Tonight, ABC Family broadcasts the second episode of Kyle XY (ABC will show it again Friday night). I'm still processing how weird the first episode was.
Kyle XY is the story of this kid (the title character, played by Matt Dallas) who wakes up in the middle of the forest one day. No memory, no clothes, no knowledge of the world around him, and, even weirder, no navel. From there, the story follows the template set by the pilot of The O.C.: the kid winds up in juvie, then attracts the attention of an affluent and well-meaning grown-up, who takes the kid into his (in this case her) home. There's resistance from the rest of the family and some underage drinking, but after the kid stands up for his new foster brother (in this case brother and sister), everyone accepts him, at least provisionally. Like The O.C., Kyle XY promises that a lot of the drama will come from this stranger trying to find a place for himself in an often hostile new culture. Oh, plus heaping doses of homoeroticism.
It's the HoYay! elements that are really unsettling here. We're constantly reminded that, in terms of experience, Kyle is an infant. Yet he looks like the television version of a 16-year-old (ie, a 22-year-old). The pilot is, possibly unintentionally, shockingly sexually explicit. In an early scene, the camera lingers on a young man nibbling on a very phallic muffin top. In the next scene, Kyle is delighted to see the young muffin enthusiast but experiences "discomfort below [his] waist." Muffin boy clearly interprets Kyle's happiness to see him as sexual arousal, and responds by punching him in the nose. This creates a confusing experience for Kyle: pain, in addition to "a wonderful feeling," again, below the waist. Turns out, Kyle has urinated for the first time ever, which in one way makes the whole thing sort of innocent, but in another, kicks the encounter into a whole other, polymorphically-perverse dimension. We haven't even gotten to the part with some boy's hands down Kyle's pants or the masturbation subplot or freaking Krycek (Nicholas Lea) and I'm already thinking "This is on ABC Family?" -- Peter
This show is based on the book "FLIGHT" by Vanna Bonta. It's like watching a sex change TV version of the character Aira Flight -- from finding her naked with total amnesia, her innocence, the psychologist helping find her identity, her mystical eyes and powers, her supergenius intelligence that starts showing and...HER NO NAVEL! TV always makes it so much more boring and why don't they refence the book and creator of the character? --jason mills
Innies and Outies of ExtraTerrestrial Life
http://www.news-inside.com/2493/the-innies-and-outies-of-extraterrestrial.htm
Posted by: jason | August 31, 2006 at 02:51 PM