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No Ordinary Family 1-18: No Ordinary Animal

Well, things are certainly getting interesting for the Powell clan. In this episode, there are shocking revelations and they are hunted like animals by an animal of sorts. This is a good one, so hang on.

The episode starts with a random jogger in the park. She’s out enjoying the nice weather listening to music. And as a runner myself, this next part scared me. She senses she’s being followed but doesn’t see anyone. Suddenly, she is attacked and killed. Her body has slash marks on it, but her attacker runs off because there are some people nearby.

While Jim and George begin investigating, Mrs. X calls Winnick, the super we met last time that Stephanie gave the injection to. He’s now has claws, remember? And he is responsible for the murder. Mrs. X calls him upset because there will be an autopsy. Speaking of which, Jim and George show up to find out what the coroner learned in person because he didn’t want to tell them over the phone. Only he’s now dead.

We interrupt this recap for an editorial comment. I read lots of mysteries. And it never fails. If you want to die, tell the main character you have an important piece of information, but you’ll only tell them in person. Yep, you’ll be dead when they show up. So instead, call the hero and blurt out the information as soon as they answer. Leave them a voicemail with the information on it. Don’t even wait to say hello. It’s the only way to live.

Now, back to the show.

Jim and George are able to steal the autopsy and bring it back to the lair, where Stephanie realizes that the victim had the enzyme that all the supers do. So she was a super. As this is sinking in, there’s another victim. Jim and Stephanie rush out to the location only to find the police already there and a missing body. But the killer left behind lots of scratch marks. Stephanie rushes in and nabs a vial of the formula that she and Dr. King injected into Winnick. So they make the connection that the killer is obviously targeting supers. Naturally, they start worrying about the kids.

JJ is safe at school. He’s got Mr. Litchfield on his case as usual. Mr. Litchfield is still giving him different equations than the rest of the academic decathlon team, and he wants to know why. But Daphne and Chris have used her powers to ditch school and talk their way into a taping of a video of her favorite singer. Stephanie shows up and gets JJ, but no one, not even JJ, knows where Daphne is.

Meanwhile, we have to check in with Katie. She’s arriving home when Winnick shows up looking for “Joshua.” She assures him that Joshua has left. Winnick is about to go when he sniffs and says, “You’re one of them.” Despite her assurances that she’s ordinary, he advances. Katie screams, and Winnick flies across the yard and lands on top of a car. As she’s recounting this for Jim and Stephanie, she moves a vace across the room and then a chair. She’s developed telekinesis, although it seems to come and go. She spends much of the episode trying to use her power and failing. And George is less than impressed to discover that he’s the sidekick who didn’t get powers.

With Katie’s help, Jim and Stephanie are able to figure out that it is Winnick they need to find. Stephanie even recognizes him as the guy she injected. They set out looking for Daphne. Stephanie goes home and runs into Winnick. At first, she’s rightfully wary of him, but he starts to act like he’s willing to stop. As soon as she gets within striking distance, he plunges his claws into her stomach and leaves her to die on the kitchen floor. (Lesson #2 of the night: Never let your guard down around a killer. I saw that coming.)

When Stephanie doesn’t return to the lair, Jim gets worried and goes to the house. He finds Stephanie, whose body is healing itself at a fast rate thanks to her metabolism. She refuses to go to the hospital, so Jim takes her to the lair and heads out looking for Daphne.

Meanwhile, Winnick has found her and leads her away, saying he’s from the school and come to take her to her mother. (Really, did all the characters take stupid pills? Hello stranger danger!) Just as Winnick is about to attack, Jim shows up. The two fight until Jim knocks him out. That’s when Daphne talks Jim into calling the police instead of killing him. We’re left to assume he’s back in custody since we never see him again.

See, Stephanie has gotten worse. Turns out she has a bacteria from the attack that is going to kill her. She still refuses to go to the hospital, so Jim does the only thing he can. He takes her to Dr. King and insists he use some of the serum to save her. For a minute, there’s no change, but then she begins to get better.

You know, I wasn’t worried that any of the Powells would die, but it was still an intense episode. Very well done, except for the couple of parts I pointed out where the characters acted stupidly.

So, let’s get to the last few scenes that wrap stuff up.

Daphne walks into Mr. Litchfield’s office with the formula that he wanted JJ to solve. She stands there and reads his thoughts. He’s relieved because the guy who wants that formula might finally get off his back. Daphne walks away and calls JJ, telling him they have to talk because something strange is definitely going on. (She needs to go back and reread that paragraph I posted about not leaving messages like that.) She then runs into Chris, who is excited about the possibilities for fun her abilities can give them. In fact, he’s created a wish list. Daphne seems less than pleased.

We cut to Dr. King’s office. He’s looking over the formula he just got from Litchfield and is very pleased until his secretary calls to warn him that the CEO is about to come into his office. Sure enough, the door opens and in walks Mrs. X. She’s not at all happy about how many supers are running around, but she calms down when King shares the results of the formula. They’ve almost figured out a way to make the powers permanent.

But that’s not the final scene.

In another part of the lab, Daphne shows up to get some work for her mom. Katie is obviously in shock. Katie’s been running experiments on herself to try to learn why she has powers. She hands the results to Daphne as she says that for a while it’s felt like Joshua has left part of himself behind. Turns out he has. Katie’s pregnant.

But that’s not the final scene either.

Stephanie is felling so much better she decides to go for a run. But she’s running faster than normal. In fact, as she looks at her hand, it starts to disintegrate and vanish. And as the rest of her vanishes, the episode ends.

I feel like the show is just beginning to find itself. The story is moving forward in compelling ways. I love the fact that Jim has basically told Dr. King “We know what you are doing, you know about us.” That holds promise for the future. Katie pregnant? I don’t think Daphne is going to like Chris if he is using her. But if she breaks up with him, will he tell everyone about her powers? So many places for the story to go.

And yet, there’s only one episode left this season. I’m hearing conflicting reports on when it will air. Best I can tell, ABC has decided to move it up to this Saturday at 10PM, 9 Central. Right now, my DVR says it’s a rerun of last night’s Dancing with the Stars, but I’m going to keep a close eye on it and record that hour manually if I have to. I think ABC knows better what they plan to do than my DVR which is often behind.

Unfortunately, the fact that they are burning off an episode on Saturday night leads me to believe that the ratings are bad enough to cancel the show. I hope that this episode wraps up most storylines so we can get some closure.

While we wait, come visit me at my normal blog Random Ramblings from Sunny Southern CA.

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