No Ordinary Family 1-10: No Ordinary Sidekick

I could tell all along we were building toward a break, and checking the schedule just confirmed it. This was our last new episode of No Ordinary Family until next year. You’d better believe I know where I will be when it resumes.

As the title suggests, Jim and Stephanie both have problems with their sidekicks. But before we get there, let’s cover JJ. He decides he needs to find a super smart friend, so he joins the genius club. And there he meets a beautiful girl who appears to be his weakness. She is so distracting, his smarts flee, especially when he is trying to impress her. Thanks to Jim, JJ figures out he can distract himself with other things and his powers will return.

Now, on to the main events. Jim gets jealous when George is mistaken for the hero that stops a robbery at a dry cleaning store. While George is basking in the praise, interviews, and awards, Jim thinks there was more to the robbery than met the eye. He begins to piece together that, in addition to the money, one customer’s uniforms were stolen. And one robber wasn’t arrested with the others. He manages to figure out that the robber was planning to use the uniforms to rob the train carrying a major money supply. He tries to stop it and winds up tackling real train conductors. That’s when he and George start working together again, and they manage to stop the robbers in their tracks.

Stephanie, meanwhile, is fighting with Katie because Stephanie is suspicious of “Will.” Of course, those suspicions are coming from Daphne, who still can’t read Will’s mind. Katie doesn’t take it well and starts to confront Will about it. He immediately confesses that he lied about being Will because he really wanted to meet Katie after watching her all evening in the restaurant. When pressed on his real name, he takes a name from a nearby waiter, saying he is Joshua.

And in other news, Dr. Chiles, Stephanie’s co-worker who was fired last week, confronts Dr. King about the vile of stuff he found at the end of the last episode. Dr. King threatens to frame Dr. Chiles for improper research if he continues to pursue it. Undeterred, Dr. Chiles gives the vile to Stephanie, who learns it gives a rat super speed. She calls Dr. Chiles, who insists the phone isn’t safe and they should meet in person. But before they can meet, “Joshua” shows up and makes Dr. Chiles swallow a bottle of pills, killing him. Stephanie shows up and finds the body. While she is there dealing with the police, Dr. King shows up and claims that Dr. Chiles was working on completing the old research. He was getting somewhere, and Dr. King wants to continue it, only using safe scientific methods.

But the cliffhanger involves Daphne and “Joshua.” He shows up at the Powell house while she is all alone to explain the situation with Katie. You know, spread the lie that he pretended to be Will only to meet Katie. Daphne buys it and is walking him out when she grabs his hand and sees him killing Dr. Chiles. She tries to pretend she didn’t see it, but Joshua knows and immediately corners her in the house, demanding to know how they are keeping their powers. So far, everyone else who has powers only has them temporarily.

In the final scene of the episode, Stephanie is explaining to Jim that the super villains they’ve met to far were all gaining powers from the experiments and none of it was perfect. Since they think Dr. Chiles was responsible, they expect the villainy to calm down. Just then, Daphne walks into the room whining about having to take the trip to South America, saying she doesn’t want to go. Yep, she’s got amnesia, not remembering anything that’s happened since the pilot.

Okay, so we confirmed several things I’ve suspected all along. One, Joshua or whoever he is knows the Powells have some kind of powers, although what they are I don’t know. And he is lying to Dr. King about what he knows in the hopes of gaining powers permanently. I do find it a little hard to believe that the super villains we met only had temporary powers, but since we don’t know how long they last, it could be believable.

And I know it’s a cliché, but I am hooked with the cliffhanger about Daphne. How long will it take her to remember things? Can she still read minds? And who will figure out the truth about Will/Joshua first? Will that person be safe?

It’s going to be a long wait until January.

While you’re waiting, go see Tangled. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s my review of this great movie.