Pushing Daisies

Among the many fresh—faced sitcoms to arrive on television sets this season is ABC’s Pushing Daisies.  It finds its rank among other ABC hits such as Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty, proving that at a time when it seems like every possible idea has been thought of, originality still exists.

Pushing Daisies is a show about death, life, death, and the amazing stability of true, enduring love.  It all began when a young boy by the name of Ned lost his four-legged golden retriever, Digby to the claws of death by an oncoming truck. Upon receiving a touch from his owner, and to the boy’s astounding delight, the dog came back to life in an instant.  However, as wonderful as this may have been, Ned could never again touch Digby, for this would send the dog back to heaven (or wherever it is that faithful pets go) just as quickly as he was brought back to life- with no return.  This he had learned from a previous incident.

So, the perks and perils of Little Ned’s gift were as follows: Touch anything that has died and it comes back to life: Touch it again, it will die forever. Leave it alive for more than one minute and something else in close proximity will die in its stead.  And yes- Digby’s resurrection did result in the death of another- but Ned was none the wiser until later.

The boy was very careful to keep his secret and was extremely selective in the use of his ability. He endured the death and “resurrection” of his mother for longer than one minute, which by order of sequence, resulted in the death of his best friend Charlotte’s father.  Charlotte, who Ned referred to as Chuck was given to the care of her two aunts who also lived next door. Sadly, his world shifted again when the accidental contact with his mother’s lips on his forehead in an attempt to tuck him into bed caused her to die forever and leaving him to be abandoned by his father in a boarding school for boys.

Eventually, the boy grew up and became a pie maker, all the while harboring his secret and doing a fantastic job of never petting his dog, Digby without the use of an object.  One day, his secret was unintentionally found out by a private investigator known as Emerson Cod who promised to keep this in confidence as long as Ned allowed him to profit from it.  Now, the unlikely partnership is as followed:  Ned gets news of a death and they visit the body at the morgue.  Ned touches the body and after a brief interrogation lasting no longer than one minute, he touches the body again. Finally, they put any remainder of the puzzle together, solve the case, and collect the reward. 

Everything ran smoothly for a while until news of the death of Chuck his childhood sweetheart and best friend surfaced. Ned decided out of his love for her and the guilt that her father’s death was as a result of his mom’s second chance at life, to keep her alive and inform her of his peculiar gift in spite of never being able to touch her for the remainder of their lives.  Choosing to express his feelings to Chuck rather than forming a bond with the increasingly persistent Olive Snook, who works with him at the Pie Hole and has deep feelings of her own.

Much is to be said concerning this new way of recounting a love story.  The ability to remain anchored in love and not lose hope when the mere touch of your skin against your loved one will bring about perpetual death to their body as well as to your seared soul.  When you would rather trade their touch for their life if only for the chance to see a smile everyday and be content with just that.  To allow the heart to really feel and bond in a way that only distance could force, all the while being in each other’s presence.  This seems heart- wrenching but it speaks to the resilience of hope in life when love takes hold of the reigns and refuses to give in to death.

Pushing Daisies has lured me from the very beginning and with no doubt will continue to do so for as long as it lasts. It is filled with wit, intense color and a bizarre plot that resonates with originality and vigor.