It seems that the first time that Ned alive agained someone to find out how he died, he landed himself in jail for his trouble, with no one to bail him out. You might think this would be enough to put him off the whole investigative endeavor, but as we all know, the magic finger has been getting Ned into trouble for a good twenty years, so why stop now?

Chuck, Ned, and Emerson are all seriously spooked that Dead Girl's Dead Dad has taken off. Secrecy becomes the watchword, even more so than usual, and Olive loses the tiny bit of foothold she had last week as Emerson's Itty Bitty. The team's cold shoulder (despite Chuck's reluctance) gets her itty bitties all steamed, and you know there's no thwarting a determined Olive Snook.

When Chuck was a kid, her dad distracted her from her chicken pox by telling her adventure stories. Ironic, considering it was her long-put-off desire for said adventure that got her killed. After the obligatory flashback, we start where we left off last week, with Ned rushing to his old bedroom on the warnings of the aunts that he has a squatter and Chuck revealing that her dad's alive again. Before they can much get into it, the aunts, fearful for Ned's safety, arrive, shotgun in hand. Chuck manages to thwart them from seeing either her or her dad while simultaneously letting her dad know that she knows that Lily's her mother. A strategically placed clown frightens Lily the hell back home, and Chuck emerges, puppy-faced, and tells Ned they need to talk. Ned, containing himself so well the babbling's at nil, says that she really doesn't want to hear what he has to say.

When Ned was a kidlet at his school of pain and suffering, he made a lot of pies for a lot of his fellows, who all needed the kind of comfort you can shovel in in huge, sugary mouthfuls: pie comfort. And it was his first foray into food service, at least until he got caught.

There's no real comfort to be had right now, as he and Chuck are hanging over her dad's coffin, trying to figure out who gets the first word--should Chuck go first, make the most of her first half of the minute, or Ned? They wake Mr. Charles, who appears to be made out of driftwood, but otherwise is not in such bad shape, explain how he's been dead forever, and ask about Dwight. He knows a secret that needs to stay a secret. Dwight is dangerous, he says, but as long as he has the watch, they're fine. The threat of exposure is just his insurance policy: if the gang stays quiet about Dwight, he'll stay quiet about them. Ned leaves Chuck alone to talk to her dad. Next thing, we cut to Ned and Chuck, spooning with a plastic divider between them--there's a plastic sleeve for Ned to have his arm around Chuck, a plastic barrier between the rest of them. And, you know, concerns about dead-again-forever aside, if you had the chance to spoon Lee Pace anyway you could, wouldn't you take it, too? But Chuck's not sleeping tonight--checking that Ned's out cold, she kisses his hand and slips out of bed.

Stake out of deep dark and touchy Remember Ned's Only Friend Eugene, the one he had at boarding school when he was a lonely wee tot? Eugene had a snake named Bilbo and a rabbit; Bilbo jumped through the glass enclosure of his cage into that of the rabbit, killing them both, since he choked on the bunny. Eugene was devastated, and Ned, feeling it was the right thing to do, sacrificed two other animals, less beloved, to bring Bilbo and the bunny back to life for Eugene. He took something else to give back to someone who needed. Just like we need this show, because it elevates TV to unheard of awesomeness, so ABC, please kill something less worthy. You know you've got one in the stables somewhere.

Magic dad security scarf It's clear this week that whatever gift Ned has of bringing people back from the dead, I have the reverse on shows I recap. Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, and my beloved Pushing Daisies all getting the for-all-intents-and-purposes-cancellation-non-pick-up in one week--I feel like I have some sort of recapping hand of death, and if I'd known that, I'd have taken whatever Ned-and-Chuck precaution to keep this show going. But we still have episodes left, so let's get on with this thing. This is an episode that goes round and round and round.

Do I look as cool as you? When Ned was as little kid, he played roulette on long weekends at the boarding school with all the other boys who didn’t get to go home. His first venture, he bet gold-foiled chocolates that had been a gift from his mother, but he only realized their value too late. Ned bet on red and black, forgetting the double zero; he lost everything. “The lesson was clear: in gambling, no matter how well you think you know the odds, there’s always an outcome you can’t see coming,” our narrator tells us. Ned’s avoided taking gambles ever since, with two exceptions: investing in the Pie Hole and falling for Chuck. She’s invented a “Spring Passionfruit Pie,” because it is spring in Australia, which is exotic and upside down, which is how they can serve it. “Betting on Chuck had made the Pie Maker happier than he had ever been,” we’re told. Ned, grinning, agrees to put it on the menu; Chuck likes Daring Ned, she says, and Ned tells her that Cautious Ned has left the building in her presence. Olive pops in with this question: “Who’s the new guy in the booth? The handsome, brooding older man with the sensual twinkle? Plus, he smells good!” Ned says the man said something strange to him. Not having a better way to phrase how he felt when the man spoke, he asks the girls: “Do you ever shiver when you pee?” Well, they might now.

Emerson Cod works the family business. He and his mother dedicated themselves to the pursuit of truth at all costs, a pursuit Emerson thought badass. Young Emerson helped his mom Calista catch lovers in flagrante, and they promised each other never to lie. Now Emerson’s a PI with a passion for pop ups, but he can’t get his autobiographical work, a map for his long lost daughter, published. He decides to give up and heads to The Pie Hole for some rhubarb pie. Or the whole one, whatever. And waiting for him, smoking and not ordering and making Ned nervous is his mother (Deborah Mooney of Everwood!), who Emerson introduces her as his best bud. They take off so that Calista can tell Emerson about a fraud case and for some booze.

Flying nun.

When Olive was a wee tot, so set was she on having an Arabian stallion of her very own, she made up her mind to dig to Arabia in her family’s front yard. What she found on her way down was a triceratops which she traded with a Saudi royal for a white stallion. That day, Olive learned that digging could unearth untold treasures. Now? She’s digging for truffles with the help of Pigby; for some reason, truffle hunting season makes Olive think about why she’s at the convent in the first place, the secret of Chuck’s maternity and her love for Ned. Actually, Kleenex reminds me of my love for Ned, so I don’t entirely blame her.

This week, the role of Chuck will be played by... a monkey?: Ned and Emerson get down to business. Monkey business, that is!The denizens of Play-Doh village run riot as, back in the past, child Chuck stomps through like a girl Godzilla. Her father, washing his car nearby, splashes at her with the garden hose. Not having a mother, Charles Charles is not just the star of his young daughter's life -- he's a universe. So it's profoundly devestating when he drops dead, collateral damage inflicted unknowingly by Ned's trigger finger. Ned can't look at his mother, who sits with and comforts Chuck while waiting for the aunts to arrive. His own mother having been dead only hours before, he acts like he's seen a ghost. Which he kinda has.