Main cast: Michael O’Gorman (Warren), Annie Corley (Angie), Calvin Armitage (Neil), and Kelli Rabke (Teri)
Director: Michael Warren Powell
It’s They Live! but in a kiddie-friendly manner in The Family Man as the kid Neil discovers that his mom’s new boyfriend Warren is actually a reptilian monster when he looks at that the man through his late dad’s glasses.
The fact that his dad may be doing his best from the grave to sabotage his widow’s happiness is not the twist, sadly. Rather, the episode plays it straight: the really insufferable, unlikable brat Neil turns out to be right so his awful antics in this episode are justified instead of warranting a massive round of spanking.
Michael O’Gormon is cute to look at, and if I were the mom Angie, I’d be happy to trade Neil for him as long as he promises to keep that human disguise on 24/7.
Now that I think of it, that rubber discount alien-from-V thing he has on his head isn’t that bad, so yes, I’d ditch Neil for him because my goodness, the boy is so painful to watch.
Calvin Armitage doesn’t have much of an acting career after this, which is for the best because that kid just can’t act. This entire episode is painful to watch because it’s pretty clear that the lead kid actor is way, way out of his depths, and the director can’t seem to coax an even quarter-way decent performance out of him.
It doesn’t help that the script sees him being an awful kid that is a complete snot to everyone, and he even runs around with a loaded pistol. Seriously, that is the true horror of this episode: a massive brat with a loaded gun.
It’s easy to feel sympathy for Warren as a result, for he’s just an alien wanting a family while that snot he has to deal with will likely one day grow up to blow up his school or something.
This is the last episode of the second season and sigh. While I feel that this season is certainly more interesting than the first one, it could have at least closed on a high note. Instead, this thing just flops around like a goldfish that has leapt out of its bowl onto the floor, closing the season on a sad, dismal note.
