TRUE BLOOD
Season 1 Episode 4
“Escape From Dragon House”
Written by Brian Buckner
Directed by Michael Lehmann
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

This is gonna sound really bad, but with Dawn winding up dead, one of the things that popped into my head was: hey, we get to see more William Sanderson and Chris Bauer! And The Nine’s John Billingsley too, who debuted a couple of episodes back as the local coroner, Mike Spencer.
Her death also turns into a lookie-loo circus which then serves to showcase the community and its morbid reaction to the most recent death.


Once again, Jason comes under suspicion, and, finding himself in a cop car with a vial of V juice in his possession, he panics, and downs the whole thing (when Lafayette warned him to take a drop or two at the most).
That action then develops into another amusing subplot involving horndog Jason, as he develops a bad case of priapism, which Tara helps him out with.


Meanwhile, Gran asks Sookie to “listen in” on people in an attempt to clear Jason’s name, a request which leads Sookie to the vampire bar in Shreveport, Fangtasia, which Dawn used to frequent.
Sookie asks Bill to escort her there (“this is not a date”), and it’s a nice little sequence which introduces Eric Northman (Generation Kill’s Alexander Skarsgård), apparently one of the oldest vampires in the area.


But the most disturbing scene of the episode has to go to Sam, writhing on Dawn’s bed, smelling the sheets.
Eurrr…
So first, Jason’s the murder suspect, and now, we’re given another character to look at a little more closely.
Whether or not Sam did kill Dawn though, he’s clearly more effed-up than we were first led to believe…

(Images courtesy of fanpop.com.)

TRUE BLOOD
Season 1 Episode 3
“Mine”
Written by Alan Ball
Directed by John Dahl
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

“Honey, if we can’t kill people, what’s the point of bein’ a vampire?”
-- Malcolm to Bill

Well, now.
Far as I’m concerned, True Blood has just kicked into high gear.


Right up front, we get a great helping of the show’s vampire mythology, particularly the social structures and hierarchy involved, as well as the differing opinions regarding the race’s having come out of the coffin.
It’s an added plus that the performers playing the vampire nest—Andrew Rothenberg, Aunjanue Ellis (from Justice and E-Ring), and General Hospital’s Graham Shiels—are splendid additions to the show’s cast.
Rothenberg’s Malcolm, older than Bill and a petulant bastard, runs the nest, which includes Ellis’ Diane (who apparently had sex with Bill back in the ‘30’s), and Shiels’ Liam, who’s the bald bloodsucking mofo we saw on the video with Maudette.
These are the down and dirty vampires who could give a rat’s a$ about co-existing with humans, and of course, will undoubtedly spell trouble for Bill and Sookie and the rest of the breathers on the show.


Then there’s what could be the second victim of whoever offed Maudette, poor Dawn.
Again, as with Maudette, the victim’s someone who’s, a) been bitten by a vampire, and b) just been in a sexual relationship with horndog Jason, who, by the way, is exhibiting more and more signs of his vampire fixation.
Concerned about his, erm, performance, Jason tries to score some Viagra off Lafayette, who instead sells him some V-juice, for, uhhh, an interesting dance. (Strange and hilarious scene, one of the best of the show yet…)


There’re also some great discussions in here, from Bill and Sookie’s dialogue regarding magic and vampires, to Tara and Sam’s heart-to-heart, which leads to them mutually ending their months-long sexual droughts.
Speaking of Tara, her tumultuous relationship with her alky mom (American Dreams’ Adina Porter) also gets a spotlight.
All that, plus the possibility of a divine reason for Starbucks, and the punchline to Gran’s story about Uncle Frank.
Priceless.

Parting shot: O.C. fans may appreciate the brief appearance of Nicholas Gonzalez (Marissa’s Season 2 poolboy paramour, D.J.), as Malcolm’s boytoy, Jerry.

“You know what I really wish would come to Marthaville? Huh? Buffy. Or Blade. Or any one of those bad-a$$ vampire killers to take care of Mr. Bill Compton. That’s what I wish.”
-- Sam to the Mystery Dog

Parting shot: Given the particularly delayed, post-Golden Globe nature of this review’s posting, I would be remiss if I did not congratulate Ms. Anna Paquin, for her Globe win.
Of course, given my still not-completely-won over status regarding Ms. Paquin, let me just say that if she won, then, for future reference, certain other cast members need to be Globe-acknowledged in the Supporting categories as well. (Please stand up, Rutina Wesley.)
Hear that, aitch-ef-pee-ey?

(Images courtesy of fanpop.com.)

TRUE BLOOD
Season 1 Episode 2
“The First Taste”
Written by Alan Ball
Directed by Scott Winant
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

What is up with that dog?! And that painting in Sam’s office?


Anyway, saving Sookie from a savage beating, Bill is forced to allow her to drink some of his blood, which completely heals her, heightens her senses, and makes her horny. (As if one horndog Stackhouse weren’t enough…)
It’s also established here that partaking of a vampire’s blood isn’t enough to turn one into a non-breather.


Subsequently, Bill puts his best undead foot forward and calls on Sookie, quite charming Gran, but leaving Jason and Tara unimpressed and hostile.
As it turns out, Bill’s a Compton, was around during the Civil War, and knew a Stackhouse way back when.
We also learn that vampires really do need to be invited into a home before they can set foot in it; the invitation can actually be revoked, too.


Other stuff goes on in this one, but that’s pretty much the meat of the hour.
And while Paquin is still leaving me unmoved, Moyer is slowly winning me over. I’m not gushing his praises the way Gran is just yet, granted, but at least I’m no longer that dubious about him.


True Blood being on HBO actually reminds me of the time that Vertigo comics published Vamps, which was patently not as literate and upscale as their usual material.
Ultimately, I wasn’t too thrilled with Vamps. True Blood though, as I mentioned in my review of its Pilot, has a charm all its own, and has the elements and the pedigree to become a compulsively good watch.
Here’s hoping the show finds its groove…

(Images courtesy of fanpop.com.)

FEAR ITSELF
Season 1 Episode 4
“In Sickness and In Health”
Written by Victor Salva
Directed by John Landis

The person you are marrying is a serial killer.


That’s what a typewritten note received by Samantha (Psych’s Maggie Lawson) reads, on her wedding day.
And though the premise does sound like some cheesy thriller by way of Lifetime, this was an episode brought to us by the tag team of Victor Salva (Jeepers Creepers) and John Landis (An American Werewolf In London).
With that sort of pedigree alone, this was high on my radar, and ultimately, I can appreciate the attempt, but am nonetheless disappointed with this particular union.


To begin with, though not as pronounced as it was in American Werewolf, that brand of Landis humour can still be detected in “In Sickness…”, and it’s an element that doesn’t quite benefit the episode’s set-up and action, much of which occurs in a dark, creaky church.
The thrills aren’t really there as well, and the overkill with the religious iconography—statuary and stained glass windows seem ubiquitous in this one—frankly gets annoying, as if Landis had nothing else to train his camera on. (Though they may perhaps be meant to foreshadow some gruesome climactic imagery, their repetitiveness just seems lazy and uninspired.)
The casting of Lawson’s co-star on Psych (and the USA Network show’s lead) James Roday as Samantha’s husband-to-be, Carlos, also serves to distract, as his portrayal of over-the-top fake psychic detective Shawn Spencer is a difficult shadow to shake; I don’t think I’d ever mentally equate the actor who plays Shawn Spencer with a groom and possible serial killer named “Carlos.”


And as far as Salva’s script goes, though I did note the narrative eventuality as soon as it was mentioned early on in the proceedings, I will nonetheless commend the script for the passably effective climactic twist.
The red herrings though, seem, in retrospect, to be desperate stabs at keeping the audience guessing.


There are some pluses, mind.
The stunt casting of Cancer Man himself, William B. Davis, as the hard-of-hearing Fr. Chris, is amusing, and the Hitchcock echo is also neatly slotted in.
And this is better than Landis’ earlier Masters of Horror entry, “Deer Woman,” so that’s something.
If however, you’re hard-pressed to see some truly worthwhile stuff from either Salva or Landis, you’d be better served by watching either Jeepers Creepers (just the first; you can skip the sequel) or An American Werewolf In London (not to be confused with the terrible sorta-sequel, Anthony Waller’s An American Werewolf In Paris).

(Images courtesy of nbc.com.)

CHUCK
Season 1 Episode 13
“Chuck Versus the Marlin”
Written by Matthew Lau
Directed by Allan Kroeker

So the final episode before the freshman season was forced to shut down due to the writer’s strike involves Fulcrum bugging the Buy More with scores of GLG-20’s to smoke out the real identity of the Intersect.
The threat of Chuck’s being found out (and the resultant possibility of his being pulled away from his family and friends into isolated, protective custody), then coincides with Awesome’s plan to propose to Ellie.
And we all just know the second Awesome asks Chuck to keep his great granny’s ring for safekeeping that it will be anything but…


I suppose what I found vaguely annoying about this episode is that much of the cause and effect of the plot derives from the drunken antics of Lester and Jeff (who unknowingly spirit off the receiver containing the recordings of what the bugs have picked up), and the over-reacting of Morgan (who finds the ring and assumes it’s because Chuck is about to propose to Sarah).
Now, while the Buy More subplot this time out is, pardon me, pretty much married to the main secret agent plot, I usually find the Lester-Jeff tandem to be an irritating one. Morgan’s also a distinct pain when he bungles things up the way he does here.


But, as much as the plot itself annoyed me, the moments where the characters’ emotions take center stage—as when it looks like Chuck will have to be taken into protective custody without even getting to say goodbye to his loved ones, and he has to ask Sarah to make sure that they all know he loves them—once again keep Chuck a satisfying watch.
(I do hope though that Ellie and Awesome’s impending marriage will not mean that Sarah Lancaster and Ryan McPartlin will be absent from Season 2. Lancaster, in particular, is a great foil to Chuck, bringing out a lot of the character’s humanity, while McPartlin manages to balance the comedic role Awesome plays in the show’s goings-on, while still keeping the character human, due to his very clear love for Ellie; the sitcom-y feel of Awesome which bothered me when Chuck first kicked off has thankfully subsided somewhat.)


So, with that, we forcibly draw Season 1 to a close.
Now, due to the delay between the time I saw the episode and wrote this review, and this very moment, when it’s being posted, shooting for Season 2’s already begun.
Aside from the news of Nicole Richie’s guest spot, there’s also been word that the mythical Jill will finally be seen in Season 2, and The Faculty’s Jordana Brewster plays her. (Now that latter bit is casting to look forward to.)

(Images courtesy of nbc.com and aintitcool.com.)

MASTERS OF HORROR
Season 1 Episode 1
“Incident On and Off A Mountain Road”
Teleplay by Don Coscarelli and Stephen Romano; based on the short story by Joe R. Lansdale
Directed by Don Coscarelli

If there was one ‘70’s horror film that scared the beejeezus out of me, it was Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm. More than The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, more than The Hills Have Eyes, this was the movie that made me scared to shut my eyes at night (as well as stand in front of a mirror).
I imagine it must have been because in Phantasm, all the terror was happening in bedrooms and houses and funeral parlors, not out in the far-flung wilderness or the boondocks.
There was that shiny metal ball of death, the freaky dwarves, and of course, there was The Tall Man. Angus Scrimm scared the frak outta me.
So when I found out that the maiden voyage of Masters of Horror would be brought to my TV by Coscarelli and The Tall Man (based on a Lansdale short, to boot!), well, I was pretty psyched.
And truth be told, Scrimm is just about the best thing in “Incident”…

On the surface, “Incident” is about Ellen (Bree Turner), who encounters a mad, monstrous lunatic (you know the sort) on the titular mountain road. But as soon as the chase begins, we realize Ellen isn’t your usual female in peril. And even as the narrative seeks to subvert the tired slash and stalk formula, it also switches back and forth between the peril-fraught present, and Ellen’s past, as we see, a) how she came to be so resourceful in a pinch, and b) how she came to be on that mountain road.
Now, to be fair, “Incident” isn’t a complete loss.
The performances are effective, particularly Scrimm’s (as crazy old coot Buddy) and Ethan Embry’s.
Embry sticks out in my film geek brain as dopey stoner Mark in Empire Records, and just-graduated Preston Meyers, who moons after Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Golden Globes (and professes his love for her to the strains of Yazoo’s “Only You”) in Can’t Hardly Wait.
Embry’s turn as Bruce, Ellen’s survivalist hubby, pretty much negates all the nice guy goodwill Embry earned from his past film work…

Where “Incident” falters though, is in its pacing, which, forced to labour under the script’s structure, isn’t as taut as it should be.
Honestly, it only really came alive for me when Scrimm makes his entrance.
And though I do appreciate the ultimate cost of survival (suitably weighty, given the extreme circumstances), things don’t fall into place as neatly as I’d hoped.

As the first episode out of the gate, I wasn’t that crazy about “Incident,” though in retrospect, after seeing some of the season’s subsequent episodes, it actually stands as one of the better installments.
Though all that McGyvering traps in the dark while being chased by the crazy did seem a tad incredulous…

(Incident On and Off A Mountain Road DVD cover art courtesy of amazon.com.)

CHUCK
Season 1 Episode 12
“Chuck Versus the Undercover Lover”
Written by Phil Klemmer
Directed by Fred Toye
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

While a significant portion of the past 11 episodes has been dedicated to Chuck’s suddenly complicated love life, this installment shifts the focus to the love lives of Casey (yes, he actually has one of those), and, in the episode’s subplot, Ellie and Awesome.

The episode opens in Chechnya, 2004, and Casey is sleeping with AP photojournalist Ilsa Trinchina (Felicity‘s Sensa, Ivana Milicevic). But Ilsa apparently dies in a bomb blast, breaking Casey’s heart.
We then return to the present, where Chuck flashes on a whole list of Russian baddies in the registry of the swanky Grand Seville. And, no big surprise, he also sees Ilsa’s name there. Mentioning this to Casey only gets him throttled though. (Calling Casey “Sugar Bear,” Ilsa’s endearment for him, probably wasn’t the smartest idea.)
Chuck and Sarah are instructed to check out the Seville to try and determine why a—as Chuck so eloquently puts it—“douchebag convention” is going on there.

At the Seville, not only is Casey reunited with Ilsa (who claims to have been injured by the bomb and also initially lost her memory, a likely story), but Chuck also flashes on Victor Federov (Deadwood‘s Pasha Lychnikoff), apparently the top man in this Soviet baddie totem pole.
And wouldn’t you know it, but Ilsa’s about to get married to him…
Chuck is convinced Casey has been crushed by this turn of events and, dogged and determined, is eventually successful in getting Casey to talk to him. He also manages to convince Casey that he should fight for Ilsa, that maybe Ilsa doesn’t know that her fiancée is an evil sumb!tch (just as she apparently thought that Casey was an “energy consultant” during their Chechnya liaison).

Casey and Chuck end up crashing Sarah’s stake-out, and while Chuck gets Casey to talk to Ilsa (who’s by herself at the hotel bar), Chuck ends up having to plant a bug in the honeymoon suite. While there, he snoops around and sees a file on Ilsa, and apparently she isn’t really a photojournalist. (At this point though, I need to ask, why is she lugging around her own file?)
Chuck gets trapped under the bed though when Casey and Ilsa show up and start to get freaky, where else, but naturally, on the bed. Chuck’s discovered though, when his ringtone blasts out. Even as Chuck is warning Casey that Ilsa is a very bad girl, she pulls out a gun.
Apparently, Ilsa’s French secret service, but before she can explain anything to Casey, Victor arrives and both Casey and Chuck end up under the bed. Victor’s just about to get freaky with Ilsa, when the Soviet schmuck falls asleep.
She shoos both Chuck and Casey out before Victor wakes up.

The following day, Ilsa visits Sugar Bear at the Buy More, and explains that she’s undercover, trying to take down Federov‘s operation. She also returns a necklace Casey once gave her all those years ago.
Just hours before the wedding, Casey’s getting good and drunk when Chuck checks up on him. When Casey drops the necklace though, a bug pops free. Someone’s been spying on Ilsa, and whoever it is, they know she’s a spy (since they heard her conversations with Casey). So since Casey’s just a wee bit smashed, Chuck drives him to the hotel.
Barging into the honeymoon suite, they’re caught by Victor and his crew, and tied up. It’s Victor’s plan to kill Ilsa, Casey, and Chuck, but after the wedding though; he doesn’t want to disappoint all his Russian friends who’ve come here for the celebration.
Victor leaves, and Casey and Chuck get into a fight with the two goons, a fight that leads to both—still tied to each other—going over the hotel room balcony and into the swimming pool, and the middle of the wedding, which is being held poolside.
Sarah’s there, and with the help of Ilsa, they bust the whole wedding party.

All’s well that ends well, as Ilsa and Casey spend the night together, but part the next day, Ilsa now off to adopt another identity.
To try and cheer Casey up, Chuck tells him, “Well, I’ll always be here,” which is an ironic thing to say, considering what Casey has been tasked to do to Chuck once that new Intersect is up and running…

Meanwhile, in this episode’s subplot, it’s Ellie and Awesome’s anniversary, and they’ve decided to get one big expensive gift, instead of two small ones. They head on down to the Buy More, where it turns out that Ellie has her eye on a big-a$$ TV (so they can spend time together snuggling on the couch), while Awesome has his eye on a washer and dryer (so they can spend time at home washing their clothes, instead of going off to the Laundromat).
Morgan plays retail therapist, but before they can get to the root of the matter, Ellie’s called off to the hospital, so she tells Awesome to go ahead and choose what to buy, and surprise her. He does, by of course, buying the washer and dryer, which pisses Ellie off and they get into a tiff.
While the doghoused Awesome tries a poker game at the Buy More, Ellie ends up drunk and miserable, and tries to open up to Sarah. Ellie’s afraid that Awesome’s scared to truly commit, and really wishes she could confide in Sarah, but Sarah’s called away (to bust up the wedding at the Seville). Morgan shows up to check on Ellie and winds up taking care of her.
Nothing happens, if you’re wondering.
The next morning, Awesome apologizes and buys Ellie the TV. All’s well that ends well here too.

So this is a nice break from the whole Chuck-Sarah thing, and getting to see that personal side to Casey was a pleasant surprise. It’s also a plus that the subplot ties in well to the main one, and also affords Ryan McPartlin a chance to flesh out Awesome’s character a little bit. That’s good since as I mentioned before, the character sometimes tends to be a little too sitcom-y for my tastes.
So it’s great that both Casey and Awesome can be people too, and hopefully, we see more of that for both characters in subsequent episodes.

(Image courtesy of nbc.com.)

PUSHING DAISIES
Season 1 Episode 9
“Corpsicle”
Written by Lisa Joy
Directed by Brian Dannelly
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

After an opening sequence where we witness the day of Chuck’s da’s death (during which time Ned’s mum also died, twice), we discover that after Ned’s blurting of the awful truth last episode (like “word vomit,” as he puts it later on to Emerson), Chuck disappears.
As it turns out, she’s hiding out at Olive’s, and she’s so despondent that she feels the need to tell someone about her dark secret, even if that someone won’t believe her.
So she tells Olive.
And Olive doesn’t believe her.

Later on though, Chuck finds out that Oscar Vibenius is still intrigued by her unique smell, which he’s discovered is the same smell he picks up from Digby. (Oscar’s actually shaved off some fur from Digby’s bum to confirm his suspicions; poor Digby!)
Still needing to confide in someone who isn’t Ned, Chuck eventually gives Oscar some of her hair, so he can uncover the truth she’s been keeping to herself.
Eventually though, Oscar returns her hair, wanting Chuck to tell him the truth herself. By that time though, Chuck feels she can safely see Ned already without hating him, so she takes back her hair, and tells Oscar, You should’ve checked out the hair when you had the chance.

Ned and Chuck finally reunite at her da’s grave, where she actually asks Ned to bring back her father, if only for a minute, but Ned refuses, telling her, I can’t bring your father back, then kill him again. I couldn’t do that to you…
It’s a great, sad scene, as Ned wants to comfort her by embracing her, but of course, he can’t…

Meanwhile, since Chuck isn’t spending time at the Pie Hole, she asks Olive to bake a pie for her aunts, and gives her the happy juice she doses her pies with. (Olive is her unsuspecting homeopathic drug mule…)
Thinking it’s vanilla and taking a taste of it but not finding it particularly strong, Olive decides to use the entire bottle.
Later on, Lily eats the whole pie, and in her drugged-out, blissful state, she blurts out to Olive that she is, in fact, Chuck’s mum! (Which is where the episode ends…)

The whodunit portion of the finale involves the murders of Uber-Life Life Insurance adjustors. Notable bits in this subplot include a Blood Simple reference, Bobo the banobo, and Emerson admitting that he has a daughter (which surprises us all, including Ned).

Thus do we close what Bryan Fuller has come to think of as the show’s “teaser season.” Now, due to the strike—and the subsequent time afforded to Fuller to re-think the narrative thus far—the reveal of Lily being Chuck’s mum (a plot development which was originally meant to be resolved mid-season), will apparently “inform much of [Pushing Daisies’] next season’s direction.”
At the Paley Fest ’08, Fuller also confirmed that Chuck will find out who her real mother is next season: "It's going to be interesting to see how she reacts to that information, and how the Pie Maker tries to control her trajectory and how that will complicate their relationship. There are going to be some nice surprises."
Fuller also said that the interruption caused by the WGA strike, "… gave us a chance to look back at the nine episodes and [figure out] what was working and what was not working. The arc of the first nine was a soft, romantic arc. In the second season, we want to do something a little harder and a little more aggressive in the style of storytelling. We learned a lot of lessons."

If you’ve been following these recaps, you’ll know that I love me my Pushing Daisies, and I do think it’s the best new show that emerged from the past strike-truncated season. (Chuck’s a close second.)
I’m looking forward to fall, when Daisies returns, and hopefully, between then and now, people who haven’t tasted of its bittersweet humour and whimsical visuals can catch up on the web. (Or, the Season 1 DVD set, which hits stores in early September.)

Parting shot: At the Paley Fest, Fuller fielded a question regarding the chances Ned and Chuck have of conceiving a child: "I think her egg would die when his sperm hit it."
He also confirmed that Ned is a vegetarian, because if he ever ate meat and it made contact with his insides, the meat would come back to life “and crawl out of him.”

(Image courtesy of pushing-daisies.com.)

CHUCK
Season 1 Episode 11
“Chuck Versus the Crown Vic”
Written by Zev Borow
Directed by Chris Fisher
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

“I saw the world crashing all around your face,
Never really knowing it was always mesh and lace.”
-- Modern English
“I Melt With You”

The whole kiss-right-before-the-supposed-bomb-was-gonna-blow-up and the Bryce-coming-back-from-the-dead thing has made Chuck ultra-conscious now of what Sarah has to do to get the job done (in this case, get as close to billionaire/counterfeiter/money launderer Lon Kirk as she can, “whatever it takes”), while Sarah’s decision to stay with Chuck (and her current mission, of course) is also taking its toll on her, as she attempts to distance herself from Chuck and the emotions she has for him.

And even though the Morgan-Anna subplot ties into the main plot a little too conveniently (causing the lovebirds and Anna’s parents to be put into jeopardy), this still turns out to be a good episode.
Cap that off with Modern English’s “I Melt With You” being played at the Buy More Christmas (sorry, Holiday) party—what can I say? I’m a sucker for well-placed Musical Moments—and I’m sold.
The fact that the song plays not just over Chuck and Sarah deciding to make peace and be “friends” (and dance, instead of kiss beneath Jeff’s handy mistletoe) and Casey getting the news that the beta version of the Intersect is nearly up and running (and as mentioned in a previous episode, reminded that when that time comes, he’s to “take care” of Chuck), are some sweet nuts on an already yummy fruitcake.

I just hope that when that eventuality comes, that the potential conflict is treated (and resolved) in a creative and mature way. Please, no cop outs.
We’ve all seen what Casey’s capable of (he shot Bryce, twice), so when time comes, he should be just as cold and ruthless. Or maybe he really has come to give a rat’s a$$ about Chuck.
Then again, after what Chuck did to Casey’s beloved 1985 Crown Victoria (of this episode’s title), Casey may very well be out for blood…

“I made a pilgrimage to save this human race,
Never comprehending the race had long gone by.”
-- Modern English
“I Melt With You”

(Image courtesy of buy-more.net; “I Melt With You” 12” UK 4AD single sleeve art courtesy of heim.ifi.uio.no.)

PUSHING DAISIES
Season 1 Episode 8
“Bitter Sweets”
Written by Abby Gewanter
Directed by Allan Kroeker
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

This one’s another winner, as Dilly Balsam (ex-SNLer Molly Shannon, who also voiced Patience the Vampire in The Amazing Screw-On Head), co-owner of Balsam’s Bittersweets Taffy & Sweets Emporium, moves in across the street, intent on crushing her perceived competition, The Pie Hole.
Ned, now officially Chuck’s boyfriend (and preoccupied with his guilt over inadvertently causing her father’s death), is hesitant to engage in the war, the hostilities inadvertently pushed into overdrive by a welcome gift of Georgia peach pie. Olive and Chuck have no problem in getting down and dirty though, and are ready to do so.
They get their chance when Dilly gets health inspector Andrew Brown (Steve Hytner, from The Bill Engvall Show and Roswell) to pay a surprise visit to The Pie Ho (its sign “inexplicably” malfunctioning). Brown discovers the locked room stocked full of rotten fruit (which Ned uses for his ingredients, of course) and shuts the Ho down.

In retaliation, Olive and Chuck break in and release a pack of rats in the Emporium. Unknown to them, Dilly’s brother Billy (Mike White, who starred in The Good Girl and The Stepford Wives, and recently worked with Shannon in his directorial debut, Year of the Dog) is already a floating, taffied corpse in one of the shop’s vats.
When Ned finds out about the rat problem, he goes next door to try and clean the mess up, but instead touches Billy’s corpse by mistake. But Billy can’t talk with a mouthful of taffy, and when the cops bust in, Ned touches Billy again, and he’s caught red-handed, with Billy’s now permanently dead, taffied body.

With Ned in jail, Emerson is forced to sleuth the old-fashioned way, and with Chuck’s (and the coroner’s) help, they find out that Billy bit off one of his killer’s fingers before dying. Sadly Billy’s stomach acids eradicated all trace of a fingerprint, so Emerson and Chuck go to the scene of the crime, and with the help of some flour, lift a pair of handprints (with a grand total of 9 fingers) from a marble countertop.
It turns out that Billy’s killer was Brown, who was rudely demanding to be paid for his “surprise inspection” to The Pie Ho. A scuffle takes place, and voila, dead, taffied Billy.

With Ned in the clear, there’s a welcome back do at the Ho, courtesy of Olive and Chuck. Later that evening, and despite having decided otherwise, Ned confesses that he caused Chuck’s dad’s death. (Dang that cliffhanger!)
There’re also a couple of subplots involving a “carpool doll” (think Lars and the Real Girl), and the return of traveling salesman Alfredo Aldarisio, who is still smitten with Olive, and whom Olive doesn’t realize is right there in front of her, until it’s too late.

At episode 8, we’re winding down on the interrupted freshman season of Pushing Daisies and it’s still going strong. With yet another Hitchcock homage in this episode, “Bitter Sweets” keeps the winning streak going.

Parting shot: We also discover that Dilly is capable of murder, as we see her getting rid of Brown‘s body, which could actually be yet another Hitchcock nod. (If only that 4-fingered hand had been shown sticking out of the trunk of a car as it sank into the muck, then the reference would be undeniable…)

Parting shot: Reviews of The Amazing Screw-On Head and The Stepford Wives can be found in the Archive.

(Image courtesy of pushing-daisies.com.)

PUSHING DAISIES
Season 1 Episode 7
“Smell of Success”
Written by Scott Nimerfro
Directed by Lawrence Trilling
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

So, first off, let me assure you, this episode is by no means an awful one, it’s just that, given its shortcomings, and given that it immediately follows the brilliant “Bitches,” “Smell of Success“ comes off as perhaps one of the weaker installments of Pushing Daisies.
The most significant shortcoming, I suppose, is the whodunit portion.
Involving olfactory expert Napoleon LeNez (It’s All Relative’s Christopher Sieber) and his just-about-to-be-released scratch-‘n-sniff self-help book, Smell of Success, this one is pretty standard stuff that should prove to be no mystery at all for anyone who’s a procedural hound.

It’s a good thing though that the writing still displays those moments of humour and emotion that make Daisies such a constant delight. (Discovering not just about Emerson’s love of Knit Wit, but also about his love of pop-up books, are definite highlights of the episode. And while the absurdity of the whole scratch-‘n-sniff and pop-up literary movements is certainly a hoot, the C.H.U.D. reference is a hoot and a half.)
Then of course, there’s also the introduction of Oscar Vibenius (Pee Wee Herman himself, Paul Reubens), former best friend and current olfactory rival of LeNez, who seems to be meant to be a recurring character from here on out, as he quickly develops a fixation on Chuck, who smells quite unlike anything he’s ever smelled before…

And in the subplot, the Darling Mermaid Darlings finally get back into the water…

Parting shot: Lawrence Trilling, who directed this episode, has produced and directed for shows like Felicity, Invasion, and Alias.

(Images courtesy of pushing-daisies.com.)

CHUCK
Season 1 Episode 9
“Chuck Versus the Imported Hard Salami”
Written by Scott Rosenbaum and Matt Miller
Directed by Jason Ensler
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

“It’s the old story. You know, guy gets super computer in his brain. Beautiful CIA agent is sent to protect him, and then she tells him while under the spell of truth serum that she’s not interested. I get it. But for me, the emotional roller coaster is a little much, so I think I’d rather find something a little less common, like, say, I don’t know, a real relationship?”

Chuck’s fake break-up with Sarah is proving a little tricky as a) Sarah really does have feelings for Chuck that she adamantly refuses to admit, and b) Chuck’s currently dating Lou.
But it turns out that Lou’s ex, club owner Stavros Demitrios (Theodore Zouboulidis) is the son of shipping magnate/smuggler, Yari (Forever Knight’s John Kapelos), who’s involved in not just smuggling in assorted meats and sausages for Lou, but also a “volatile package” which is “time sensitive,” all indications that the item in question could be a biological or chemical weapon of some sort.
So Chuck and Lou’s second date is orchestrated/instigated so Chuck can get close to Stavros to find out more about the package.
Needless to say, the whole dating Lou thing quickly gets wonky.

And when Chuck confronts Lou, thinking she’s in on the weapons smuggling (but actually just sneaking in meat for her sandwiches), he not only pisses her off again, but ends up—along with Sarah—kidnapped by Stavros.
In order to rescue them both, Casey turns to Lou, and tells her that he’s an FDA agent, and that she can go to jail since Stavros is also smuggling weapons, but he can look the other way if she helps him by telling him which dock Stavros receives his shipments at. In so doing, Casey also pretty much indicates that Chuck’s an undercover FDA agent too.

Casey rescues Chuck and Sarah, and they both arrive at what they believe is a bomb, with a timer with less than a minute to go. There really isn’t any time and as the timer runs out, Sarah suddenly kisses Chuck.
It isn’t a bomb though. At this point, they still don’t know what it is, though Sarah does know it’s an awkward moment. Not so for Chuck.

Chuck goes to Lou’s shop, and she tells him she knows he’s an undercover FDA agent, and wonders if there was anything real between them. Chuck says she’s everything he’s looking for, but right now, he can’t be looking.
So they break up.
For real.

Chuck then calls Sarah, asking her to go out on a real date with him.
But at that moment, Sarah and Casey are opening up the package. Apparently, the timer indicated oxygen amount for whatever was contained within.
And when the package opens up, it turns out to be some kind of capsule containing… Bryce!

Okay, now that’s a cliffhanger.
From the Pilot on, I’ve been hoping that somehow, Bryce was still alive, and that he’d come back into the picture, so we could see into his relationship with Chuck, into what now lay between these once-best friends, following the apparent betrayal at Stanford, the ensuing years of silence and resentment, and exactly why Bryce emailed Chuck the Intersect.
And now we’re here! Yahoo!
(That better not be some clone or spy double…)

Parting shot: The Buy More subplot involves Morgan getting it on with Anna, though these peripheral threads are becoming increasingly distracting.
Oh, and I hope there’s more Rachel Bilson on the way, as two special guest spots is a piddling amount of face time.

Parting shot 2: Congratulations to Josh Schwartz and everybody involved with Chuck, for the Satellite nomination for Television Series, Comedy or Musical, and to Zachary Levi, for the Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical nom. (Check out Afterthoughts (35) in the Archive for the 2007 Satellite nominees and winners.)

(Images courtesy of nbc.com.)

PUSHING DAISIES
Season 1 Episode 6
“Bitches”
Written by Chad Gomez Creasey and Dara Resnik Creasey
Directed by Allan Kroeker
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

This is a fantastic episode, something that you might get if Tim Burton and Alfred Hitchcock had a dalliance on the set of CSI, with some Big Love thrown in for good measure.
The set up: dog breeder Harold Hundin (The Soup host, Joel McHale) is apparently stabbed to death in his office, but when Ned and company have their one-minute chat, they find out the stabbing was not the true cause of his death, but rather, the cyanide in his coffee. And when asked who gave him his coffee, he answers, “My wife.”
But a clam happy Emerson deflates when it’s discovered that Hundin was a polygamist, with four, count ‘em, four wives!
Further investigating ensues—a brilliant story idea where Ned, Chuck, Emerson, and a delighted Olive each go undercover to speak with one wife to uncover the identity of the poisoner. And since each wife is also a dog breeder, Digby is also utilized in the investigation. (Yay, Digby!)
What soon emerges is an intricate web of money and sinister motivations as other key players surface: rival dog breeder Ramsfield Snuppy (Mark Harelik; Will & Grace and Prison Break), and Hundin’s prize pooch, Bubble Gum, a col-a-dor-russell-poo (a super-hybrid collie/Labrador/Jack Russell terrier/poodle; incidentally, the favourite breeds of each of his wives), apparently run over by dog trainer wife Simone Hundin (Home Again‘s Christine Adams).

The whole dog lover aspect of the episode provides a humourous avenue to explore the personalities of the show’s characters: Emerson winds up with Simone, whose relationship with Hundin was strictly financial, thus attracting Emerson like a moth to a flame; while Ned speaks with dog psychiatrist wife Heather Hundin (The Proud Family’s Lydia Look) introducing himself as Mr. Digby, and his dog “Ned,” serving us a neat twist on the “I’ve got a friend whose problem is this, but I’m actually talking about me, but then you already know that, right?” scenario.
It also manages to play with the idea that a person’s preferred dog breed reflects on the pet owner’s personality.

And, as if that weren’t enough, there are also some great nods to Hitchcock that just send this one over the top.
Director Allan Kroeker (who’s also helmed some Battlestar Galactica, and recently, “Chuck Versus the Wookie”) sails the Technicolor visual seas of Pushing Daisies with ease, giving us yet another brilliant hour of TV eye candy whose whimsical artificiality belies the warm, very human heart that beats beneath its Crayola surface.

Parting shot: The brief stop-motion segment at the top of the episode was also fantastic. And yes, heart-breaking too.

Parting shot 2: Loads of congratulations go out to Bryan Fuller, Lee Pace, Anna Friel, and all involved in Pushing Daisies, for the Golden Globe and WGA nominations, the Satellite win, and the AFI nod. (See Afterthoughts (33) to (35).)

Pushing Daisies will also be honoured by the Paley Center for Media at the 25th annual William S. Paley Television Festival in March 2008.

(Images courtesy of pushing-daisies.com.)

CHUCK
Season 1 Episode 7
“Chuck Versus the Alma Mater”
Written by Anne Cofell Saunders
Directed by Patrick Norris
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

“So Sally can wait,
She knows it’s too late as she's walking on by
My soul slides away,
`But don't look back in anger,’ I heard you say.”
-- Oasis
“Don’t Look Back In Anger”

Okay, so despite the slightly awkward fit of the Buy More subplot in this episode (which involves Harry Tang’s rise to power as Assistant Manager), this is arguably the best episode since the Pilot, as it finally dives into Chuck’s Stanford years with a bunch of flashbacks—as I mentioned in my review of the pilot episode, something I’ve wanted to see since the whole premise of Chuck was established.

As it turns out, Chuck’s teacher, Prof. George Fleming (Philly’s Scott Alan Smith), the man responsible for kicking Chuck out of university, is a CIA asset, has been for a very long time. But Fleming is on the run now, hunted by crossbow-wielding Icelandic spy, Magnus, who wants a disc with top secret intel that the Professor has.
So despite Chuck’s trauma surrounding Stanford, he ends up helping Sarah and Casey, particularly since he also flashes on his old Stanford ID, which indicates that he’s in the Intersect, and he’d like to know why.
After Fleming is crossbowed and sent to hospital, Chuck finds the disc at Bryce’s old dead letter box in the library. On the disc are all the interviews Fleming conducted with Stanford students whom he recruited into the CIA, among them, Bryce.
Chuck’s name is in there, too, but he never interviewed to join the CIA, of course.

When Chuck finally gets to view the file, he sees Bryce talk to Fleming. Evidently, Chuck’s perfect score on a test indicates he’s a prime candidate for a military operation codenamed “The Omaha Project.” Bryce doesn’t want his friend to be recruited, thinks he’s “got too much heart” to be an operative, that being on the field would get Chuck killed.
So Bryce hatches a plan: if Chuck cheated on the test, that would invalidate his score, and thus invalidate his being a potential recruit for the spy life. So Bryce frames Chuck to save him. It’s a great little moment—in an episode filled with them—as Chuck realizes all that pain (he describes leaving Stanford as “the worst day of my life”) was because Bryce cared enough to keep him away from the espionage world.
It then dawns on both Chuck and Sarah, if Bryce had a good reason to get Chuck kicked out of Stanford, then maybe he had a good reason for breaking into the Intersect, and then emailing it to Chuck.

Though we don’t yet get to meet the mythical Jill (the girl Bryce supposedly stole away from Chuck), the flashbacks are effective and poignant, with the potent “Don’t Look Back In Anger” a crucial weapon in this episode’s arsenal, used in two key scenes: Chuck’s last day at Stanford in 2003, and his first meeting with Bryce in 1999.

Even with its ultimately extraneous subplot, this one’s still a great episode that manages to convey the hurt of a four-year friendship ending in apparent betrayal, and Chuck’s very real need to move on from that hurt. Finally discovering the whys and wherefores of it can at least help Chuck on that road.
Having said that, I’d really still love to see more of the Stanford years.
After all, we still have to meet Jill…

Parting shot: Seeing the new generation of Stanford super-spies was cool too.

“Don't look back in anger
Don't look back in anger
Don't look back in anger…
At least not today.”
-- Oasis
“Don’t Look Back In Anger”

(Images courtesy of nbc.com; “Don’t Look Back In Anger” single sleeve cover art courtesy of oasisinet.com [photography by Michael Spencer Jones; sleeve design and art direction by Brian Cannon for Microdot].)