Pushing Daisies – Secrets are getting harder to keep buried

(Season 2, Episode 7 – “Robbing Hood”)

I hope the writers are going to have time to wrap up the Dwight Dixon storyline before the cancellation hammer comes down and slashes Pushing Daisies from the schedule forever. Things are chugging right along and we’re getting dangerously close, as well, to the aunts finding out about Chuck and perhaps secrets about Chuck’s parentage coming out as well.

With six episodes left, there’s plenty of time to get to that, but there’s no guarantee that ABC will keep it on the air that long. Now that the word has come out that the series is canceled, it may shed more viewers and get to that point where ABC questions whether to keep it on the air. Assuming that they do, and they really should, the writers knew they had only a 13-episode commitment, so maybe they planned for that and at least set up a conclusion of sorts. It’s really irritating to commit to a series only to have it end mid-stride.

And we’ve got plenty of strides to deal with now. We are learning more and more that Dwight Dixon is up to no good, though we’ve no idea just what he’s up to yet. Nevertheless, through a series of misunderstandings, he’s uncovered the secret that Chuck is alive and Lily has discovered that he dug up Chuck’s grave and was in possession of the pocketwatch.

It’s so good to see the aunts taking on a more active role in the series this season. They spent so much time as shut-ins last year that it was reaching the point that I was questioning their importance in the series. But now, having them swirling around the periphery unaware that Chuck is still alive adds an element of danger to everything that happens.

The mystery of the week was generally pretty dull. I wasn’t impressed with the Robin Hood character, nor the cliches of the rich old guy who’s young hot wife is unfaithful to him and so he cuts her out of his will. Even the climactic end scene when Cod and Co. figured out who the real killer was and ultimately took him down was a bit of a letdown, though I did get a kick out of Emerson shooting his getwaway rope.

I guess it’s becoming kind of like House for me. I generally get bored to death with the mystery of the week, but enjoy the character banter and development. Thankfully, Daisies has a hell of a lot more of the latter than House, but the point remains. At its procedural heart, there are far better murder mysteries than those here, but maybe that’s the point as well. It’s all supposed to be taken with a grain of fun, and there’s certainly always that.

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Nov 27, 2008 @ 13:00 EST5EDT