No Ordinary Family Episode 1.01 Pilot

Meet the Powells! An ordinary family with so much going on in their own lives, there's no time to spend together. This is exactly why Jim (Michael Chiklis) proposes a family vacation to Brazil. While Stephanie (Julie Benz) is doing research, Jim and the kids, Daphne (Kay Panabaker) and JJ (Jimmy Bennett), will make new memories exploring South America. It's what families do.

After a week of little bonding, Jim forces the gang on an airplane tour of the Amazon. In the air, the plane struggles through a torrential rainstorm. As the Powells are bumped around the cabin, Jim tries his best to reassure them and keep them calm. It pretty much works until the wing catches fire and the plane begins to nose dive. One look from Jim and Stephanie knows they are thinking the same thing. They brace for impact --

CRASH

One by one, the Powells swim through glowing green water to the surface. They cling to each other, grateful for their lives. It took a near death experience to bring this family back together.

However, back at home everyone scatters to separate corners. Stephanie can tell Jim's bummed so she proposes tomorrow night be date night. A chance to remember how great they are together.

Jim needs a little more convincing, though. At the batting cages, he confesses to his best friend George (Romany Malco) how distant he feels from Stephanie. If a near-death experience can't bring them closer, what can? George recommends a marriage counselor.

The next day at the Police precinct, Jim tries to sketch a jewelry heist criminal. The robber was wearing a mask of President Obama so the witness could not see his face. On break, Jim runs into Detective Cho. As they chat, a meth head breaks free on the other side of the station and fires a gun straight at Cho. Jim pushes her out of the way. Cho is shaken but even more confused as to why the bullet didn't make a mark. Jim leaves to get some fresh air, but in truth he doesn't want anyone to see what he's hiding in his hand: the bullet!

For the first time in a long time Jim is... happy. However, his family is too busy to notice Jim's change in behavior. After rushing the kids to school and speeding to work, Stephanie barely makes it to Global Tech, in time for her board presentation. Stephanie downloads the Chairman and colleagues on her research of the Trilsettum Coronis -- a very old Amazonian plant with a bounty of health and technological applications. Aside from the snide remarks from one obnoxious coworker, Dr. Francis Chiles, the board is impressed. So impressed says Dr. Dayton King (Stephen Collins), Stephanie's superior and mentor, that the Chairman wants to discuss funding of her research over drinks tonight. Tonight? Looks like date night is going on the back burner.

Meanwhile, George joins Jim at the batting cages where Jim's using baseballs to recreate his super catch. Things turn serious when Jim pulls out a gun and asks George to shoot him. Whoa now.

Stephanie calls Jim requesting a rain check on their date night. Jim's all too happy to oblige, which concerns Stephanie. Shouldn't he be at least a little upset? But Jim's too focused on the thought of catching another bullet. George won't shoot but Jim reasons with him. Something extraordinary is happening and he needs his friend's help to learn what it is. George refuses but as he puts the gun down he accidentally fires. Jim catches it! That bullet was certainly no fluke. Jim's got super powers!

On her way to meet the Chairman, something phenomenal happens to Stephanie as well. One minute she's running to her car and the next instant she's breaking the sound barrier at an incredible velocity. It's inexplicable. She flies past cars so fast the freeway looks like a sculpture garden. Stephanie has super speed.

Now that George is convinced of Jim's abilities, he wants to know what else he can do. He's super strong and he can catch bullets. Can he fly? They learn the answer is no when Jim jumps from a roof and plummets like an asteroid. From the ground, Jim realizes he can do something else. He bends his knees and leaps high into the air, over George's head and lands on the rooftop. He can jump.

Stephanie decides to share her new discovery with Katie Andrews (Autumn Reeser), her research assistant. At an abandoned racetrack, Katie clocks Stephanie's speed. Katie gets overexcited at the possibility of her boss trying out for the Olympics. But Stephanie has no interest in international acclaim. She just wants to make time. She calls Jim, explains she's finished for the day and she wants to use her free time with Jim to catch up like they used to.

In bed, pillow talk swiftly turns from sweet to sour. Jim gets defensive at Stephanie's assertion that he's only unhappy because he stopped trying. Jim thinks she would know more about what's going on with her kids if she tried harder to be home more. A phone ring cuts the ice. It's George. The cops are in hot pursuit of the Obama perp and he knows Jim wants a piece of him. With nothing more to say, Jim gets dressed and heads out, ready to make a difference in the world since he can't at home.

Jim leaps from roof to roof, George directing him via Bluetooth, until he pinpoints the rogue car. Using super strength, Jim flings the car door off its hinges and hurls the perp against a fence. He unmasks the hoodlum, has him in his clutches until BANG! Jim's been shot. He falls to the ground calling for help as the shooter gets away.

Jim awakens to George explaining he's fine but he had to get Stephanie's help. He couldn't exactly take him to a hospital. Jim's convinced she'll never understand. Stephanie enters and begs to differ. In a flash she leaves and comes back holding a sketch from the other side of the house. Very freaky.

Jim and Stephanie try to digest these phenomena. Stephanie recalls the Belem water having a strange phosphorescence. Could the water have caused these abilities? If so, they wouldn't be the only two with powers. Cue phone ring. It's Daphne and something's wrong.

Daphne explains to Stephanie what freaked her out. During her basketball game, a flood of thoughts bombarded her from all around. Only, they weren't hers. She could hear what everyone else was thinking. It was insane. Stephanie believes her. She has something insane of her own to share.

In the living room, the Powells gather to discuss their recent changes. JJ feels left out since he has no new abilities and is still just 'the dumb one.' Daphne thinks the talk is pointless. She doesn't want to be a freak and the only reason Jim and Stephanie want to feel special is to ignore the fact that their marriage is broken. The kids storm out. Stephanie and Jim realize Daphne is right.

The next day, Daphne unwinds with her boyfriend Lucas. She apologizes for being so weird lately. A plane crash will do that to you. Lucas puts her at ease with a kiss. He's so cute! At least until Daphne hears Lucas's thoughts and learns he has been sleeping with her best friend Emily. What?! Lucas denies it, claiming he would never do that. Daphne storms out. She's going to be so much better off without a liar in her life. Maybe there is an upside to having powers after all.

Jim's sketch of the Obama perp leads Detective Cho after a man named Reed Koblenz. She questions his ex-girlfriend about him, but she claims to know nothing. On the way out, Koblenz steps off the elevator. He fires immediately, snagging Cho in the arm. Koblenz takes Cho hostage and runs off.

Back at the Powell house, Stephanie can tell something's up with Daphne. She uses the opportunity to be more present in her daughter's life. It's new to Daphne, but she rolls with it. Daphne admits the telepathy happened again and Lucas was cheating on her. She's heartbroken, but Stephanie consoles her like a champ mom. JJ walks by, feels left out of this precious moment, assuming it's about super powers. Stephanie embraces her children. Everyone here is a part of this family, powers or not. She's going to make a great super mom.

Koblenz is making a getaway with Cho, but Jim shows up to save the day. Koblenz vanishes into thin air and reappears behind Jim. This guy can teleport! They fight, super versus super, each one-upping the other until Koblenz gets Jim at point blank range. Koblenz laughs that Jim didn't realize there were others like them. Before he can say more, a shot is fired and Koblenz goes down. Cho made it out of the trunk just in time. She tells Jim to get away before he has to explain what he's doing there. Did she see Jim use his powers? And who are the others Koblenz was talking about?

Jim makes it home to find Stephanie waiting up for him. She wants him to know she thinks the world of him as a parent and spouse. To her, he was extraordinary before he could catch a bullet. And she liked it better that way. She doesn't want any more crime fighting. Not when she's just getting him back.

The next day in math class, JJ resigns himself to failing another test, but then something miraculous happens. He looks at the material and where once he saw gibberish, it suddenly makes sense. He takes his test with no problem. Algebra is about to get a whole lot easier for JJ.

It's been an exciting week for the Powells. Jim and Stephanie both know their powers are not a solution to their marriage issues. If anything, their problems are about to get super-sized. Which is why they've taken George's advice and gone to see Dr. Allen, a marriage therapist. With his guidance, maybe they can make their marriage super, too.

Footsteps echo down a dark corridor. A man enters a morgue and stands over the dead body of Reed Koblenz. He wants to know who was involved with Koblenz's death and what they might have seen. A mysterious figure emerges from the shadows, ready to obey the man's orders. The man we recognize as Dr. King, Stephanie's mentor. Whatever he is up to, it's bigger and more ominous than we thought.