Favorite Characters: Emerson Cod (Pushing Daisies)

Pushing Daisies is a show where pretty much every character, from the leads down to the bit parts, has a lot to offer, and Emerson Cod brings so much to the proceedings. The knitting detective, named after after a poet and a fish, at first seems at odds with all the bright colors and sweetness, but Emerson helps balance the show in important ways, and the show in turn balances him (premise spoilers, along with a few Emerson-related spoilers from season 2.)

We’re introduced to Emerson as a jaded opportunist: seeing Ned’s gift (the piemaker can bring dead things/people back to life without consequence for up to a minute, just by touching them,) he gets the idea to partner with Ned and solve murders by temporarily waking the deceased to ask them about their murder. Emerson sees Ned as a potential cash cow, an easier way to solve crimes and collect either reward money or P.I. fees, and while characters like Chuck wear their sunshiny idealism on their sleeves, Emerson has lines like “dead bodies always lead to paydays.”

Similarly, Emerson seems at first a gruff guy with no time for sentiment. This might make his partnership with Ned appear unfortunate for him, since Ned and Chuck are all about sentiment and cute romance. Many a sweet moment between those two are punctuated by Emerson’s “kill me now” face as they rope him into “proxy” displays of affection. Ned brought Chuck back to life on a permanent basis after her own murder, but the nature of his powers means that if he ever touches her again, she’ll be dead forever – so, they’ll sometimes hold Emerson’s hands instead of each other’s or get him to hug one of them on the other’s behalf. And all the while, Emerson glowers.

And no denying, Emerson is sharper and more cynical than Ned and Chuck – more so than Olive too, even though she’s a little further down the cynicism spectrum than the two lovebirds. He brings his dry sarcasm to most situations, he lectures Ned when he thinks the piemaker is being stupid, and he generally has little faith in humanity. But Emerson’s streetwise guardedness comes about in part from being once bitten, twice shy. Lilah, his ex, is a con woman who tricked him, and what’s worse, she took his daughter Penny from him. He’s spent years beating himself up for not seeing through Lilah’s games, desperate to see Penny again but unsure of how to find her and blaming himself for their separation almost as much as he blames Lilah. His experiences with Lilah robbed him of what trust he had, and his pain at losing Penny made him hesitant to care about anything else.

At heart, though, Emerson is a lot softer than he lets on, and even if he doesn’t express his feelings as openly as other characters do, it doesn’t mean he’s indifferent. Over time, he slowly begins to open up to his friends about what he’s been through. He develops an affectionate friendship with Olive, he recognizes Ned’s worth beyond the financial advantages his powers bring, and he even warms up – a little – to Chuck. And so, just as his gruff zingers keep the series from feeling too saccharine, the other characters’ sweetness help the sometimes-curmudgeonly P.I. let a few of his walls down.