Pushing Daisies: The Complete First Season

Utilizing their vivid talents, series creator/writer Brian Fuller (Wonder Falls) and initial director and reformed "Big Willy” pusher Barry Sonnenfeld (Men In Black) emulsify their respective cinematic sensibilities to bake up the delicious premise of Pushing Daisies. As is cutely explained in the "Pie-lette,” Ned was a boy who grew up to be a pie maker but long before he got his hands dirty kneading dough, he discovered he had a peculiar gift: power over life and death. When his mother died of a heart attack right before his eyes, Ned revived her, only to doubly discover the repercussions of his powers. After a life has been brought back for more than a minute, one of equal value in close proximity takes its place in death, and the newly resurrected life will continue until touching Ned’s skin again, which his mother did when kissing him goodnight. Flash forward to the present and Ned is reunited with Chuck after being separated since childhood, although the catch is, she’s dead in a casket and he’s got to decide if he can stand sending her back to death after reviving her temporarily to ask a minute’s worth of questions regarding her murder (part of his investigator side-gig). Of course, he lets fate take another so that he and Chuck can entertain a woefully sweet romance, being unable to touch lest their lust result in death, or until the manufacture of a comfortable full body condom. There’s a lot to chew on up front with the story and it’s all a jumping point for the quirky adventures of the delightfully charming cast. Lee Pace continues to prove himself as one of the most capable emerging actors of recent years and the support from Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Swoosie Kurtz and Kristin Chennoweth is top notch. It takes a few episodes to find a balance between endearing and sentimental but the visual style of the series is never short of stunning. A pie menu of special features contains interesting production features on topics like Sonnenfeld’s director manual and colour saturation specs for the series, and interviews with Fuller and Pace about their favourite scenes. Fans of dark but goofy fantasy yarns should eat it up and be eager for seconds. (Warner)