Pushing Daisies: Girth

ORIGINAL EPISODES, WEDNESDAYS @ 8PM ON ABC

This was yet another great installment from "Pushing Daisies." Quirky, odd, ridiculous, weird...all words people have used to describe this show but at the same time most people are drawn to it. It's inexplicable yet satisfying. I love the quirkiness and the non-traditional aspects of the show and this week was no exception. Tonight, the group (including Olive for the first time) has to find the serial killer whose going around trampling Olive's former horse jockey friends with a horse. Apparently, Olive used to be a popular and famous horse jockey who was involved in a covered up murder. One of her biggest rivals fell off his horse during a big race and was trampled to death; or so they thought. Turns out his saddle was tampered with which caused the fall but the the 4 big jockeys, including Olive, vowed never to speak of what they knew and they burned the evidence.

Unfortunately, someone figured it out and started hunting each of them down one by one. This is where Ned, Emerson, and Chuck came into play. Emerson was hired by Olive to find the killer so she wouldn't be next. Interestingly, Ned spent most of the time away from the group in this episode. I thought this was great because we finally had a chance to watch the other three characters interact without Ned, who is the centerpiece of it all, around. I was surprised at how great they all are together and it reinforced my intuition that this show is great and is going to be around for a long while. In particular, I was surprised at how well Olive and Chuck worked together. They have an interesting chemistry and an oddly funny one. I think Olive finally forgave Chuck for stealing Ned (at least somewhat) and they've found a friend in each other. How could you not forgive Chuck? She's always happy and friendly; you can't possibly stay mad at her. Sadly, Olive took an opportunity at the end of the episode when Ned saved her to kiss him. He didn't kiss her back and instead went after Chuck to see how she was. This hurt Olive but maybe she'll finally move on.

Ned, meanwhile, was on a journey of his own for most of the episode. He was reliving his past; the time when he was abandoned by his father. He returned to his old home that hadn't been sold since his mother passed away. It was empty and dilapidated. But he would sit where his old bed was and stare at the ceiling, thinking about his life when he was younger. In the end, he revisited Chuck's Aunt's who told him the truth about his father. That everyone in the town never spoke about his jackass of a father but only about how wonderful Ned turned out. This changed his life and I think he finally moved on from how his father treated him.

I love the fact that Chuck and Ned are having some normal couple issues. Their relationship is so odd but in the beginning they sort of ignored everything. They sort of took it for face value that they couldn't touch but could be alright in everything else. Well last week and this week they realized that in the end touching is just one aspect of the relationship and they were still going to have other normal problems. This week Ned didn't want to let Chuck in on his feelings about his father and where he went all day to think about it. Obviously, Chuck felt shut out and wasn't too happy about that. They sort of worked it out in the end but he still didn't let her in. Clearly, they still have a lot of work to do on top of the no touching issues.

By the way, it was hilarious that Ned put a highchair between him and Chuck while they were sitting in the Pie in the Hole booth. I don't know if you noticed it but it was so funny. Olive as a horse jockey was hilarious and it was great that the writers used her lack of height in real life as a legitimate storyline.

This show is great and if you haven't been watching you should start as soon as you can. Until next week, enjoy the review!