Autumn Buzz

Pushing Daisies Season 2:
Episode 1: "Bzzzzz"

It's been a long ten months since we last stopped by the Pie Hole for a bite but I'm happy to say it's open for business once more and despite the gap I can also report that not much has changed with our Pie maker and his crime solving cohorts.

If you were one (like me), who was utterly charmed by the story of a man who raises the dead in between baking delicious pies, this is a good thing. The quirky humour, wonderful dialogue and delightful set design and production values remain but while it's great to have all these things back, there is a concern creeping in that maybe, just maybe, the formula needs a little shake up lest it go stale.

From the get-go we're back into familiar terrain, involving an eccentric Honey company who have been very busy bees indeed, when it comes to murder that is. Both Chuck and Ned must go undercover to try and solve a case of a mysterious swarm of bees that apparently killed an employee while still dealing with their unique-hands off-love story. The characters have always been paramount here, so while all this is happening we see cynical Private Eye Emerson Cod trying to get a pop up book published and poor put upon Olive Snook feeling the burden of one secret too many based on the fall out of the season one cliffhanger. While all this gives great potential the episode doesn't quite flow as an season opener. It feels like a standard mid season adventure, great fun for viewers already in the know but not the episode for new viewers to jump in on.

Character interplay remains as sharp as ever but there's no surprise to the mystery, as we've seen its type before and it falls into the old trap the first season of Pushing Daisies fell prey to. Unlike other crime shows they only establish one or two characters to be the potential assailant so surprises are few and far between. One can't help but wish that regarding the bee story, it had more of a sting in the tale. But the case is merely a small cog in the magical world on display and in that regard Pushing Daisies is utterly unique. You won't see another show like it, the way its setting fizzes and sparkles, it's a storybook brought to Primetime life. It's a show to be swept up in rather than dryly analyse and if you surrender to the whimsy you'll have a blast. Lee Pace remains the most likeable lead on Television, his Ned being a charming yet crucially never cloying presence. His chemistry with Anna Friel's Chuck is undeniable and it's easy to imagine them becoming an iconic TV couple. Chi McBride undercuts the sweetly romance with a healthy does of cynicism and one-liners and is ably supported by Kristin Chenoweth's Olive but here the writers make a slight misstep. Sending Olive off to a nunnery in this episode might give them a few episodes worth of material but feels like an unnecessary and improbable development that wounds the dynamic of the show. Personally I hope they resolve this thread rather quickly. (I'm aware I requested a shake up earlier in the review but still feel that Olive is an essential foil to the other characters and might suffer if her arc wanders too far from the core group, but I'll have to wait and see what happens!)

It is truly great to have this show back, brightening up the darker days set to arrive with the approach of Winter. It's just a shame to report that the ratings for this episode were hardly stellar and is causing concern for the studio with whispers of cancellation already being murmured as a possibility. The facts are these: we believe in this show and want to see it given the chance to breathe and live on just like Chuck. It has a loyal audience and must be given time to carve it's niche. Good pies need time, attention and care.

It might be premature but if you're a fan and are worried about the show check out this link:
http://www.petitiononline.com/daisies/petition.html

And with it Went the Worth

It's no secret that for the American televisual landscape last year was a mess. The writers strike dealt many blows to brand new shows trying to establish themselves. Hard to find an audience when scripts are dwindling and the cutting of corners is very much required. That being said there might have been an upside to the short and bittersweet morsels we got.

In the case of properties like Prison Break or Lost we got truncation. Blissful in someways, maddening in others it transformed Lost from the most padded of series into a lean, tense thriller. The mind bending minus the minutiae. Prison Break suffered from a stop- start run which greatly affected the momentum. And aside from 24 no other show needs its pace so much. It's in this non stop style of storytelling that lets Prison Break (Ironically) get away with so much. It was always a story one had to take with a pinch of salt. There were huge conveniences, coincidences and contrivances to the tale but at its heart it was a thriller, slick if shallow. We overlooked these gaping holes in logic cause the characters could squeeze out of prison through them and it was all for the sugar rush. The first season for all its reality baiting silliness was well thought through, a plan that had a set number of parts and seeing them all click into place was hugely satisfying, week in and week out.

The second year then had to be made if only to deal with the repercussions and well without the Prison setting the show seemed more like a drawn out ending rather than a brave new direction. Despite this it remained huge fun skulking through various middle American towns with the former Fox River inmates.

The Government conspiracy that stalked the mythology of the show became harder to ignore as they used their nefarious board meetings to trap our heroes (and anti heroes, and em...antagonists) in the bleached out Hell of a Panamanian Prison named Sona. This initially seemed like a dark new direction for the show and despite the oppressive heat and grimy locale the show still did its thing as per usual. Michael remained a Superhero, Lincoln the slow witted muscle, Mahone the nervy ambiguous one and T Bag, the cunning and strangely charming face of evil.

The spluttering tone made the relatively short stay seem more akin to Life and so the 4th series had to do something to hook people back in, those who broke out of their viewing habits a short while into the Sona sojourn.

Whoever came up with the idea of making it the brand new A-Team deserves to be knocked back to Z-status as the show has laughingly become a spy/computer drama. Lazy writing (with one piece of throwaway dialogue, the Sona prison is done away with, cliffhangers resolved and characters regrouped) a flimsy central theme and acting that seems to be a con (yet not the "con" that would be appropriate) the current season has shown conclusively what happens when a finite idea goes on far too long.

The introduction of the "new blood" of Michael Rapaport wouldn't interest a weakened Bela Lugosi and seems like a desperate attempt to freshen things up. It might have worked if Rapaport had provided a brand new performance for the role but this is the same mixture of dumb/smartass he's been peddling for years. None of the characters are showing any new colours either, with lead Wentworth Miller almost visibly tired of the role and the return of Sarah Wayne Callies (though lovely she is) being the shark leap that broke the sharks fin and acts now as a constant reminder of the schlock you're watching.

I would have been a lenient judge in the past but I don't think any of these characters or this show itself now deserve their day in court.