So, what is up with all the Hitchcock references on Pushing Daisies lately? Two weeks ago, I thought the dog breeder’s death scene was vaguely reminiscent of Psycho, what with the black and white, the window looking over a nondescript city, the violin music, the shots of a knife NOT going into a body, his hand grabbing the wicker box (like Marion grabbed the shower curtain), and the circle motif as he lay on the ground.
Several minutes later, a VERY obvious Vertigo-esque dream made it clear that I hadn’t imagined the Psycho similarity:
And then tonight’s episode has a nearly exact recreation of the scene in The Birds where Melanie crosses Bodega Bay taking the love birds to Mitch. There are more birds in the Pushing Daisies version, but still. The body of water Molly Shannon is crossing is even called Bodega Bay, for crying out loud.
Obviously, as a huge fan of both Pushing Daisies and Hitchcock, I enjoy the tributes. But what is the point? Are they only doing it just to be doing it? There doesn’t seem to be any solid reason to connect any of the Hitchcock films with the episodes in which they’re referenced. Is there some bigger scheme I’m not seeing yet? Is Hitchcock the only one they’re referencing, or have I missed other references due to unfamiliarity? More importantly, have I missed any Hitchcock references? The Psycho one was relatively subtle, so now I’m wondering if there have been other subtle ones that I didn’t see.
In bad news, no new Pushing Daisies next week. Sadness. :(