Any lazy series with a twenty two episode order on network television will have more than one filler episode. Usually, great series with twenty two episodes have one or two filler episodes a year. Buffy and ANGEL were not the exception to filler but the two shows were great and their filler episodes were always entertaining. The problem with filler episodes in lazy series is, the episode's usually full of cliches and familiar tropes like the distant family member who visits to bring nonsense drama until the nonsense gets resolved, and smiles fill the final frame. Dawson's Creek went to this well of tropes more than once in their six season. Everwood couldn't resist the occassional distant-family-member-arrives-in-town. In "No Ordinary Brother," Jim's brother arrives in town with (you guessed it) nonsense drama.
The episode was both filler AND transitional because No Ordinary Family can't have enough transitional episodes. For the second time in four episodes, Katie and Stephanie have a fight that threatens their friendship. Dr. King continues to sit in his office as he fails to make the lives of anyone associated with Stephanie miserable. Daphne helps a delinquint student who isn't actually a delinquint student. Jim sorted through ten years of pent up anger towards his brother, Mike, who developed a habit of messing up his life.
But, really, nothing happened in "No Ordinary Brother." Dr. King and Rebecca Mader (LOST!) schemed to move Katie to an entire different city. When that failed, they tried to murder her. How is she a threat? Her relationship with Sylar II made him desire a life free from Dr. King's serum so Dr. King wants to eliminate the Katie problem. But it isn't a threat. We learned that King and Sylar II are family which is relatively underwhelming. The revelation didn't change anything about that dynamic or provide the relationship with greater depth. It felt like a lazy parallel to the A story with Jim and Mike. Considering the show drops plotlines weekly, I wouldn't mind if the family revelation went away. The story ends on an ominous note as Dr. King has some plan to keep Sylar II as his hitman and, surprisingly, only Rebecca Mader's privy to the information. Each week, it seems like Dr. King has an evil plan that the viewer never learns about.
The other non-happenings in the episode involved Jim and his brother in the A story. Mike never handled his life well. Jim evidently had to clean up his messes. Mike never offered the emotional support his brother needed in a time of crisis either. Apparently, the ill feelings festered in Jim for half of the episode as his brother takes JJ to a horse track to gamble. Jim hadn't forgiven Mike for his failure to show up in the hospital after their father's heart attack. The scene represents Mike's past, as the writers button the scene with Jim telling his brother that he never thinks about other people and their needs.
The show wants the A story to be more powerful than it actually is. The show wants the viewer to experience empathy for Jim as he pours his heart out to his brother. No Ordinary Family employs professional writers so it's amazing that basic storytelling rules are ignored. In television, stories and moments have to be earned. No Ordinary Family never earns any of their beats. The first time we hear anything about Jim's father and his history with his brother is in the episode. The father stuff, in particular, comes out of left field. Fans complained about the ending of the How I Met Your Mother episode "Bad News" because it came out of left field but the series earned the emotional impact of that ending. This is just a lazy, lazy show.
The A story plays out in predictable fashion. Mike owes $150,000 to a loan shark. He needs help. Jim tries to help him but he doesn't have the money. Mike emerges from the ordeal unscathed and with plenty of cash for helping the police arrest the loan shark. Mike thanks Jim for saving his life well before he had superpowers then smiles fill the frame.
The rest of the episode was uninteresting. It involved Daphne and the origins of another romance with a boy.
I have an unrelated tangent now: do writers forget what it's like waking up in the morning before school? After Mike arrives, the family's eating breakfast at the table before school. Everyone is wide awake. When I was in high school, I had to wake up at 6:30AM to catch a 6:51AM school bus. At school, me and the other early arrivers waited for thirty minutes each day before the opening bell rang. It was like The Walking Dead in the cafeteria.
Friends and well-wishers, this show is awful. Any potential the show had once upon a time disappeared. It won't stray from its formula. "No Ordinary Brother" wasn't terrible--just mediocre and on par for the show. I'll continue writing about the show because I like to finish what I start. I hope the show improves. Right now, it's terrible. And where did Amy Acker's character disappear to?
THE AFC ASIAN CUP UPDATE
Since thousands and thousands of people read my Asian Cup preview, I'll provide a small update. Uzbekistan and China lead Group A with 3 points. Syria leads Group B with 3 points. Australia and South Korea lead Group C with 3 points a piece. Iran leads Group D. The DPRK drew with UAE today. Uh-oh.
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
1 comment:
agree 1000% about the waking up to go to school thing. on dexter, the kids were always running around, going swimming(!) getting into mischief and all before the school bus came. me? i usually sat on the couch, tried not to fall asleep and silently cursed MTV for showing only 2 music videos for every 10 minutes of commercial time. youd have better luck getting a cazt to go swimming at that time of the am.
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