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Superman Light in a Mulder Jr. World
By bukkhead | July 15, 2007
TV REVIEW: ‘KYLE XY’
Created by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber
ABC Family Network
Season 1: 10 episodes
Finally finished season one of “Kyle XY,” so I’m going to crib from my pre-review from before and write the full-on review. That I’m including such explanation is telling, in as much as between those first few episodes and the final episode, nothing has changed my initial impression much. This is a solid 3-star show: nothing awesomely remarkable, nothing horrible.
Kyle is a 16 year old boy who wakes up in a forest, naked and covered in some kind of goo, with total amnesia, (but absolutely no fear or real disorientation, so you know something’s going on). He wanders into town, wide-eyed and fascinated, gets picked up by the police, and tossed into juvi. Eventually he’s handed over to a social worker who takes him into her home and family. As Kyle learns how to interact with this strange world, we begin to see has some special skills: a computer-fast brain and amazing physical abilities (just short of super-hero).
This is a show that appears on ABC Family, so there’s a strong flavor of morality in the show’s theme, which can get a bit cloying at times. And the acting is, well, ABC Family. Also, I can’t say much for the writing, as each episode is just a wide-eyed rediscovery of the peculiarities of human existence. Think “Mork & Mindy” mixed with “The Wonder Years,” and little bit of “X Files Jr.” thrown in. But I tell you all of this because, nevertheless, the show has an appeal. Sure, it’s cheesy, and predictable. But there’s something about it that makes you curious enough to watch another episode.
Some of the lines are funny, though, so at least one of the writers has some creativity. And the characters start to grow on you—the little brother, for example, who still has several years before he works up his acting chops—occasionally you find his card-board portrayal of the little brother archetype kind of amusing.
And they manage to work in a few sub-plots. There’s the older sister’s boy and coming-of-age troubles, and there’s the little brother’s struggles with school. They don’t go to deep into these—mostly they’re plot points for Kyle’s evolution that develop into characters traits. This is not necessarily bad; it’s the kind of multi-dimensional writing that, however cheesy it might be, makes the family appealing in the first place.
The show does the predictable thing, not telling you about Kyle’s past until the very last episode, and saving the “why” of the “what” until the beginning of season 2 (judging from the teaser extras on the DVD). And since I’ve seen it all before, I don’t know how excited I am about getting season 2. There’s, of course, the promise of a super villain on par with Kyle in terms of intellect and physical ability, which might change the show from moral reflection on the human condition to a straight up action thriller. I hope not. At any rate, I’ll let you know, when it comes out.
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