“The Fun in Funeral”
Written by Bryan Fuller Directed by Paul A. Edwards The Story The latest victim whose death Emerson is investigating is the shady funeral director who died in place of Chuck. Whoops! While Ned and Chuck wrestle with how they feel about Chuck’s new life essentially being stolen from Mr. Schatz, they and Emerson pretend to investigate the murder so that they can make sure it doesn’t come back to Ned. Also because Emerson wants to know where all the stuff Schatz stole off dead bodies went. Turns out, he has a twin brother who was in on the theft. And the twin dies too. He died choking on food, but both Ned and one of the hate mail writers are likely suspects, and the latter wants to frame Ned. They break into the funeral home to return Schatz #2’s body, and then get into a fight with the hate mail writer. They discover the stolen contraband and mail it back to the rightful owners, which helps Chuck feel better about her new life. Also, there’s a guy who treats his serious phobias with herbal remedies, and he also sells them. He’s interested in Olive, and Chuck is using his homeopathic stuff to help her aunts recover from their misery. She bakes it into delivery pies for them, and also bakes cheese into the crust. Aww. This episode is one of my favorites of S1. The show doesn’t have much of an arc, but this is one of the episodes that does closely link back to another, the pilot. This is where Ned and Chuck deal with the consequences of Chuck being alive again. Some of them, anyway. Ned is stripped of yet another of his secrets and comes closer to realizing that it’s safe to share those with Chuck and will improve their relationship. Chuck is finding ways to reach out to her aunts even if she can’t be with them or tell them she’s alive, and she’s able to come to terms with how she’s alive again. Also, have I mentioned the whimsy? Possibly the one thing that really makes this show amazing is how utterly whimsical it is. I love it. Things I Liked
Things I Didn’t
The Characters Ned has some pretty good development here. Last time we dealt with his aversion to opening up to people (which we will continue to deal with throughout), and now we’re starting to deal with his aversion to critically examine his own life and choices. The reason he experimented to see exactly what the rules were to his gift was so that he would never again incur any consequences from it, and the first time he does, he suddenly tries to pretend he had no control. But ultimately, he owns it. He had a choice, and he made it on purpose. Maybe it does make him a bad person, but Chuck is definitely right that it makes him far more interesting than if it was an accident and he has no accountability. One of Chuck’s less obvious qualities, I think, is how selfless she is. She can’t stand being away from her aunts because she wants to help them, especially because she knows how miserable they are at her loss. And instead of confronting Ned about his rules, she just finds loopholes like slipping a homeopathic pie into the delivery stack in secret. Emerson had character development, but alas it wasn’t about realizing that greed is bad. It’s still a good thing to be physically healthy, though. And his irritable sarcasm continues to be one of my favorite things about the show. Overall Rating 5/5
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The Watcher's Diary
In this blog, I'll be reviewing, analyzing, and generally fangirling over excellent television. Exhibit A: the Whedonverse. Archives
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