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No Ordinary Family Season 1 Episode 18

No Ordinary Animal

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AIRED: Mar 22, 2011

8.7

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Episode Summary

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While a new super stalks the family on Mrs. X's orders, Daphne and Chris ditch school for a music video shoot, JJ tries to determine Mr. Litchfield's plans, and Katie learns more about her former fiancé.

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Fan Episode Reviews (3)

A lot of stupidity in this episode but still fairly enjoyable

6.5

By toridawson, Mar 25, 2011

A lot of stupidity in this episode but still fairly enjoyable overall as I watched it. Just things I couldn't help but noticing made medisappointed by this episode greatly. Don't get me wrong. The action was AMAZING. I love the fight scene between Jim and Animal boy.

However there are some things that annoy me. Hence why I rated it a 6. SPOILER ALERT!

SPOILER ALERT!

SPOILER ALERT!

1)Stephanie

Okay, their is a super in your house. You run away from him the first time when he tries to attack you. Cool.

You speak to him and you think that you somehow convinced a criminal who was on death row to turn over a new leaf and you let your guard down and walk right towards him...THEN HE STABS YOU. Hmm, Stupidity. Who does that?

2)Daphne

Daphne uses her powers to get boyfriend out of detention, to sneak away from school, avoiding being grounded but she can't use her powers to

A)Mind read a strange man who randomly comes up to her. Common sense...If he was from the school, how would he know you were there

B)After you see he is crazy, why scream. Mind bend him and stop him like you did with the guy with the gun.

These 2 made this episode mediocre to memoreless
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Stephanie says that with the supers running around, they "can't rule out anything." Lesson learned from last episode? Probably not.

8.0

By colten97, Mar 24, 2011

The last time No Ordinary Family went into a lengthy hiatus, over most of December, it had almost as much plot and quality momentum as it did before this month's hiatus. It came back with an immediate retraction of its cliffhanger and a really terrible episode as well. As a reward, it plummeted in the ratings toward cancellation levels, and has yet to recover on those grounds.

Qualitatively, it's much better now, but there's still something off about the show. It's turning into a crazy serialized superhero drama, which I don't mind generally and occasionally quite like. But the sitcom-like visual and aural aesthetics of the show remain, which I think is my main problem with the show. It still portrays itself like it's half-sitcom, when it's gone in a much more intense, dark direction. Yet there's the wacky music playing when Daphne tries to decide whether to use her mind control powers or not! There's the bright, colorful visual style as Eric Balfour attempts to murder Katie in front of her house! So even when it aims for maximum tension, as tonight's episode does, I can't take it totally seriously. My suspension of disbelief is still scuffing the dirt with its soles.

It doesn't help when the big confrontation at the end of the episode simply doesn't work. After merrily killing a few rogue supers, Balfour's Sabertooth-esque Lucas Wennig focuses on the Powells, finding Daphne alone and threatening her when Jim shows up to save the day. His lies to separate her from the crowd are unconvincing, since she's a f***ing mind reader; his threats against her are even-less-so, since she's a mind-bender. The fight's choreography seems to consist of cool moments taken from other fights, like Wennig doing the bendy-back-jump from being knocked over, or he and Jim using their superpowers to fly at each other and clash in midair. Its ending is unsatisfactory, with Jim basically punching really hard. Its aftermath was nonsensical, with Daphne convincing Jim to leave the supervillain alone on the grounds that the serum would wear off... and then they disappear, leaving a man who was a multiple murderer as both a normal and a super for... what, the police?

The whole climax is a microcosm of this episode and, to a certain point, the series as a whole. There are a bunch of cool moments, but an overall lack of focus and followthrough keeps the whole from being truly great. Wennig's brutal stabbing of Stephanie is by far the show's darkest and most intense moment, but in order to get to that point, Stephanie has to move close enough to Sabretooth to get gutted, a move which requires as much stupidity as Daphne not reading Wennig's mind 10 minutes later. It's frustrating when the characters being temporary morons seems to be requirement to keep the overarching plot moving, but that's been No Ordinary Family's modus operandi from the beginning. Supernatural dramas often have problems like this, but No Ordinary Family doesn't have enough charm elsewhere to compensate for this crutch.

Which is a pity, because I'm liking the attempt to make the overarching plot more interesting. Three new developments made massive changes to the status quo of No Ordinary Family. Katie, impregnated by Joshua's supersemen, has developed inconsistent telekinetic powers. In order save Stephanie's life, Jim went to Dr. King and gained his help by saying "I know what you know; you know what I am; I don't have time for this" which is kind of cool. And, in order to save her, King and Jim inject her with more superserum, which, according to the preview for the next episode, actually gives her time-travel ability. All of this adds up to a certain amount of narrative momentum, but I'm worried that the characterization and direction of the show aren't able to keep up.moreless
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Lots of unexpected twists for me! (SPOILERS!!)

10

By Semantix, Mar 24, 2011

Growing up, I loved watching superhero cartoons and one thing I loved the most, whenever they reach the next level of powers. This was an awesome Episode for me literally because now I now for sure the serum is designed to bring out they're most ultimate powers. It triggers it to some full potential. So two people in the family now have advanced their powers. I was really eager to see what Stephanie's advanced level would be, in comparison to Daphne's next level of changing people's thought. Apparently, this last episode showed that she'll be now able to travel through time. For me this was actually surprising. It's also yet for me to expect what Jim and JJ's next level would be. Who knows what's beyond Super Strength and a Super Brain. All in All I'm looking forward for the next episode. Loving it!moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

EDIT

Michael Chiklis	Jim Powell
Julie Benz	Stephanie Powell
Kay Panabaker	Daphne Powell
Jimmy Bennett	JJ Powell
Autumn Reeser	Katie Andrews
Romany Malco	George St. Cloud

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Eric Balfour	Lucas Winnick	Guest Star
Robert Picardo	Vice Principal Nance	Guest Star
Sara Bareilles	Herself	Guest Star
Luke Kleintank	Chris Minor	Recurring Role
Jason Antoon	Mr. Litchfield	Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

Kay Panabaker and Luke Kleintank on No O...

© 2011 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
Luke Kleintank on No Ordinary Family fro...

© 2011 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
Michael Chiklis and Luke Kleintank on No...

© 2011 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
Sara Bareilles on No Ordinary Family fro...

© 2011 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (4)
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- JJ: Mr. Litchfield, I couldn't help but notice that my packet has different practice problems than the rest of the team.
  Litchfield: Giving you the same work as them would be like asking Stephen Hawking to play Chutes & Ladders.
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- George: That was crazy. When I go to a morgue, I expect to see dead people, yes. But pre-dead people.
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- Katie: Okay, someone or something tried to attack me--a man, but with claws. And not like hot Wolverine, but like scary wild animal claws.
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- Katie: Angular, like the Joker. Oh, in the cartoon, not the movie. And intense Hulk-like eyes.
  Jim: Okay...
  Katie: What? Not green eyes. Dark, intimidating eyes.
  Jim: You said Hulk-like.
  Katie: I meant in demeanor.
  Jim: Hair.
  Katie: Lots of it. Hair. Scruffy, unkempt, dark… very Tony Stark in his "Demon in a Bottle" days.
  George: How did someone as fine as you become a geek? What are you doing?
  Katie: Trying to make something move across the room and hit you.
  George: Of all the frigging sidekicks to get superpowers, it had to be this one.
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NOTES (3)
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- Music: Silver (Eternal Summers), Uncharted (Sara Bareilles)
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- Lucy Lawless is credited as Special Guest Star.
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- International Airdates:
  Canada: March 22, 2011 on CTV
  UK: May 3, 2011 on Watch
  Slovakia: August 2, 2011 on JOJ
  Sweden: February 11, 2012 on Kanal 5
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