Friday, October 31, 2008

Pushing Daisies - Dim Sum Lose Some

Pushing Daisies can not possible get any better. This week`s episode was so quick and witty that I have the feeling I need to watch it again to catch all those little details that I missed the first time around. I am still kind of disappointed that the ratings are not higher for the show and am still crossing my fingers that it sticks around for a few seasons.

If you haven't checked it out yet (and I highly recommend that you do, the episode is available on line), some of the little treasures that you missed this week in Dim Sum Lose Some are:

Emerson and the "Help Me" note in his fortune cookie from the Chinese Restaurant under his office, I loved how things in this series are tied together and even though we had seen the Chinese letters in Emerson's office window forever, it was the first time that things were really referenced in the series. I love me some good dumplings too and the unfortunate demise of our master chef made up for a pretty comédie noire scene of our resurrected chef running around with a pipe through his head. Death by exploding steamer is a pretty funny thing if done right, and I loved the Matrix feel of the explosion.

The whole den of inequity feeling that they were going for with the camouflaged poker (cards replaced by Dim Sum instead) was brilliant and the little twists and turns in the story were great. It was not as predictable as first glance and the undercover stuff was all very funny. Ned and Emerson were hilarious as their 1970s inspired Undercover Brother and some incarnation that reminded me of Burt Reynolds. It must have been the pornstache.

Chuck is a continual surprise with her ability to translate (almost fluently) for the gang. The flashback sequence was hilarious as Chuck wasn't quite sure if it was milk or something else that the gamblers were drinking and it added another flavor to the scene. Chuck and Olive are turning into a great undercover team and as usual, the costumes and makeup were incredible. The design crew does amazing work in this show. The street scenes look astounding and the decor in the Dim Sum restaurant was as kitschy as you can get and it had to be a real restaurant, in fact it reminded me of a restaurant that I had Dim Sum in Vancouver.

The return of Simone (click click and her clicker) was another boost for Emerson. Simone killed me in her first appearance and I am happy she is back in the picture. Emerson seems to be getting some nice plot and character development this year, and the scenes with them were great. Simone knows how to click a guy insane.

Ned got some great development with the appearance of a mystery man looking for his father, Ned getting all tangled up in his emotions and Chuck discovering that Ned has twin half brothers (or one whole brother as Ned likes to say) who are Magicians. Ned has many issues with dear old Dad and the more flashbacks we see of his youth, the more it becomes clear that he is angry and feels that he was pretty much discarded years ago. Dad has yet to prove otherwise ... and it appears our mystery man is after more than we think. Watching Ned freak out over these emotions that he has locked away forever is almost painful to watch, but you know over the long term there will be some important growth. That is definitely one of the things I love about the series and how the overall plot is developing with each episode. More please!