to mine the creative minds that fed my creative soul will forever remain a fantasy.”

Emerson has no qualms counting money in public. And even though there are murderers in Papen County, there don't seem to be muggers.

One more Emerson word-playing quote regarding the early stage of their investigation:
Emerson: “We need to be at that unveiling tonight just in case did go loco for show... co”

Coco Juniper's death:
Wow! I've ridden escalators all my life, and I never supposed I could be cut in half by one. Better be more careful next time. Also, it's the first time we see blood in one of Pushing Daisies' corpses. Very little, considering the kind of injury, but blood nonetheless!

The Coroner's participation was small, but funny. Definitely money is what moves the world.
Emerson: “How long you think she's been dead?”
Coroner: “Oh, I'd say about 50 dollars.”

Olive's Fake Fake Kidnappers

Honestly the part about the fake kidnappers I think was the weakest. Perhaps because it has nothing to do with the Piemaker's power and the alive-agains. It's too detached from the core of the show and it was resolved in just one episode. Like the case of John Joseph Jacobs, it was not properly memorable.

Comparing to the case of Emerson's daughter, we see that this one is being kept alive for several episodes, so it's building up and we're learning to care about the situation and the characters involved. But I didn't care much about Holmes and Bustamante.

Olive's Fake Romance

Olive and Ned faked a romance. Again, as usual, it is Emerson to give the best description:
Emerson [to Chuck]: “Loaning pie boyfriend to your bestie who's in love with him in order to pull the wool over fake poppas' peepers is the kind of idea that gives a bad idea the will to live.”

Ned and Olive's fake relationship reveals true emotions. Ned admits his relationship with Chuck is not normal, and Olive uses a bra analogy, something she's an expert in...
Ned: “I've been curious about having a normal relationship. This one's been pretty interesting to try on.”
Olive: “Try on? You try on a sweater at the mall. You try on your best friend's bra and you smile on the inside 'cause yours are bigger and better. You 'don't try' on a person.”

In the end, Randy Mann convinces Ned to use his “superpowers” using another double negative, and the Piemaker gives up the idea of being ordinary. This time convincing Ned not to be just Clark Kent, and embracing his Superman side. And it's funny how Ned put on his black overcoat like he's putting on a superhero cape.
Randy Mann: “I mean, come on. People that have super powers don't not wanna use them.”

Conveniently, Randy had in the back of his van a dead rhino, not a dead gerbil. And with Ned's super magic finger, the fury of an alive-again CGI rhinoceros is unleashed... I'm just trying to imagine what would've died if Ned hadn't been able to catch up with the rhino in within the period of one minute.

Romantic Endings

So Olive seems to be getting along with Randy Mann, and they seem to have the hope of a future together. Or not? I don't know, but I've always found Alfredo Aldarisio a much more suitable match for Olive. It's a pity Broadway was monopolizing Raúl Esparza so much back in 2008, so he never had the time in his schedule to bring Alfredo back to the show. Anyway, now we have Randy. I'm not sure I like him, but he was much more likeable than he was in Frescorts.

For the final scene, Chuck found the time and energy to style her hair in a completely different way, now long and straight. It's nice to see Dead Girl has her priorities straight as well.

The episode ends with Ned feeling a tinge of jealousy. Another moment “Nolive” shippers cling to like Olive clung to Ned at the cliffhanger. To me, just a natural male reaction. Ned always considered Olive his and is afraid to lose the exclusivity of her feelings. By the way, are they going to follow through with this new lead, or in subsequent episodes is it going to be just dead like the corpses Ned touches? No comments, I'd hate to spoil.

Grade

Again, the episode atmosphere involving winter and a traditional department store was a plus, but not enough to live up to the high Pushing Daisies standards. It was good Olive's romantic fate was given some attention to, though I'm already finding her one-sided love feelings for Ned too repetitive. The only really new thing was Randy's participation, but that was just superficially touched, and Olive barely acknowledged his romantic dedication. Most of all I felt disappointed because the show's main mythology was dropped right after The Norwegians.

This time, my grade only reaches the 6th floor of a luxurious department store.

The case of the week looked a little stock for this show. Predictable to those familiar with it for the requisite number of wrong suspects before getting to the culprit.

One side note about the case of the week, though. When hiding out waiting for the store to close, didn't that trench coat and fedora make Chuck look like Carmen Sandiego?

I think the "Young Ned" storyline must have ended with jail. But a very interesting Young Olive storyline this week. Especially the way they turned it on it's head.

Poor Ned can't win for losing with Olive. He plays along with her ruse out of friendship only to end up being the jerk anyhow. I can identify with him there. The taxidermist is a lucky man.

Kristin Chenoweth's inspired cover of Hello by Lionel Richie was definitely the highlight of the episode. If only they had a full version on the soundtrack, I would have bought it for that one track. Too bad her performance in the show got interrupted.

Glad to see Ned once again embrace his "superpower." What better distraction than a resurrected rino on a rampage? Can't believe Ned was athletic enough to catch it before it's minute was up without drawing the attention of the cops. But I digress.

In all, I'll give this one all of 9 rampaging resurrected rinos.

___
YOU WILL REAP WHAT YOU SOW
"Mama, what's that mean?"
"That's Texan for karma."

So we get the mighty comedic team of Benjamin and Segal as the wrongfully accused kidnappers. Their characters seemed to be kind of just filler but it did provide some info on young Olive and her neglectful parents. It was nice they got to escape in the end, especially since the had been incarcerated wrongly. I thought the return of the nuns was awesome.

David Arquette makes his return, I agree that his character was much more likable this time around and he also got off one of the funniest one liner in the show....."A taxidermist should never miss that" when referring to his dead rhino.

Ned and Olive keep toying around with each other but still not much going on and Chuck now wants to be Emersons side kick or the boss, whichever she says. Chuck has little streak of evil in her and I am starting to wonder if she has a slow rotting soul thing going on because of being brought back to life. I also agree about the Rhino, what the hell was gonna die if the rhino wasn't touched dead?
All in all another good show so though I have to knock of points for the lack of addressing the dads and the watches.
I will give this 7 evil chucks on the PD scale.

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Well Well Well Gabriel, sorry for the delay busy weekend. Olive again this week was the best part darn that Okie can sing. It was nice to see Olive and Ned in love even if was just a ruse. I think they would make a great little couple. But I believe she may finally be over our Pie Maker. Thought it was odd that they dropped the story line they had been doing the last few weeks. Glad to see super Ned back in form doing his touching thing trying to make things right and to do good in the land of Daisy. Knew he couldn’t hold out for long. Going to miss this show when were done. I must admit Chuck and Emerson work well together they make a good crime fighting team. Glad they are getting along so well even if it took a couple of seasons.

Another good thing about this ep: For all the cool antique cars in this show, it's about time they finally showed us a Rambler.

___
YOU WILL REAP WHAT YOU SOW
"Mama, what's that mean?"
"That's Texan for karma."

I always love the movie references in PD. This time JUMANJI and RAISING ARIZONA (Buster and Jerry escaping from prison through snow and ice rather than rain and mud.)

I give this ep 8 stuffed rhinos.