By Buzz Byrne
Ned has a special gift. He can bring the dead back to life. He discovers this gift, given by no one in particular, at the age of ten. He saves his dog after it’s been hit by a truck and then his mother after she suffers a brain hemorrhage. He also discovers two significant aspects of this gift. The first is that if the re-lifed live longer than a minute, death must come to someone else. In his mother’s case, saving her kills his next door neighbor- father of his first love, a girl named Chuck. The second consequence is, “First touch is life, second touch is dead forever.” If he touches them again, they die for good.
He discovers this with his mother as well when she kisses him goodnight.
At his mother’s funeral, his neighbor is being laid to rest as well in the next plot over. He sees the now-orphaned Chuck and they share a kiss, and then get sent in different directions. Ned becomes a pie maker in the big city while Chuck was sent to be raised by her Aunts Lillian and Vivian who had matching personality disorders that made them shut-ins. A detective named Emerson discovers Ned’s gift and they form a partnership to solve murders and collect rewards.
And then Chuck is murdered on cruise ship. Ned re-lifes her and keeps her alive. So begins this visually stunning, fast-paced dark comedy. This is a show that is borne of the strides cable programming has made. It pushes the bounds of good taste with a whimsical feel. The writing is smart, playing off a simple repetition motif to the off kilter philosophy of “I suppose dying is as good a reason as any to start living.”
The best way to describe it is SIX FEET UNDER meets THE PRINCESS BRIDE with a stunning look usually reserved for motion pictures. Barry Sonnenfeld has delivered big time with directing this series premiere and creator Bryan Fuller is to be congratulated.
Tonight’s premiere has a fairly mundane murder/mystery plot structure with a slight nod to Chandler’s THE BIG SLEEP (we never really discover the identity of the murderer, but by the end, that’s not really the point). Justice is served, to whatever degree this show leans on ethical questions, but most importantly love is blossoming like the sea of daisies that swarm over the hills of Ned and Chuck’s childhood town.
The cast is strong. Lee Pace’s Ned is handsome, goofy and buttoned up. Anna Friel delivers a life to Chuck that is silly, sexy and totally in line with the tone and tempo of the show. Chi McBride as P.I. Emerson Card does well as the hard nosed edge while Kristin Chenoweth has always been a compelling figure, if small in stature. DAISIES gives her lines like, “I use to think masturbation meant chewing your food.” Any actor worth their salt would die to deliver that joke. She will be fun to watch. Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene have more fun than should be allowed as the shut-in aunts with a fondness for cheeses. They seem to be recurring characters and we should be thankful for that.
I’m sure people will love this show or despise it. You either buy into the Fairy Tale treatment or you bristle at the British accented narrator. Since the new television season is populated with HEROES rip-offs and DYNASTY pretenders, this is new territory that is worthy of more than one viewing and deserves higher ratings than it will get going up against such utter garbage like KID NATION or DEAL OR NO DEAL. Give it a look and then watch it again.