Episode Report Card Al Lowe: A+ | 12 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Comfort Food
By Al Lowe | Season 2 | Episode 8 | Aired on 12.03.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Well, they do it -- they wake up Chuck's dad. Fairly well preserved, he tells them that Dwight is indeed a dangerous man but as long as Dwight has the watch, they have nothing to worry about. Chuck's having some emotional issues as a result of the re-aliving, and sends Ned off with Olive to avenge their previous loss at the Comfort Food Cook-Off. Oh, when I said emotional issues? I meant that Chuck had tricked Ned into not re-killing her dad, and had secretly gone back to dig him up. YEAH. He's ALIVE. And she's hiding him in Ned's childhood home. I KNOW. Poor Chuck feels desperately sad about being responsible for the nearby death that surely occurred because of her father staying alive beyond his minute. Not knowing where to turn, she goes to Emerson for help. They investigate, and guess who the nearby death is? GUESS. You can't. It's DWIGHT. I KNOW. He was at the cemetery, hiding out, with a RIFLE pointing at Chuck's dad's grave! Dudes, he was going to kill Chuck! But because she kept her dad alive, Dwight's now dead. Can you handle it?
In the midst of all this, there's a Dead Guy of the Week. Seriously, how is there time?! Anyway, it's Colonel Lickin', contestant in the Comfort Food Cook-Off, and he is deep-fried to death for his secret recipe. With only Olive for help, Ned feels compelled to solve the crime. Turns out the killer is the scooter-riding coordinator of the Cook-Off who had vowed to destroy the Colonel for making him fat with his delicious herbs and spices. Not only do Ned and Olive wrap up the criminal, they win the blue ribbon. While Olive is thrilled to have been Ned's partner on these two scores, her heart still yearns for a different kind of partnership.
Meanwhile, I held my breath through every awesome segment only to join my husband in an "Oh, HELL no" during every commercial as we remembered THIS BRILLIANT SHOW IS CANCELLED.
Want more? The full recap starts right below! Poor Ned. Even at the Academy of Sadness, he stress-baked. One night, in fact, he was caught in flagrante delicto by none other than his BFF Eugene, who immediately joined him in the act. This lead, as Jim Dale tells us, to nothing less than a booming industry in which Ned provided comfort-via-pie to his schoolmates, lifting their spirits. Of course, this service came with consequences -- Ned got in trouble with the headmaster -- and he is to learn this lesson yet again years later at the grave of his girlfriend's father. Which he has just dug up. In order to bring the desiccated corpse of her dad back to life. In front of her. As one does.This was just slightly hard for me to watch, this scene right here. My father died unexpectedly in 2001, and I am glad I have enough perspective on it now to be able to see this and really feel the sweetness of Chuck's reaction beside the good-natured humor the show injects into all scenes like this. That being said, HOLY LORD, they WOKE UP CHUCK'S DAD. I mean, I know they prepared us for it last week, and all, but... was I the only one who thought they'd open the coffin and it would be empty somehow? I was amazed they went there, and impressed with how inoffensive it was, while still being darkly funny. Also, while his appearance is fairly alarming, sure, the man has been dead for 20-something years, right? I was expecting more... uh, you know... I was expecting his remains to not have remained in such good shape, is what I'm saying, but I suppose I am grateful that they did.
After some debate over which one of them will have the first 30-seconds of the interview, Chuck insists ("I'll hit you with a shovel") that Ned go first in order to find out the deal about Dwight. Ned lays down the touch and swiftly explains to Mr. Charles that Dwight is hanging around and seems to be a dangerous guy. "Oh, yeah," Mr. Charles confirms. Dwight's a bad guy. "Oh, no," Ned cringes. "He stole Chuck's -- I still call your daughter 'Chuck,' still, like when I was nine..." Chuck interrupts: "Fifteen!" Ned: "No, I was nine." Chuck: "Seconds!" Ned gets back to it. He explains that Dwight stole Chuck's pocket watch and is threatening to expose a very important secret of theirs. "Well, if he's got the watch, you've got nothing to worry about," Mr. Charles says. "The threat is his insurance policy -- if you don't say nothing, you've got nothing to worry about." With that, Ned says thanks and scurries away to the cemetery gates to give Chuck the final portion of the minute alone with her father.