The Fun in Funeral

"The Fun in Funeral"

"The Fun in the Funeral" is the third episode of the first season of the American television comedy-drama Pushing Daisies.

Synopsis

As a child, Ned tested the grace period he had of how long he could keep something resurrected without killing someone.

In the present, Ned hasn’t mentioned to Chuck the cost of keeping her alive, and they kiss through Saran Wrap. A jealous Olive Snook, watching, chats with the traveling salesman Alfredo Aldarisio, who who worries that Earth’s atmosphere could be sucked away and treats himself with his own homeopathic antidepressants. Emerson Cod comes in for ice cream, and Olive expresses her frustration to him. He also has a new case, of a man who died under mysterious circumstances. Emerson, Ned and Chuck (despite Emerson's protests) go to the morgue to check the body and it turns out to be Lawrence Schatz, the man who died to keep Chuck alive and was revealed as a grave robber. Ned leaves, refusing to touch him, and Chuck wants to know who the killer is. Ned finally admits that he killed Schatz.

Meanwhile, Alfredo shows off his herbal wares to Olive while an unhappy Chuck comes in, clearly distraught and making Olive happy. Emerson is unhappy because it might have been him, and he worked with Schatz. Now Schatz’s twin brother Louis Schatz has hired Emerson to solve the murder and find the missing heirlooms. Ned refuses, but Chuck wants Ned to talk to Schatz and apologize, while she thanks him.

Ned, Emerson and Chuck go back to the Schatz Brothers Funeral Home and meet Louis, who is a fan of Chuck’s aunts but reveals they had a relapse and cancelled their synchronized swimming tour. The reason was that Lily and Vivian Charles found a late-arriving postcard from Charlotte. Louis has come up with a theory of his own: his brother confessed to him but never revealed where he hid the heirlooms, and one of the angry family members killed Lawrence, and will come after Louis next. Once Louis leaves, Ned resurrects Lawrence and apologizes, then Chuck thanks him. Emerson asks him where the heirlooms are buried and Lawrence reveals that Louis was his partner. Chuck realizes that Lawrence stole her father's pocketwatch from her corpse and slams the coffin lid shut. With time running out, Emerson runs as far away as he can while Ned and Chuck try to knock the coffin open. They get it open just in time and Chuck, looking at the watch that was a gift from her aunts, and wants to do something for them.

The trio goes over the letters from the families of the dead people the Schatzes stole from, while Chuck worries about her aunts. Alfredo offers his herbal medicine as a solution for their depression and provides a sample pack. Chuck mixes it in a pie and arranges for it to be delivered to them. Olive ends up delivering the pie when the delivery boy refuses to take it because Coeur d'Coeurs is not part of the regular delivery route, unaware that Louis Schatz’s corpse is hidden in the Pie Hole's freezer.

Chuck comes in to discuss the situation with Ned and they find Louis in the freezer. Meanwhile, Olive arrives at the aunts’ house and, creeped out, tries to leave it off only to be invited in. The aunts invite Olive in for pie and remember Ned, and Olive puts two and two together and realizes Chuck is the "perky brunette from nowhere"… while eating the pie.

Chuck and Ned call Emerson, who figures someone is setting up Ned. The police arrive so Ned brings back Louis and he explains that he confronted one of the family members who had a Civil War heirloom stolen while he was eating. Louis choked to death on the piece of tongue he was eating. They get him out, Ned kills him again, and they head for the funeral home, where Emerson gets stuck in a window. Meanwhile Ned bumps into a couple of corpses, a grumpy elderly man and a perky 30s woman, and has to quickly make them dead. Ned then finds a man lying on a table who is alive and wielding the Civil War sword. It’s Wilfred Woodruff, whose family member has the sword stolen. Woodruff thinks back to how his great-great-great-great-grandfather, Fambing Woo ended up becoming a hero in the Civil War and getting the sword.

Ned and Woodruff fight while Emerson is stuck in the window, and Chuck teases Emerson by referring to him as Winnie-the-Pooh. Woodruff thinks that Ned killed Lawrence because he ran out of the funeral home after resurrecting Chuck. Chuck arrives and Woodruff goes after her, but Ned trips him and Emerson kicks him unconscious. Ned knocks down the curtain, revealing the hidden heirlooms.

Olive, cheered by the realization that Chuck must have faked her own death, arrives at the Pie Hole with Digby. The espresso machine is now working and filled with water and coffee grounds, fixed by Alfredo in the hopes of winning Olive's heart. Olive has a cup. According to the narrator, "For the time being, the romantic gesture was lost on Olive. Her espresso, was much too bitter.", Emerson decides to lose weight after considering the obese Schatz brothers. Lily and Vivian enjoy their antidepressant laced pie while Woodruff is charged with murder. Ned and Chuck busy themselves sending back family valuables to their rightful owners using the hate mail the Schatz brothers had accumulated to match heir to heirloom. Ned confesses that even knowing what he knows now, he would still let Chuck live and sacrifice the Schatz brother. The mood gets intimate and Ned leans toward Chuck and says, "I'm going to see if I have some plastic wrap."