Pushing Daisies
When Chuck’s father Charles died, Young Ned and his mother waited with her for Chuck’s aunts, Lily and Vivian, to arrive after the funeral. Lily didn’t embrace Charlotte, but she later embraced Ned when he came over to report his own mother’s death. His father then took Ned away to boarding school and an upset Chuck ran after him calling his name.
In last week’s episode Ned told Chuck that he killed her father. So now Ned goes in search of Chuck, who has fled into the snowy night after he told her. He goes to the aunts’ house and they invite him in. The house is cold because Charlotte was the only one who knew how to light the furnace. Once Ned gets it going, he asks them to report on any strange signs of Chuck's presence. Lily mentions she imagined seeing Chuck once, but that was it. He then goes to see Olive who says she doesn’t know where Chuck is. After sending him away, she goes inside to talk to Chuck, who is hiding in her apartment. Olive insists on an explanation for Chuck's supposed death and Chuck gives her the truth, but of course Olive doesn’t believe her. Olive reveals to Chuck the aunts are swimming again to cheer her up. Olive offers to make a pie for the aunts and Chuck likes this idea. She gives her the herbal mood-enhancer for it, but just tells Olive it’s vanilla flavouring.
Ned tells Emerson what he did and the detective wonders if Chuck will go to the press. Emerson tells Ned to drop the matter with Chuck and help with a new investigation: Victor Narramore, an insurance adjuster for Uber-Life Life Insurance, has been found frozen to death. Ned agrees to help and brings the man back to life. Victor reveals that someone hit him with a baseball bat with the word ‘kindness’ scratched into it. In life he had to decide who gets organ transplants, but while being told all of this, Ned is still more concerned about Chuck. Unaware that she is on the apartment roof with Oscar Vibenius, Ned continues to look for her. Oscar gives Chuck her mother's sweater back but asks for a sample of her hair, having already taken some from Digby. Oscar notes that Chuck and Digby both have a unique odour and suggests she knows a lot more about death than she is revealing.
Ned begins to suspect Olive is lying about knowing Chuck’s whereabouts, but Emerson wants help with three people who have been denied an organ transplant by Victor. One of them, Abner Newsome, needs a new heart, but Victor didn’t help. Ned however doesn’t want to talk to the boy and instead goes to Olive’s apartment and finds Chuck. In speaking to her, she says that she understands that Ned didn’t intentionally kill her father, but that she just needs time to process this and wants him to leave. She then leaves a message in the sewer, asking Oscar to meet her on the roof.
Emerson goes to talk to Abner Newsome and his mother Emma about Victor’s death. Abner isn’t at all affected or upset by the news, and doesn’t have anything useful to add. Emerson leaves feeling that he has wasted his time, but on leaving, spots a corpse frozen in a snowman in the front yard.
Emerson takes an uninterested Ned to the morgue to revive Uber-Life Life Insurance adjuster Bill Richter. Richter reveals he was also killed with a baseball bat and they should talk to Kevin Vanden Eykel, his car-pooler, who yelled out a warning before he died. They go to Uber-Life and end up talking to Steve Kaiser who says that Kevin has disappeared. They can only assume he is dead as well. Bill, Victor, and Kevin all rejected Abner for a heart transplant and it is clear that Kaiser is upset by their decisions in doing so. Emerson however, can’t approve a transplant due to the high chance Abner will not survive.
Oscar meets Chuck on the roof and speculates that she may have been brought back to life based on her odour. He notes that it isn’t unusual for people to come back from the dead and tries to get her to tell her secret. She asks for a pair of scissors and gives him a piece of her hair to smell.
Ned and Emerson go back to see Abner and Emma, suspecting that Kevin’s body will show up frozen. Madeline McLean from the Wish-A-Wish Foundation arrives with a small monkey friend, Bobo the bonobo, but Abner doesn’t have any wishes for her to fulfill. Emerson and Ned stake out the Newsome house that night but Ned is still concerned and thinks he should bring back Chuck’s father so she can say goodbye to him. Emerson however, doesn't think that is a good idea. Deep in conversation, Emerson reveals that he has a daughter, but tells Ned to not ask about her. Meanwhile, they are both unaware that someone has secretly sealed off their exhaust pipe with a potato.
The next morning, Ned barely wakes up with the car filled with carbon monoxide fumes. He gets Emerson out, who is relieved to be alive, but they spot a new snowman in the Newsome’ yard.
Olive goes to visit the aunts bringing them the pie she has baked. She is unaware that she has actually overdosed it with the herbal mood-enhancer, because she thought it was a weak-tasting vanilla. Olive reacts suddenly when Lily says she’s seen Charlotte’s ‘ghost’, but skips over the matter. Lily finishes off the entire pie and starts hallucinating about the decorations coming to life. She points out there’s no vanilla in the pie, making Olive wonder exactly what the secret ingredient was.
Meanwhile, Chuck makes pies and wonders what Oscar might discover. He arrives and gives her back her hair as a gesture of trust, and to give her the chance to tell him her secret. She realises there’s only one person she wants to talk to about her secret, and that’s Ned.
Emerson and Ned watch the coroners remove Kevin’s body from Emma’s front yard, while Emerson realises that Emma was peeling potatoes, like the one they found in their exhaust pipe. They prepare to touch Kevin’s body and discover the truth, but the coroners drops it and it shatters. Ned is mortified by the situation and refuses to bring it back to life. Instead, they go inside the house to find that Abner has been rejected yet again for a heart transplant. Emma mentions that McLean had asked for the name of the adjuster who refuses Abner’s most recent transplant request. It was Steve Kaiser. Ned and Emerson realise McLean is the killer and head for Uber-Life. McLean pulls into the parking lot where Kaiser is just getting into his car.
Ned and Emerson close in on McLean while Ned tries to find out more about Emerson’s daughter. McLean takes a swing at Kaiser and just misses, then pins him down to deliver the final blow. Ned and Emerson confront her but she pulls a gun and says her job is to grant wishes. It turns out that McLean was depressed that Abner had no wishes for her to grant, until he said he wanted the insurance adjusters who rejected him to drop dead. As this goes on, they are all unaware that Bobo the bonobo is playing with the gear stick in McLean's van and runs her over. She is killed, but her heart is intact, so Abner finally receives his transplant.
Ned goes to the cemetery to find Chuck at her father’s grave. She admits she feels better and asks Ned to bring her father back to life. Ned refuses, not wanting to be responsible for killing him again, even though Chuck begs him. Back at the aunt’s house, Lily hallucinates about floating mermaids and talks about how she secretly made snow angels in the back yard for the young Charlotte. Lily then reveals to Olive that she is actually Charlotte’s mother.
Cast
Field Cate as Young Ned
Lee Pace as Ned
Anna Friel as Charlotte "Chuck" Charles
Chi McBride as Emerson Cod
Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook
Swoosie Kurtz as Lily Charles
Ellen Greene as Vivian Charles
Paul Reubens as Oscar Vibenius
When Chuck’s father Charles died, Young Ned and his mother waited with her for Chuck’s aunts, Lily and Vivian, to arrive after the funeral. Lily didn’t embrace Charlotte, but she later embraced Ned when he came over to report his own mother’s death. His father then took Ned away to boarding school and an upset Chuck ran after him calling his name.
In last week’s episode Ned told Chuck that he killed her father. So now Ned goes in search of Chuck, who has fled into the snowy night after he told her. He goes to the aunts’ house and they invite him in. The house is cold because Charlotte was the only one who knew how to light the furnace. Once Ned gets it going, he asks them to report on any strange signs of Chuck's presence. Lily mentions she imagined seeing Chuck once, but that was it. He then goes to see Olive who says she doesn’t know where Chuck is. After sending him away, she goes inside to talk to Chuck, who is hiding in her apartment. Olive insists on an explanation for Chuck's supposed death and Chuck gives her the truth, but of course Olive doesn’t believe her. Olive reveals to Chuck the aunts are swimming again to cheer her up. Olive offers to make a pie for the aunts and Chuck likes this idea. She gives her the herbal mood-enhancer for it, but just tells Olive it’s vanilla flavouring.
Ned tells Emerson what he did and the detective wonders if Chuck will go to the press. Emerson tells Ned to drop the matter with Chuck and help with a new investigation: Victor Narramore, an insurance adjuster for Uber-Life Life Insurance, has been found frozen to death. Ned agrees to help and brings the man back to life. Victor reveals that someone hit him with a baseball bat with the word ‘kindness’ scratched into it. In life he had to decide who gets organ transplants, but while being told all of this, Ned is still more concerned about Chuck. Unaware that she is on the apartment roof with Oscar Vibenius, Ned continues to look for her. Oscar gives Chuck her mother's sweater back but asks for a sample of her hair, having already taken some from Digby. Oscar notes that Chuck and Digby both have a unique odour and suggests she knows a lot more about death than she is revealing.
Ned begins to suspect Olive is lying about knowing Chuck’s whereabouts, but Emerson wants help with three people who have been denied an organ transplant by Victor. One of them, Abner Newsome, needs a new heart, but Victor didn’t help. Ned however doesn’t want to talk to the boy and instead goes to Olive’s apartment and finds Chuck. In speaking to her, she says that she understands that Ned didn’t intentionally kill her father, but that she just needs time to process this and wants him to leave. She then leaves a message in the sewer, asking Oscar to meet her on the roof.
Emerson goes to talk to Abner Newsome and his mother Emma about Victor’s death. Abner isn’t at all affected or upset by the news, and doesn’t have anything useful to add. Emerson leaves feeling that he has wasted his time, but on leaving, spots a corpse frozen in a snowman in the front yard.
Emerson takes an uninterested Ned to the morgue to revive Uber-Life Life Insurance adjuster Bill Richter. Richter reveals he was also killed with a baseball bat and they should talk to Kevin Vanden Eykel, his car-pooler, who yelled out a warning before he died. They go to Uber-Life and end up talking to Steve Kaiser who says that Kevin has disappeared. They can only assume he is dead as well. Bill, Victor, and Kevin all rejected Abner for a heart transplant and it is clear that Kaiser is upset by their decisions in doing so. Emerson however, can’t approve a transplant due to the high chance Abner will not survive.
Oscar meets Chuck on the roof and speculates that she may have been brought back to life based on her odour. He notes that it isn’t unusual for people to come back from the dead and tries to get her to tell her secret. She asks for a pair of scissors and gives him a piece of her hair to smell.
Ned and Emerson go back to see Abner and Emma, suspecting that Kevin’s body will show up frozen. Madeline McLean from the Wish-A-Wish Foundation arrives with a small monkey friend, Bobo the bonobo, but Abner doesn’t have any wishes for her to fulfill. Emerson and Ned stake out the Newsome house that night but Ned is still concerned and thinks he should bring back Chuck’s father so she can say goodbye to him. Emerson however, doesn't think that is a good idea. Deep in conversation, Emerson reveals that he has a daughter, but tells Ned to not ask about her. Meanwhile, they are both unaware that someone has secretly sealed off their exhaust pipe with a potato.