'Pushing Daisies': A Norse is a Norse

So if this is the last Pushing Daisies we have for the foreseeable future, then at least we got an episode packed to the (Cod) gills with witty writing, emotional involvement for all the regulars, a mystery tied explicitly to the larger narrative and Norwegians.

From the moment we first met Chuck on Pushing Daisies, we've known that she's something of an adventurous soul, and that circumstances -- her father's death, her agoraphobic aunts and, you know, her death -- prevented her from living those adventures.

This week's Pushing Daisies had it all -- a deep-fried murder case, a couple of good guest turns, a Debbie Gibson song and a big, fat call-back to another Bryan Fuller show, Wonderfalls. It's almost enough to make me forget that we'll probably only get to see a few more episodes. Sigh.

This week's Pushing Daisies dug into the storybooks and presented the tale of a modern-day Robin Hood with a bit of a loose screw. If only ABC had a hero complex--perhaps PD wouldn't have been canceled.

Pushing Daisies proves yet again why this show is so magical. Putting aside the fact that it took place almost entirely at a magic show, the character development alone was enough to be put anyone under its spell.

In addition to making me hungry for dim sum, this week's Pushing Daisies featured the return of one of last season's more memorable guest stars and a strong thematic tie-in between case and character, all of which added up to another tasty hour.

I don't know if Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller and Joss Whedon are friends (it seems like they could be, right?). If they are, I think Joss might want to have a talk with Bryan about biting the premise of Dollhouse for this week's murder case.

Pushing Daisies hasn't been bad in its first two episodes this season -- far from it, in fact. But for the way it integrated all the principal characters, the crime of the week and the larger emotional story, Wednesday's episode really knocked it out of the park.

You gotta love a show that can have one of its characters deliver a line like "A truckful of mimes pulled up, and they ain't talkin'" -- and have it both be deadpan-hilarious and completely germane to the story. And this is why I gotta love Pushing Daisies.

What a lovely thing to have Pushing Daisies back on television. And lovelier still to see that the show hasn't lost anything of what made it so charming in the 10 months or so since it was last on the air.