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Chuck's history as an apiarist comes in handy, when she goes undercover as a "Bee-Girl" at a honey company, after their new spokesmodel, Kentucky Fitz, is stung to death. She soon discovers that office politics are killer (literally) between the founder Betty Bee and the new owner, Woolsey Nicholls. Meanwhile, Ned can't cope with Chuck's growing independence - or the fact that she wants to move out of his apartment. In other developments, Lily spirits Olive off to a nunnery so she won't spill the older woman's deep, dark secret.

Synopsis

The Past

Chuck was at her father's funeral while Ned was at his mother's. After their parents' deaths, Ned embraced pie-making and Chuck took up bee-raising.

The Present

Ned is helping Chuck by removing his clothing. Chuck strips down to her underwear as well out of fairness, before putting on a bee suit. Her bees on the rooftop have died in a pesticide accident. When Chuck asks Ned if he'd like to see his dad again, he admits he hasn't seen his dad in 20 years. Chuck then pours her dead bees all over Ned, while nearby an equal number of water bugs die.

Meanwhile, Olive is feeling uncomfortable with the secret that she knows Chuck's secret, and that she's still in love with Ned. Emerson is working on his pop-up book, "Lil' Gum Shoe", when a prospective client comes in and says that his wife was having an affair and died in a work-related "accident." The husband, Dusty Fitz, isn't sure who his wife was leaving, him or the man she was having an affair with. He was eavesdropping and couldn't tell for sure.

Kentucky Fitz was the Number-One Bee-Girl of Betty's Bees, a famous honey and honey-based products company. She was stung to death behind the wheel of her Bee Mobile. Emerson, Ned, and Chuck go to the morgue and interrogate Kentucky, who is covered in bee stings. Kentucky insists there was no romance and she was leaving the company. She didn't tell Dusty because she didn't want him to worry that she was sabotaging Betty's Bees because Betty had it coming. She didn't see the murderer's face, but he spit something at her and bees swarmed her. Ned makes Kentucky dead again just after she says she sabotaged the bees with a "lot of might." Ned is creeped out by the story. A swarm of bees emerges from Kentucky's mouth and they make a hasty exit.

Back at the Pie Hole, Ned is still creeped out by the bees. Emerson says they need an undercover agent at Betty's Bees and finds an ad in the paper calling for Bee-Girls. That undercover agent is Chuck, under the alias of Katherine "Kitty" Pimms. She is interviewed by Woolsey Nicholls, a former rival of Betty's Bees who bought out the company. Chuck raises the fact of Kentucky's death and asks if she was leaving, but Woolsey denies it and says their new brand relaunch was based on Kentucky's face: he's phasing out Betty because she's too old. Woolsey hires Chuck, while Emerson and Ned listen in on a bee bug. Chuck then searches Kentucky's office and finds a key with the number 88 on it in the desk. She also discovers Betty Bee hiding in the wardrobe. Betty demands an explanation and grabs the key from the desk. She goes to her office and puts the key in her desk. Chuck follows, but is ordered out.

At the Pie Hole, the team figures that both Woolsey and Betty have motives, while Olive wonders if Betty and Kentucky had a romantic relationship. Chuck is preparing pies for her aunts with the "special ingredient," and Olive notices it. Olive remembers how she discovered who Chuck's mother is, and Lily banished her from the house. Chuck insists on investigating things further but Ned objects, fearing for Chuck's safety. They're interrupted when Vivian and Lily arrive. Chuck makes a hasty exit and Vivian wonders why Olive stopped delivering pies. Lily was unable to stop her from coming to the Pie Hole. Olive makes a feeble excuse and steps out to grab a pie. She then insists on explaining everything… and instead screams at the top of her lungs. Sick of all the secrets she is keeping, she quits. Lily tells Olive she knows a place she can go.

The next day, Ned and Chuck go over Olive's now-deserted apartment and Chuck blames herself for Olive's departure. She admits to Ned that she was drugging her aunts to get them out of the house, but is happy she has her first job. Chuck wants to move out of Ned's apartment and into Olive's, upsetting Ned.

Meanwhile, Olive is on a mountaintop singing and dancing… at a nunnery.

Woolsey brings Chuck to see Betty. After Woolsey leaves, Betty explains that Woolsey obtained the company in a hostile takeover. She also reveals that her bee colony died, killed by mites. Chuck realizes that Kentucky sabotaged the hives using mites, not "might," but Betty insists that it was simply an accident. She grew up with bees at her home, which she describes as her Honey House.

At the Pie Hole, the trio meets with Dusty and explains what they've discovered. They also explain that Kentucky sabotaged the hives, leading to her death. Dusty notes that Kentucky and Betty were like sisters until Kentucky was chosen as the new face of Betty's Bees. Chuck assures Dusty that at least he knows that his wife loved him. Chuck tells Ned and Emerson she can find the key from Kentucky's desk the next day, and Ned doesn't say anything about the danger she might be in: he insists that it's Chuck's life. Ned spots Vivian outside and has Chuck hide, then goes outside and tells Vivian the shop is closed. Vivian says Lily is gone and she didn't know where else to go. She also tells him that her house reminds her of Chuck, since all of Chuck's belongings are still there. Ned suggests that Vivian move on by getting rid of Chuck's things.

At the nunnery, Olive discovers that she has to give up her belongings to the poor. The Mother Superior tells her she can hide her secret from the world at the convent, but assumes that Olive is pregnant. Olive quickly corrects her misconception, and the Mother Superior explains that she assumed Olive was pregnant because Lily brought her. They're interrupted when the poor arrive.

At the company, Chuck goes into the office to find that Ned is there: he's taken the place of Betty's assistant after sending him tainted pie. Chuck admits she feels safer already. Betty leaves and has Ned follow her on her last appointment, while Chuck breaks into Betty's office and gets the key. She notices a photo of Betty as a child with a bee beard… and turns to see a figure covered completely in bees.

A few minutes later, Emerson and Ned come in to find Chuck covered in bees but remaining perfectly still so as not to disturb them. Ned pushes her to the window and Chuck spits out a small container: the bees go out after it. As it turns out, the bee figure spit a container with the queen into Chuck's mouth and they nested on Chuck, who remained calm. Seeing the photo, they suspect that Betty Bee is the bee figure. Chuck also notices that the key matches the number of the house in the background of the photo.

Olive goes to confession only to discover that Lily is there, dressed as a nun, to make sure Olive doesn't leave. Lily explains that Chuck's father was Vivian's fiancé so Lily can never let Vivian find out that she is Chuck's mother. Lily points out that Olive is having man troubles and the nunnery would be the best place to sort things out. Olive agrees but wonders how long Lily intends her to stay.

Ned, Chuck, and Emerson don protective clothing and approach the house, Betty's childhood home, which they discover has become home to an enormous swarm of bees. They figure Betty and Kentucky conspired to steal the bees and fake the colony's death to sabotage Woolsey's purchase. Betty is there and condemns Woolsey for producing inferior product. Emerson tells Betty that they suspect Woolsey of killing Kentucky, but Betty refuses to go the the police, since if she explains to them what happened then she'll go to jail even longer than Woolsey. She suggests they need DNA evidence to convict Woolsey independently of her testimony.

The trio takes Betty to confront Woolsey. They have recovered the bee container that was spat at Chuck, and point out the the killer's saliva (and DNA) is on it. As it turned out, Woolsey was in love with Kentucky but discovered mite-infested bees in her possession and realized she was a saboteur. He used the queen bee and its container to kill Kentucky in revenge. Woolsey confesses and goes to jail, never learning that Betty faked the bee colony collapse. Betty brings on Dusty as a partner and starts the Honey House.

Ned sets up Chuck's new apartment with all of her belongings from Chuck's old room, and accepts that she'll still be with him. Emerson works on his pop-up book about a young girl who searches for her missing father. Olive is making a new friend: Pigby, a pig. And in the Pie Hole, Ned's father lurks, unseen and unknown.

Additional Info

Notes

  • Field Cate becomes a regular in this episode and is added to the main credits.
  • This is the first, and so far only, time that both Sammi Hanratty (Young Chuck) and Sy Richardson (Coroner) were listed as Guest Stars. Both were previously listed as Co-Stars. However, after this episode, Richardson was back to being listed as a Co-Star.
  • Ned mentions waiting for the Betty's Bees company to call Happy Times Temp Agency after "pruning" the assistant's pie. Happy Time Temporary Services Agency was the name of the company that George Lass from Dead Like Me worked at.

Music

  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" is peppered throughout the score.
  • Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria" can be heard during the introduction of Pigby.

Cultural References

  • The scene where Olive is on a hill dressed as a nun singing is a shot-by-shot spoof of the famous opening scene from the movie The Sound of Music.

Cast

Regulars

Guest starring

Co-Starring

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