The last major season premiere for me has to be the eclectic comedy “Pushing Daisies.” With the show finally getting a triumphant return after a shortened premiere season, does Bryan Fuller return to what he does best, yes. The season premiere of “Pushing Daisies” entitled “Bzzzz!” deals with the greatest aspect of the show, honeybees.
The season premiere follows the trio of detectives, Ned (Lee Pace) the pie maker who can return people back from the dead with a single touch, the childhood sweetheart he once saved Chuck (Anna Friel) and private detective Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) as they investigate the death of a spokeswoman for a company that makes honeybee products. Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth), Ned’s co-worker and secret admirer has to deal with the secrets she learned from last season while being trapped in a nunnery.
Bryan Fuller has always crafted crazy shows with heart, fans of “Wonderfalls” have easily found a replacement with “Pushing Daisies.” With the show having limited time to find an audience with last year’s writer’s strike it’s finally time to get Ned and the gang off to the right start. This episode has everything that made the premiere season so sweet. There’s heart to the stories, engaging mysteries and characters you just can’t help but love. It’s almost as if this premiere episode was wiping the slate clean as new viewers can easily jump into this episode without watching the first season. Much like all good premiere this episode also jumps into setting up storylines that will unfold as the season progresses. The ending of “Bzzzz!” sets up some epic storylines for Ned and Emerson that fans will want to see play out. Great scene of the night: Watching Olive dance on a hilltop a la “The Sound of Music.” I also loved seeing Diana Scarwid as Olive’s Mother Superior, its great cameos like these that make “Pushing Daisies” so great.
While this season started off as well as it could it just didn’t feel like the big season opener one expects. There weren’t many quippy one-liners that are expected in this show and it just seemed like a very standard type of episode. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, just not as good as I know it can be. The big issue I had is the neglect of a major storyline, Chuck’s murder. The whole first season seemed to gloss over who killed Chuck and this season doesn’t seem to be doing anything to focus on that plotline. Hopefully Fuller and his gang will decide to revisit it eventually but not out of the gate apparently.
Overall “Bzzzz!” didn’t disappoint me but it didn’t thrill me. I have high hopes for season two of “Pushing Daisies” and while the premiere might have been a bit weak I know it will pick up. I give it a 4/5.
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