A Man. And His Blog.

I’m surprised. Or maybe not. The writers really did the viewers a favor to let the storyline play out for once. All of a sudden, NO ORDINARY FAMILY is not just a little family series with a family with superpowers anymore, it is about to become a real superhero series with dangerous events and the threat of being exposed to the world. And for the first time in the short history of the series, I’m starting to like it.

Again, it was not really a great episode, but it is getting interesting. Finally the writers stop with teasing all the time and deliver the story they want to tell. Finally King (Stephen Collins) knows about the Powell’s, finally the Powell’s know about King, finally the writers began with the development of the Powell’s superpowers (I was wondering when somebody is finding some new powers in their body, though I ask myself why they didn’t notice earlier). Finally it is all in all getting more interesting now. Though I still think that the teenagers’ stories are utterly uninteresting and not worthy to be mentioned here.

And to make it fast: The “double date” story was basically nothing and bullshit. Nothing against the Daphne (Kay Panabaker)/Chris (Luke Kleintank) romance, and nothing against J.J. (Jimmy Bennett) trying to get over Natalie and using Bailey (Katrina Begin) for it – but the story could have been better, and I had the feeling that the writers just wanted to prepare for the scene with Daphne and the mugger on the street, just to show that she has the power of persuasion now. She could have noticed that earlier, and now I feel reminded of J.J. not telling his parents about his superbrain during the first episodes. Daphne won’t tell anybody about her new superpowers, so that she can use them heavily. And here we have another very uninteresting story for the kids: That Daphne won’t use her newfound powers for something good is predictable and more than stereotypical. But since the writers were kinda stellar these last 86 minutes, I wonder if they are planning something…

The competition between Jim (Michael Chiklis) and Stephanie (Julie Benz) was nice though. I was waiting for a similar storyline, and fortunately it wasn’t as much as over the top than I was thinking at first. Jim and Stephanie already had some good chemistry together, when they were fighting crime for the first time together, and it was the same here. I wouldn’t mind to see them together more often, but I would mind to see the sidekicks involved in the competition. The scene where Katie (Autumn Reeser) was preparing to hack George’s (Romany Malco) lair was awkward and didn’t fit into the whole thing of crime fighting. Moreover, the actual crime fighting was more than lame at the end – so, Tom  (Ethan Suplee) just wanted to know what happened, but instead of getting answers from the scientists he attacked, he knocked them out? Why getting into the house in his steamy way, when he could get more answers (and less fear from the scientists), when he knocks at the door and asks nicely, with “pretty please” and a cherry on top of it? The whole story around Tom was just a clap for this episode, showing that there are more freaks and monsters out there like the Powell’s. At least it brought King to learn everything about the Powell’s, so everything was good at the end.

The rest of the episode was okay. Joshua (Josh Stewart) gets back to being creepy, Katie still doesn’t have a clue (she didn’t ask him one single question about anything), J.J. is obviously in love, and Daphne has an ace up her sleeve now. Let’s see how the writers play this one out. I don’t really have much trust in them, but maybe they really changed their way of writing, and NO ORDINARY FAMILY is becoming more of a superhero series than a family series. 7/10

Who is breaking up in this scene?

That's one steamy shower for Stephanie

I absolutely don’t mind, when a series is getting its pace in the middle of the first season. I don’t mind, when the writers have to find a way to tell their stories and need twelve episodes for that. This episode was really interesting, and not just because Jim’s (Michael Chiklis) secret is about to be exposed on the left side, as well as the development Joshua (Josh Stewart) was delivering on the right side. I’m about to say that this episode was the best of NO ORDINARY FAMILY so far, but I can’t, since I didn’t like the highschool story that much.

The first ten minutes were really good, even though Daphne (Kay Panabaker) and J.J. (Jimmy Bennett) are getting their detention for reasons of stupidity – the scene of Mr. Litchfield (Jason Antoon) reading the text conversation between J.J. and Natalie (Katelyn Tarver) was stupid, and I don’t even know why Daphne was so keen to annoy Chris (Luke Kleintank) (despite her being interested in him), but those stories were needed to give them the hour of detention. In this case, I really would have wished for a superhero version of THE BREAKFAST CLUB. Because some moments of the classroom detention were interesting (J.J. learning more about Natalie, and his chemical “experiment”), while the rest was just a notable time of stealing screentime for the other two storylines. By the way: I rolled my eyes, when the writers introduced Bailey (Katrina Begin), thanks to the choice of casting. I was thinking that Katrina looked like 30 during the episode, and what do I see on IMDb? She’s 28. A not-so-wise casting choice in this case, especially as a love interest for J.J.

We’ve had the NO ORDINARY FAMILY version of DIE HARD now. And damn, how I loved the characters talking about DIE HARD all the time. I don’t even want to know how much licence fees the producers had to pay to mention the movie every five minutes, but it sure as hell brought some fun into the mix. Despite the fact that the hostage situation in the police department was extremely filled with plot holes (even more so than the RIZZOLI & ISLES season finale, which had the same situation), I loved how Jim was fisting out the thugs: always with a smile on his face, asking “How ‘u doin’?”. Unfortunately, the writers missed to bring some danger into the fact that Internal Affairs is sniffing around. It would have been interesting to see how Jim reacts, when IA is about to step foot into his life and his extracurricular activities, but Rachel (Joanne Kelly) backs up at the end, because Jim “is a hero” – a very lame conclusion to the whole thing. In addition, Rachel’s behavior doing the hostage situation was terrible. She knows that the “bald man” is in the air shafts, knocking out the thugs, and she says that he could kill all of them? Very bad behavior for a woman with a gun pointed at her head and about to lose the last hope, which could save her life. But then again, I don’t have any experiences in hostage situations…

The lockdown at Global Tech was alright at first. It was nice that Victoria (Rebecca Mader) got a bit creepy and more villain-y in her role, and I liked that Joshua is now completely one of the good guys (as expected), with superpowers. That he stays in the show for now (and I was expecting for him to die here) gives Katie (Autumn Reeser) a reason to stay in the show, as well as a story, so everything was fine at the end. I just wonder why Katie didn’t freak out much, when she saw Joshua saving her with his powers. I just hope she is asking him some more questions in the next episode, figuring out that King is behind all of this, and finally giving that guy (who probably had ten minutes of screentime this season) something to do.

For NO ORDINARY FAMILY standards, it was a really good episode. Again, the writers kinda need to find a way to make the highschool stories more interesting, but this time everything almost fit together. 7.5/10

Haven't they learned in Hollywood school not to stare directly into the camera?

You are not drunk. You are not seeing mirrored

Let’s call this episode being predictable. Almost every single scene was it (if not all of them), the thrill was completely gone, and I kinda didn’t like the stories. Much less how the brotherly love between Jim (Michael Chiklis) and Mike (Jason Wiles) was beginning in this episode, and finding its best possible outcome at the end of it.

No, I couldn’t get the whole episode. Kinda solid as every other episode in the series, but it is getting more boring with every minute the writers are wasting potential storylines. Moreover, the episode did deliver more terrible plots than ever before: another part of the family visiting the Powells, since we’ve had the parents(-in-law) a couple of episodes ago? Daphne (Kay Panabaker) as student council president? The Powell’s being okay with Mike knowing about their superpowers? It seems like I was not the only one, who wanted to hate this episode. And I kinda hate this episode, though I can’t think bad of the series, since it just wants to be a family show. Maybe the writers should reconsider their approach on every story.

Mike was a boring character. Of course he was in some trouble, when he arrived at his brother’s house. Of course he lied when he told stories. Of course he was looking for a truck of money to pay his debts to some dirty people. The whole storyline around him was absolutely not surprising, and definitely not interesting, especially since I knew from the first second that everything would come to a happy end, the brothers would hug it out, and everything is kinda forgotten (in the next episode). Again, I would really wish when the writers are starting to have some ongoing storytelling here.

The rest of the episode was forgettable too. Even though Katie (Autumn Reeser) is quite simply the cutie pie of the show, even she gets a crappy storyline.  Suddenly, the Watcher (Josh Stewart) is in love with her (maybe not that suddenly, after all I saw that one coming, since he started fake-dating Katie), suddenly he doesn’t want to work for Dr. King (Stephen Collins) anymore, suddenly he wants to be a good guy. Except all this predictability, it is good that those 180 turns are coming this early in the season, so that the writers can think about an eventual team-up between the Watcher (he needs a real name, seriously) and the Powell’s against King and his band of evil superheroes. But I really had to laugh, when he changed the writing in Steph’s novel – in front of Katie’s eyes! Not that I always asked myself what powers he has, but now I do: Has he the roundabout of every telekinesis power out there, or are the HEROES writers back in business, writing another superhero show to the ground?

Daphne’s story was lame too. I still wonder why the writers think that they need to have a high-school-themed storyline in the episodes. I absolutely didn’t care about her troubles, I absolutely didn’t care about her efforts to help a fellow schoolmate, and I absolutely didn’t care about anything. At least J.J. (Jimmy Bennett) got some good screentime in the episode, letting his superpowers fail, when it comes to having luck. But that was maybe the only good thing about it.

I hope that Rebecca Mader will appear in more episodes. She doesn’t need to, but her shapeshifting character could promise some twists in the story. Other than that: 5.5/10

Jim and Steph thinking of a lie to tell

Being threatened with a gun: the usual

Eleven episodes into the season, and the writers still haven’t learned much from their little mistakes they made during the first half of the season: The stories are still unimportant for the characters’ developments, they are predictable, and the whole superhero stuff is still not developing. Though it was a somewhat nice episode. Again.

I was angry about the beginning though, and how the writers finished up last episode’s cliffhanger. So, nobody actually worries about Daphne’s (Kay Panabaker) memory loss, and before the episode hit the fourth minute, Daphne has caught up on her family’s history and doesn’t even freak out, when she realized she had superpowers. The episode could have repeated the storyline of Daphne being freaked out about her new talents (again), like int he pilot (and in the second episode?), but in this one she realized that her talents are cool and can be used for good things. She hasn’t even had troubles in controlling her abilities, like she had during the beginning. I know, the writers probably didn’t want to repeat an already known storyline, but it is not logical in this episode. By the way: Daphne running for school president – I think it’s hilarious, on a bad note. I can’t imagine that she would do something like this, because her new friend told her so.

While the robbery-storyline was boring, but had a nice twist, I actually liked Katie’s (Autumn Reeser) storyline this time. Her relationship with Joshua/The Watcher (Josh Stewart) is developing, and he really decides for the love, and not for being a villain. I knew it would happen some time, and here it happened. Unfortunately for the episode, it had to have a cliffhanger, where Katie finds Steph’s (Julie Benz) diary in Joshua’s belongings. Maybe she will realize what’s up now, and maybe she even talks to Steph about it, before Joshua finds his abilities again and makes Katie forget all about it. Right now, the story got some good development and I don’t want to stop it here.

Like I said, the robbery storyline didn’t entertain me. Of course the Cotten’s are suspects for the robberies, and of course Jim had to decide, if he rats out Dave (Rick Schroder) to the police, or if he takes matters into his own hands. That Michelle (Annie Wersching) was the thief was a nice twist, but I didn’t really love her reasons of doing it, as well as the scene where she got shot. Furthermore I missed the real ending of the story. Seeing Michelle in the hospital and hearing dave about his doubts wasn’t enough for the drama of the show, there was clearly an act of it missing to make it more emotional, and to let Steph’s worries be believable at the end.

And a few words to J.J.’s (Jimmy Bennett) storyline: not interesting, though the women-love-bad-guys thing was actually entertaining in the punching scene. But that J.J. has a girlfriend with Natalie (Katelyn Tarver) now is information from the last episode, and that the writers spent another episode to clear up that topic is just lame. I’m already waiting for their break-up in three episodes…

The episode was alright in the end, for NO ORDINARY FAMILY, and for ABC shows in general. When I compare it with other shows, it would totally fall flat though. 6/10

Renee Walker robs museums now

Crazy in love: a genius and a genius superhero

I don’t really call this one a midseason finale. Though the writers managed to bring some confrontations into the episode, it was still a lame one with a “crime fight of the week” I didn’t really need, but obviously the Jim/George friendship. But hey, at least the episode delivered some answers.

Finally Steph (Julie Benz) and Jim (Michael Chiklis) know that the research brought the supervillains, and finally the family seems to be in a lot of trouble, considering The Watcher’s (Josh Stewart) secret plans, as well as King’s (Stephen Collins) plans nobody knows about. I just didn’t like how the episode dealt with Daphne (Kay Panabaker)  at the end – as soon as she was suddenly in the story, being important for the series, the writers pull her out of it again and bring her a memory loss. It was an okay-cliffhanger, but it didn’t wow me. The scene with Daphne and The Watcher was cool, and nice that he told me he was knowing all along about the family’s superpowers and just wanted to know why they are permanent (suddenly, there is a new mythology involving the research coming up). He looked more like a villain with a goal than ever before, and maybe the writers even plan to let him change the sides in the second half of the season (though I don’t really believe that will happen).

The “superhero vs. sidekick” intercut fight was pretty predictable and came too fast. All of a sudden Katie (Autumn Reeser) and George (Romany Malco) can’t believe what their closest friends are saying and all of a sudden they weren’t friends anymore for a couple of hours. I can’t even believe why George went completely out of character during his fifteen minutes of fame, and said he didn’t have time for crime fighting, or why the rational Katie wasn’t even thinking about the possibility that Will/Joshua/The Watcher might be not who he says he is. At least the fights between the friends weren’t one of the cliffhangers of the episode, so the rest of the season will pretty much start as usual.

J.J.’s (Jimmy Bennett) storyline was boring. I wonder why he hasn’t thought about joining a genius club earlier. At least he has a girlfriend now, and the talk with Jim about losing his powers in front of a hot girl made me giggle. Other than that it was a useless story, instead I wanted to see more of Daphne trying to figure out what’s wrong with Katie’s boyfriend – but she lost her memories. Oh boy.

And Chiles’ (Reggie Lee) death? I wasn’t really interested in it, since he didn’t have much screentime in the series, but I just hope it will improve the storytelling during the next episodes. NO ORDINARY FAMILY should be more serialized and more dangerous. Now that Daphne had a knife in her hand and cried like a baby to save her life…

The conflict made the episode better than it actually is. But it was a lame fall finale. 6.5/10

Jim is very good in bowling. With rusty cans

But Daphne is not good with a knife in her hands

If the series would be more consistent in its writing, it would be better and more interesting to begin with. Most of the times I don’t care about the stories, but every now and then it seems like the season arc is developing.

I still have a problem with The Watcher/Will (Josh Stewart): Does he actually know what is going on, or are the writers really pressing on the brake here? I’ve asked a couple of times, if he doesn’t realize Jim (Michael Chiklis), and in this episode he even HAD to see Jim rescuing the two cops out of the truck, because HE WAS FUCKING THERE! But he still doesn’t tell King (Stephen Collins) anything about it, because… Well, because the writers are just waiting for something, but I don’t know what. Other than that the story involving Theo (Alex Solowitz), the fire guy, was interesting enough to be thrilling. It looks like that every superhero was made from the scientific research, so there is still the question why King doesn’t know about the Powell’s and how they even got their powers. But then again: When King doesn’t even expect a thing, why Steph (Julie Benz) is still researching the plant, I don’t even want to know what the writers have in stock, when it comes to future supervillains.

The anniversary story was alright. That Jim and Steph would fight crime together was a nice move, that Steph wouldn’t really “like” it was an expected twist at the end, but that she took it pretty easy at first was a surprise for me. During the beginning of the series she never really approved Jim’s crime fighting, but all of a sudden she is in an adrenaline rush? Well, I couldn’t really believe that. But it was cool to see them together in action, and to see George (Romany Malco) seeing them together in action – the series seriously needs to keep the humor here.

The kids annoyed me a bit in this episode. Of course I was expecting a party, when Jim and Steph were going out, and of corse the two were using their powers for whatever reason they could think of. The latter part of their story (fixing the sculpture in the school) was nice though – if it would have given J.J. (Jimmy Bennett) and Daphne (Kay Panabaker) more screentime though, the scene could have shown some brother/sister love between the two. On the other hand I loved the mindreading scene, when Daphne tried to read Will. Hopefully she is telling Jim or Steph about it, and hopefully it won’t be the end of it. Of course it would be interesting to know if he really blocked her, or if he just doesn’t have any thoughts, when he has his superpowers.

A kinda solid episode with kinda annoying moments. This one was somewhere in-between. 7/10

Katie plus date, the party interrupter

Luckily, Steph is faster than fire

What a shame. After the last episode I would have expected that the story is actually going forward, but with the exception of the kryptonite part, the episode made a complete halt, when it comes to the story, and was kinda riddled with unbelievable character moments and some plot holes, in addition to the boring carjacker-storyline.

At least the carjacker-storyline wasn’t the focus of the episode, instead just the reason of J.J.’s (Jimmy Bennett) miserable character plot, and the kinda awkward “We’re doing this as a family”-situation in the hospital. I actually can’t believe that they really operated on the teacher (Jason Antoon), and they went away so easy with it. Nobody noticed the patient missing? An operation is over so fast? Or so easily to do? Or nobody noticed that the OR was in action-mode, not to mention that there wasn’t any opportunity for somebody to peek into the OR? (Yes, I’m an ER watcher, and I have to heavily nitpick here). I seriously can’t think of any reason to buy this story, even for a fantasy show like this.

With it, I couldn’t even buy the whole “teacher’s life in danger-storyline. Especially the end, when J.J. visited him, and the two of them were so nice to talk to each other. I don’t really know what to do with the storyline. It was nice that the storyline around J.J. cheating got a sequel here, I don’t like what the writers didn’t with it in this episode.

Normally I would talk a few words about Daphne’s (Kay Panabaker) story too, but I spare my time with it, because it felt out of place, and it seems like Daphne is the star of her own show. Furthermore I’m annoyed of her unspoken and unthought “I’m in love”s.

The back story involving The Watcher/Will (Josh Stewart) and Katie (Autumn Reeser) was nice though, I was thinking that Will might be really in a little bit of love in Katie here, but when he “met” Steph (Julie Benz), everything was back to normal. But it was surprising, when he talked to Katie about his mentor. The Watcher just got a bit of character development, and this as a villain – very nice. Hopefully the writers are going a bit deeper into it in the next episodes.

Average episode, not really convincing that NO ORDINARY FAMILY is even a tiny bit of a serial. 5.5/10

When mother and son play "Grey's Anatomy"...

Jim is dead. Or isn't he?

Wow. After the last couple of episodes, I wouldn’t have expected that the story went forward so fast. The episode looked like a preview for an ongoing storyline, and finally the Powell’s are in danger for once, even though it was just Jim (Michael Chiklis), who was in danger. I have to say that this was the best episode so far, and that it showed there can be more behind NO ORDINARY FAMILY.

The story was simple at first, but a bit surprising as well: Finally the writers decided to put George (Romany Malco) into the focus of an episode, and even though a “sudden” relationship with a woman had to serve for bringing in George, it was nice that the Powell’s aren’t always in the middle of everything. But on the other hand, the story was way too big of a stereotype. But then again: It brought some thrill into the series.

Mobster Silvan Luka (Jon Sklaroff) is actually a very dangerous person, and (un)fortunately for the viewers (for Jim), Jim gets seen how he is bringing Luka out of the game. The following investigation with George and Luka about the “supercop” was good, here I really was thinking about the possibility of a story, where Jim is not just seen by one single person, but the press as well, with pictures and everything – like Spiderman. Anyway, it was a good storyline, and figuring that Dr. King (Stephen Collins) is about to find out who the other ones with “enhanced abilities” (a nice way to describe superpowers) are. I’m just wondering why The Watcher (Josh Stewart) isn’t asking himself things regarding Jim. He recognized him at the bridge, he recognized him on the family photo, he knows him from the situation with Rebecca a few episodes ago, so The Watcher finally has to realize that Jim is one of those people. But I just don’t know why he didn’t figure it out by now…

The side plots were good too. Daphne (Kay Panabaker) wants to impress a guy, and J.J. (Jimmy Bennett) wants to help out Katie (Autumn Reeser). The latter storyline was the better one, since I could feel with J.J. for a couple of seconds. I just would have wished for him to man up and sit across Katie to tell her. But otherwise the “cliffhanger” wouldn’t have been able to be used here.

The episode was really good, in terms of NO ORDINARY FAMILY; and as a simple series episode pretty much good. Keep it up, writers. 7.5/10

Who's flirting with whom here?

This is a villain, and he kills with his mind

I’m starting to accept the show like she is: a simple family series, which is not ordinary like every 7TH HEAVEN series. I’m starting to like the characters, and I’m starting to like the stories, even though they couldn’t be more stand-alone, and stuffed with an annoying “moral of the story”, and I’m starting to like the show as a whole. But that doesn’t mean the show is good.

The home invasion storyline was alright. It was a good thing to not let it go back to the overall arc of the series (other superheroes, the plant, the science behind the superpowers, etc.), since I don’t like that plot so far; and it was a good hing to let the family interact with some other persons for a change, even though the people were just Steph’s parents (Cybill Shepherd, Bruce McGill). And even though all the clichés of the parents not accepting what Steph (Julie Benz) has done with her life so far, and that Steph’s father hates Jim (Michael Chiklis) for not being the perfect husband for his daughter, and especially the ending, when Steph’s parents were saying their goodbyes, it was a pretty much alright-storyline, which didn’t completely bore me, but wasn’t exciting at all. But what am I going to say about a storyline, which will be forgotten in the next episode?

Some of the little moments were fine. I liked how Daphne (Kay Panabaker) gets to the people to help them, and I like that the writers didn’t forget that superpowers get evolve – now that Daphne can hack into a person’s memory, it shouldn’t be long until the other family members realize that they have more powers than they know. Furthermore I liked J.J. (Jimmy Bennett) for once here. But I’m hoping that future episodes will have some better stories for the two kids in mind.

Other than that the series is still forgettable and nothing out of the ordinary. NO ORDINARY FAMILY is just a “blah” series without telling me why I should watch it on a regular basis. It’s not the weakest series on the ABC schedule this season, but it is one of the forgettable ones. 6/10

Staring into the camera (1): Daphne

Staring into the camera (2): J.J.

I’m still surprised how a show like this is showcasing stand-alone episodes. I would have thought that even the storylines within the family would be something like ongoing, but with the exception of J.J.’s (Jimmy Bennett) lying adventures there is nothing. Jim (Michael Chiklis) and Stephanie (Julie Benz) are still discussing about using their superpowers either in a proper way or never, Daphne (Kay Panabaker) still hasn’t got a proper storyline and instead deals with completely boring episode arcs, and the overall story arc about the plant still doesn’t get forward. Am I annoyed? Yes, kinda, but at least NO ORDINARY FAMILY isn’t that boring at the moment.

The story of the episode was okay. Finally the writers go into “there are others like us out there”-mode, and they even connect this with Dr. King (Stephen Collins), who suddenly had something to do in this episode. First I wondered if Rebecca (Rachel Miner) was King’s daughter, which made him even more of a villain, when he uses his family as test subjects, but then Rebecca was just … a random girl, who didn’t got her powers randomly. At least I know King is totally involved in all this stuff, and he probably gave the Powell family their powers. But since he obviously doesn’t know, he gave it to them accidentally and without his knowledge (?). This one seems like the only storyline out there involving the mythology of the series.

By the way: I seriously hope that Jim’s involvement in the parking lot has some consequences. I mean, he was lying there, so I hope that The Watcher (Josh Stewart) asks himself what Jim had to do with Rebecca. Otherwise this little end of the story will remind me of all the small and big plot holes of NIKITA. It would be nice if King realizes soon that Jim (and maybe Stephanie) has powers, and is therefore an enemy.

Daphne’s storyline was blah. She overhears some thoughts about her friend Olivia (Amy Gumenick) sleeping with her teacher (Max Greenfield), and it was so damn predictable it won’t be like Daphne was thinking. The whole time I was waiting for the “genius” twist, so that Daphne can learn that using her superpowers to help people sometimes backfires, and when it finally happened at the end, I was bored. So, Olivia’s teacher slept with her mother, and that’s it? For that the writers spend amounts of screentime? I already know it won’t affect Daphne in the next episode, so it was basically a waste of time.

And J.J.? Finally the Powell’s know he has superpowers. After last episode’s annoying repeats of “He doesn’t have superpowers” it was a good choice to finally let him tell the truth. His little conversation with Katie was good though; it brings her closer to the family and their stories, and she actually cares. But I wouldn’t wonder, if she actually works for King at the end of the season, just to have this ridiculous twist.

Well, not that the episode was that boring, but the writers don’t bring any fun into their stories, and it doesn’t seem all that important for now. But I hope Rachel Miner will return later in the series. 5.5/10

Stephanie talks about something...

Rebecca can fly...