Pushing Daisies – ITV1 Smell of Success

3 months ago 16th May 15:08

Emerson suggests that they see whose book got bumped when LeNez’s got pushed forward, while Chuck pursues her cupcake-pie idea. Olive pulls Chuck away to explain about Lily and Vivian and Chuck wants Olive to push harder. Ned is concerned about the two women bonding. Emerson realises that the bumped book was a pop-up book entitled "Pop-Up Pin Ups". Ned and Emerson go to Pop-Up Palace to see the pop-up book author, Chas Spielman. Spielman denies attempting to kill LeNez and notes that the publisher moved LeNez’s book from a holiday spot to a dead sales period.

Chuck’s newest scheme to cheer up her aunts is to expose them to the smell of chlorine and revive their memories of their synchronized swimming days. The trio returns to the Pie Hole and finds a drain clogged with a stinky sock with a warning written on it: "U can't save Lenez". They take the stinky sock to LeNez who says it could have only come from one man, Oscar Vibenius. The two of them were lab partners until they split up over their odour theories. Afterwards Oscar retreated below ground to the sewers. LeNez believes Oscar is trying to stop the publication of his book.

Olive visits the aunts and exposes them to the smell of chlorine. Lily seemingly starts to smile but then belches and returns to her despondency. Ned, Emerson, and Chuck go into the sewers to look for Oscar and follow a yellow thick hose to LeNez’s apartment building, where they find Oscar working on a methane gas outlet with a hose leading up to the surface and LeNez’s car. The trio run in terror from Oscar, while above LeNez activates his remote car lock with the vehicle exploding.

The explosion makes the news and Oscar is wanted for the attempted murder of LeNez. Chuck is cleaning up at Ned’s apartment and they note that Oscar isn’t very good at his murder attempts after two have failed. Emerson is meeting with LeNez to give a press statement. Chuck goes to see Olive, who is trying on the aunts’ mermaid costume and gives Chuck back her sweater.

LeNez and Emerson are interviewed by a reporter about the attempts on LeNez's life. LeNez says that someone doesn’t want his book published and implicates Oscar. Chuck and Olive watch the broadcast at the Pie Hole as Oscar comes into the diner. Olive goes for a knife but Oscar says he’s just there for pie and a talk, and notes he doesn’t appear to be a very good killer. They agree to hear him out, and Oscar explains that while investigating the case from the sewer, he spotted the hose and tried to shut it off.

The trio found him before he could shut it off, and he had to run for cover before the explosion. Oscar smells Chuck and notices something unusual, and doesn’t believe her claim that her perfume smells of death. They realize that the methane explosion smelled like rotten eggs, but methane doesn’t have a smell. Only someone who believed the public was dumb enough to think that methane smelled of rotten eggs would have rigged the gas to smell that way. Oscar notes that LeNez’s book sales are guaranteed to rise after the publicity from the murder attempts.

Meanwhile, Ned searches LeNez’s apartment during the interview and reveals what he’s found to Emerson. Emerson and Ned confront LeNez with the evidence: another smelly sock with a warning message. They accuse him of framing Oscar, but he accuses them of planting evidence. He orders them out but traps them in his decontamination chamber. He then pumps in explosive gasses that will explode when sets it off. LeNez reveals that Anita’s death was an accident. He rigged the book to explode but didn’t expect her to secretly sniff it. He then staged the second murder attempt and framed Oscar.

Chuck, Olive, and Oscar arrive and enter the decontamination chamber, and reveal that Oscar reprogrammed the decontamination system. He reverses the airflow, pumping all the odours of the outside world into LeNez’s apartment. LeNez collapses as he is overwhelmed by all the natural scents.

At the aunts’ home, Vivian bursts into song and she and an inspired Lily go to the pool to synchronize swim. Emerson closes the case and enjoys his newly-regained interested in pop-up books. Ned shows Chuck his new menu with cup-pies included. Outside, Oscar lurks in a van and watches Chuck, obsessed with trying to identify her unique odour and smelling her stolen sweater.

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