Here's the set-up for
Pushing Daisies tonight: A dog breeder's coffee is poisoned and when Ned wakes him up for his story, the man says, simply enough, that his wife did it. Unfortunately for Ned,
Chuck and Emerson, the man is a polygamist who has four wives. Now, it's not so easy to solve this crime. There is a lot about dog breeding tonight, and it seems like a pretty ruthless business. Tonight's episode guest stars
The Soup's Joel McHale as Harold Henden, the deceased dog owner (Joel McHale also was a cast member of the old Seattle sketch comedy show Almost Live, and I'm partial to McHale because I once sat behind him at a screening of
Tin Cup).
Young Ned can't sleep. Three months previous he was living a happy childhood. Now he is not. He creates clay diorama of his and Chuck's house. However, he finds that his imagination is beginning to fail him. At that very moment, Chuck thinks of him.
Ned watches Chuck wake up in his apartment. Chuck gets out of bed and slips and falls onto Ned's bed, but somehow she doesn't die. His power wears off, so they decide immediately to get down to business. Chuck strips naked and then strips off her skin to reveal a naked Olive.
Obviously, it's a dream.
Ned watches the real non-dream Chuck awake. Ned tells Emerson about his sexy dream with Olive and asks for advice. Emerson thinks that dreams are random, and Ned just feels bad for kissing Olive because he wants to kiss Chuck. Emerson tells Ned in no uncertain words that Olive WANTS him. Wants him bad.
Olive tells Chuck about the kiss. Chuck is a little bit upset, but mostly because Ned didn't tell her about it. Chuck explains the whole her and Ned not touching thing. Olive asks if she has some crazy allergy to Ned. Chuck says she does. Olive thinks it's tragic.
At the very moment, Harold Hunden is stabbed to death 14 miles away. He was a 37 year old, and a proud dog owner and President of the Papen County Kennel Club. There's a reward, so Emerson, Ned and Chuck head to the coroner.
They wake Harold up. He wants them to say goodbye to his dog Bubble Gum for them. He says that, though there was stabbing, no one stabbed him. He was poisoned, and he dropped his drink, which he then slipped on, falling onto a very sharp dog brush located on his desk. Repeatedly. He says he tasted the cyanide. He said his wife gave him the poisoned coffee.
Unfortunately, Emerson returns to the Pie Hole and tells Ned and Chuck that Harold had four wives – he was a damn polygamist. Hilary, Heather, Simone, and Hallie were his wives.
Olive tries to clear the air with Ned. Ned tries to avoid the question. Emerson proposes that Emerson, Olive, Chuck and Ned each take one of the wives to question.
Hilary – dog owner/breeder. Perky and short tempered.
Heather – dog psychologist and radio host of “Doggonit.”
Simone – Dog obedience teacher.
Hallie – Labrador breeder who donated dogs for the blind.
Olive, Ned, Chuck and Emerson each go undercover with Digby to the various wives. Chuck pretends to be blind, but the ruse doesn't last long. Bubble gum died recently. Simone drove over Bubble Gum soon after she learned of Harold's death. Heather is very emotional about Harold's death.
Bubble Gum was Harold's crowning achievement – a perfect combination of Border Collie, Labrador, Jack Russell Terrier,and Poodle. Simone is an ice queen – her and Harold were commercial partners, a marriage of convenience. All four wives claim that they gave him his morning coffee.
The four wives, after Hallie told them about the note that Chuck claimed Harold left, arrive at The Pie Hole demanding to know about the note. Emerson asks each of them what they put in Harold's morning coffee. Hallie, the nice one, says that she puts in Almond Cream Creamer – which was the poisoned one.
The police arrest Hallie. Chuck is upset – she thinks there was no way Hallie did it. Neither does Ned. Ned gets a phone call at The Pie Hole (he answers the phone “Pie-O!”) and it's for Emerson. They need to reopen the case – some of the blind kids who Hallie donated dogs to have started a Free Hallie fund and Emerson wants to collect. Hallie doesn't think it was any of the wives – she thinks it was rival niche dog breeder and part-time hand model Ramsfeld Snuppy (owner of “Snuppy's Puppies”).
Ramsfeld Snuppy grew his small puppy store into a nationwide empire. Hallie thinks he wanted Harold's Bubble Gum. Emerson, Ned and Chuck head to Snuppy's offices. Chuck tells Ned that Olive told her about the kiss. Ned reiterates that it meant nothing. Chuck wish Ned had told her first. Chuck wonders if there is something to this polygamy thing.
They ask Snuppy when they can get a Bubble Gum – type breed. Snuppy plans to clone Bubble Gum with his remains. Chuck stops him there – Bubble Gum wasn't his dog. Snuppy shows them the contract – Harold sold Bubble Gum to him shortly before his death – which is why the wives probably wanted him dead.
Emerson heads to see Simone. He wants to know why that, if she knew about Harold's plan to sell Bubble Gum, that Simone neglected to tell them about it. She says that when Harold came up with the plan to sell the dog, the wives threatened to place an injunction on the deal as business partners which would've held up the case for years, so Snuppy killed Harold and framed Hallie. Emerson thinks Simone might have done it.
In Emerson's dreams, he remembers that Simone was wearing Bubble Gum's collar. He thinks that Bubble Gum is still alive. He also thinks that he might be falling for Simone. He tells Ned about this. He wants to go shake down Simone. So he leaves.
Olive is sad about her and Ned's current relationship. Hilary arrives to drop off Olive's order from when she was undercover. Olive congratulates her on the fact that Snuppy can clone Bubble Gum. Hilary was not aware of this fact. Emerson heads to Simone's. She admits that she has Bubble Gum and Emerson tells her to go get it. However, Simone has been slowly training Emerson's subconscious. She knocks him out from behind.
Emerson wakes up tied to the wall. Simone thinks he's working for Snuppy. He tells her he's not. Regardless, Simone leaves him tied up while she goes to a funeral. Emerson is afraid of the dark. His adrenaline borne from fear allows him to break free. He heads to The Pie Hole and pick up Ned and Chuck – he thinks Simon is going to kill Rumsfeld.
They show up at the office and Rumsfeld is indeed dead – poisoned by almond creamer. Ned is about to wake up Rumsfeld, but Emerson has a better idea. They take his dead body to Harold's funeral, thinking that the guilty party will freak out after seeing a re-animated Snuppy. They seat his lifeless body in the back row.
As the exit procession starts, Ned awakes Snuppy. Hilary freaks out, saying he should be dead and runs out of the chapel. Ned chases after her and tackles her on the grass (in the middle of what used to be Stars Hollow).
Hilary wasn't happy about not being one of four wives. She treated Bubble Gum like her own child. Hilary wanted Bubble Gum for herself. Her reaction to the cloning plan was not good. So, she poisoned her husband. She wasn't aware that Harold had already signed over Bubble Gum to Snuppy. When Olive told her about the cloning, she decided to kill Snuppy.
Olive tells Ned that she justs wants him to be happy – whether it's with her or not. Ned is struggling with loving someone you can't touch versus touching someone you don't love. Ned tells Chuck that she's the only one for him. Chuck says that's what he thinks now – but there are things both of them want, but can't have.
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of ABC)