No Ordinary Plane Crash

Note: This is a review for the first episode of No Ordinary Family. It contains spoilers. This is seperate from The Event posts.

How many shows are going to start with a plane crash?

No Ordinary Family premiered tonight. I must say.... Meh... It's ok.

The whole pilot episode felt very rushed. Not even two minutes into the episode our Ordinary Family are already in a anticlimactic plane crash. Of course they survive. There is no explanation on how they were rescued. Ten seconds later they are home and everyone is acting as if it never happened. Lame.

The show is corny, and only occasionally funny. With lines like: "Who are you texting now?"  "God!" - not being one of those times. The acting seems a little flat. I really like Julie Benz though, being a Dexter freak. The therapy storytelling aspect was pretty cool I thought. Added a cool narrative.  And who could not like bank robbers in Obama masks. EPIC!

The show front runner is Jim Powell, played by Micheal Chiklis. He is a sad man. He feels like he is slowly losing his family to work, puberty, and general lack of interest. He has a crappy job and wants better things. BAM! Plane crash and unexplained super powers! Him catching a bullet was pretty rad. My favorite part about Jim's story is when he is hanging out with his friend (sidekick) George the DA. It was fun watching him test out what he could do with his new found powers. So far we know that he can lift about 11,000 lbs., can catch bullets and such, and jump about a quarter of a mile in one "bound". But he is not invincible, which I like.

Then there is Jim's wife, Stephanie Powell. Played by the wonderful Julie Benz. She is a research scientist (AHEM.. not buying it) and a workaholic. She is always on the move and hardly has anytime for her family. Shes seems attached to her cellphone. Reminds me of Angelica's mom off Rugrats. She recently discovered a plant that can do all kinds of amazing things that may or may not be the source of the family's power. Her power is discovered while running late. BOOM! She hits mach speed down the freeway. The special effects for this scene were incredible! In in a life short on time, she suddenly found herself, fast. She also has a sort of sidekick. Some one she can hold her secret with. This would be her lab assistant Katie Andrews played by Autumn Reeser. Its a cool dynamic. I really enjoyed when she was timing her around the track. I don't understand how her clothing is still intact.

The teenage daughter Daphne Powell. Played by Kay Panabaker. She is a telepath. Sort of a drama queen to. It's seems as if she has just hit puberty, because all she concerned with is boys and having sex and not having sex. Ah... high school. Not much to say about the kids really because they were hardly in the episode. When she first discovers her powers she is playing a basketball game. The effects are really cool here to. As she is hearing someones thoughts, their face flashes with electricity and eyes glow. Neato.
Note: When Daphne hears peoples thoughts, there was no effects. That was on the original pilot they had online, they changed it.
The teenage son JJ Powell. Played by Jimmy Bennett. From what I gather, his power is vast intelligence. Which is very ironic, as he was just placed in a remedial program in school. He is pretty much just your average high school geek. At first he shows no sign of powers, so he is upset. I think he should have stayed with no powers personally.

The final conflict with the Obama bank robber was really cool. He can teleport like Nightcrawler from X-Men! Pretty nifty battle there. But how does he know about Jim? Don't tell me there was some boatload of evil people that sank in the same super water....

Jim has a secret lair with WIFI! teehee

Also not on the original pilot was the very end scene with Stephanie's boss and other sinister fellow looking at the Obama robbers corpse. Can you say bad guys?!
I am a big comic book geek. When there are super powers involved, origin is everything. Which was non-existent at the moment. There was mention of a "super plant" named Trisetum Coronis, that apparently can do anything. Let us hope they did not get their powers from a plant. Double lame.

The show is kinda rushed and corny. But, fact is it is family friendly, quirky, and interesting enough to make me curious about future episodes. It makes me feel like a little kid again. I think we should give this one a few more episodes to develop before we make a decision.

Grade: C
Effects: A

Reducto

Favorite Quote: "You two are freaky."