Pushing Daisies Review

This dark-tinged, sugar-sweet and thoroughly charming fantasy series feels like Edward Scissorhands-era Burton meets Amélie — if Amélie hung out with dead people. Piemaker Ned (Lee Pace) can return the dead to life with a touch, but can never touch the returnee again or he will kill them permanently - making for problems when he impulsively brings back his childhood sweetheart (Anna Friel). An arch narrator talks us through the series of murder investigations and romantic tanglings that comprise the plot, but there’s time for lots of pie and magical realism along the way. It’s occasionally a little too stylised for its own good, especially if watched in large chunks, but with the clever premise and an excellent cast (Kristin Chenoweth, Chi McBride and Swoosie Kurtz are regulars), it’s rarely less than delightful.