Pushing Daisies – Frescorts

ABC

(Season 2, Episode 4)

In a way, I can almost sympathize with the idea behind the rent-a-friend business. They’re right in that, while we’ve created a world of technology that connects us in ways that we almost could never have imagined, we couldn’t be more alone as people. How many of us have friends online we’ve never seen, or rarely see? Just look at the interactions on this site. These are people we don’t see in our day-to-day lives. When I grew up, I knew all the kids in the neighborhood and we all played together … outside. We borrowed sugar from the neighbors and invited them over. And I’m not that old.

I know that wasn’t the point of the show, but it’s never bad when TV makes you think about things. As for Daisies, the facts are these: rumor mongers are starting to fear the worst for this little show with its little audience. While other shows are getting their pickups and renewals, things aren’t looking good for our team of sleuths on that front. Even Ausiello isn’t that confident in a pick-up, encouraging a write-in campaign to save it. Maybe it’ll help that we got to learn a bit more about my second favorite character, Emerson Cod.

It makes perfect sense that Emerson Cod’s mother would be white. Not because there’s anything particular about him that makes it so, but because color is so refreshingly irrelevant on Pushing Daisies. Debra Mooney is every bit as acerbic and brilliantly short as her son and was just brilliant casting. And because tonight’s case was such an integral part of the plotlines involving the Cods, it made the whole episode equally important.

You have to understand I’m one of those people who quickly gets bored with the mystery of the month and only gets into, in most cases, the ongoing character storylines. That’s why I can burn through an episode of House in about ten minutes and generally skip most procedurals altogether. Different strokes, different folks and all that. So for me, Pushing Daisies, is at its best when the mystery is married to the characters, like here.

It also helped that David Arquette was a part of the mystery, playing someone perhaps just as socially awkward and weird as Ned. You know, I never really noticed just how awkwardly Lee Pace plays the character of Ned until he and Arquette were interacting. As someone who’s spent a lot of time around socially inept people, I guess I just didn’t notice that he is absolutely brilliant at playing that persona. In fact, both he and Anna Friel play their roles so quirky that when I’m not thinking about how sickeningly adorable they are together, I’m thinking about how they’re both a little “off.”

Emerson has always been the most normal of the bunch, which is saying something. This is a guy who’s plan for reuniting with his lost daughter is to publish a pop-up book. And then we learn that even his so-called friends have no idea where he lives. Is he that cold? Obviously he is, but he’s been softening up slowly to all three of his cohorts. By the end of the season, whenever that may come (ahem!), we’ll probably see them all enjoying a pie in Emerson’s backyard. Maybe even with his daughter.

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Oct 23, 2008 @ 12:15 EST5EDT