No Ordinary Family Episode 1.02 No Ordinary Marriage

Jim Powell's hot on the heels of malicious bank robbers, armed with the might of his new super powers. Never mind that he promised his wife he wouldn't fight crime. He can't resist. Could you?

From the high-tech lair, George steers Jim right to the bandits' van. Jim plants himself square in the van's path, like a wall of steel, but the van drives straight over Jim like a traffic cone and speeds away. Fighting crime's one thing. With practice maybe our hero will actually stop it, too.

Powers have given Stephanie a side hobby as well. She enlists Katie to help her explore the scientific implications of their new abilities. Are the powers temporary? Are they hereditary? Did they alter their genetic makeup? If they had a water sample from the crash site in Belem, they could begin their analysis. Katie tells Stephanie the sample is already on its way, scoring her major sidekick bonus points.

At Pacific Bay High, Daphne's overwhelmed by the cacophony of thoughts she hears. She has not learned to focus her ability on one mind at a time, or even to turn it off, so she hears everything at once. The only thing that helps is jamming her ear buds in and turning the volume all the way up.

Jim presents a sketch of the bank robber to Detective Cho, claiming an anonymous witness stepped forward. An anonymous witness is unreliable to Cho, so she tosses the sketch aside. Jim lies and claims he was at an ATM when he saw the robbery; he's the witness. Cho asks why Jim's at the scene of so many crimes lately?

Stephanie makes it home early after work. This catches the attention of subtly sarcastic neighbor Nora Claremont. Nora brings up the school fair: Gee, it'd be nice if Stephanie would volunteer, but no one actually expects her to give back to her community or anything. Stephanie accepts this challenge. Not only will she volunteer, she'll even be in charge. At Steph's rate, how hard could it be to get a few extra things done?

While cleaning the house in mere minutes, Stephanie finds Jim's tire-treaded jacket. (He hid it after the bank robbers drove over it.) She confronts Jim. Didn't he promise not to fight crime anymore, let alone not to lie about it?

Despite this, Jim and George continue training. If Jim's going to stop the robbers' van, he's got to practice first. George tells Jim not to worry about deceiving Stephanie. Women love lies, says the double divorcee. Right now they need to focus, so George puts his junkyard rental car in gear and speeds towards Jim, knocking him down just like the robbers did. Hopefully, practice will make perfect.

Daphne escapes to the Library, the only place in the school she can get away from hormonal, teen, mind chatter. Turns out she's not the only Powell hiding out. What's JJ doing here reading advanced trigonometry textbooks? He confesses to his sister he has a super brain, but he wants to keep it a secret. Making his parents happy is new to JJ. He wants them to be proud of him, not the powers. Daphne feels for her little bro and agrees to keep quiet.

At the school fair planning meeting, Stephanie lists off her great ideas and contributions when work calls. Katie needs Stephanie to get back to the lab quick. Dr. King wants an update on her research so the board can review her grant proposal. Quick's no problem. Stephanie excuses herself and zooms off. En route, she gets a text from Jim and takes her eyes off the road long enough to trip over a tricycle. She loses her balance and wipes out hard. Ever skinned a knee? This is 600 times worse.

Jim dresses Stephanie's wounds back at the house. Luckily, her increased metabolism helps her burns heal rapidly. She wants to head back to the office, but Jim orders her to bed. She was just in a major accident and she needs to rest. He realizes how risky using their powers can be and proposes they forfeit their powers until they know more about them. Stephanie gladly agrees.

The next day, as Stephanie struggles to bake 300 cupcakes for the fair sans powers, Katie stops by and explains the Belem water sample was accidentally sent to Arizona. The only way to recover it is for Stephanie to zoom there and get it herself, violating the no-power rule.

JJ scores an A on a Math test, raising the suspicions of his teacher Mr. Litchfield. Litchfield notifies Jim that JJ has been cheating. JJ insists Litchfield is lying. He can't believe his dad actually believes this guy over his own son. Does everyone think he's too dumb to do well on his own? This is turning into a two-parent situation, so Jim calls Stephanie about her whereabouts. She admits she's 500 miles away in Arizona.

Back home, Stephanie apologizes for breaking their deal, but unlike Jim's need to risk his neck for total strangers, she used her powers in order to protect her family. Jim concurs with her need to put the family first. To continue the trend, he gathers the troops to head to the fair, where together they will see the fruits of Stephanie's labor.

The fair turns out to be spectacular beyond expectation thanks to Stephanie's input. Even Nora Claremont manages a compliment amidst her string of passive-aggressive insults. Despite this foul treatment, the Powells manage to share some quality time. Daphne teaches JJ a lesson in blending in: Winning at the games designed to be lost is not the way to look normal. Neither is scoring perfect on math tests. Try something more average, like a B minus instead of the perfect A and he'll still come out ahead.

The thought symphony converges on Daphne again. Stephanie notices Daphne overwhelmed and offers advice: The best thing to do when everything is coming at you is to focus on the thing that matters most. Daphne gives this a try, concentrating on one mind at a time. After a moment she mutes every other mind she hears except her mom's. She did it! Finally, Daphne's got a power worth playing with. The possibilities are endless.

Jim's at the dunk tank being taunted by dunkee Ron Claremont, Nora Claremont's equally obnoxious husband. As Jim winds up, Stephanie reminds him of their no-power rule. The Claremonts wonder if Jim needs his wife to throw for him, since she does everything else in the family. Stephanie has a change of heart and thinks it'd be a great idea if Jim dunked the jerk. Jim throws a bullseye and sends Ron swimming. Totally worth it. As they're savoring the moment of justice, Jim gets a call from George. George happens to know where the bank robbers will be hitting next because he happens to be there as they are hitting it. Help?

Jim leaps to save George who has been taken hostage by the robbers. Jim lands a few yards in front of them, feet planted just like in practice. Again, the van runs him over, but this time Jim grabs hold and flips the van onto its side. He pulls George to safety as the police arrive. Jim hurries away, but not before Detective Cho spots him fleeing the scene.

Cho confronts Jim in his driveway, suspicious to why he's been spotted at three major crime scenes. He confesses his secret to her the only way he knows how, by showing her. After making sure the coast is clear he lifts his SUV with one hand. Fearful, Cho warns him if he shows up at another crime scene she's going to arrest him. Jim tells her she'll be back asking for help when she realizes there are super criminals out there that the police can't catch alone.

Jim heads inside where JJ's reading comics on the couch. Jim apologizes to JJ for thinking he cheated. He too knows how it feels when people don't believe in you, but wants JJ to know how proud he is of him. JJ beams with his father's acceptance. As Jim walks away, JJ tosses aside his comic to reveal his actual pleasure read: Pascal's Theorem.

Stephanie is happy to see Jim safe in one piece and wants him to continue fighting crime. She knows it's his calling. However, her calling is to find a cure to their powers. When she does, she promises she'll make him give everything up.

The next day in the lab, Stephanie begins her quest by evaluating the Belem water sample. It turns out to be free of any significant anomalies; it's plain old water. So where did their powers come from?

Detective Cho walks into her apartment to find the mysterious man called The Watcher waiting for her. She pulls out her gun but he uses telekinetic powers to toss the gun aside and choke Cho until she answers his questions: Did you see that Koblenz was Super? (Yes.) Did anybody else? (No.) Satisfied, The Watcher walks out as Cho's gun points itself towards her and fires. The Watcher tells King his business is complete.