The second episode of No Ordinary Family has now aired, and I am once again back to give you your weekly dose of “super hero fan watches super hero TV show very critically.” A lot of people are already ragging on the show all over the various ports of the interwebs, with one phrase being heard quite a lot “not quite the Incredibles.”
But that’s them. This is me. I like to pretend that sometimes I am an optimist. So what are my thoughts on the second episode of the new ABC super hero show by Guggenheim? Take a look after the jump!
Synopsis: Adjusting to life with super powers continues, as the family begins to waver in their opinions of how to use them. How much power is too much power? How does one with an extraordinary gift use it just enough to not give away the secret to every single person on the planet? On top of that, who is this mysterious new character referred to in the credits as “the Watcher” who lurks in the background? Can the Powells really manage to be an ordinary family in their new world of the extraordinary?
Yeesh. That’s a lot of questions. But to cut a long story short, the Powells go to the fair.
What Was Good: Michael Chiklis and Romany Malco carry this show for me. If It weren’t for them, I might have nothing to watch to be honest. The two act so well together you’d imagine that they’re old friends, and the give and take of humor between them is just what this show needs. You’ve got Romany Malco, assistant DA who wants to clean up the crime of the streets, and Chiklis is his tool to do so. But with Chiklis trying to focus on his family, this is where their dynamic actually becomes somewhat interesting beside just humorous dialogue and fist bumps (note: there are no actual fist bumps in the show).
I’ve also grown to like Katie Andrews as Julie Benz’s over eager lab assistant. She brings a lot of “reality” to the show, constantly challenging the things that don’t scientifically make sense. Since Benz’s character is a scientist, the reality of how they got their powers is a big question on the show, with them acquiring some of the water from their crash site to analyze it. Andrews plays the “I read comic books and like science” role, so she helps ground a lot of the more sci-fi aspects to turn whacky “handwavium” logic into “ok, why does this REALLY work?” Granted, it doesn’t always work or make sense, but even so. She’s still fairly endearing.
What Was Bad: Again, this is where I feel like I’m being nit-picky for the second week in a row. But there is just so much in the show that seems off to me, so I’ll try and break it down to smaller points.
- Ok, so Julie Benz can run really fast – but how does she know how to do it so well? There’s a scene where she texts and runs, dodging between biking children and moving cars, only tripping at the last second. Of course, her crash isn’t that bad as she apparently has increased metabolism and accelerated healing – which to me, doesn’t make too much sense. With every speedster we know of (such as the Flash family), I don’t think anyone has had increased metabolism from super speed.
- Again with Julie Benz, but there is a scene where she cleans the house at super speed. Why is it that she can’t cook cupcakes at super speed, but using a vacuum cleaner at arguably fifty times it’s normal speed works? If you’re using a vacuum cleaner that fast, it shouldn’t be able to pick up anything. Heck, I can’t even vacuum without letting the darn thing hover over certain pieces of carpet for a couple seconds, so how can she effectively do it in nano-seconds?
- So Chiklis can get really screwed up by taking a bullet… but being hit by a car doesn’t really hurt at all? I mean, I can understand the “jumping” thing to a certain extent, but he was hit by several cars, and now he apparently has enough strength to lift a car as well. It just seems… forced, and as if they’re making it up as they go. Which, to a certain extent, they are. Apparently magic water makes you strong enough to lift a car.Continued below
- The show also appears to be jumping way to fast with it’s emotions. Chiklis and Benz have it out over using powers, but then Benz of course does the next day and Chiklis throws the whole “I stopped for you!” emotion at her. …You stopped for a day, Mr. Chiklis! Is it really that emotionally heartbreaking? The show needs to slow down – stopping using powers was something Heroes didn’t even do until the fourth season!
- The kids and their powers still perplex me. Kay Panabaker doesn’t have thoughts in her mind, she literally HEARS them, and Jimmy Bennett just knows things? It seems like they’re trying to do something new with the powers angle, but both power sets just seem rather goofy. Bennett’s makes sense the least – you can’t be dipped in super power water and then just know things.
- Finally, my last major complaint is that they are all so good with their powers, despite just getting them. The arc with the daughter made some sense – she was overwhelmed at first. But now, she just “gets” it after her mother gives her a little lecture. There should be more of a learning curve here, and the son shouldn’t just get A’s on tests.
Overall: More than anything else, it seems that Modern Family is skipping tons of story arcs to give a more fast paced viewing experience. They think we don’t want to watch the family learn how to deal with their powers, but rather that they should just have them. It ends up being more alienating because now we lose that sense of logic and character depth that comes with learning how to use their powers properly. If the best we get is that Julie Benz will trip and Michael Chiklis will get hit by a car and get up, then we’re missing something huge in the story here. Plus, the conspiracy angle of the villains doesn’t seem like it’ll really develop properly without getting into a whole “it was planned from the beginning, mwahaha” sort of story going on – and that’s been done time and time again in this medium to a nauseating point.
To me, the whole point of No Ordinary Family was to use a familiar story trope and evolve it into something more unique. It’s also not what I see happening at all, and two issues in, I’m already losing a significant amount of interest.
