Originally aired: Wednesday October 3, 2007 on ABC
Writer: Bryan Fuller
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Show Stars: Jim Dale (Narrator), Lee Pace (Ned), Swoosie Kurtz (Lily), Kristin Chenoweth (Olive Snook), Chi McBride (Emerson Cod), Anna Friel (Charlotte “Chuck” Charles), Ellen Greene (Vivian)
Guest Stars: Geraud Moncure (Newscaster 4) , Julie Wittner (Deedee) , Greg Suddeth (Gravedigger 1) , Sammi Hanratty (Young Chuck) , Patrick Breen (Leo Gaswint) , Field Cate (Young Ned) , Brad Grunberg (The Funeral Director) , Sy Richardson (The Coroner) , Ed Brigadier (Minister 1) , Murray Gershenz (The Rabbi) , Terry Anzur (Newscaster 3) , Leyna Nguyen (Newscaster 2) , David Trice (Martin Miltenberger) , Ted Garcia (Newscaster 1) , Tina Gloss (Ned’s Mother) , Jeff Wolfe (Shiny Shoes Killer)
In Coeur d’Coeur, young Ned is 9 years old and playing with his dog Digby, which is hit by a truck. When Ned touches Digby, the dog comes back to life. They run off to play, unaware that a squirrel has died.
In his house, young Ned touches a dead fly and brings it back to life. He then watches the neighbor girl, Chuck, who is pretending to be a dinosaur. Ned remembers the two of them playing together once. Then his mother dies of a burst blood vessel while making pies. Ned touches her and brings her back to life, and she doesn’t remember anything unusual. However, a minute later he looks at the window and sees Chuck’s father fall over dead. Ned realizes that if he keeps someone alive for more then a minute, someone else dies. Worse of all, if he touches someone he has brought back to life, they die for good. He finds this out when his mother kisses him and she dies for good.
In the aftermath of their parents’ funerals, Ned is sent to boarding school and Chuck is put in the care of her two aunts, former synchronized swimmers named Lily and Vivian who rarely leave their house. The two children have one kiss at the funeral.
Ned is now a pie maker, bring fruit back to life for his ingredients. Waitress Olive is selling private detective Cod a pie: Cod knows about Ned’s ability when he saw the pie maker inadvertently bring a criminal back to life and then kill him again. Emerson made a deal with Ned: they would bring murder victims back to life and interrogate them as to how they died so they could solve the murders.
Emerson comes to Ned with a new case: a dog that was framed for the murder of its owner. They go to the morgue and Ned brings back the victim, Leo. Ned determines that Leo’s secretary sicced her own dog on him and framed Leo’s dog. Once he has the story, Ned “kills” Leo again before 60 seconds go by.
Olive, who takes care of Digby for Ned when he’s gone, tries to get close to him without luck. Ned isn’t interested, but catches a news broadcast about a young woman who died on an ocean liner voyage. Emerson reveals there’s a $50,000 reward to solve her murder, and reveals her name: Charlotte Charles: Chuck.
Ned and Emerson go back to Coeur d’Coeur and visit the funeral home. Ned asks for a moment alone and brings Chuck back to life, but she can’t tell who strangled her to death with a plastic sack. Ned prepares to kiss her again but can’t bring himself to do it. As a result the funeral director dies. Ned puts Chuck back in the coffin and goes outside, but Emerson suspects something is up. Ned gets rid of him and goes back in only to find the coffin being taken away. Ned follows it to the cemetery while Chuck remembers about how she had to stay with her aunts and rarely left the house so she went to a travel agency.
Ned arrives at the cemetery and sets the gravediggers’ truck on fire, then gets Chuck out of the coffin and has her stay at his apartment since she can’t reveal she’s alive. She watches the news about the fact she was killed and suspects Ned wanted the reward. Ned explains that wasn’t (entirely) the case and Chuck is reassured. She goes to sleep and the next morning sees a sign from Ned saying for her not to leave the apartment. She goes out anyway and runs into next-door neighbor Olive. Ned talks to Emerson at the pie store and Chuck and Olive come in. Emerson immediately figures out what’s going on, while Chuck wants to solve her own murder and split the reward 30-30-40.
Chuck reveals that the travel agency owner DeeDee gave her a discount to pick up a package during her trip: plaster monkeys. They go to the travel agency and find DeeDee dead, strangled with a plastic bag. Ned brings her back to life but before she can explain anything, DeeDee touches Ned and died, but they realize she doesn’t have the monkeys… which were sent to Chuck’s next of kin. Outside the aunts’ home, the killer, wearing shiny shoes, enters the yard.
The three of them go to the aunts’ house and they have Chuck stay in the car while they go inside. The aunts were synchronized swimming mermaid until Lily got dirty cat sand in her eye and they lost their careers. Vivian and Lily let them in and talk about Charlotte, who is watching from the window. Chuck goes around the back to check on her bees then climbs up to her room and finds the monkey case on her bed. When Lily comes in, Chuck hides outside and sees the killer try to strangle Lily with a plastic bag.
Ned goes upstairs to help Lily and the killer attacks him, but Chuck comes to his aid. Lily, who held her breath and survived the plastic bag, fires a shotgun and blow s the killer out the window. Fortunately due to her loss of one eye, Lily fails to see Chuck, who slips quietly away.
Later at Ned’s pie store, the Pie-Hole, Ned admits to Chuck he was being selfish, but can’t bring himself to explain how he killed her father. She gives him one of the monkeys and they kiss… by having the monkeys kiss. They realize the monkeys are too heavy and smash them together, revealing they’re golden. The aunts get the $50,000 reward and go back out into the world.
Ned and Emerson find themselves with a new partner and go to the morgue to solve a new murder of a scuba diver in a lobster tank. Ned brings him back to life… and Chuck asks if the dead man has any last words or requests. The two of them are left to hold their own hands… and pretend they’re holding each others.
Source: TV.com
