Pushing Daisies - Season 1 Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

DARK FLUFF

Although I missed it on the box (how, do you ask, it was shown like soooo many times...) and took my time to get to the discs, Pushing Daisies is well worth the wait.

Irrepressible comparisons arise to Six Feet Under, maybe even Tru Calling (Eliza Dushku, alias Buffy's Faith, gets asked for help by dead people, only to relive their fatal day and solve the murder mysteries...), but the narrative, voice over and flashbacks are much more reminiscent of Amelie (a cafe as a centre piece, anybody???) and The Royal Tenenbaums.

The richness in colour suggests cutesiness and fluff, were it not for the somewhat high and dark concept of the main character being able to bring the dead back to life with one touch, then send them back to eternal death (religious philosophers turning in their graves at this point, no pun)- and only if he does both within 1 minute it remains without the immediate consequence of someone nearby popping their clogs instantly, instead of the just undeaded.

Lee Pace as Ned (The Pie Maker) and Anna Friel as Chuck are a joy to watch, putting the ironic warmth into a relationship that has a big sticker on it that says 'DO NOT TOUCH!' (my other half would not last 30 seconds ha ha), the support cast including Swoosie Kurtz as the one eyed half of a former glorious synchronised swimming sister team, do their jobs ably and likeably. ( A black private investigator who enjoys knitting? Fabulous!)

It is a show that might not reach to everyone and is definitely going to work better when watched as box set, as it relies on getting involved and swept up in the crazy, quirky, cling film covered, yet warm world centred around The Pie Hole.

A triumph then for those who like their apple pie with Gruyere baked into the crust- just that bit twisted, yet satisfying.

SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED

* SIX FEET UNDER

* AMELIE

* TRU CALLING

* THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS

Something for everyone

Sweet and funny, gross and gruesome, tragic and tear-inducing. Pushing Daisies has a similar oddball dark comedy atmosphere to Bryan Fuller's Dead Like Me, with a more cartoony feel but the same tragic undertones and similar lovely morbid fascination with grisly deaths. The characters are great - consistent and funny, and with a curiously realistic straight-talking quality for this style of series. Now to try out Fuller's acclaimed Wonderfalls while I wait for the next season...