For all we know about Chuck's dad on Pushing Daisies, and how his death left her an orphan, we've never really heard anything about her mother. Until the jaw-dropper of a revelation at the end of Wednesday's episode.

(I'll be doling out spoilers as heavy as Olive doses her pie with homeopathic mood-enhancers.)

The big reveal at the end of the episode doesn't necessarily Change Things Forever, though it does offer up a number of possibilities. Mostly, though, it makes me sad that this is the last Pushing Daisies we'll see for the foreseeable future (you know why). Here we get a really interesting bit of character development, on top of a pretty strong episode about loss and frozen corpses and cracked do-gooders, and that's that till who knows when.

The mystery o' the week really was secondary: Someone's been offing insurance adjusters who have rejected a heart transplant for a teenager -- who's more Bubble Boy than sad little kid -- and making snowmen out of them in said kid's front yard. The culprit turned out to be the Wish-a-Wish wish-granter (whom you may know as Pam from Big Love), who'd gone off the deep end over young Abner's churlishness and the callous, numbers-driven business at Uber-Life Insurance and took Abner's offhand remark that he wished the insurance guys would drop dead rather literally.

The case offered up a couple of amusing moments -- particularly Emerson and the coroner's digression about Christmas sweaters -- but the real meat of the episode lay in the Ned-and-Chuck story, and her disappearance after Ned revealed that he killed her father when they were kids.

Chuck leaving leaves Ned all out of sorts, unable even to get some fairly simple answers from corpsicle No. 2, and leaves Chuck herself wanting badly to let someone else in on the secret. She tries to do so with Olive, who (understandably) thinks Chuck is blowing smoke and speeds right past it. So it's on to a far dicier companion-in-truth: the sewer-dwelling Oscar (a returning Paul Reubens), who's been collecting hair samples from both Chuck and Digby (ewwwww) to figure out why it is they smell like death (there's a faint whiff of ozone, apparently, which makes me think of this sparking to life, but not so much death).

In particular, there was one really touching scene, when Ned finally finds Chuck and wants to make things right. "Do you hate me?" he asks. "I have to a little, for a little while," is her reply. He wants to stay, then, but she says she'll just end up hating him more if he does. It's quiet and true and a little bit heart-breaking, and it's one of the strongest, most grounded scenes the show has done all season. Just great stuff all around.

She eventually shakes off her little bit of hate, and understands why Ned won't bring her dad back for a minute to say goodbye. "She wished she knew her father. She wished she knew her mother. She wished the piemaker could comfort her by holding her close," the narrator says. Not all those can come true, he adds, but one can.

Which brings us to the big revelation. Chuck does, in fact, know her mother; she just doesn't know it. In a hallucination induced by Olive overdosing the pie, Aunt Lily reveals to Olive that she, in fact, is Chuck's mom.

Dude. That's a lot to chew on. Why did Lily bail? Was it to focus on the Darling Mermaid Darlings? Was she just not capable of handling a child then (there was that scene following her dad's death where she couldn't bring herself to hold Chuck)? How in God's name is Olive going to be able to keep that secret, and when she inevitably lets it out, how will Chuck be able to stay away?

There are a world of possibilities to explore with that bit of information, and it kills me a little that we'll not be seeing anything else from the show for potentially a long time. At least, though, the show has left us with plenty to think about in the meantime.

More frozen treats from tonight's episode:

• Exchange of the night -- Ned and Emerson talking about how he told Chuck about killing her dad: "I blurted it out. It was like word vomit." Emerson: "Then you slipped in that word vomit. You fell on your ass and now you're covered in word vomit."
• The hallucination scenes, with the donut-crab and the iridescent mermaid, were really well done, and Swoosie Kurtz played Lily's doped-up state just right -- loopy, but with the same unsentimental personality Lily has always had.
• Emerson's reaction to seeing the third snowman: "Aw hell. See, I used to love snowmen."
• Olive, trying to snap Ned out of his funk: "I also heard you walking around outside, moaning her name like something out of Tennessee Williams. It may be romantic, but it's not dignified."

How'd you like tonight's Pushing Daisies? Will it tide you over until whenever we see new episodes again?

Comments

I guess I'm wondering 2 things:

1) If Aunt Vivian knew? and

2) if she did know, why keep quiet?

and a separate question is how long did the aunts have the mermaid act - i.e. when did they start? I'm guessing that it started before Chuck's birth, so I guess I'm also wondering how long a break they took for Lily's pregnancy/materity period?

Come to think of it, I am also wondering when she left Chuck? i.e. did she stay with Chuck and her husband/Chuck's dad at all before leaving and beginning the deception or was it right away?

So much for 2 questions ;)

Rishi | Dec 13, 2007 12:33:25 AM | #

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Rishi, your 2 questions are great. Did you also notice that the house Chuck and her Dad lived in was the same one the Aunts live in - what I want to know is just who does Chuck think her Mother was? Was there a third mermaid sister perhaps and if so what did she die of?
I loved this episode although there was not enough Digby for me this week. But I will say before Dark Disciple does that Olive saying bosom 15 times to Ned made me laugh out loud as did Olive's face when she heard the Aunt Lili's confession. Olive is never going to be able to keep this one secret. I hope the writers explore more on Emerson's daughter - I bet she likes knitting too. The exchange between Emerson and Ned when Emerson thought he might be dead and only had a minute more to live was funny too and razor fast.
Emerson's rant on the Christmas sweater was so true especially the when to wear them part. Reminded me of poor Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones! Men never get decent Xmas pressies do they? The look on Ned's face when Chuck said she hated him a little made me want to hug him to death - Lee Pace looked just like the little boy does in all the opening shots - completely adorable.
I suppose we'll go back to Molly Shannon's killing of the health inspector next week...

Sirius | Dec 13, 2007 4:49:35 AM | #

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We also discovered Emerson has a daughter. I wonder how that will come in to play later.

Billiam | Dec 13, 2007 7:33:25 AM | #

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The one positive is that I can watch all the episodes in reruns if they choose to show them and look for stuff I didn't notice before; I also missed a couple of episodes.

I loved the bosom bit, it was perfect Olive.

sac | Dec 13, 2007 7:59:55 AM | #

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Sirius: "I suppose we'll go back to Molly Shannon's killing of the health inspector next week..."

There is no next week - this was the last episode produced before the writers strike.

When it was first announced that Molly Shannon and Mike White were going to be on the show, it was said that they would be on for a three episode arc. But I suspect that they might have compressed it down to a single episode when they knew the strike was imminent.

GC | Dec 13, 2007 8:59:37 AM | #

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I loved this episode. Especially when Olive was referred to as "homeopathic drug mule" and the sad ending with Chuck and Ned. Although, I support the writer's strike, because I think they should be paid for their work no matter what form it takes. It's disappointing the season ends here.

Eva | Dec 13, 2007 9:12:57 AM | #

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I thought one of the best scenes was when Emerson was talking about his kid...I've always been a big fan of Chi McBride.

Also:

Emerson: "We are giant, enormous idiots, and don't you say ginormous 'cause that isn't a word."

Hayden | Dec 13, 2007 9:57:58 AM | #

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Noticed things from this show and another Byran Fuller show: The "Make-a-Wish" murderer was the Tyler's maid Yvette/Cindy in "Wonderfalls". And the scene when Chuck told Olive she was dead was like when Jaye told Mahandra about the animal figurines.

Mike | Dec 13, 2007 12:51:31 PM | #

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My favorite scenes were the ones between Chuck/Olive and Ned/Emerson. I love how close the two women are becoming now. Emerson thinking that he died when he saw where Ned's hand was was when he came to was great. I hope that Vivian knows about Lilly being Chuck's birth mother. She spends too much time around her sister not to. This is one of the best ensemble casts on t.v. and I wish that they could have had a chance to have a full 22 episode season.

Penny | Dec 13, 2007 2:11:14 PM | #

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I loved it when the coronor tried to extrapolate more money out of Emerson by saying "feels light" with his open paw and Emerson said "You're stronger than you think" and didn't give him any more - perfect answer, perfect show! Hurry back writers. By golly we miss you.

SEU | Dec 13, 2007 5:47:38 PM | #

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Now when Sirius starts taking thoughts out of my brain before I've even had the chance to think them...that's just spooky, mwa-ha-ha-ha. While I laughed at that part, too, what really impressed me was that Ned kept a completely straight face the entire time; that takes some great acting, especially with Kristen Chenowith behind him mimicking his voice. This was probably the most solid of all the episodes, as it kept both the comedy and tragedy nearly even in presentation. Major kudos to Sammi (or Sammy, not sure of the spelling) Hanratty for her portrayal of young Chuck in this episode; she has a very expressive face, and I always am glad to see her, especially wearing those hideous bear-claw slippers, or whatever they are. Those things are horrid, but they tickle me all the same. Also, I would love to know where they are able to find so many people who have the ability to fall backwards without flinching or bending, as those of us without such training tend to do. Even the popsiclian corpses were well-done, and I would imagine that, once the writer's strike is over, people will be lining up to be guest stars, kinda like it is over on CSI. Even though the whole talk-to-the-dead thing is deliciously-macabre, it's done just tastefully enough that even the really, really gross parts are, um, palatable. My favorite scene in the entire episode was when the last snowman was accidentally chopped up and frozen body parts slipped off the gurney. Ned looks down at the pile and says, "I'm not touching that." This show will be really missed in my house, and I hope everything gets resolved before too many people forget about Pushing Daisies. It would be a shame if this show ended up going the way of the dodo, thanks to the all-too-living dodos who won't pick up their damn pens and start writing again. Ah, well...we always have Battle of the Dancing With the Stars Survivors' Amazing Race To the Deal Or No Deal to look forward to. And me without a shotgun to aim at the TV, *sigh*.

Dark Disciple | Dec 13, 2007 6:00:04 PM | #

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I don't think the body was chopped up, I think they just dropped it and it was supposed to have shattered because it was frozen... fun episode :)

*** | Dec 13, 2007 10:20:41 PM | #

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For best bits I think you missed my personal favorite,

Olive's conversation with Ned (with Olive playing both parts of the conversation.)regarding the word, "Bosom".

Brian | Dec 14, 2007 8:43:00 AM | #

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Wasnt it a cheese ball/crab?? I say bring it back. I missed a few shows but I'll watch them all when it comes back on.

**** | Dec 24, 2007 9:38:48 PM | #

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