Writer: Katherine Lingenfelter
Director: Peter O'FallonCast: Anna Friel (Chuck), Lee Pace (Ned), Chi McBride (Emerson), Kristin Chenoweth (Olive), Jim Dale (Narrator), Ellen Greene (Vivian), Swoosie Kurtz (Lily), Field Cate (Young Ned), Barbara Barrie (Mamma Jacobs), Hamish Linklater (John Joseph Jacobs), Carlos Alazraqui (Gordon), Ralph P. Martin (Pinky McCoy), Christopher Neiman (Lucas Shoemaker), Leyna Nguyen (Newscaster) & Jon Eric Price (Ned's Father)
On Halloween, Olive hires Emerson to track down a horse-riding ghost who's been killing jockeys..."Though Olive Snook had won the race for her life, in the race
for the pie-maker's heart, she had once again placed second."
for the pie-maker's heart, she had once again placed second."
-- Narrator (Jim Dale)
Ah, the Halloween special. They're always good fun, and Pushing Daisies' supernatural premise would seem like a great basis for some spooky goings-on. The story this week revolves around the ghost of world-famous jockey John Joseph Jacobs (Hamish Linklater), who appears to have returned from beyond the grave to avenge his death, by killing jockeys who were instrumental in his tragic downfall. Olive (Kristin Chenoweth) asks for Emerson's (Chi McBride) help in solving the mystery behind J.J.J, in an episode that plays very much like an episode of Scooby Doo...
It's actually something of a relief that Girth sidesteps the usual emphasis on Ned (Lee Pace) and Chuck's (Anna Friel) relationship, as there's only so much saccharine romance you can stomach. Instead, this episode notably pushes Ned into the background, after resurrecting a few trampled jockeys, and the focus actually settles onto Olive and Emerson for once. Girth reveals that Olive was once a professional jockey (which I can buy into because of diminutive Kristen Chenoweth's 4'11" stature), and hides a dark secret about the circumstances of J.J.J's death.
The whole episode is built on the idea of ghosts from the past returning to figuratively haunt people on Halloween, as it's revealed in flashbacks that Young Ned (Field Cate) discovered his father left home and moved in with a new wife and two new sons on Halloween. There's a wonderful scene where Young Ned, hidden under a blanket as a trick-or-treating ghost, interacts with his father without his knowledge.
For Olive, the past involves her part in a sinister plot with other jockeys (who now appear to be on a vengeful spirit's hit-list), while Chuck grapples with her guilt over allowing her aunts Lily (Swoosie Kurtz) and Vivian (Ellen Greene) to think she's dead. Also nice to see the antagonism between Chuck and Olive increase, as Olive thinks Chuck has faked her death for some ominous reason, unaware that Ned resurrected her with his magic touch.
Pushing Daisies continues to impress me with its stylized world and day-glo colours, but this episode wisely gives us a break from the usual retina-burning extravagance. As a Halloween episode, it's uses a darker colour palette than previous episodes, with shadowy horse stables and a few night-time sequences. But it's still slightly disappointing as a Halloween episode, as it wasn't particularly scary or creepy enough to get under your skin, despite the presence of a fire-breathing horse that seemed to reference The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow in the teaser.
It's a shame, but fortunately this episode gave us a lot of character development – particularly for Ned, whose childhood flashbacks get more relevant as the week's pass by, and Olive with her jockeying past. Chi McBride remains underutilized as Emerson, but his injections of cynicism are wonderful and really help keep the show balanced.
Unfortunately, like a great many US mystery shows, the identity of the spectral horse-rider becomes a little bit obvious towards the end, but the way various clues are spread throughout the story very well, and the specifics regarding J.J.J's death are amusingly strange and engaging. I particularly loved the performance by Barbara Barrie as Mamma Jacobs, a character who could give Emerson a lesson in sarcasm and the art of barbed put-downs.
Katherine Lingenfelter's script also had some memorable laughs (such as Olive's weak attempt to open the tomb with a shovel), and a sublime ending with Ned using his childhood ghost-blanket idea to allow Chuck to interact with her aunts for the first time since her death. It was surprisingly touching, so the actors are certainly doing their job in making the human relationships work, amidst all the peculiarities of Pushing Daisies' universe...
Overall, Girth was a great episode only let down by a central mystery that didn't quite provide the necessary punch after such a build-up. And how the horse could breathe fire was never explained! But, despite some flaws, the character development for Olive and Ned was excellent, and the show continues to provide an hour of charm, giggles and sweetness. It's not the perfect treat for Halloween (on account of its cartoon-level of scares), but it's hardly a nasty trick either.
3 May 2008
ITV1, 9.10 pm
