In the eighth episode of the second season of Pushing Daisies, Ned and Olive investigate a murder at a comfort food cook off while Chuck goes to Emerson to help with a disastrous decision she may have made. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Pushing Daisies.
WHAT AN INCREDIBLE EPISODE!!!
- No, pies are the answer to EVERYTHING. ALL THINGS CAN BE SOLVED WITH PIE.
- Except not all the time. I mean, in my world, that’s the case, because have you ever had pie. It is wonderful. But the flashback that opens “Comfort Food” is a reminder that even with something as fantastic as pie, Ned’s life has been full of tragedy and disappointment. In this case, though, the writers are exploring the idea of the consequences of Chuck’s behavior. Like Ned, she had a good reason to keep her father alive, and there were positive ramifications to what she did. However, that doesn’t mean Chuck (or Ned) can escape the less desirable outcomes.
- It’s interesting that the show has waited so long to give us an episode where another character goes on a similar journey to the one Ned went on in “Pie-lette.” But it makes sense here, especially as Chuck struggles with the fear that Dwight Dixon will expose her secret to her aunts. Except now everything is about a billion times more complicated than ever, and HOW IS THIS SHOW GOING TO END WITHOUT A DISASTER??? Lily and Vivian are looking for Dwight for different reasons, Chuck’s dad is now around and staying ACROSS THE STREET, Olive is still unable to get over her unrequited love for Ned, and Ned is most certainly going to be upset at Chuck for what she’s done.
- Anyway, let’s get into it. There’s so much to adore about this episode, though I do have one complaint later on.
- How about that scene with the plastic apparatus that allows Ned and Chuck to cuddle? Consider me done and gone because don’t do that to me.
- Or that scene where Lily dreams about shooting Dwight? Funny part is that HE WOULD END UP DEAD ANYWAY. Also, this episode might have the most plot twists out of any other Pushing Daisies episode.
- How about a little bit of foreshadowing? Chuck convinces Ned to go to the Comfort Food Cook-off by explaining the importance of it to Olive. She says that Olive will “love [Ned] for it.” WHICH SHE ENDS UP DOING AFTER MARIANNE INADVERTENTLY GETS OLIVE TO REALIZE HER FEELINGS FOR NED NEVER WENT AWAY.
- Oh, right. IT’S MARIANNE MARIE BEETLE. OH MY GOD, IT’S A WONDERFALLS CROSSOVER. I AM SO HAPPY.
- I made this comment during the video commission, but I adore the costuming and set pieces for “Comfort Food.” Well, that’s a consistent compliment, of course, because this show never looks like anything else I’ve seen. But now I so desperately want to cosplay as Ned in the Comfort Food Cook-Off. I COULD TOTALLY PULL IT OFF.
- I am also so completely happy with the way the writers pair off Ned with Olive and explore the idea of them being private investigators, as well as the fascinating dynamic between Emerson and Chuck as he offers to help her deal with what she’s done. It’s a brilliant choice, not just to accelerate the plot, but to show us a different side of these characters. In Ned and Olive’s case, we get to see what an absolute blast they are when they work together. Olive is hilarious here, particularly when she causes a distraction by spreading frosting on her face.
- Casual reminder that Colonel Likkin ate part of himself and liked it. I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH.
- There was a lot of dread about discovering who Chuck had “killed” by letting her father live, so I was shocked that it turned out to be Dwight Dixon. It was both convenient and complicated that he died. Obviously, now Chuck doesn’t have to worry about him revealing her secret, and then LILY SHOWS UP TO THE CEMETERY HAHAHA THIS SHOW IS RUINING ME.
- I mean, how much longer can Chuck keep up this charade? I’m genuinely worried that as she and Ned create more and more complications, it’s going to overwhelm them and they’ll make a mistake. Plus, Chuck’s guilt, which manifests in her imagining Dwight speaking to her, is deeply upsetting to her. What if she hadn’t noticed her mother heading to her father’s grave?
- I also wanted to note that I’m glad that the show didn’t make Marianne the killer. Desperate enough to sabotage? Sure, I could definitely see that, but her characterization didn’t really fit with her being a murderer.
- Which brings me to the actual murderer. You know, I didn’t care for what “Muffin Buffalo” did with fat people in Wonderfalls, and in the next episode that Marianne is in, the writers play Leo’s fatness as a whimsical joke. Come on, y’all. Don’t do this! It’s distracting, not funny, and hurtful. I don’t like it at all.
- Thankfully, this is followed up with the lovely and hilarious scene of Marianne and Olive racing to the judges table in slow-motion, which allows Olive to secure a first place blue ribbon in the Comfort Food Cook-Off!
- AND THEN KRISTIN CHENOWETH IS SINGING “ETERNAL FLAME” AND I SWEAR TO Y’ALL, THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST DEPICTIONS OF UNREQUITED LOVE I’VE EVER SEEN. Seriously! It’s not creepy, it’s sympathetic towards what Olive is going through without invalidating how fantastic Chuck and Ned are as a couple, and Kristin Chenoweth sings The Bangles, and everything is so perfectly heartbreaking that I can’t.
- “Comfort Food” ends with a unique reversal of roles. Ned was terrified of Chuck learning the secret that he’d accidentally killed her father. Now, Chuck reveals that she allowed her father to live, and she’s frightened that she lost Ned’s trust.
- It’s too much. Oh my god, I am going to watch the next episode right now.
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