Reviews

No Ordinary Family episode 12 review: No Ordinary Brother

Billy wants to hunt down those responsible for this show, and demand his life back…

By Billy Grifter | January 13, 2011 | | 0

This review contains spoilers.

12. No Ordinary Brother

I’d love to say that this story represented a turning point in the show, or that it had some stand-out acting or interesting narrative. I’d love to say those things, because being negative about something week after week is actually creatively draining. But I can’t, because this show was none of those things.

This week was one of the lamest stories the writers have managed to created yet, with the extra ordinary plot of having Jim’s brother turn up, who is the family’s ‘black sheep’, and in trouble with the mob. I can’t recall exactly when I first saw this plot as a child. Maybe it was Bonanza or Rawhide, but it’s as old as the hills.

If they’re willing to push out such TV chestnuts as this, what next? My guess is they meet up with a beautiful young Mexican immigrant whose brother is being held by an exploiting landowner. Yes, exactly the plot that appeared in half the A-Team episodes.

If you’ve never watched TV, the plot of No Ordinary Brother goes like this: the brother turns up out of the blue saying everything is wonderful, when, in fact, he’s in deep trouble with the mob. The regular characters are divided between those who say he’s no good, and those that think a leopard can change its spots. In the end, brotherly love wins out. End.

Some of the leaps in logic at various points of the story made me gasp, because, frankly, they just jumped over anything remotely difficult to explain. And alongside the bad brother plot, they also ran another about Daphne that was a reworking of another they ran earlier in the season. And we’re only at episode 12!

So, what was new? Well, they’ve introduced a new henchman for Dr. King, a shape shifter whose normal appearance is that of English actress Rebecca Mader. Why they gave her a really nasal Australian accent, I’ve no idea, but it was annoying.

Quite obviously, at some point, she and The Watcher will have a showdown, possibly in the final episode of the season, where he’ll die having gained redemption. Yawn.

Normally, I’d write more, but given that the writers spent less than 20 minutes devising this plot, I don’t see why I should spend any longer dissecting it.

In a word, this show is ‘blah’, and if it doesn’t stop being that my reviews will get progressively shorter from this point onwards.