Lies and the 'Pushing Daisies' liars who tell them
The facts are these: Episode two of Pushing Daisies absolutely kept up the whimsical tone and magical visuals of its pilot, along with some wonderfully sweet moments featuring our two protagonists.
In other words, it had just about all the things that a lot of us were worried it wouldn't have after its beautifully executed pilot. And yet I come away with not nearly as much of the warm feeling I had after watching that first episode.
I'm not sure why that is, exactly. I didn't figure on a Kristin Chenoweth musical number until at least November sweeps. And the narration was, once again, too much -- and that, I think, is more of the problem. Relying as much as it does on Jim Dale's voiceover, the show is danger of telling its stories more than it shows them.
Do we need the narrator telling us Chuck has a lot of questions, right before Chuck says, "I have so many questions," or describing the mixture of feelings Ned has at a crucial point in the story rather than letting Lee Pace just act? A show this visually arresting, and employing actors as good as they are, shouldn't need that many words on top of it all. We don't need that much extra help in getting that it's a fairy tale.
Especially when the words the characters speak are so good. Lines like "When you turn over a rock, do you find whipped cream? No, you get worms" and "You love secrets. You want to marry secrets and have little half-secret, half-human babies" are not the kind of thing you hear on television every day. More of that, and less being led by a narrator's hand, would serve it well.
This week's case, in keeping with the theme of the episode, was all about secrets as well. Ned and Emerson are on the trail of whoever killed a safety inspector for a car company. Except that, on account of Chuck asking him all sorts of unrelated questions, he only reveals that a crash-test dummy killed him before his alive-again minute is up.
That little shred of evidence leads them to the Dandy Lion car company, which is about to go public with a car that runs on fuel made from dandelions and is, of course, very, very cute. It's also, as it turns out, a deathtrap, and the company CEO killed the safety inspector in order to cover up this fact and allow his life's work to go forward.
As mysteries go, this wasn't on the level of, say, The Usual Suspects. And that's fine -- this show is not going to live or die on the strength of its cases of the week. It's going to survive if people buy into the world it inhabits. Director Barry Sonnenfeld (who helmed this week's episode as well as the pilot) has done an excellent job with the look. Creator Bryan Fuller and his fellow writers have managed to slip in some moments of dark humor and cynicism (thanks mostly to the fabulous Chi McBride) that undercut some of the cuteness.
Now the show needs to move beyond that. Let's see a little more of Ned learning to open up emotionally and welcome Chuck back into his life. His gesture at the end of the episode, with the divider and hand-holding glove in the car? Incredibly sweet (and almost devoid of narration). If Pushing Daisies can bring more of those moments, and avoid the temptation to keep talking over them, I think it will be better off in the long run.
Or am I just being too harsh? How did Pushing Daisies hold up for you in its second week?
While I understand that not everything needs a narrator, I disagree with you saying it is employed too much. I think it is just the way this show is modeled. I think the narration is entertaining (and even funny when the narration says something right before a character says the exact same thing) and makes it seem like a fairy tale that is being told. Some people may dislike it, but to me it is just one more of those quirky things that make this show original. Granted, they certainly could go overboard with it, but so far it has not bothered me.
Overall, I thought this episode was just as entertaining as the first episode. There is a slow burn development between Ned and Chuck, but seeing as that they can not physically touch, going slow is really the only option.
I'm still a fan of the show, but the first half of the episode seemed a little disjointed to me. The musical number didn't really help in that regard, and took time away from the development of the episode's plot. Once the mystery really got going, it moved along much more smoothly.
As for the narration, so far I'm okay with it so far *except* for the "twenty-five years ten months two days and fifteen minutes" part. That bit is already getting old, and they need to stop it pronto!
i still think this show lacks material that one can continue to watch..too far fetched and actually boring. i'm done watching it.
chi mcbride's best moment in the whole thing was the look on his face [no narration necessary or applied] when dandy lion promotion girl's car exploded on the way to the dummy pit. it was ace.
this show is so sweet, i don't even need dessert on wednesday nights!
chi mcbride's best moment in the whole thing was the look on his face [no narration necessary or applied] when dandy lion promotion girl's car exploded on the way to the dummy pit. it was ace.
this show is so sweet, i don't even need dessert on wednesday nights!
the show is sweet and i do like it, but i fear death by saccharine poisoning.
the dandelion car company and all it's accouterments were waaay too silly for me. I could have accepted the mystery without the whole set up of the company and the girls and the japanese tour being so far over the top.
i found myself feeling a bit ridiculous just watching th show this week. still, i do understand the narration and it's reason for being. it's very much a part of the style of this type of storytelling.
chuck, tho, is getting a bit on my nerves. i never have liked pushy people that butt in where they're not supposed to. i do find myself yearning for each chi mcbride scene. he's the closest thing to earth on the show.
I think some people on here are loosing the point of the show. When I watched the first episode in no way did I think the show or the characters were going to follow the rules of our generic Earth existence. So, those that are complaining about the factory or the singing in this latest episode really need to open your eyes to what this show is really about before you get too invested in it.
Oh, and the voice over is perfect for the type of show it is, one where it makes you feel YOU are doing the narrating and YOU are the one actually there witnessing these lives interact. In no way have I ever felt that it has been overdone when telling their wonderful story.
the voice over rocks its suppose to be funny totally agree with Travis there, why r ppl taking the show seriously and saying it dosnt seem realistic well its not suppose to its suppose to be magical and it 110% is!!!! and i have no problem with the musical number either.
I hope Chi employs the 2 gun cozies all year. That was the lol moment of the show to me.
I just want to know who's idea it was for Kristin to cut her hair - bad, bad, just bad.
Surprising myself I really like this show so far. The narration to me is one of the best things. I enjoy all the cast, but don't really care for Chuck's takeover personality. She is sort of unlikeable to me.