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Pushing Daisies: Bitter Sweets

Emerson, Ned and Chuck investigate the death of Tony DiNapoli, who appears to have been strangled by a woman. However, when Ned brings Tony back to life to find out killed him, Tony claims it was Burly Bruce Carter, via the hands of his “girlfriend” who is a real doll. Meanwhile, business at the Pie Hole drops off when a new candy store opens in town, and Alfredo continues to pursue an oblivious Olive who, herself, continues to pine after the Pie Maker.


7.5/10 (14 Votes cast)

Episode Info


Episode number: 1x8
Production Number: 108
Airdate: Wednesday November 28th, 2007
Special Airtime: 09:00 pm
Special Runtime: 62 Minutes

Director: Allan Kroeker
Writer: Abby Gewanter

Alternate Airdates:

UK (ITV1) May 24, 2008
NL (Net 5) Sep 30, 2008

Special Guest Stars
Molly ShannonMolly Shannon
As Dilly Balsam

Guest Stars
Field CateField Cate
As Young Ned
Recurring
Raul EsparzaRaul Esparza
As Alfredo Aldarisio
Recurring
Michael CornacchiaMichael Cornacchia
As Burly Bruce Carter
Steve HytnerSteve Hytner
As Andrew Brown
Michael WhiteMichael White
As Billy Balsam (as Mike White)

Co-Guest Stars
Wesley HarrisWesley Harris
As Science Teacher
Recurring
Nicholas KhayyatNicholas Khayyat
As Eugene
Recurring
Leyna NguyenLeyna Nguyen
As News Anchor
Recurring
Sy RichardsonSy Richardson
As Coroner
Recurring
Tara DonatoTara Donato
As Sheila
Abbe MerylAbbe Meryl
As Tina
Main Cast
Lee PaceLee Pace
As Ned
Anna FrielAnna Friel
As Charlotte "Chuck" Charles
Chi McBrideChi McBride
As Emerson Cod
Jim Dale (1)Jim Dale (1)
voiced Narrator
Kristin ChenowethKristin Chenoweth
As Olive Snook

Recap

In boys’ school, Young Ned ends up as lab partner with fellow outcast Eugene Mulchandani. When Eugene builds a small flying machine out of paper and his classmates almost destroy it, Ned comes to his aid and the two becomes friend. However, when Ned inadvertently resurrects a pile of dead leaves, Eugene runs off in terror, and Ned realizes how ephemeral happiness is...

Read the full recap
Episode Notes
Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene don't appear.



Episode Quotes
Narrator: Young Ned felt a gnawing pity growing in his stomach. As was tradition.

Narrator: Eugene Mulchandani fled in a flurry of saliva and fear.

Charlotte: Guess what day it is today.
Ned: World Hello Day.
Charlotte: Oh, you finally put up my calendar of obscure holidays.
Ned: Yes, and Hola!

Charlotte: What’s wrong?
Ned: Nothing.
Narrator: The meaning of “nothing” was “I never told you that I inadvertently killed your father.”

Emerson: Well, that idea might make a stupid idea feel better about itself.

Ned I can’t keep lying to her.
Emerson: You ain’t lying. The only way you’re lying is if she asks the question, (Chuck voice) “Hey, did you kill my father when you brought your mother back, which I didn’t know about because you never told me?" (regular voice) Don’t tell her.

Emerson: Oh no, see, this is how it all ends. Some weird guy comes in saying stuff that don’t make no sense. And by the time your head realizes “Hey, this weird guy makes no sense,” your guts are all over the window.

Narrator: Olive found herself in a cloud of steamed milk and self-pity, unaware of the warm breath blowing out of the mouth of Alfredo Aldariso.

Olive: Can I ask you a question? If you loved me...
Alfredo Aldarisio: Yes?
Olive: And we could never, ever, ever touch. Wouldn't you eventually get over it and move on letting someone else have the slightest hope that you might move on to them?
Alfredo Aldarisio: If I loved you?
Olive: Yeah.
Alfredo Aldarisio: Then I would love you in any way I could. And if we could not touch then I would draw strength from your beauty. And if I went blind then I would fill my soul with the sound of your voice and the contents of your thoughts until the last spark of my love for you lit the shabby darkness of my dying mind.
Olive: Eh, forget it.

Emerson: The truth ain’t like puppies, a bunch of them running around, you pick your favorite. One truth… and it has come a’knockin’.

Olive: It’s from the Pie Hole from across the street, as in “Shut your.” But one sweet whiff and people usually want to “Open their.”

Ned: Candy might be sweet, but it's a traveling carnival blowing through town. Pie is home. People always come home.

Olive: I can be a very good resource for you on Ned, if you don’t mind me clawing out your eyeballs while we talk.
Charlotte: Really?
Olive: Why do you want me to care?
Charlotte: Because you really like him.
Olive: Wouldn't it just rock and roll if liking someone meant they had to like you back? Of course that'd be a different universe and something else would probably suck.

Ned: No. You let your anger win and you engage the crazy person, then you're no different than they are. People say "Hey! Look at those two crazy people fighting." I will not engage.
Emerson: Yeah. But if you don't engage, pretty soon people will start saying "Hey, look at that crazy person eating that guy just sitting there doing nothing."

(breaking into a store)
Olive: There's no alarm system. Got a credit card?
Charlotte: Why? You know how to pick locks?
Olive: No. You're going to need to pay for the damages.
(Olive runs through the glass door)
Charlotte: Cool.

Ned: What’s freaking me out is the ruthless woman trying to shut down the Pie Hole.
Narrator: This was true.
Ned: It has nothing to do with us.
Narrator: This was not.

Narrator: The expression “Like a rat in a candy store,” though slightly less popular, is equally true.

Emerson: I mean, it's a broad generalization, but my guess is that an attractive man who makes pies for a living shouldn't even spend a short amount of time in prison.

Emerson: So whoever killed Billy is walking around with nine fingers thinking they got away with murder.
Charlotte: Mm-hmmm. Footloose and finger-free.

Narrator: The Pie Maker considered how not telling Chuck the truth about her father was a lot like being locked in a prison. Then he considered how being locked in a prison was actually much worse than some silly metaphor about Truth.

Narrator: Seventeen miles away, the search to finger the fingerless killer of Billy Balsam continued.

Dilly Balsam: And take your trunk monkey with you!



Cultural References
The Birds

The birds attacking Dilly in Bodega Bay references Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963). In that movie, Tippi Hedren dressed similarly to how Dilly is dressed here, and the sea gulls attack Dilly just as they attack Hedren's character in the movie. When Hedron tested for the role, she acted opposite Psycho veteran Martin Balsam, explaining the fact that Dilly's last name is Balsam.



Other Episode Crew

CreatorBryan Fuller (1)
Executive ProducerBarry Sonnenfeld  |  Bruce Cohen  |  Bryan Fuller (1)  |  Dan Jinks  |  Brooke Kennedy
Co-Executive ProducerPeter Ocko  |  Rina Mimoun
Co-ProducerScott Nimerfro  |  Livia Hanich
Production DesignerMichael Wylie
CastingJennifer Lare  |  Camille H. Patton
MusicJames Dooley
Music EditorTom Trafalski
Costume DesignerRobert Blackman
HairstylistDaniel Curet
Make-upTodd McIntosh
Set DecoratorHalina Siwolop
Property MasterJeffrey Paul Johnson (1)
Post Production SupervisorClaudia Alves
Director of PhotographyMichael Weaver (2)
Story EditorDara Resnik Creasey  |  Chad Gomez Creasey
Sound MixerEdward L. Moskowitz
Executive Story EditorKatherine Lingenfelter
Costume SupervisorCarol Kunz
 

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