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“Everything I do is to help my family, to protect them, and Katie, well, she's my family too. But if you ever hurt her, there will be no serum to protect you from me.”
-Stephanie
So this week’s episode starts with a narrative device I don’t recall seeing on the show so far. Stephanie walks in to find Jim lying (presumably) dead on the living room floor. She’s obviously distraught and I have to say it did pique my interest to see how it got to that point. We rewind 12 hour to find Daphne begging Stephanie for an advance on her allowance so she can go hang with her friends at the mall. Steph is pretty adamant about saying no until Daphne uses her new power to get her to say yes. J.J. is pretty impressed and tries to get Daphne to use it on Natalie so she’ll get back together with him. Meanwhile Jim is none too happy that Stephanie is going back to Global Tech. He doesn’t want her around Dr. King in case he discovers what they are up to. He gets George to tap King’s cell (federal offense but that’s what George is for) and they discover a number he called quite often. They’re trying to find a super villain to turn on King. I’m guessing it will turn out to be Joshua.
Meanwhile, Stephanie has filled Katie in on what’s happening. And Katie is kind of freaking out. She says that the bad guy never reveals his plan until he is about to kill the hero. Not a scenario they want to encounter. At roughly the same time, Dr. King gives Victoria a job. He fills her in on Jim and Steph’s powers and wants her to find out what she can, presumably by snooping around the Powell house. That will be easy since she can shape shift into anyone she wants.
The mini-Powell storyline for the week is actually kind of interesting. J.J. meets Natalie for coffee (well he orchestrates it so he’s there at her usual time). They’re sitting talking when Natalie sees a woman with a locket that looks exactly like the one that belonged to her mother. We learn that her mother was murdered. She and a colleague were walking home when they were robbed and shot. J.J. decides he’s going to try and solve the murder to give Natalie some closure. We also catch Victoria at the Powell house impersonating Stephanie. She gets called away by King as Stephanie is heading home.
Jim shows up at the address of the mystery number Dr. King was calling. It belongs to a guy named Jeremy. No one is home, but Jim breaks in. At first he finds a very sparse apartment and then finds a board with photos of the Powells with conspiracy-wall type stuff. He’s pretty freaked. Back at Powell central, Daphne takes a phone call she thinks is from Chris saying his bike won’t start. After she leaves to help him, Victoria takes her form. Victoria rifling around when J.J. finds her. She makes up an excuse for being in their parents’ room. J.J. tells her they need to head to the coffee shop. He’s just accumulated a ton of criminal profiling information and she’s kind of surprised. He tells her if he could read minds like she can, he wouldn’t need her help. So now Victoria knows of everyone’s powers.
Stephanie’s attempt to get in close with Dr. King fails. She says she wants to continue Dr. Chiles’ research and be a part of it. But King shuts her down. Jim is on the line (interrupting the meeting) and tells her about their stalker. He’s worried about the kids and after a minute of hesitation, Steph agrees they should warn Daphne and J.J. Jim calls the house and faux Daphne answers. She feeds him a line about being fine and not seeing anyone following them. Jim tells her that she and J.J. aren’t to leave the house, answer the phone or talk to anyone. Too bad they’re both out of the house already. They meet up, and after some confusion about what they said to each other (Daphne obviously doesn’t know that J.J. talked to her fake double and she apparently talked to Victoria pretending to be Chris) they find the woman with the locket. She says her boyfriend got it for her and that it was a one of a kind. Daphne works her mojo and we discover she saw the locket in an antique store and stole it because she thought it was overpriced.
Jim is still at Jeremy’s apartment and decides to dust for prints. Why George can’t just do a search for the guy and find a picture, I don’t know. So Jim improvises since he obviously doesn’t have a fingerprint kit with him. But he’s an artist so I guess it will work. He MacGyvers some fingerprint powder out of cocoa, and he lifts a print off a cell phone as the owner arrives. It turns out to be Victoria. So not what I was expecting. Of course it could not be her place. She is a liar and evil. She manages to get the slip on Jim, leaving him looking around all confused outside after chasing after her.
Victoria is reporting back to Dr. King, and he’s quite surprised that the whole family has powers and that the powers are permanent. And he doesn’t seem too concerned that Jim knows about Victoria. He just tells her to eliminate Jim and take his place. That has all kind of squicky consequences in my brain. After bitching that King is more worried about getting Stephanie for himself, she agrees to do the job. Meanwhile, Katie is home because “Joshua” wasn’t feeling well. He’s going through withdrawal again, and he begs Katie to help him. He doesn’t want to use the serum anymore, but he thinks Katie can replicate the formula with the plant Stephanie got in Brazil. Katie is snipping a piece from the plant when Stephanie finds her. Katie explains the situation (after Stephanie makes a Wonder Woman reference about the rope of truth) and asks Steph for help.
Back in teen-land, J.J. and Daphne are at the pawn shop where the locket was stolen. Daphne uses her mojo to get the information of the guy who sold it, and J.J. realizes that Daphne’s powers have evolved. He’s a little jealous. But they’re going to use it to their advantage. Jim is at the Lair trying to find anything on Victoria (he can’t find any DMV records or passports or anything) when George shows up and shoots him. Of course it isn’t really George. You can tell because, well, he shoots Jim and looks really surprised when the bullet just bounces and Jim turns the gun into a metal pretzel. The real George shows up and they figure out that it is Victoria who is messing with them.
Back at the lab, Victoria catches Jim on surveillance, and King tells her to make sure Jim sees Steph, but that it isn’t really Steph (ie Victoria will be impersonating Stephanie again). Victoria is good at the subterfuge, though. I’ll give her that. She uses what she saw in her sweep of the house to convince Jim she’s the real Stephanie. And she finds out his weakness (the lip gloss he’s allergic to). So not good. Meanwhile, the kids have found the rather grumpy guy who sold the locket to the antique store/pawn shop. He tells them that he was the co-worker who was with Natalie’s mom when she was killed. Daphne gets a hit off the guy’s wife and sees that the wife is the one who killed Natalie’s mom.
Jim and George finally discover Victoria’s (real name Amelia Hammond) ID, and we discover she was adopted by King. In a panic, Daphne calls Jim to tell him what’s happened and ask for his help. Just as she’s giving Jim the address, the wife sneaks up and knocks her unconscious with the butt of a gun. Totally not good for Daphne or J.J. The guy’s wife killed Natalie’s mom for sleeping with her husband. Jim gets there before she can do anything and is rather pissed that they were on their own investigating a murder. At school the next day, J.J. gives Natalie her mom’s locket back, and they share a hug. So it turned out pretty much okay for them. In other sort-of relationship news Stephanie pays “Joshua” a visit to tell him she’s going to help him. But not by making a serum to give him powers. She’s making a serum to counter the powers. He won’t have powers but he’ll be normal. She’s doing it for Katie and in a cliché line, tells him that if he does anything to hurt Katie, no serum will keep him safe.
Jim tells the kids they’re grounded (for the rest of their lives) when Stephanie walks in. Not two seconds later the phone rings and Steph tells Jim she’s on her way home. Obviously the Stephanie that is at the house is the fake. Especially since when she got in, she gave Jim a big passionate kiss. Likely wearing the lip gloss that makes his powers go wonky. He gets Daphne and J.J. to go upstairs (to protect them) by telling Daphne telepathically to go and lock the door. He seems not that concerned that he doesn’t have his powers and says he can take Victoria/Amelia. But then she shape shifts into Jim. Now it isn’t looking so good.
I have to say the fight scene was rather confusing. I mean, I can understand them doing it, but keeping the Jims straight was nearly impossible. I mean, really. When Stephanie comes home to find Jim lying dead on the floor. I still wasn’t 100% sure it wasn’t the real Jim until he/she reverted back to her real form. Steph was notably pleased with that. They ended up calling “Joshua” to dispose of the body. Guess it is good to know people who don’t mind getting their hands dirty. He cautions that when King finds out Victoria is dead; he’ll go after the Powells with a vengeance and that the project is so much bigger than Dr. King. So they resolve to make King think that Victoria is still alive. The next day, Stephanie convinces King that she is Victoria in Stephanie form (by playing on his attraction to Stephanie) and tells him to let Stephanie into the fold while she (not-really-Victoria) goes to Brazil to check things out. Things are starting to get good now. Too bad the season’s nearly over.
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