Recap

After Ned accidentally brings a pigeon back to life, himself, Chuck, Olive and Emerson all witness a crop dusting place crash into the building across the street. The trio of crime fighters follow after it.

Inside the apartment where the plane crashed, Chuck literally falls for the resident, Conrad Fitch. He catches her when she trips (because Ned cannot). She seems smitten with this guy whose apartment is now destroyed, a sentiment that obviously bothers our favorite pie maker. Nevertheless, he leaves with Emerson to talk to the dead pilot at the morgue.

Turns out the insurance company has marked this as a suicide already, which doesn't sit well with the pilot's wife. When Ned speaks to the deceased Braden Caden, though, he's told that a man in an orange jumpsuit hijacked the plane and that's why it crashed. From there, Ned and Emerson head back to the apartment and find a surprise:

The real Conrad Fitch is dead inside a trunk there. And the imposter/hijacker? He's wooing Chuck back at The Pie Hole. She even has him close his eyes and take her hand, pretending it to be Ned's. But Ned sees this gesture and, naturally, assumes these two are flirting for real. When the fake Conrad sees Ned, he flees. And Ned can only grab him by the arm... the fake arm, as it comes off and the criminal escapes.

Meanwhile, Olive delivers more pie to the aunts and tries to convince them to come to The Pie Hole in order to expose Chuck, who Olive thinks faked her death. She and the aunts nurse the pigeon back to health.

Fortunately, Emerson has people at the prison who give him the lowdown on the hijacker: his name is Lem and he was in jail for a white collar crime. He shared a prison cell with a man named Jackson, who revealed to him there whereabouts of stolen diamonds. Therefore, Emerson, Chuck and Ned (we need a catchy name for these three. Anyone got moniker suggestions?) dig Jackson up, awaken him and ask where the diamonds are buried.

He tells them: at the foot of a staircase inside a town windmill. And, yes, he gave that same information to Lem. From there, Emerson, Chuck and Ned (see what we mean? It's cumbersome to constantly write and read) visit the windmill. They learn it's been retired to, well, the area in town where retired windmills go. The camera takes us there:

We meet Elista (guest star Jayma Mays), who lives in the windmill in question and is greeted by a knock at her door. It's Lem. She lets him in and we see behind his back: dude is carrying an ax. After this, we learn a complicated back story. Ready? Ok:

Elista's mother met Jackson after he buried his diamonds at the foot of her staircase. They kissed. But the cops busted down the door and took Jackson to prison. He and Elista wrote to each other for 20 years, until each passed away... but not before they had Elista and Lem, respectively, continue the correspondence. And all the letters were sent via carrier pigeon, the same carrier pigeon that escaped from Lem's plane during his prison break and flew into The Pie Hole.

And the same carrier pigeon who Olive and the aunts had now tracked to this windmills. So there they are: Olive, the aunts, Elista and Lem - the latter two having bonded over their history of writing, unknowingly, to one another for years, any semblance of kidnapping long forgotten about, - when there's a knock at the door. It's Emerson, Chuck and Ned.

This is Olive's chance to expose Chuck! But she lets it pass by, not wanting to traumatize the aunts. She tells the threesome to wait outside the windmill so a moment, slyly letting Chuck know that the aunts are inside. Now Chucks knows that Olive knows something is amiss. But that's all anyone finds out, as the aunts and Olive escape out the back, while the police come and re-capture Lem.

He and Elista now become pen pals, as the episode ends with another cute image of Ned and Chuck: they dance together on the rooftop of his building... in beekeeper suits. He even catches her during a dip. Awww...

Show:
Pushing Daisies
Season:
Episode Number:
4
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Pushing Daisies Season 1 Episode 4 Quotes

It's dead. And it's a bird. It's diseased.

Emerson

Chuck: You do realize that bee keeping within city limits is completely illegal?
Ned: Yes. And I'm almost sure I don't care.