Pushing Daisies – “Bitches”

“Bitches”

November 13th, 2007

As far as the show’s overall themes go, this week’s episode of Pushing Daisies really didn’t do much to further the relationship between Chuck and Ned. Actually, it barely even dealt with it: Ned did have a discussion with a dog psychologist and wrestled with he and Olive’s kiss two weeks ago, and the end of episode coda was certainly poignant, but (Okay, so there was a little movement), for the most part the episode sidelined this in favour of going to the dogs.

While certainly not quite as snappy as some of the show’s past episodes, “Bitches” featured an interesting mystery paired with copious amounts of Digby, perhaps the early frontrunner for this year’s Best Actor in a Drama Series. I’m head over heels for Digby (My ‘awww’ count reached ludicrous levels), but the episode dealt most succinctly with Emerson falling head over heels for the feminine wiles of a dog breeder.

The Facts are these: A polygamist dog breeder is killed by one of his wives, although he isn’t quite sure which one. The mystery leads our intrepid foursome (With Olive joining the crew, which was a positive development) in visiting each of his four dog-breeding wives who resemble their pets of choice. They also fit each of our characters perfectly: Emerson gets a needed dose of romance, Chuck finds yet another sympathetic figure, Ned gets a dose of psychology, and Olive finds a woman who has watched love fall through her fingers.

We’ve seen these characterizations for our eternal love triangle, but this is the first time we’ve seen Emerson be discombobulated by a female in this fashion. I always like seeing new sides to the curmudgeon, and this was no different: his Pavlovian training was a nice sign of weakness in his tough exterior that’s a nice addition to his knitting background.

And really, this episode belonged to Digby: whether hiding in a trunk at Ned’s school, being dressed up by Wife #1 (The Guilty One), on the psychologist’s couch with Ned, or cuddled up to Olive or Chuck at various points in the episode, Digby is pretty much my favourite fictional dog in television history. If the Writer’s Strike continues, I desire a reality show where we just follow Digby around on his adventures.

The murder storyline resolved in a rather uninteresting fashion, to be honest, and I felt the Ned/Chuck/Olive coda was engaging if not earned. The show remains on the right path for these characters, but it really didn’t change the state of affairs. If we’re not going to see change in the love aspect of this story, I’d almost rather it not be present within the episode. However, as long as the rest of the show holds up its end of the bargain, I don’t foresee it developing into a concern.

Cultural Observations

• But no, seriously, Digby was adorable in that trunk at the beginning of the episode. I’m pretty sure the entire floor heard my “Aww”. I want to know where Digby’s been all of my television watching life.
• The episode’s opening dream, featuring Chuck “dying” and then Olive emerging from under her skin, was just weird. I don’t think the episode really resolved its weirdness, either.
• Anyone else really worried about how closely Ned was sitting to Digby and Chuck as they sat on the grass towards the end of the episode? More for Digby than Chuck, of course.
• I’ve been impressed with the supporting characters: each wife was able to develop enough of a character to make an impact, even if there was a few too many of them to prove truly memorable.