PUSHING DAISIES: DUMMY (TV)
Summary
One in this fantasy-based dramedy series about a pie-maker whose touch can revive the dead. In this episode, in a flashback, young Ned is dropped off at the Longborough School for Boys by his father, and he immediately encounters trouble with his newly-discovered powers when he revives a number of frogs during a science class. In the present, Chuck, who is now living with Ned, admits she misses her aunts and asks him just how people he has “alive-agained,” and he assures her that she is the only one he has reawakened for more than a minute, neglecting to tell her that he inadvertantly caused her father’s death when they were children after reviving his own mother. Next door, Olive spies on them, and is encouraged when she sees that they do not touch. Emerson, who is stress-knitting because of his anxiety over “Dead Girl’s” presence, receives a call about a new case: Bernard, an automotive safety specialist, was found dead in an apparent hit-and-run. He summons Ned to the morgue, and is annoyed when he brings along Chuck. They reawaken him, but he only manages to tell them that he was in love with Jeanine in Promotions and was killed by a crash-test dummy before Ned touches him again. Emerson believes they have no real leads, but Chuck wants to give Jeanine Bernard’s last message. As she and Ned set out for Bernard’s workplace, Olive asks Emerson about Chuck, and he confirms that Ned “digs her.” At the car company, Ned and Chuck meet the CEO, Mark Chase, who is showing a group of Japanese businessmen their new product, the Dandelion XS, a car that runs on dandelion fuel. Chuck addresses Chase in flawless Japanese and locates Jeanine, and Ned is impressed. She explains that living with her shut-in aunts provided a lot of time for reading and language-learning. When they find Jeanine, she denies knowing Bernard, but happily takes their proffered pie. Remembering Bernard’s other strange statement, they investigate the crash-test section of the building and find a dummy stripped of its clothes and plastic face, implying that the killer was impersonating a dummy at the time of the murder. They tell Emerson of the new evidence, and all three of them head back to the factory later that night to investigate further. Ned leaves Olive to close up the Pie Hole, and she sadly sings “Hopelessly Devoted to You” to herself, feeling the Pie-Maker slipping away from her. As they sneak into the car company, Ned and Chuck discuss how little they know each other these days, and Emerson chimes in to say that there are skeletons in the closet—literally. The crash-test dummies have been taken and replaced with real cadavers, but when Ned reawakens two of them, they say that they died under unrelated circumstances. Suddenly, Jeanine appears and says that she couldn’t talk before in front of people, but was actually in love with Bernard. Plied with pastry at the Pie Hole, she reminisces about how they met and fell for each other. She suspects she knows why he was killed and offers to show them, but as they follow her in her dandelion-fueled car, it suddenly explodes. She survives, however, and tells them where they can find the missing crash-test dummies—thrown into a mass grave nearby. When they find them, Ned, Chuck and Emerson realize that the dummies have hard drives that store information about the crashes, and guess that the killer replaced the dummies with real bodies to hide some sort of secret. At that moment, all three of them are tasered by an unknown, dummy-masked assailant. The three investigators wake up inside body bags inside another Dandelion car, and the masked man reveals himself to be Mark Chase. He explains in a long (and inaudible) monologue about how Bernard discovered that the Dandelion XS cars were death traps, but Chase wanted them marketed anyway for the money, and killed Bernard and hid the dummies to prevent the information from getting out. He plans to kill the three of them in the same way, and believing themselves moments from death, Ned and Chuck share a kiss through their plastic bags. Emerson, however, armed with a knitting needle, frees his hands and they escape in the car, not knowing of its explosive properties. Fortunately, the police intercede and pick up Chase, and the car is prevented from overheating by the sudden appearance of Olive, taking Digby for a late-night walk. The case closed, Emerson happily counts his money and Olive privately reiterates her determination not to give up on Ned. Ned, however, shows Chuck the new crash-test-inspired addition to his car: a pane of plastic between the front seats, complete with hand-holding glove, ensuring her safety from his touch. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: October 10, 2007 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:93155
- GENRE: Comedy, fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy, fantasy/science fiction
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2007-2009
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Ameriprise financial planning services
- TV - Commercials - Bank of America
- TV - Commercials - Boys and Girls Town National Hotline
- TV - Commercials - Cesar dog food
- TV - Commercials - Chemistry.com website
- TV - Commercials - DonateLife.net organ transplant organization
- TV - Commercials - Dove shampoo
- TV - Commercials - Dr. Scholl's insoles products
- TV - Commercials - Ester-C vitamins
- TV - Commercials - Extra chewing gum
- TV - Commercials - Fisher-Price StarStation toys
- TV - Commercials - Fisher-Price Twin Time dollhouse toys
- TV - Commercials - Honda Accord automobiles
- TV - Commercials - Hyundai automobiles
- TV - Commercials - L'Oréal moisturizer
- TV - Commercials - La-Z-Boy furniture stores
- TV - Commercials - Lowe's stores
- TV - Commercials - M&M's candies contest
- TV - Commercials - Macy's stores
- TV - Commercials - Make A Wish Foundation
- TV - Commercials - Mazda automobiles
- TV - Commercials - Nissan Rogue automobiles
- TV - Commercials - Novartis influenza vaccinations
- TV - Commercials - Olive Garden restaurants
- TV - Commercials - Papa John's restaurants
- TV - Commercials - ReMax realtors
- TV - Commercials - Rembrandt teeth whitening products
- TV - Commercials - Splenda artificial sweetener
- TV - Commercials - Staples stores
- TV - Commercials - TGI Friday's restaurants
- TV - Commercials - Target stores
- TV - Commercials - The Foundation for a Better Life organization
- TV - Commercials - Time For Us Hasbro board games
- TV - Commercials - Verizon wireless
- TV - Commercials - Visa check cards
- TV - Promos - "Dan In Real Life" motion picture
- TV - Promos - "Dirty Sexy Money"
- TV - Promos - "Grey's Anatomy"
- TV - Promos - "Private Practice"
- TV - Promos - "Pushing Daisies" upcoming episodes
- TV - Promos - "Samantha Who?"
- TV - Promos - "Ugly Betty"
- TV - Promos - "Women's Murder Club"
CREDITS
- Dan Jinks … Executive Producer
- Brooke Kennedy … Executive Producer
- Bruce Cohen … Executive Producer
- Bryan Fuller … Executive Producer, Created by
- Barry Sonnenfeld … Executive Producer, Director
- Rina Mimoun … Co-Executive Producer
- Peter Ocko … Co-Executive Producer, Writer
- Livia Hanich … Producer
- Scott Nimerfro … Co-Producer
- Jim Dooley … Music by
- Lee Pace … Cast, Ned
- Anna Friel … Cast, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles
- Chi McBride … Cast, Emerson Cod
- Jim Dale … Cast, Narrator
- Ellen Greene … Cast, Vivian Charles
- Swoosie Kurtz … Cast, Lily Charles
- Kristin Chenoweth … Cast, Olive Snook
- Patrick Fabian … Cast, Mark Chase
- Riki Lindhome … Cast, Jeanine
- Jonathan Mangum … Cast, Bernard Slaybeck
- Omar Avila … Cast, Manuel
- Matt Braunger … Cast, Rick
- Field Cate … Cast, Young Ned
- Taji Coleman … Cast, Beth
- Alex Endeshaw … Cast, Lab Technician
- Wesley Harris … Cast, Science Teacher
- Jon Eric Price … Cast, Ned's Father
- Sy Richardson … Cast, Coroner