Pushing Daisies Season 2 Review

Pushing Daisies: Season Two

It’s not every day that you stumble upon a colorful show with a joyful, atmosphere, a very good narration, and a sharp dialog. We are in a time where TV is dominated by prime time shows, many repeated plots with different place settings and soap operas, but we fail to see the great shows out there. Amazing shows such as Arrested Development have also met a similar fate. I don’t blame the masses for not watching the show and ultimately causing the cancellation, but if you think about it, how interesting does a pie maker that can bring people back to life sound? At first this makes you think, how a show with this plot could make it past the pilot episode, let alone to a second season.

I guess for some, getting out of the same old shows can be a bit difficult, most do not take a chance and explore. We are too busy with our Lost, Heroes, and Grey’s Anatomy to genuinely get surprised and let good shows like Pushing Daisies fade out. Pushing Daisies was not only praised by critics, but in the time the show remained on air it garnered a nice fan-base that was stuck in front of the TV to watch the pie-maker’s adventures. The show was very fresh and original, something which isn’t widely available in today’s TV guide. With all this being said it is unfortunate that Pushing Daisies came to an end along many more shows during the 2007 writers strike. Let’s get into the review and see what the studio has provided in this release.

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The Series
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Pushing Daisies Season 2 had 12 episodes total; in which the creator Bryan Fuller tried to develop some character, he also attempted to tell arching plots that only cause convolution. The show continues following Ned and Emmerson’s murder investigations for reward money. As the season moves on, you find waitress Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth) finally moves from Ned (Lee Pace), Chuck (Anna Friel) finds her true mother as well as Emmerson (Chi McBride) reveals he is looking for his missing daughter, and in between all these events the viewer is treated with the return of the return of Ned’s dad (Jon Eric Price) and Chuck’s previously deceased dad (Josh Randall.)

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Throughout the story there are several guest appearances and while they don’t take away from the show’s main characters, they can be a bit annoying; however the great story and the great atmosphere created by the producers of the show easily make you forget these small annoyances. Also, one element that may throw off viewers is the constant use of CG to illustrate the visual director’s “storybook” like vision, while this is not widely used, it fits the joyful fairytale feel and look of the show.

The biggest problem I find with the series is during the last part of the season. The show felt rushed and flat out gave a disappointing closure for the characters. The ending was lackluster and not fitted for this spectacular series. If it is of any consolation for the fans, later this year the adventures of the life giving pie-maker and his mystery crime adventures will continue in a comic book form. Hopefully a good closure will be given at some point via this format; the publications will be closely monitored by none other than Bryan Fuller the creator of the show.

The Video
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The video is presented with a 1080p/VC-1 encode and is nothing short of eye candy. The presentation is often splashed with golden yellows mixed with colors to deliver and overall great presentation that fits the storybook vision of the creator Bryan Fuller. The skin tones are warm and over-saturated, but this doesn’t take away from the overall look and fits perfectly with the environment. Blacks are very inky and the video displays a very small amount of grain which is noticeable in the darker scenes, but lucky for us the image is clean and should please the fans. During the show a few scenes are flashed with plasticized CG buildings and streets, while it may not look real, the overall look is amazing and fits the storybook style perfectly.

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The Audio
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This title only received a 5.1 Dolby Digital track, which is very strange since Warner had been very loyal to the loss-less tracks on all their releases. The narration and dialog are clean since they have been prioritized; obviously it could have been better if perhaps a loss-less track was included. The rears are weak as most of the effects are pushed to the fronts. The sound may not be as good as the video, but it ultimately performs decently.

The Extras
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Now we come to the extras, what could the studio have included in this release? Let’s check it out.

  • The Master Pie Maker: This feature offers some of the cast to talk about their characters and the style of the show.
  • From Oven to Table: The feature takes a quick look at the show’s special effects.
  • Secret Sweet Ingredient: A quick look at the show’s score.
  • Add a Little Magic: This is another feature looking at the special effects and how they were incorporated into the key scenes of the show.

Bottom Line
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The storybook style that Bryan Fuller envisioned captivated many with fresh content and originality of the series that surpasses many of the shows on today’s TV. However, the flaws of this second season leads me to believe, that giving the show some time could have made it a lot better. The supplements were disappointing as they were all presented in standard definition without any cast and crew commentaries. Also, the audio included did not match the eye candy of the video. This release will appease the fans of series, but for newcomers to the show I’d recommend at least a rent.

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Pushing Daisies is available in Blu-ray and DVD. Is also available at Amazon just follow this link below!

Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray]