Pushing Daisies 1x02 Review: Rhubarb

“Dummy”
Written by Peter Ocko
Directed by Barry Sonnenfield
 
The Story
Emerson’s next case is a hit-and-run victim. When Ned does his thing, the man tells them he was killed by a crash-test dummy and to tell Jeanine he loved her. Ned and Chuck investigate his place of work with pie for Jeanine. It’s a company pioneering an eco-friendly future car that looks like a golf cart mated with a mushroom. They find Jeanine, but she doesn’t help them. They come back that evening with Emerson, and then Jeanine finds them. They all go back to the Pie Hole so Jeanine can eat massive amounts of pie, then purge it all in the restroom. She tells them her story of falling in love with Bernard (the victim) and that she’s pretty sure he was killed because of shady stuff at work. But when she tries to show them, her Dandy Lion SX car blows up. She survives. The trio goes to investigate the pit where all the crash test dummies have been disposed of, and they get tased by someone in a dummy suit. It’s the president of the company! He tries to murder them, but they escape, and he gets nabbed by the cops for speeding. And then for murder. Also, Olive is pining over Ned, very musically.
 
This episode’s motif is secrets. I’m not sure I’d call it a theme, because most of the secrets we learn about still don’t get shared by the end of the episode, but we do get to learn a lot more about all of the characters. There's Olive's secret love for Ned, Jeanine's secret eating disorder, Ned's secret responsibility for the death of Chuck's father, Emerson's secret fondness for stress-knitting, and Mark Chase's secretly deadly cars and what he's done to keep that hidden. Chuck doesn't have a secret and doesn't like secrets, but she is a secret herself, not allowed to tell anyone she's not dead.
 
Things I Liked

• “This is such a small cheese box.”
• “The aunts who had raised Chuck had taught her that the large, white appliance in the kitchen had a fairly narrow purpose.”
• Olive, “the jealous yet agile neighbor”
• The car screeching after Olive drops her mirror contraption
• EMERSON KNITTING
• Chuck’s multilingualism
• Olive’s song, and the way she pauses when people come in
• “While Olive considered how much she loved Digby for paying attention to her when the pie-maker would not, and Digby considered how much he liked salt...”
• Chuck swiping a card even though Emerson went to quite a lot of trouble to get one illegally made. Bahahaha.
• Emerson’s scream when the dead lady screams on waking up
• The villain tasering Emerson and Ned, then switching one of them to his other hand so he could taser Chuck too. Bahahahahahaha.
• Olive’s horse-themed decorations, although matching wallpaper, floorpaper(???), and bedding is a bit much
• Olive’s hilarious nightmare about Ned and Chuck in a romantic bubble bath
  
• "You love secrets. You want to marry secrets and have little have-secret, half-human babies."
  
• Body bag kiss!
• Emerson’s knitting saving the day
• The murderous boss of this alternative energy car company driving a Hummer
• Emerson has knitted cosies for almost everything on his desk, as well as all his wads of cash
  
• The "steering emergencies" glove
  

 
Things I Didn’t

• Ned’s dad
• Bernard’s body is completely bloodless, but there’s blood on the road sign?
• Don’t come knockin’ when the Dandy Lion SX is rockin’
• Mark Chase’s freaky mugshot

 
The Characters
Chuck laments how secretive Ned is, but I think it's more about being guarded and cautious than it is about keeping secrets. I think it frustrates her that he won't open up to her emotionally and about himself because that's kind of all they have, since they're not allowed to touch. Ned realizes this and starts opening up more, and he also does something to help with the not being able to touch. That window thing between the driver and passenger side of the car is so thoughtful.

Chuck is definitely chafing in her new situation. She doesn't enjoy being confined, and she doesn't enjoy following rules that keep her from enjoying the company of people she cares about. Sitting in the back seat drives her crazy because she wants to be side-by-side with Ned so that she can see his face and reach over to him while they talk. Ned ultimately realizes this and does what he can to improve the situation, so her second life can get a little bit better.

Seriously, Emerson's knitting habit is why he's my favorite character. I love how adorably awkward Ned is, all tall and lurpy with amazing eyebrows, and Chuck is really fun and has awesome dresses, but Emerson is just the best. So crotchety and sardonic, and yet he knits. It's wonderful.

The way Olive sings in public is probably exactly how I would do it. Belting it out as long as she thinks she’s alone, then denying all knowledge of any singing the second someone else notices. I like Olive.
 
Overall Rating
4.5/5