Confession Time!
I have a new fandom! One that I have been following loyally but have done only a little bit of (internet) gushing about. Shame on me. I will now proceed to rectify that.
COME MY FRIENDS, LET ME SHOW YOU THE GLORIOUSNESS THAT IS THE SHINY NEW "NO ORDINARY FAMILY" TV SHOW!
THIS SHOW. THIS SHOOOOOOOOW. EVERY EPISODE LEAVES ME WITH SUCH A WARM HAPPY FEELING DEEP INSIDE MY HEART. I CAN'T EVEN DEAL WITH HOW MUCH THIS SHOW MAKES ME HAPPY SOMETIMES.
But for the sake of this recap, I will attempt to do just so.
Episode 1: The Pilot
Strangely enough the only episode not to start with the Idiosyncratic "No Ordinary" prefix... although I guess calling it "No Ordinary Pilot" might mislead you to think there was something special about the poor doomed pilot that was flying the Powell's plane. Anyway-
Jim Powell, the dad, is a sketch artist at the local police station. He does his best to aid the process of justice but can't help feeling a little inadequate, helpless and powerless to stop the evils he sees on the job. Basically, he has a massive Hero Complex. (Why do I always seem to go for the guys with Hero Complexes?) In a couple awesome scenes with his two BFFS-the District Attorney George St. Cloud and the lady detective Yvonne Cho-he expresses his desire to be able to do more to help people.
His angst is compounded by the fact that his family is currently very dysfunctional. Stephenie Powell, the mom, is your typical work-a-holic at a high-powered scientific research lab and thus has no time or effort to devote to their two teenage kids, Daphne and J.J. Daphne is a very standard TV teenage girl who's massively insecure and worries constantly about what other people think of her, and if her boyfriend's going to break up with her because she doesn't put out. J.J. is also tremendously insecure and is having trouble with his grades and schoolwork, the cause suggested to be a learning disability.
In a last-ditch effort to get the family to reconnect, Jim plans a vacation in Brazil, since Steph'll be there anyway getting samples of a rare incredible plant for her lab. You can see where this is going. The plane hits rough weather, goes down in a lake with weird florescence, and the Powells are stuck in the jungle a couple days. During these events this moment of hilarity is had:
Steph: (to Daphne, as the plane is going down) Who are you texting now?!
Daphne: God.
The episode glosses over their return home, and things go back to normal for a while and then BAM! A nutball pulls out a gun in Jim's police office and he catches a bullet saving Detective Cho. Awestruck and amazed, Jim rents out a whole baseball batting facility and tries out his new powers. More hilarity is had when he brings George into the know by having the DA shoot at him. (George understandably freaks out.)
Steph, meanwhile, is still stressed about her job and wishes desperately for more time to spend with her family. She leaves her lab to run over to an important meeting and BLAMMO! Suddenly she's on the highway, keeping pace with (or sometimes outmatching) the cars and there's a cool shot of the belt buckle on her coat shattering a rear-view window as she passes by. She too, is thrilled about her new powers and immediately confides in her adorable lab assistant Katie.
Jim and George set up a "lair" so that Jim can fulfill his Hero Complex and start fighting crime. (Without a secret identity, something that comes back to bite him in the butt in Episode Four.) His first attempt to stop the bank robber that had been worrying him at the start of the episode doesn't go so well and he gets shot in the back of the head. Fortunately his invulnerability means he survives but in the process of getting him medical help George spills the beans to Steph about Jim's powers. She tells him about hers in return.
AND THERE ARE AWESOME MARRIED COUPLE TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS.
Jim gives Detective Cho a sketch of the bank robber (since while trying to stop him he got a really good look at the man's face) and things get harried when she and her Expendable Cop Friend check things out. Jim arrives to save his friend and then HOLY COW THE BANK ROBBER JUST TELEPORTED AND HE'S SNEERING AND TAUNTING JIM ALL LIKE, "YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE?" AND GEE GOLLY WHILLICKERS THIS IS AWESOME. Detective Cho manages to clamber out of the car trunk she'd been stuffed in just in time to put a bullet in the teleporter and kill him dead.
While all this is going on, Daphne develops telepathy and learns that her boyfriend is a douche who's been sleeping with her best friend behind her back. Unlike her parents, she is none too thrilled about her newfound powers. Then near the end of the episode, J.J. acquires Super-Intelligence and finally gets his school work.
AND THERE IS A HEARTWARMING BOOKEND OF THE FAMILY PLAYING FOOTBALL IN THE FRONT YARD TOGETHER JUST LIKE IN THE POIGNANT FLASHBACK JIM HAD HAD NEAR THE START OF THE EPISODE.
Oh and a creepy guy shows up at the coroner's and looks at the dead teleporter's body and then tells his lackey to "take care" of anyone who knows about him. We later learn that the creepy guy is the big grant provider for Steph's research. Basically, her boss. That's not gonna be good.
Episode 2: "No Ordinary Marriage"
IN WHICH MY MARRIED COUPLE HAS TALKS AND THOUGHT-OUT REASONABLE AND CIVIL DISCUSSIONS ABOUT WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR POWERS AND THEY COME TO AGREEMENTS AND IT IS WONDERFUL.
Oh and they get to have hot married couple (implied) smexings.
Jim fights more bank robbers and tests out the limits of his powers. Steph starts trying to figure out how and why they got their powers, suspecting the glowing water back in Brazil. Daphne reads the suddenly complex thoughts in J.J.'s mind and deduces correctly that he has a super brain now. However, due to the fact that he's still massively insecure and doesn't want Mom and Dad to know the reason for his suddenly good grades is his newfound Super-Intelligence (fearing they'll think he's only not stupid with a crutch to help him), Daphne agrees to keep it a secret. The two are awesomely siblingy together. And there are awesome Mom/Daughter convos in which Steph helps Daphne obtain a measure of control over her powers, helping her adjust to having them.
And hilarity is had.
Episode 3: "No Ordinary Ring"
Jim gets done with a crime-fighting spree just in time to make it to the reception of a friend's wedding that the Powell family is attending. The reception gets robbed and in the process Steph's wedding ring is stolen. Jim spends the rest of the episode deliberately looking for weddings to crash to find the robbers and stop them and get Steph's ring back.
Steph and Katie have issues involving medical tests and blood samples that could potentially blow Steph's secret. Steph's Super-Speed gets a lot of workout.
The lackey from Episode One hangs around the police station creepily and then breaks into Detective Cho's house, manhandles her a bit with telekinesis, and kills her. D: NOOOOOOO! I LIKED YOU! YOU AND JIM WERE AWESOME RARE MALE-FEMALE FRIENDS!
Daphne and J.J. meanwhile, have girlfriend/friend/teacher troubles and are awkward superpowered teenagers and adorable siblings that tease and snipe at each other and blackmail each other for homework/mind-reading favors. It is incredibly cute. For a brief time J.J. has a potential love interest int Cute Red-Haired Classmate but Daphne's mind probing reveals that she thinks J.J. is a total loser, sinking that ship almost before I'd boarded it. But Jim and Steph make up for that at the end, by having a romantic candlelight dinner on top of a famous restaurant hotel place. Jim gives Steph back her ring and makes this adorable speech about it that I can't remember and I can't find the quotes but it makes me aww my head off about it. And then they dance.
*squees like a mad thing*
Episode 4: "No Ordinary Vigilante"
Remember how I mentioned Jim not having a secret identity came and bit him in the butt? Yeah.
Also, Daphne and J.J. started finding new uses-and misuses-for their powers. Daphne got herself and her friends into a party. J.J. tried out for the football team, and used math and Awesomeness by Analysis to be good at it. And then wound up at the same party as Daphne. They both got in trouble for this.
And awesome family talks are had.
---
REASONS WHY I LOVE THIS SHOW:
THESE TWO. RIGHT HERE. JUST LOOK AT THEM!
THEY ARE ADORABLE AND MARRIED AND I LOVE THEEEEEEEEM!
Seriously. The way theses two are written, with realistic interactions and discussions and arguments (well, as realistic as possible given that it's a show about a superpowered family), and with the frequent and plentiful Crowning Moments of Heartwarming between them... it just brings this fuzzy happy feeling to my heart.
HERE, HAVE A COMPLIMENTARY PICSPAM!
Bedside snuggles!
"This is something I gotta do bb."
"*SIGH* Okay hon, but can I be really worried about your safety anyway?"
AND MY INTERNAL FANGIRL SQUEES!
THAT'S RIGHT SHOW! CATER TO MY ROMANTIC FETISHES! SHOW THAT INTIMATE ROMANTIC TENDING-TO-WOUNDS-AND-INJURIES MOMENT.
"Whoops, there's the Bat-Signal. Gotta go save the world now."
"Uh-oh. Looks like trouble's a-brewing."
An anguished look as Steph prepares to hand over her ring to the robbers.
AND I FOUND THAT AWESOME HEART-WARMING CONVERSATION THEY HAD IN THIS SCENE.
Here it is in its full shippy glory-
Jim: You know, I never told you this... but that ring has got to be the ugliest ring I've ever seen in my life.
Steph: No. It's not, it's not-
Jim: Absolutely.
Steph: Jim, I love this ring.
Jim: When I bought it for you, I was an artist barely getting by, and the only ring I could afford was the smallest, ugliest ring in the store.
Steph: *pouting* It's not ugly.
Jim: And then when I got down on my knee, and I proposed... you looked at it and you said, "That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." and I knew, I knew right then I had the right girl. And every time I see it on your finger, I know you love me for who I am... and I love you, for the beauty you see in ordinary things.
<33333333333
Non-shippy reasons I love this show include...
Daphne and J.J. and their cute brother-sister friendship.
George "Man of Walking Hilarity" St. Cloud.
Miss Katie "Superhero Geek and Self-Proclaimed 'Best Sidekick Ever'"Andrews.
And of course, adorable family moments.
So... yeah. This is something you're probably going to hear me be gushing about a lot.
The In-Laws pay the Powells a visit next episode! So excited!
*claps hands*
COME MY FRIENDS, LET ME SHOW YOU THE GLORIOUSNESS THAT IS THE SHINY NEW "NO ORDINARY FAMILY" TV SHOW!
THIS SHOW. THIS SHOOOOOOOOW. EVERY EPISODE LEAVES ME WITH SUCH A WARM HAPPY FEELING DEEP INSIDE MY HEART. I CAN'T EVEN DEAL WITH HOW MUCH THIS SHOW MAKES ME HAPPY SOMETIMES.
But for the sake of this recap, I will attempt to do just so.
Episode 1: The Pilot
Strangely enough the only episode not to start with the Idiosyncratic "No Ordinary" prefix... although I guess calling it "No Ordinary Pilot" might mislead you to think there was something special about the poor doomed pilot that was flying the Powell's plane. Anyway-
Jim Powell, the dad, is a sketch artist at the local police station. He does his best to aid the process of justice but can't help feeling a little inadequate, helpless and powerless to stop the evils he sees on the job. Basically, he has a massive Hero Complex. (Why do I always seem to go for the guys with Hero Complexes?) In a couple awesome scenes with his two BFFS-the District Attorney George St. Cloud and the lady detective Yvonne Cho-he expresses his desire to be able to do more to help people.
His angst is compounded by the fact that his family is currently very dysfunctional. Stephenie Powell, the mom, is your typical work-a-holic at a high-powered scientific research lab and thus has no time or effort to devote to their two teenage kids, Daphne and J.J. Daphne is a very standard TV teenage girl who's massively insecure and worries constantly about what other people think of her, and if her boyfriend's going to break up with her because she doesn't put out. J.J. is also tremendously insecure and is having trouble with his grades and schoolwork, the cause suggested to be a learning disability.
In a last-ditch effort to get the family to reconnect, Jim plans a vacation in Brazil, since Steph'll be there anyway getting samples of a rare incredible plant for her lab. You can see where this is going. The plane hits rough weather, goes down in a lake with weird florescence, and the Powells are stuck in the jungle a couple days. During these events this moment of hilarity is had:
Steph: (to Daphne, as the plane is going down) Who are you texting now?!
Daphne: God.
The episode glosses over their return home, and things go back to normal for a while and then BAM! A nutball pulls out a gun in Jim's police office and he catches a bullet saving Detective Cho. Awestruck and amazed, Jim rents out a whole baseball batting facility and tries out his new powers. More hilarity is had when he brings George into the know by having the DA shoot at him. (George understandably freaks out.)
Steph, meanwhile, is still stressed about her job and wishes desperately for more time to spend with her family. She leaves her lab to run over to an important meeting and BLAMMO! Suddenly she's on the highway, keeping pace with (or sometimes outmatching) the cars and there's a cool shot of the belt buckle on her coat shattering a rear-view window as she passes by. She too, is thrilled about her new powers and immediately confides in her adorable lab assistant Katie.
Jim and George set up a "lair" so that Jim can fulfill his Hero Complex and start fighting crime. (Without a secret identity, something that comes back to bite him in the butt in Episode Four.) His first attempt to stop the bank robber that had been worrying him at the start of the episode doesn't go so well and he gets shot in the back of the head. Fortunately his invulnerability means he survives but in the process of getting him medical help George spills the beans to Steph about Jim's powers. She tells him about hers in return.
AND THERE ARE AWESOME MARRIED COUPLE TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS.
Jim gives Detective Cho a sketch of the bank robber (since while trying to stop him he got a really good look at the man's face) and things get harried when she and her Expendable Cop Friend check things out. Jim arrives to save his friend and then HOLY COW THE BANK ROBBER JUST TELEPORTED AND HE'S SNEERING AND TAUNTING JIM ALL LIKE, "YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE?" AND GEE GOLLY WHILLICKERS THIS IS AWESOME. Detective Cho manages to clamber out of the car trunk she'd been stuffed in just in time to put a bullet in the teleporter and kill him dead.
While all this is going on, Daphne develops telepathy and learns that her boyfriend is a douche who's been sleeping with her best friend behind her back. Unlike her parents, she is none too thrilled about her newfound powers. Then near the end of the episode, J.J. acquires Super-Intelligence and finally gets his school work.
AND THERE IS A HEARTWARMING BOOKEND OF THE FAMILY PLAYING FOOTBALL IN THE FRONT YARD TOGETHER JUST LIKE IN THE POIGNANT FLASHBACK JIM HAD HAD NEAR THE START OF THE EPISODE.
Oh and a creepy guy shows up at the coroner's and looks at the dead teleporter's body and then tells his lackey to "take care" of anyone who knows about him. We later learn that the creepy guy is the big grant provider for Steph's research. Basically, her boss. That's not gonna be good.
Episode 2: "No Ordinary Marriage"
IN WHICH MY MARRIED COUPLE HAS TALKS AND THOUGHT-OUT REASONABLE AND CIVIL DISCUSSIONS ABOUT WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR POWERS AND THEY COME TO AGREEMENTS AND IT IS WONDERFUL.
Oh and they get to have hot married couple (implied) smexings.
Jim fights more bank robbers and tests out the limits of his powers. Steph starts trying to figure out how and why they got their powers, suspecting the glowing water back in Brazil. Daphne reads the suddenly complex thoughts in J.J.'s mind and deduces correctly that he has a super brain now. However, due to the fact that he's still massively insecure and doesn't want Mom and Dad to know the reason for his suddenly good grades is his newfound Super-Intelligence (fearing they'll think he's only not stupid with a crutch to help him), Daphne agrees to keep it a secret. The two are awesomely siblingy together. And there are awesome Mom/Daughter convos in which Steph helps Daphne obtain a measure of control over her powers, helping her adjust to having them.
And hilarity is had.
Episode 3: "No Ordinary Ring"
Jim gets done with a crime-fighting spree just in time to make it to the reception of a friend's wedding that the Powell family is attending. The reception gets robbed and in the process Steph's wedding ring is stolen. Jim spends the rest of the episode deliberately looking for weddings to crash to find the robbers and stop them and get Steph's ring back.
Steph and Katie have issues involving medical tests and blood samples that could potentially blow Steph's secret. Steph's Super-Speed gets a lot of workout.
The lackey from Episode One hangs around the police station creepily and then breaks into Detective Cho's house, manhandles her a bit with telekinesis, and kills her. D: NOOOOOOO! I LIKED YOU! YOU AND JIM WERE AWESOME RARE MALE-FEMALE FRIENDS!
Daphne and J.J. meanwhile, have girlfriend/friend/teacher troubles and are awkward superpowered teenagers and adorable siblings that tease and snipe at each other and blackmail each other for homework/mind-reading favors. It is incredibly cute. For a brief time J.J. has a potential love interest int Cute Red-Haired Classmate but Daphne's mind probing reveals that she thinks J.J. is a total loser, sinking that ship almost before I'd boarded it. But Jim and Steph make up for that at the end, by having a romantic candlelight dinner on top of a famous restaurant hotel place. Jim gives Steph back her ring and makes this adorable speech about it that I can't remember and I can't find the quotes but it makes me aww my head off about it. And then they dance.
*squees like a mad thing*
Episode 4: "No Ordinary Vigilante"
Remember how I mentioned Jim not having a secret identity came and bit him in the butt? Yeah.
Also, Daphne and J.J. started finding new uses-and misuses-for their powers. Daphne got herself and her friends into a party. J.J. tried out for the football team, and used math and Awesomeness by Analysis to be good at it. And then wound up at the same party as Daphne. They both got in trouble for this.
And awesome family talks are had.
---
REASONS WHY I LOVE THIS SHOW:
THESE TWO. RIGHT HERE. JUST LOOK AT THEM!
THEY ARE ADORABLE AND MARRIED AND I LOVE THEEEEEEEEM!
Seriously. The way theses two are written, with realistic interactions and discussions and arguments (well, as realistic as possible given that it's a show about a superpowered family), and with the frequent and plentiful Crowning Moments of Heartwarming between them... it just brings this fuzzy happy feeling to my heart.
HERE, HAVE A COMPLIMENTARY PICSPAM!
Bedside snuggles!
"This is something I gotta do bb."
"*SIGH* Okay hon, but can I be really worried about your safety anyway?"
AND MY INTERNAL FANGIRL SQUEES!
THAT'S RIGHT SHOW! CATER TO MY ROMANTIC FETISHES! SHOW THAT INTIMATE ROMANTIC TENDING-TO-WOUNDS-AND-INJURIES MOMENT.
"Whoops, there's the Bat-Signal. Gotta go save the world now."
"Uh-oh. Looks like trouble's a-brewing."
An anguished look as Steph prepares to hand over her ring to the robbers.
AND I FOUND THAT AWESOME HEART-WARMING CONVERSATION THEY HAD IN THIS SCENE.
Here it is in its full shippy glory-
Jim: You know, I never told you this... but that ring has got to be the ugliest ring I've ever seen in my life.
Steph: No. It's not, it's not-
Jim: Absolutely.
Steph: Jim, I love this ring.
Jim: When I bought it for you, I was an artist barely getting by, and the only ring I could afford was the smallest, ugliest ring in the store.
Steph: *pouting* It's not ugly.
Jim: And then when I got down on my knee, and I proposed... you looked at it and you said, "That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." and I knew, I knew right then I had the right girl. And every time I see it on your finger, I know you love me for who I am... and I love you, for the beauty you see in ordinary things.
<33333333333
Non-shippy reasons I love this show include...
Daphne and J.J. and their cute brother-sister friendship.
George "Man of Walking Hilarity" St. Cloud.
Miss Katie "Superhero Geek and Self-Proclaimed 'Best Sidekick Ever'"Andrews.
And of course, adorable family moments.
So... yeah. This is something you're probably going to hear me be gushing about a lot.
The In-Laws pay the Powells a visit next episode! So excited!
*claps hands*