TV Fan

After one looong strike-induced break after and one almost-as-long recap to kick off its second season premier, "Pushing Daisies" has returned still in full bloom. The lengthy break has done nothing to dim this show's spirit, creativity or individuality.

And what better way to return to a show with a flower in its title than to feature a bee-themed episode? The show kicked off with our beloved Chuck (Anna Friel, robbed of her rightful Emmy nomination this year) dumping dead bees over a nearly naked Ned. Kinky? No, Chuck just needed to bring her beloved hive back to life after some sort of bee poison had wiped it out.

Then, before you know it, the gang is investigating a bee-themed mystery. Coincidence! The facts were these: my much-loved Autumn Reeser ("the o.c." fans represent!) guest-starred as a much-stung (in more ways than one) corpse who was involved in honey mergers and drones in plastic cases. At some point Chuck became an unwitting target, but because of her history as a bee keeper, she turned into the bee version of last season's "Corpsicle," but not as dead.

As much fun as the investigation of the week was (and in any other episode, it would have been excellent), the real star of the show was the sudden boiling of several long-gestating subplots-well, as long-gestating as nine episodes can possibly be.

Let's begin with the Darling Mermaid Darlings, shall we? It was great to see Vivian and Lily finally (finally!) take the plunge (pardon the swimming metaphor) and leave their house. It turns out after Lily spilled the secret that she was Chuck's mother to Olive (the Emmy-robbed Kristen Chenoweth), our favorite short stack stopped delivering hallucinogenic pies to the sisters. Vivian was honestly hurt her supposed friend suddenly abandoning her, and boarded a bus to track Olive down.

The confrontation between the sisters, Ned, Olive and Chuck (who was hidden under Emerson's coat) that resulted in the Pie Hole was one of the best moments of the series so far, with Olive mounting a chair and almost spilling all the secrets that have been unwittedly stuffed into her brain. Ultimately, Olive decided to quit the Pie-Hole and become some sort of temporary nun instead of dishing the dirt along with lemon meringue.

Did anyone else catch Diana Scarwid, who played the mother in the much-missed "Wonderfalls" (also created by "Daisies" showrunner Bryan Fuller) as Mother Superior at the convent? The nunnery, set atop a cliff with many hills surrounding, gave the show ample opportunity to send up "The Sound of Music" with Olive twisting and singing, only to be frowned upon by her sister nuns.

Eventually Lily tracked Olive down to ensure that Olive would keep her own pie hole shut, and realized Olive was not responding well to the nunnery's all-church-all-the-time mantra. Their confrontation resulted not only in the revelation that Lily was boinking Vivian's betrothed, but also the best line of the night, courtesy of Olive: "All this praying-I'm having awkward silences with God!"

Elsewhere in Cur du Cur, Chuck and Ned were going through growing pains, specifically that Chuck wanted to grow out of Ned's apartment and into Olive's vacant one. Ned, always the adorable worrier/brooder, worried that Chuck wanted space from their relationship and brooded that he wasn't doing enough to keep her interested, especially when Chuck took an undercover job as a bee girl.

Of course, Ned got it together and realized that Chuck just needed space to breathe and not be in constant worry of grazing Ned in his small apartment and find herself pushing daisies once more. In one of his grand romantic gestures, he procured all of Chuck's belongings from Vivian and stuffed Olive's apartment full of them. On a scale of Ned's Grand Romantic Gestures, with one being the glove and plastic wall in his car and ten being bringing Chuck back to life, this was about a seven. Say it with me: Awwww...

While all this plot development was going on, Emerson had little to do except create his pretty pop-up book (can I buy one now? Please?) and twiddle his thumbs. But by the end of the episode, the narrator was none-too-subtly hinting that Emerson lost a daughter and desperately wanted her back. I'm looking forward to the reunion, if only to see Emerson's maternal side emerge.

What do you think? Was it great to see Diana Scarwid stop by "Pushing Daisies," and what other "Wonderfalls" vets would you like to see in Cur du cur. Where is Emerson's daughter, and how old is she? And would you buy that pop up book?