C. Cook: Power and Responsibility February 2014 | страница 4

Bryan Fuller brought to life Ned the Piemaker, a humble man with the unusual power to bring things back to life with a single, and undo it all with another. In his 2007 comedy-drama Pushing Daises starring Lee Pace and Anna Friel as the Piemaker and his childhood sweetheart Chuck, Fuller explores how Ned has learned to manage his ability as well as how he uses it to help private investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) solve the mysterious and sometimes ridiculous deaths of several people. However, Ned's supernatural power comes with a catch: leave a dead thing alive for longer than a minute, and something else has to die in its place. Ned learned the details of his power when he was young, touching his dog Digby after he had been hit by a truck, and then his mother who had a blood vessel burst in her brain. In Digby's place, a squirrell died, and in his mother's place, Chuck's father.

Ned had no idea about the consequences until his mother was tucking him in for bed that night, gaving him a goodnight kiss and promptly keeling over re-dead. Ned vowed never to leave a dead thing re-alive for longer than a minute, because of the random proximity replacement death, and the fear of taking an innocent's life. Ned routinely uses his power to refresh rotted fruit to use in his pie shop, though this has the consequence of him not being able to eat his own pies because the minute they touch his tongue, they rot again. However, Emerson has convinced Ned to revive the mysterious dead to make a quick buck. Emerson is abusing Ned's ability for his own personal gain, much like Lady Macbeth with Macbeth.

Waking the Dead,

Making Pies