No Ordinary Family- No Ordinary Marriage recap/review

No Ordinary Family continued to show promise and entertain last night’s viewers. The second episode focused on the four family members learning to use their new powers. It also showed them contemplating the potential downsides and dangers.

Jim (the dad): His powers are officially strength, super leaping, and the ability to take a lot of damage. Jim and his friend George spend a lot of time getting Jim up to snuff to fight crime. “Think of yourself as a superhero in training,” George said. Jim practiced stopping moving cars, but only succeeded during an actual emergency. When Jim’s wife finds out that he is still trying to be Batman, she tries to get him to stop. But it would be a pretty boring show if he did, so when George is taken hostage by bank robbers, Jim arrives in time to save George. Jim told a female cop coworker about his powers, but one of the “super villains” killed her at the end of the episode.

Stephanie (the mom): Man, we wish we could run a mile in six seconds. Fantastic and sympathetic as this character is, she’s not really cottoning onto the fact that superpowers are to be used. Right? She got her lab assistant to send for a water sample from the crash site, thinking that analyzing it might shed light on the source of their powers. While trying to dash back to a work emergency, Stephanie was hurt in an attempt to avoid a collision with bicycling children. She shouldn’t have been reading a text while she was running Super Fast… When Jim found out that she was hurt (she heals fast too), the couple made a pact not to use their powers until Stephanie figures out more about them. Stephanie broke the pact to get the water sample faster. To her credit, she didn’t lie to Jim about it.

Daphne (the daughter): There’s enough noise in this day and age, so we feel bad for Daphne having to hear all her insipid schoolmates’ thoughts. Fortunately, Stephanie helped her learn how to tune them out and/or focus on one person at a time.

JJ (the son): JJ’s powers were clarified. Sort of. He has a “super brain.” When he sees math problems, he just “gets them” now. His power is that he is much smarter now. JJ hid his powers from his parents, because he wanted them to be proud of him for his improving grades. He could not hide it from Daphne, but she agreed to keep his secret for the time being. The downside to JJ’s powers is that his teacher is now accusing him of cheating, which WOULD be the only rational explanation for this former problem student to suddenly have more math skills than mathematics graduate students.

We loved when Jim took a rude acquaintance down after the man and his wife mocked Jim because Stephanie makes more money. This episode wasn’t as good as the pilot, but it was a worthy episode two. And with the exception of a little light cursing, it remains a good family show.

Episode grade: B