I haven't been posting about Kyle XY, which returned for its second season three weeks ago, while I was still in Slovenia.* I wasn't sure what I made of the first few episodes, but last week's was so crazy good that I feel responsible to encourage you, the few readers of this blog, to start watching, effective tonight at 8:00.
I'm not really enamored of the science fiction/conspiracy elements of the show, and in fact I'm sort of tuning those out. What's really working, for me, is the teen drama stuff. This was true last season and it's sure as Hell true this season. I'm still processing all the levels of crazy/right that went on last week. Maybe I'm aging myself in saying that I think there's something fresh and funny about two teenaged girls walking around, telling everyone they're planning to "re-virginize." Did girls do that in your high school? Setting that aside, the show's writers continue to explore the world of teenage girls in ways that seem (granted, to a 30-something man) right on -- neither prudish nor salacious, neither preachy nor permissive. In last week's episode, we finally got the pay-off from last season's finale, in which Hillary (Chelan Simmons), the self-described "school rhymes with chut" figured out what we tried to tell Britney -- "If he'll cheat with you, he'll cheat on you," as well as Hillary's best friend Lori (April Matson) getting drunk after getting dumped by her metrosexual boyfriend Declan (Chris Olivero), and both subplots were handled gracefully.
This season has also introduced a new character, Jessie XX (Jaimie Alexander), a sort of female amalgam of the title character, only psychotic. I'm optimistic that the Jessie character may bring the science fiction aspects of the show to the same level as the teenage stuff. So now might be a good time to start watching. -- Peter
*No, I have not gotten sick of inserting gratuitous reference to my European travel in every post. No, I don't think I'm going to anytime soon. Sorry.
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