The premiere of ABC's "Pushing Daisies" last Wednesday night sufficiently showcased the continuing charm of the show and its quirky characters, making clear that this budding television series won't sink into the grave of mediocrity any time soon.
Protagonist Ned (played by Lee Pace) is blessed (or possibly cursed) with the ability to bring dead things back to life. The catch? He can only keep them alive for 60 seconds, or else some other life form in the vicinity is snuffed instead. If he touches the living dead again, they're gone for good. Complications arise when Ned brings back his childhood sweetheart, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles, leaving them with a hands-off relationship for fear of ending her life ... again. Ned regularly teams up with a private investigator to help solve crimes by touching corpses for a one-minute interview.
The cast of colorful characters returns, and they slide easily into their old roles. In the second season, Pace resumes his lovable but sometimes repetitive awkward sweetheart act: hunched shoulders, grandfather cardigan, raised eyebrows and sheepish smirk. His humble charm fits nicely with the enthusiastic, wide-eyed Anna Friel as Chuck. She's as fresh as a sunny picnic, and in fact, always seems to be dressed for one.
More disappointing is Chi McBride as private investigator Emerson Cod. His sarcasm keeps the show's sweetness in check, but not much is going on to develop his character. It would be a shame for him to fall flat and become simply a series of one-liners.
Chuck's aunts Lily (Swoosie Kurtz) and Vivian (Ellen Greene) are superbly strange. There is great dramatic potential for their characters as the new season unfolds, as family secrets and unexpected scandals reveal themselves. Last season left viewers with the knowledge that Lily is actually Chuck's mother, and the story deepens from there.
Kristin Chenoweth shines in particular as the plucky waitress at The Pie Hole, where Ned works as a pie-maker. Her character, Olive Snook, makes up for her small size with heaps of spunk. At one point she makes an apology for her forgetfulness with a shameless pie pun: "I'm ... really flaky." Yes, yes you are Olive Snook. But it's this inexhaustible energy that audiences love about her.
Olive's relocation to a convent halfway through the opening episode grants Chenoweth an opportunity to show off her pipes, as she reenacts the famous opening scene from "The Sound of Music" (1965). She belts out her tune with an outstanding balance of talent and outrageousness, and the sequence is a nod to her theatrical and musical abilities.
Snook's love interest, traveling salesman Alfredo Aldarisio (Raul Esparza), is nowhere to be seen, but a duet from Tony award winner Chenoweth and three-time Tony nominee Esparza by the end of the season might be a safe bet. Chuck's got to run out of those homeopathic drugs sometime, right? In the meantime, Snook should probably be spelled "snoop," as the waitress (now nun) holds the secrets of several other characters in the show. Her scream of frustration during one scene, both certifiably insane and hilarious, is worthy of a belly laugh.
That being said, "Pushing Daisies" has its complications, and, at times, overdoses on sugar. The cinematography is wonderful as always, creating a whimsical world where vivid colors and computer animation mix fantasy and reality. Certain sets, however, look a bit too bright and pixilated; the beehive scene on the rooftop comes to mind. Part of the pull of the show is its seamless blending of dark and light, its ability to mix morbidity with fantasy and humor. Producers will have to be sure to keep both sides in check.
The show also needs to explore the Chuck and Ned love interest on a deeper level. Their situation makes for one of the more unique romances on television and warrants a few more complications. Kissing through saran wrap and wearing warning slippers with bells on them is cute and clever, but their relationship should also explore the inherent difficulties, and play on the tension of, forbidden physicality.
Thus far, the second season promises more episodes in the Smallville "freak of the week" style, the first being Betty Bee and her beauty-product line (uncannily similar to Bert's Bees). Though this structure keeps each installment fresh and interesting, the outcomes tend to be a bit ludicrous. Jim Dale's narration is fantastic, but there are only so many times he can say things like "Chuck beelined for the bee key" before it ceases to be poetic.
Ultimately, though, "Pushing Daisies" is a show that is like nothing else on television right now, an intriguing work of crime drama and whimsy. It's this originality that will hopefully give the series staying power and make sure that the pie-maker and his colorful crew have a while to go until they rest in peace.
