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If there is a show that ended too soon, it is Pushing Daisies. Created by Bryan Fuller (of the also gone-too-soon Hannibal and Wonderfalls), the series is an enchanting love letter to the strange and whimsical, telling the story of a man who can raise the dead. Despite its own relatively short life, having aired for just two seasons, Pushing Daisies is an immortal show in its own right. Both a forensics procedural and a fairy tale, the series is bursting with style and remains one of the most captivating and unique stories ever told by network television.
For years, Pushing Daisies has been confined mostly to DVD sets. That is, until now. With Pushing Daisies now available for streaming on HBOMax, many are experiencing the magical world for the first time. Others are revisiting a story once lost which remains close to their hearts. Now, twelve years since its cancellation, Pushing Daisies‘ premise seems more relevant than ever and provides profound insight into life, love, and death.
In the opening scene of Pushing Daisies, a young Ned runs with his dog, Digby, across an idyllic yellow field of daisies under a bright blue sky. The shot is picturesque, like an illustration out of a children’s storybook. An omniscient narrator (Jim Dale) tells the fairy tale: “At this very moment in the town of Coeur d’Coeurs, Young Ned was nine years, twenty-seven weeks, six days and three minutes old” (( Pushing Daisies. “Pie-Lette.” HBOMax, 40:14. October 3, 2007. )). In this world of whimsy, the narrator transports the audience into a world adjacent to reality. Maybe this is the idyllic world of childhood where nothing unpleasant can happen. Perhaps, in this world, everything is fine.
Then, in dramatic, hilariously dark fashion, the precious Digby is hit by a semi-truck and sent hurtling through the air in slow motion, his red hair in stark contrast against the sunny blue sky. Horrified, Ned kneels beside his suddenly dead dog and reaches out in one last goodbye pet, when with a spark, Digby comes back to life. The narrator informs, “Young Ned could touch dead things and bring them back to life” (( Pushing Daisies. “Pie-Lette.” HBOMax, 40:14. October 3, 2007. )). This is the moment Ned’s life changes forever. It is also the scene that leaves the audience with a more nuanced understanding of this fantastical world, which is both whimsical and dark.
This unforgettable opening sequence indeed sets the stage for a show of magic and a dramatic sense of humor, but it also presents its audience with a subject matter not often tread so lightly — death. In a brilliant, candy-colored, two seasons, Pushing Daisies explores death through fantastical, often hilarious scenarios. Yet, the subject never loses its weight. In this reality-adjacent world, death’s pervasiveness allows Pushing Daisies to meditate on important aspects of life: intimacy, love, and the power of choice. It is a show that looks death in its face fearlessly and, by doing so, urges its audience to celebrate life and refuse complacency.
Emotional Detachment And Touch
Pushing Daisies follows the life of an adult Ned, played by Lee Pace, years after the discovery of his strange gift. Ned is a pie-maker who utilizes his special touch by reviving rotting fruit and baking it into delicious pies. Though, Ned’s gift is not without its consequences: anyone he brings back to life can only survive for one minute. Any longer, and someone will die in their place. What’s more, if Ned touches that person again, they will die.
Ned learns this the hard way as a child when he inadvertently causes his mother’s death and the next-door neighbor’s, who happens to be the father of his childhood crush, Chuck (Anna Friel). As the audience learns early on, Ned’s mother unexpectedly dies one day while baking a pie, so Ned brings her back to life. Only, his decision to revive his mother leads to the death of Chuck’s father, who is, unfortunately, by pure chance, the one to take her place. Ned’s mother only remains alive until the end of the day, when upon kissing him goodnight, she dies.
Ned is obviously traumatized by witnessing both of these unfortunate deaths. As a child with a unique gift, and no one to talk to about it, he immediately starts to blame himself. He not only feels guilty for having a hand in his mother’s death, but he is significantly troubled by Chuck’s father’s death. This guilt follows Ned into adulthood and makes him keep his gift a secret — afraid that others will find it as disturbing as he does. This combination of guilt and fear haunts Ned, and he grows into an adult who is cut off from intimacy and actively shuts down his emotions. He isolates himself in his pie business, keeping everyone at arm’s length.
We see Ned’s tendency to isolate himself from others in his adult life immediately in his interactions with Olive (Kristin Chenoweth). Olive is Ned’s co-worker and neighbor, who has an enormous crush on the pie-maker. She frequently makes her feelings obvious and goes out of her way to care for Ned, only to be dismissed again and again. It is not that Ned chooses to ignore Olive’s feelings but that he is completely oblivious to them. He may recognize her friendship on some level, but for Ned, even the idea of friendship seems unfamiliar.
Then two things happen. Ned meets Emerson (Chi McBride), who discovers Ned’s secret, and they form a partnership solving murders by bringing the dead back to life for one minute and asking them who killed them. This partnership leads to Ned discovering the murder of his childhood sweetheart. Ned revives Chuck, knowing that if he touches her again, she will die. These choices change Ned’s once small, cautious world forever. Now Ned must begin to deal with aspects of his life and the trauma he has buried for over twenty years. Feelings of loss, guilt, and love trouble Ned. Interestingly enough, it is through the disturbing murders, unnatural deaths, and moments of vulnerability in those he loves that Ned finally begins to acknowledge how in agonizing so much on the consequences of death, he has forgotten to appreciate life.
Intimacy
From the first episode, Pushing Daisies introduces Ned as a man reluctant of intimacy. He cannot touch his dog because if he does, Digby will die. He refuses the physical and emotional advances of Olive, his co-worker. In fact, despite her obvious attraction to him, Ned seems oblivious. This problem serves as not only a plot device but as an overarching metaphor for just how detached Ned has become from his life.
Though Ned’s inability to touch Digby, or eat his pies, is a direct consequence of his gift — something he cannot control — this lack of physical intimacy extends emotionally. Wherein Ned rightly must be wary of touching the dead and the revived, the weight of knowing the consequences of his gift results in his inability to connect with those around him emotionally. His power over life and death seems to instill fear of interfering with the lives of those he loves. While touching Digby would result in his death, and so Ned keeps him at arm’s length to keep him alive, this isn’t the case for touching the already-living. Yet, Ned refrains from reaching out to the people in his life, like Olive, who want to be part of his world.
It is uncertain that Ned even realizes he misses intimacy until that fateful day he revives Chuck, and suddenly it is her touch that Ned craves the most. This is a powerful contrast to Ned’s character, who is so averse to emotional and physical dependency. When Ned finally gets to have the woman he loves, he has to face the horror that he cannot touch her. Often, those who have trouble with intimacy struggle to trust both themselves and the other person. This struggle may stem from the fear of repeating a traumatic experience or confirming an idea about themselves they don’t want to face. For Ned, both of these things are true. What is it to be presented with such an upheaval of all that he knows of himself? How painful it must be, knowing his affection and love are deadly, yet still tempted to reach out.
This reintroduction of Chuck into Ned’s life begins to open his heart to the idea of emotional attachment. In the first episode, “Pie-lette,” after being revived by Ned, Chuck tells him, “You can’t just touch somebody’s life and be done with it.” To which he answers, “Yes, I can” (( Pushing Daisies. “Pie-Lette.” HBOMax, 40:14. October 3, 2007. )). In a literal sense, maybe that’s true — he does that every day. However, when it comes to Chuck, Ned is incapable of letting her go. So much so that he would let another die in her place and allow himself to become emotionally vulnerable; Ned, the pie-maker, falls in love.
Love At A Distance
As Pushing Daisies explores the relationship between Ned and Chuck, the subject of intimacy complicates. What kind of love can the two share if they cannot touch? To what extent can a romantic connection exist without a physical component? What are the two willing to sacrifice to make an exceptional situation work? Such questions develop into a beautiful and heartwarming exploration of all kinds of love. In that sense, romantic love is no greater than platonic love or familial love, and physical intimacy morphs to fit the needs of those in love.
Touching Without Touching
So Ned and Chuck start finding ways they can touch without actually touching. Their first adult kiss is between two golden monkey statues. To hold Chuck’s hand, Ned wears gloves. Sometimes they kiss through saran wrap. Other times they dance wearing beekeeping suits. These creative solutions to an unfortunate situation make for an achingly sweet dynamic between the two and add a poignant bridge to a whimsical and often grotesque show.
Both characters represent aspects of life and death. Chuck was dead, and now she is alive, and because of this, she has found a new appreciation for life, acting spontaneously and with her full heart. Ned has always been part of the living, yet he carries death with him everywhere, and because of this, he has trouble living. It is an interesting dance between the characters and the overarching balance between life and death that seems to complete Pushing Daisies’ dazzling world as idyllic and grotesque.
Troubling Love
The complication of touch also troubles a relationship that would otherwise be relatively standard and makes room for more dynamic, fluid relationships among the show’s characters. The love story then expands to include their friends and families. Often quite literary. At one point, Ned and Chuck both hold Emerson’s hand and imagine they are the ones touching. Nevertheless, this love goes beyond finding ways to express themselves. Through the couple’s love, emotional attachments grow in unforeseen ways among everyone involved in their lives.
For example, when Chuck died, she left behind two eccentric aunts who isolate themselves inside their homes. Seeing as she is supposed to be dead, Chuck cannot visit them, so instead, she sends them mood-enhancing pies through Olive, who befriends and admires the two aunts. Ned, too, visits Lily (Swoosie Kurtz) and Vivian (Ellen Greene) throughout the series, whether to console them over Chuck’s death or ask about his father. These are the moments Ned eventually allows both emotional and physical warmth from the women. His aversion to any form of intimacy slowly dissipates, and Ned becomes more open to all forms of love and connection.
The Power of Choice
With death looming over every detail, whether it is from solving murder cases or the promised death of Ned’s touch, a show like Pushing Daisies could get pretty dark, and the life of its characters, depressing. That said, Pushing Daisies is far from either. Though Ned is emotionally detached, cautious, and often ruminates on the past, he does not stay this way. Remarkably, it is through death that he heals and welcomes a new attitude toward life. Ned chooses to start living.
Choice is a powerful thing. In every episode, each character must choose; the murderers choose to kill, the dead choose to reveal their secrets. Sometimes the dead are killed because of those secrets. Ned chooses to use his gift to solve these murders. Chuck chooses life over death, even if it means never touching the man she loves. Olive chooses to befriend Chuck, even though that means letting go of Ned. While these decisions move the story along, they also reveal each character’s drives — the extent of what one would do for what matters most.
Ned learns early on in life that with each choice, there is a consequence. If he saves a life, he must take a life. If Ned touches the love of his life, she dies. If he chooses to be vulnerable in love, he could be hurt or hurt his loved ones. However, if Ned chooses a life of emotional detachment, he will never know the joys of love. In Pushing Daisies, Ned’s choices represent the necessity of being an active participant in one’s life. In itself, to avoid making decisions becomes a choice — one that Ned must face when he keeps Chuck alive.
“Everything we do is a choice. Oatmeal or cereal. Highway or side streets. Kiss her or keep her. We make choices, and we live with the consequences. If someone gets hurt along the way, we ask for forgiveness. It’s the best anyone can do” (( Pushing Daisies. “The Fun In Funeral.” HBOMax, 42:37. October 17, 2007. )).
Ned, the pie-maker
The way Pushing Daisies deals with the power of choice is striking in that it sets up an important message. Death surrounds the show’s characters every day, and if they chose to, they could live in fear of death. They could ruminate on death to the point that it consumes them. In the manner that Ned’s fear led him to years of emotional distance, the fear of death could prevent these characters from living and experiencing the present.
The message of Pushing Daisies, though, is not so grave. Instead, by acknowledging death, the characters and audience are allowed to look upon life with an even greater affection. Gruesome events occur in this world, but so much more happens that is beautiful, fantastical, and joyous. It is not just in the bright colors and storybook setting that emphasizes an affection for life, but in the complex characters who are each dealing with experiences of loneliness, sadness, and detachment yet still manage to find love and happiness in their shared moments.
Relevance Today
It is impressive that Pushing Daisies is now fourteen years old. It is impressive even more so that it is still relevant to our current reality while it has aged. Daily Beast recently dubbed it the “perfect pandemic t.v. show” (( Kevin Fallon, “There’s Finally a Perfect Pandemic TV Show—But It’s 14 Years Old,” Daily Beast, last modified Feb. 06, 2021.)) and the reason is apparent. In a world where death seems even more present in our everyday lives and touch could quite literally mean death, Pushing Daisies stands as a near-perfect reflection of our reality. Or perhaps less of a reflection and more of a suggestion toward a potential reality. While the future remains uncertain and many feel the isolation of loneliness, grief, and the despair of not knowing, life continues, as does love.
Pushing Daisies shows the importance of appreciating life as it is, acknowledging and facing hurt and pain, and still choosing to love, and live with an open heart. This sentiment of the perseverance of love and joy in the face of death is now more crucial than ever. Ned and Chuck chose to love one another despite their inability to touch, and through that choice, they became susceptible to hurt but also a life worth living. Life may often be full of immense pain, but to forget life’s potential for joy is a death in itself. Perhaps Pushing Daisies is just the show needed to revive hope for the future and appreciation of the present — a chance to heal.
