Vampires and werewolves — who needs them? ABC Family has the newest in superhuman heroes with a fighting feline femme fatale!

I will be the first to admit that as a male in my twenties I am not exactly what one would deem the target audience for an ABC Family program, so my lone bit of excitement prior to viewing The Nine Lives of Chloe King was the fact that I would get to see Caroline in the City star Amy Pietz. Ten minutes in however, I was hooked. It turns out I am in fact a fan of feline superheroes.

The best thing going for Nine Lives is star Skyler Samuels. Having to go from never been kissed high school student to ass kicking vigilante in the span of one hour, all while attempting to cope with newly discovered powers, seems like a heavy order for even the most mature actor. Skyler delivered on every level however, immediately engaging the viewer and making them interested and invested in her fate.

Next up, Chloe’s delightfully wacky sidekick Amy (Grace Phipps). With a personal style that seems to pull heavily from Elaine Stritch and Dorothy Parker, she offers a fresh new take on the self-centered best friend. Even better, the show made the wise decision of having Chloe confide about her new powers with her best friend rather than go the normal route of leaving a potential discovery of her abilities to a season finale or Sweeps Week. The best scene of the week may have been seeing Amy take out creepy cat scratch face man with a live wire as he tried to kill her best friend — eight times. Girl power!

Then, this being a tweenage dream, there are the men. First up, the seemingly arrogant and obnoxious Alek (Benjamin Stone), who it turns out is also a cat person superhuman. There is no doubt a better name for him but until we are given one, cat person superhuman will have to do. Second, the delightful college dropout Brian (Grey Damon, woo-hoo Friday Night Lights), who seems to have the most spark with Chloe. Oh, but she can’t kiss him.

Another great plot development, Chloe can’t kiss humans. You see, if she kisses humans they die, like poor geeky kid from the club. So, it looks like we have another Bella Swan on our hands, only this lady won’t be playing a victim. To be honest, I’d rather see Chloe tearing up bad guys they lip locking with dudes anyway. Especially since it turns out Chloe is the Uniter, expected to save the cat person superhumans from extinction. Heavy order to balance with Homecoming and SATs no doubt.

Sadly, Chloe is down to eight lives (at most) after episode one. Taking a tumble off a tower in San Francisco proved too much for our protagonist (and they say cats always land on their feet!). Let’s just hope she hadn’t lost previous lives as a youngster.

The show already seems rife with possibility after episode one and, to be honest, it is nice to see a show for young women that is finally about a woman who is not a victim and not spending all her time trying to grab the attention of the cutest boy in school. As well as a lady with a fierce manicure.

So HollywoodLifers, what did you think of Chloe King?



-Chris Spargo