tek's rating: ½

Kyle XY, on ABC Family
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Caution: potential spoilers.

Season 1
Well, the first season reminded me somewhat of John Doe, but with a younger and even more mysterious central character. This teenaged boy wakes up naked in the woods, and he can't speak, and he hasn't got a belly button, and doesn't seem to know anything, though we do hear his internal monologue, which continues throughout the series, even after he learns to talk (which doesn't take long). We hear him learning about the world, trying to figure things out. At first, when he's found wandering around naked in the streets or whatever, he's taken to juvenile hall. There he is given the name Kyle. But before long, he's taken in by a social worker named Nicole Trager, and goes to live with her family, including her husband Stephen, daughter Lori, and son Josh. It soon becomes apparent that Kyle has special abilities. He learns super quickly, and has a photographic memory and stuff. Seems to scan text and images into his brain like a computer, and draws rather like a computer printer, as well. I dunno what to say. Josh thinks he's an alien, but then Josh doesn't seem to take anything seriously. Fans of the show may speculate on Kyle's origins: clone? Android? Etc...

Yep, he's quite a mystery. Also there's some guy named Tom Foss (Nicholas Lea), who watches Kyle, from a distance. After awhile it turns out he works for a security company, but he clearly knows something about Kyle's past. Um, and Lori has a sort of boyfriend (their relationship gets rather complicated) named Declan McDonough. He may start out... I dunno, a bit caddish, but he turns out to be a pretty decent guy. He ends up helping Kyle uncover the truth about himself, but keeping Kyle's secrets puts a terrible strain on his relationship with Lori. The Tragers also have a neighbor named Amanda Bloom (Kirsten Prout). It seems like she likes Kyle, and he certainly develops feelings for her. But... she's dating a guy named Charlie (Cory Monteith, who would later become better known for Glee). Who, it turns out, is cheating on her with Lori's best friend, Hillary.

Anyway... by the end of the first season, Kyle finally learns the truth about himself. If you don't want to know about it, read no further, spoiler-phobes (though I won't reveal too many details). But first I should say, a couple of people calling themselves David and Julie Peterson show up, claiming to be Kyle's parents. He doesn't remember them, but he ends up saying he does, and going with them. They actually take him to the home of Adam Baylin, who looks like an older Kyle. He promises to tell Kyle everything. We the viewers don't actually learn that much until season two, but then again I'm updating this after the second season ended, so I kind of forget exactly what came in season one and what came in season two. But this seems a good spot to break the review, so...

Season 2
Kyle learns that he was an experiment Baylin had created at a research facility called Zzyzx. (Basically a clone of Baylin, I guess, but it's more complicated than that.) When the powers that be deemed the experiment a failure and wanted to eliminate Kyle, Foss freed Kyle, before he even woke up for the first time in his life. Baylin was no longer involved in the company, and now Foss was working for him, along with a man named Brian Taylor. Baylin teaches Kyle to develop his abilities, that is until Zzyzy has Baylin killed. Kyle then returns to the Tragers' home, with Taylor posing as the Petersons' lawyer, saying Kyle's "parents" had died in an accident. Foss will continue training Kyle, but Kyle struggles with trying to accept his destiny and also have a normal life. He also continues to be upset about keeping secrets from the people he loves.

Meanwhile, Amanda learns the truth about Charlie, and while she'll be mad at Kyle for awhile for not telling her about it, eventually they'll get closer. Josh gets a new friend and eventual love interest in a girl named Andy Jensen (Magda Apanowicz), but will eventually learn a troubling secret she's been keeping. Also, Foss destroys the Zzyzx facilities, but that doesn't stop MadaCorp, the company behind Zzyzx, from coming after Kyle. The company, run by a man named Julian Ballantine, wants some secrets that are locked inside Kyle's mind, which even Kyle himself can't access. Zzyzx also had another experimental subject like Kyle... Jessi XX (Jaimie Alexander). She wakes up naked and not knowing anything, like Kyle did in season one, and soon gets into trouble. But Ballantine sends a woman named Emily Hollander to recover her. They then implant Jessi with false memories, and Emily is forced to pretend to be her big sister and guardian. Also Jessi is sent into therapy with Nicole Trager, as a means for her to get closer to Kyle.

Jessi doesn't know anything about what's going on, and continues to be troubled, but she does sense a connection between herself and Kyle. MadaCorp is hoping she'll be able to get inside Kyle's head and extract their secrets. Meanwhile, Stephen loses his job, but quickly gets hired by MadaCorp, where he occasionally runs into Emily, and they become friends... but Lori worries they might be having an affair. Well... I dunno, lots of stuff happens, and I liked the second season better than the first. I suppose there's lots more I could say, but I can't think what, and I probably should leave some things unsaid anyway. But by the end of the season, Kyle has taken off to look for Jessi, who went missing. Together they find some clues to their shared past. Meanwhile, the Trager family begins to put together strange things about Kyle that they've been ignoring for the past year, and finally are determined to learn the truth. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention there are these rings that belong to members of Latnok, some secret society or something. But nothing's really been made clear about that yet.

Um... now I'm updating just a wee bit as season three begins, but... I think where I ended before was actually the midseason finale of season two, so more stuff actually happened later in the season. And I'm not sure what to say, though whatever I do say will of course be some more spoilers. Kyle and Amanda continue to get closer. (Kyle and Jessi also get closer, in a different way.) Josh and Andy get closer. Lori and Declan's relationship or lack thereof continues to be complicated, and eventually she starts getting interested in a DJ named Mark (who is also a teaching aide at a college). Kyle and Jessi track down a woman named Sarah Emerson (Ally Sheedy), who was formerly involved with Adam Baylin, and whose relationship to Jessi is much the same as that of Adam and Kyle. And at the end of the season (for reals this time), Jessi and Sarah are about to leave town together, while Kyle and Amanda attend the prom... after which Amanda is kidnapped by Latnok.

Season 3
So, season three picks up with Kyle and Jessi rescuing Amanda, who remembers nothing of the experience. And it seems as if Sarah decided to leave without Jessi. Meanwhile, Latnok is very interested in Kyle, who wants nothing to do with them. Jessi grows more interested in Kyle romantically, while Amanda and Kyle's relationship suffers. Jessi meets a guy named Cassidy (I always thought that was interesting, because of the rivalry between Jessie and Cassidy of Team Rocket in Pokemon), who turns out to work for Latnok. He claims things are changing for the better, and tries to get Kyle and Jessi involved (though he's more interested in Kyle). It turns out Latnok, at least the part of it we get to see, is basically a group of young geniuses working together under Cassidy's direction (though he himself is not a genius). One of them is a guy named Nate, who doesn't like Kyle (or much of anyone), but he takes an interest in Amanda. And there's a girl named Jackie, who takes an interest in Declan. And it turns out Mark is working for Latnok, as well. And Josh learns that Andy is going to have to move to Cleveland. And... of course plenty of other stuff happens that I don't want to spoil.

Anyway, this was the final season, and while in the end it started seemingly wrapping things up, it did end with various things unresolved, so I hoped there would be a TV movie or something to truly wrap up the story. But I guess there wasn't. Anyway, it was a pretty decent show, if not really spectacular. Engaging enough mysteries, and I liked the characters, I guess. Especially loved Josh and Andy's relationship....


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