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Quote1
We all need to be touched.
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― Olive Snook [1]
Performer:
Kristin Chenoweth • (adult)
Olive Snook

Olive Snook works for Ned at the Pie Hole, where she bakes and serves pies. She lives in an apartment next to Ned's above the restaurant with Charlotte "Chuck" Charles. She has strong feelings for her emotionally detached employer. As of the sixth episode, Olive has no knowledge of Ned's magic touch. She did, however, come very close to finding out about it when Ned touched a dead messenger pigeon, Pidge, but she only accepted Pidge's revival as being a "miracle bird."[2] Also, at first, Olive thought that whenever Ned was investigating a case that he was attending "conventions". But she learned of the truth when the John Joseph Jacobs ghost case came around.[3]

Olive once quit the Pie Hole because of the quantity and pressure of secrets she had been holding. She resided with Lily Charles at the nunnery where Lily gave birth to Chuck. But after that, she returned to the Pie Hole, bringing a souvenir.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Childhood[]

When Olive Snook was nine years old, after she got her first horse riding lesson, she asked her parents for an Arabian stallion. They both refused in unison. So Olive figured that she would have to get it herself...in Arabia! She grabbed a pick and dug her way to Arabia for a week, when at that point, she discovered a skeleton of a triceratops. She got publicity from an archeologist who asked to see the skeleton. Olive said yes in return for an Arabian stallion.

As a jockey[]

LilOlive

Olive as a jockey

Before Olive worked in the food industry, she was a professional horse jockey.[3] Her horse was named "The Pie". (She named him "The Pie" because she "wanted to be Elizabeth Taylor".[4]) She competed in the Jock-Off 2000 with Pinky McCoy, Lucas Shoemaker, Gordon McSmalls, and John Joseph Jacobs. Jacobs' saddle was sabotaged (the girth was cut), causing him to fall off his horse and get trampled, which allowed Olive to win. After the race, the evidence was destroyed by Olive, Pinky, Shoey, and Gordon. Olive felt so guilty that after that day, she resigned from the races and locked up her winnings in a safe deposit box.

After The Pie passed on, she saw a bakery in the shape of a giant pie which she took as a sign.[4]

Working at the Pie Hole with Ned[]

Olive Snook is one of Ned's few friends. She works for him and harbors a crush on him that she makes no effort at hiding. She has made repeated advances upon him, unaware that he is uncomfortable with emotional attachments due to the death of his mother and his resurrecting abilities. Olive, who normally has no problem with men, has been confused and saddened by Ned's repeated, although polite, rejections. [1]

Nevertheless, Olive genuinely enjoys working at the Pie Hole. Every day she concentrates all of her love into a single pie because she feels the customers will experience those same feelings, and she claims she sells more of that type of pie by the end of each day.[1] She also makes a point to "chit chat" with her customers, believing this interaction to be an important element that separates the mom-and-pop-like restaurant from a mainstream establishment.[5]

Olive often dogsits Digby, Ned's Golden Retriever, who serves as a surrogate for the human connection she wants with Ned. She pets Digby often and has voiced to Ned that the dog is needy and neurotic due to a lack of petting from Ned, who pretends to be allergic. [1]

Jealousy toward Chuck[]

Although Olive knew of the death of Lonely Tourist Charlotte Charles from the news, and thought Chuck looked similar to her when they first met, she failed at first to realize they were the same person. Olive quickly began to view Chuck as a rival for Ned's affections. She began to have bad dreams about dates between the two, and went so far as to risk her life by hanging from a window to eavesdrop on the two during a date.[5]

She was surprised to notice the "surprising lack of physical contact" between the two, and even became convinced at one point that the two were not romantically involved, when she found them fleeing from Mark Chase in a stolen Dandy Lion SX during a decidedly unromantic moment. Nevertheless, Olive felt a distance growing between herself and Ned as he grew closer and closer to Chuck. Digby was a major comfort during this time, especially after she broke into a rendition of "Hopelessly Devoted to You" when she grew particularly sad.[5]

After talking with Chuck's aunts, former Darling Mermaid Darlings Vivian and Lily Charles, who she once saw at a county fair when she was a little girl, she discovers Chuck's identity. However, she assumes that Chuck faked her own death "for some nefarious purpose," according to the Narrator.[6]

Bad Habits (4)


Sister Olive[]

Quote1
Whoa. Hold that pregnant pause. I'm not with child. Unless it's immaculate conception or I wore a strange man's underwear.
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Olive[7]

Olive has a complete nervous breakdown because of the many secrets she has to keep: the secret that Chuck supposedly faked her death, her secret crush on Ned, and more recently, the revelation that "Aunt" Lily is really Chuck's mother. To find comfort, and with Lily's help, she runs away to the Sisters of the Divine Magnatum, a nunnery where she makes new friends, including a truffle-hunting sow named Pigby. At first, Olive was resistant to staying at this nunnery. But she recently had an epiphany that she was meant to stay in order to keep the secret of not just Lily being Charlotte's mother, but also the secret that Charlotte is actually alive.

Back to the Pie Hole[]

Recently, after a series of murderous events, Olive left the nunnery, and brought Pigby with her. She is currently roommates with Chuck since all of her belongings were taken away by the poor.

After the series[]

In the brief 'recap of the future' which ended the show, Olive was described as the owner/operator of The Intrepid Cow.

Personality and traits[]

Kristin

Olive Snook is a charming and chipper woman who puts great care and love into her work. She stresses the importance of emotional connections and is not shy about expressing the romantic feelings she has for Ned. She also has her blonde moments, like when she admits to Emerson Cod that she once believed the word "masturbation" meant chewing one's food. [1] This trait is also evident when she confuses "homeopath" with "homopath". [6]

She also tends to break into song when she is sad; she feels she has an orchestra in her heart that can only be heard when it is broken and the orchestra "spills out into the world," according to the Narrator. Olive is an excellent singer, despite her distinct high-pitched speaking voice.[5]

Olive is often content to be told what she wants to believe rather than the truth, even when she asks, although this proves problematic in her discussions with the blunt Emerson regarding Chuck. She is very quick to act on her emotions, as demonstrated by her willingness to deliver a pie to the Charles household in Coeur d'Coeurs, a rather unwelcoming home not part of the regular delivery route, just because she felt an emotional attachment to it.[6]

With the exception of Pidge, she often names animals after food. Her horse was called "The Pie" and the alias she used for Digby during the investigation of the Harold Hundin murder was "Pickle".[4]

Behind the scenes[]

  • Starting in "Dummy", Olive has shorter and more caramel-colored hair. This is because Kristin Chenoweth thought that the shorter hair would fit the character better.[8]
  • At first, the role of Young Olive was played by Samantha Bailey. However, she was recast. Later she was portrayed by Ellery Sprayberry.

Sources[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Pie-lette
  2. Pigeon
  3. 3.0 3.1 Girth
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Bitches
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Dummy
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Fun in Funeral
  7. "Bzzzzzzzz!"
  8. Philadelphia Daily News - Best New TV Series by Ellen Gray - 9/12/07
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