SPOILERS THROUGHOUT BE WARNED: I watched the episode and can say that I am fairly interested in what the show could become. It was pretty expository in the sense that the characters spelled a lot of things out assuming the audience was fairly unintelligent, but there are some really interesting storylines in the pilot episode. Particularly, the mystery surrounding J.J., the youngest of the superhero family who does not appear to have a power for much of the episode, seems to be promising as his potential power may play on the character's learning disability. I also really like Michael Chiklis' character because the character seems to act somewhat naturally and realistically to getting the powers. He's giddy and excited and tries to see exactly what he can do with his super strength. The weakness of his storyline lies with the police subplot of the episode and his wanting to be involved. I like the idea, of his wanting to step out of the shadows of being a sketch artist and an actual crimefighter, but the "villain" was weak and portrayed very poorly. Additionally, I didn't buy any of the cops as being actual cops; they were just shells of characters and really rigid in their performances. And on that note, they were just plain dumb. The two detectives go in search of the episode's villain and upon seeing them, they call out his name, giving the guy an opportunity to prepare himself and actual fight back, which he does to deadly results. The cops were just amateurish and ridiculous. Definitely me least favorite piece of the episode.
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| Michael Chiklis (left) and Romany Malco |
There was one part of both the mother and father's storylines that really interested me and made me want to see more, and that was their interaction with their adult friends/coworkers who found out about their powers. Chiklis' friend was in awe and the two acted like little kids just getting a new comic book, which made for very realistic (despite the superhero plot) television. And his friend was played Romany Malco, who was also in Weeds and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and who also happens to be awesome. Conversely, Benz's friend on the show was both shocked, interested and also showed signs of workplace jealousy over how efficient Benz's character can now be versus herself. That will be interesting to see. Plus, she's played by Autumn Reeser, who recently had a stint on Entourage as Ari's agent nemesis "Lizzie" and also played "Taylor" on The O.C. I've always liked her in the annoying sidekick kind of roles that she typically plays, and I think if they pursue a jealousy storyline, she could definitely provide for some interesting moments.
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| Julie Benz (left) and Autumn Reeser (right) |
The daughter's storyline was a little too cliche for; she's a teenage girl who can read minds, even that of her cheating boyfriend! It just seemed silly and tired. I would say that at least they didn't rip off The Incredibles and have her power be invisibility, but I kind of secretly wanted them to do that. It would give her the ability to hear what people thought of her behind her back (she could easily hide in the locker room or something people are talking about her) and at the same time, it could also play with the idea that sometimes you just want to be invisible after an embarrassing moment.
Anyhow, it was just the pilot episode and I certainly will be tuning in come the fall. It had its ups, and some downs with some of the dialogue that just made things too painfully obvious and sometimes "7th Heaven"-y (gag me) but I am hoping those kinks will be worked out for episode 2. So, tell me what you thought of the episode!
I said good day, sir!
-E
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