Pushing Daisies - Home Sweet Ho

Bitter Sweets - Ep. 108

Raúl Esparza is back as Alfredo Aldarisio!!!

Mike White is "some guy" creepy candy seller Billy Balsam!!!

Molly Shannon is too (who yes, can be annoying at times but her overdramatic flair seems to be put to good use here)!!! Dilly Balsam, sister to Billy, owners of Bitter Sweets Taffy and Sweets Emporium, a new candy confectionary across the street from The Pie Hole, and Billy and Dilly are out for war.

Holy casting. I said it last week and I'll say it again. With an already amazing main cast, they keep adding a great list of character actors to their roster.

On a weird side note tangent, I realised the two versions of the musical Company that I've seen had Bobby played by Christopher Seiber (in a version in LA that also starred Aliens in America's Amy Pietz amongst the TV star cast) who was on last week as LeNez and Raúl Esparza, whose version of Company by the way, will apparently be on PBS on February 20th 2008 .

Anyways, another week, another mysterious death. This time lover Tony is dead and girlfriend Tina is jailed for the murder but Ned, Chuck and Emerson are hired to clear Tina's name, and somehow the death is lead back to a Burly Bruce Carter and his murdering plastic doll (what's with all the "Real Girls" all of a sudden?). So that's over and yet we still have 50 minutes to go. What the?

In comes Billy introducing the new candy store across the street from The Pie Hole and as the gang goes over to meet Billy and Dilly Balsam, they soon find Dilly creating a war between the two stores as she sets her eyes on taking over The Pie Ho .

Chuck and Olive unite (as the Pie Hos, uh-huh!) to take revenge on Dilly, Billy is found dead just as Ned is caught red-handed, is thrown in jail, leaving Emerson on his own to investigate.

Holy camoly I love where this show takes us and how the plots run all over the place with twist and turns about.

All while expanding on the theme of Ned's secret about killing Chuck's father, Olive's unrequited love for Ned and her blindness to Alfredo's affections, Emerson's actual PI investigation skills and his need for the easier workload with Ned, all while serving up delicious slices of pie made from rotten fruit, fruit that is discovered when Dilly sends over an inspector to spotcheck the joint. Oh, and poor Bruce? I love that they weave him back full circle into the plot when Ned is thrown in jail, and how the plastic doll Shiela somehow makes Ned realise that lying is sometimes okay for the delusion of others. Emerson had always said so.

Anyways, Dilly seems to be here to stay, but just as we thought she may be nicer than she'd been letting on, she ain't and kills the inspector that murdered her brother.

And Ned's secret? Just as he's okay with keeping it from Chuck, he blurts to Chuck that he killed her father. And... end scene. Up next, Corpsicle on December the 12th.

At this point, I've stopped keeping track of all the brilliant lines. So many moments.

Olive finally dreaming of Alfredo kissing her full on the lips, and realising the missed moment (um, so when are these two Broadway stars going to belt it out for us? Seriously, I can't wait).

And who isn't in silly glee watching the look of bemusement, frustration and genuine niceness eminating from Ned? I loved that even his floppy hair gets played into the plot, a big no-no when the inspector is checking The Pie Hole.

Did I mention it was World Hello Day? Hola! I love the reactions of straight laced reserved Ned to these weird and wonderful little oddball things that get thrown at him.

I loved the look on Ned's face as Olive cried incessantly while he was in prison as she tried to give him a pie with a gun baked in it.

How great was Chuck and Olive out to destroy Bitter Sweets? I love that Chuck momentarily thought Olive was nuts before she gamely joined her.

Anyways, way too much to love that I could go on forever and ever about everything and everyone. Here's the rest of the promo pics from the episode: