Pushing Daisies - The Scary Thing Is I Almost Cried

Girth - Ep. 105

Leave it to Pushing Daisies to have their first Halloween episode make me teary eyed and almost cry, all while cracking up at Emerson's retorts and eye rolls, Olive's schemes, Aunt Lily's bluntness and even just the sight of Digby just sitting there.


Also, on a completely different note, can I miss Lee Pace's original shorter haircut and yet still be totally digging his swoopy current uncut hairstyle? Plus, I love that they continue to use his lying facial tick. Ned always looks so adorably guilty!

A horse riding jockey dies, killed apparently by the ghost of another jockey John Joseph Jacobs (the hilarious Hamish Linklater from The New Adventures of Old Christine, who in real life is REALLY tall, but somehow that is all worked into Pushing Daisies of course). And as soon as Olive hears of the news, she hires Emerson to solve the murder. Why? Why does she herself pay for PI work? Because the tiny Olive was a former jockey champion (what a great way to use Kristen Chenowith's diminutive stature!) who won in the same race where John Joseph Jacobs died. (The green screened images of Olive and all the other jockeys in the race were hysterical!)

Emerson, Chuck and Olive go off to visit John Joseph Jacobs' mother Mamma Jacobs (well, that makes it easy) and as Mamma (Barbara Barrie) starts lobbing veiled passive aggressive put-downs at Olive while they reminisce, Ned is off on his secret mission (which ticks off Chuck) to return home on Halloween, a day he hates due to his absent father.

While Chuck and Olive start noseying around into the ashes of John Joseph Jacobs, more jockeys are murdered, and Ned meets with Aunts Lily and Vivian and helps break Ned out of his psychological fetal position (This is where I teared up the first time around). He's reminded of the people he misses and returns to help the Odd Mod Squad with their case, as the threat of death looms over Olive, the remaining jockey that beat John Joseph Jacobs at the Jock Off 2000 races (they said it, not me!).

There's something about a malfunctioning girth, boys turned into birds, Chuck working at some dental type of place, young Ned and the lack of mail, Ned discovering Chuck has been sending the aunts his pies, Chuck and Olive working together, and Chuck making Olive realise secrets are meant for a reason ("shoot") and the return of John Joseph Jacobs, who is now tall (well, they had to explain the actors height SOMEHOW) but there was really way too much plotline, details and fabulous quotes stuffed within the hour that when I looked at the clock at 20 past, 35 past and 45 past the hour, each time thinking the episode MUST be over because they've already told enough story to satisfy my Pushing Daisies cravings, that I was just amazed at the how they kept spinning Girth into weirder and more fantastic places! Yes, in case you didn't get my gist, I loved it! Again! Pushing Daisies has yet to disappoint.

And yes, I almost teared up near the end as well.

Some more remaining images below: