tvthatdoesntsuck

REVIEW FOR

Pushing Daisies
Season Two
Episode Eight
“Comfort Food”
Written by Douglas Petrie
Directed by Peter Lauer

This really would happen, wouldn’t it?

The week after Pushing Daisiesgets the official axe, the week after I decided that the cancellation didn’t sadden me, the week after the show seemed to prove that it was in a permanent rut… Douglas Petrie hops on writing duties and helms the best episode of Pushing Daisies… ever.

The mystery of the week is funny, and ties into the character arcs better than ever before.  While investigating the death-via-deep-frying of a man at a baking competition, Ned teams up with Olive, who comes to a realization about her feelings for him.  The story is sweet, sad, hilarious, and just really, really well written.  Also, as a treat for long time Fuller fans, Marianne Marie Beetle, a supporting character from Bryan Fuller’s best work, Wonderfalls, guest stars in this episode.  If that wasn’t enough, the episode gets a bit of a musical twist when Olive belts out “Eternal Flame.”  And damn Olive looks good in this episode.

The b-plot of the episode is as strong as the mystery-of-the-week.  The seasonal story arc advances dramatically in this episode.  Ned’s reawakening of Chuck’s father yields unpredictable and disturbing results.  In nice dichotomy to the Olive and Ned team, Chuck and Emerson make an incredibly unlikely but oh-so-interesting duo.  People die, people undie, and plot twists unfold in this incredibly risky, bittersweet episode.

9/10

—————–

The Office
Season Five
Episode Nine
“The Surpluss”
Written by Gene Stupnitsky & Lee Eisenberg
Directed by Paul Feig

Another pretty good episode.  This one features Michael dealing with a surplus (that is, of course, after he asks Oscar to explain what a surplus is as if he were a five year old) in the office.  At the same time, Dwight takes Andy and Angela on a tour of Schrute Farms… and tricks Angela into marrying him on the spot.  I thought that scene was a bit predictable, but it still worked well for the episode.  Dwight is a lot like Michael in that he always does the wrong thing, messing up situations where it seems like he will, indeed, get the girl.

There was a lot of good stuff at work in this episode, especially when Hank comes up to help them with the surplus situation.  What I also liked about this episode was that it actually felt like something that could happen in a office, which is increasingly rare in this show.

So far, while the season has been good enough, it hasn’t really lived up to the bar that the premiere set up for them.

7/10

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