“Smell of Success”
Written by Scott Nimerfro Directed by Lawrence Trilling The Story A girl dies in a scratch’n’sniff book explosion, and Ned and Emerson are on the case! It seems the intended victim was the author of the book, LeNez, who believes that success can be obtained through smelling only the very best smells. He lives in a highly controlled olfactory environment. While the guys and Chuck follow leads, Olive geeks out over Lily and Vivian’s Darling Mermaid Darlings gear, and on Chuck’s imploring, she tries to inspire them to get out of the house and back in the water using chlorine tablets. Lily is very resistant to any forward momentum, but Vivian is getting tired of being miserable. As the case continues, Ned and Emerson find a nasty sock in the Pie Hole’s drain, with a threat about LeNez. They pursue this lead into the sewers, where they find LeNez’s old college friend, Oscar Vibenius, who took his interest in smells the opposite direction. Oscar appears to be rigging LeNez’s car to blow up with him in it, but after escaping from jail, he claims he was trying to stop the explosion. The team realizes LeNez has been setting up all these explosions as a publicity stunt for his book (and it was working). Oscar is very interested in Chuck, because she smells like death. Vivian convinces Lily that they need to try to be happy, and they return to swimming! Also, Chuck has been trying to convince Ned to let her add cup-pies to the Pie Hole’s menu. He’s been very resistant, but by the end of the episode, he presents her with the new menu, which has a cup-pie section. “Smell of Success” is great. It’s one of the closest things Pushing Daisies has to an arc episode, in that it teases multiple plot threads and continues others that have been ongoing. The aunts are finally swimming again! Someone’s on the trail of Chuck’s unusual circumstances. And we get Lil’ Gumshoe. Ned’s character growth continues, with the persistent affectionate nudging of Chuck, and friendships and relationships also develop. I also like the dichotomy of LeNez and Oscar. At first glance, LeNez seems like the good guy, and Oscar seems like a clear villain. But LeNez is really just a snob and Oscar is a man with good intentions, if a little too much enthusiasm for sewer. This connects nicely to the scratch’n’sniff thing. You have to go beneath the surface to get to the real substance! Things I Liked
Things I Didn’t
The Characters Ned doesn’t like surprises, change, learning painful information, or shifting out of his comfort zone. Chuck is very good for him, because she doesn’t let him remain entrenched in all of these limiting patterns of behavior, and he cares enough about her (and is painfully aware of how restricted her existence is, partially because of him) to be willing to make adjustments when she wants him to. Chuck and Olive’s friendship is wonderful. Olive has very good reasons to resent and distrust Chuck, but she’s not letting her unrequited feelings for Ned or her sympathy for the aunts poison her against someone who is clearly a very likable person who definitely needs a friend. It’s so sweet. As much as I enjoy cranky old people characters, I really like that Vivian decided not to let Lily remain a miserable grouch. She cares about her sister. I think if it were just Vivian by herself, she might not have much motivation to try to be happy, but she can’t stand seeing Lily wallow in misery when there’s probably something they can do to fix it. The two of them kind of remind me of Jane and Elizabeth Bennet, had things not worked out with Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy. Overall Rating 5/5 I baked a pie! Because it's pretty much impossible to watch this show and not make at least one pie, I actually made a tart apple pie with Gouda baked into the crust, like one of the ones Chuck made for Lily and Vivian, and it was freaking amazing. Possibly the best apple pie I've ever eaten, let alone personally baked. 10/10, would definitely recommend. I used this recipe for the pie (with Granny Smith apples, but I did not add the ginger), and this recipe for the crust. Yes, I use lard in my pie crusts. Make sure it's the kind that isn't shelf-stable, or you might as well just stick with Crisco. Once it's all ready to go in the oven, cover the top in as much shredded Gouda as you want, and then bake it for 50 minutes uncovered at 375°F. Keep an eye on it in the last few minutes to see if the cheese is getting nice and golden-brown; that's when it's done. Then let it cool an hour or two before cutting, so that the insides can set.
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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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