Kyle XY is one of those shows that I'm not going to just review season by season because this is one story yeah...., it's a whole show and it's something that I don't want to keep breaking down bit by bit, It was aired on ABC Family from 2006 to 2009 for three seasons and 43 episodes, and the first thing that just stuck with me is that the main character , he was just a teen boy waking up in the middle of a forest outside Seattle with no recollection of what had happened to him, he didn't even know how he got there, and here's the part that really stuck with me, He had no memory of why he doesnt have his belly button, That tiny physical element is the springboard for the mystery running underneath this show.
He ends up at the home of a kind social worker who adopts him, and later her family does too, the Tragers, becomes his family as they all attempt to find out who he is, This is where the show gets really clever though, Kyle isn't just a normal amnesia patient, he's basically a newborn experiencing the rest of the world like a new born baby but in eight grade, He doesn't know how to have basic feelings, why people lie, why people get jealous or attracted to someone, doesn't even understand how to communicate socially properly, and at the same time he is of astronomical intelligence, he's processing information, solving complex problems, picking up skills at an incomprehensible speed for someone who is supposedly still learning how to be a human being.
One thing about season one that we get a lot of is the time spent simply letting us watch Kyle learn to see the world anew, and it's quite the most endearing thing to watch him gradually come to realize how to feel, how to connect, how to belong somewhere. However, there is a mystery that slowly unfolds under that innocence, who he is, what's going on with him, why is there a man in the distance watching him.
The show takes a dramatic turn for season 2, his past creeps back into Kyle's life, as we discover that he isn't alone in his situation and others exist with the same abilities, some of whom are helpful and some who are dangerous to Kyle and his loved ones. That's when Kyle begins to feel more of a superhero, to do good things with his abilities, to actually do things that he can do that are good, It is a natural progression since he has a better understanding of himself, and now he is able to start acting rather than reacting in the show.
Season three, the final one, is shorter, only ten episodes, and you can feel the show trying to wrap up bigger mysteries with less time than it probably needed, That's honestly my biggest critique of the whole series, it never got the chance to fully close every loop the way a show with this much mystery baked into it deserved. ,Ratings dropped, and it got cancelled after that season, which always felt like unfinished business to a lot of people who were invested in Kyle's story.
I don't want to review this based on a season by season basis, because Kyle XY is actually best enjoyed as a whole, and the family drama is just below the surface of the sci-fi mystery, The Tragers didn't have to take Kyle in, but did and that's pretty much the whole point of the show when a family grows around a total stranger with no identity, that was mystery for me, but the family was what drew me in really.
So yeah, watched as a complete story, Kyle XY holds up as this rare blend of innocence, mystery, and family warmth, even with an ending that never fully got the closure it deserved.
Rating: 85/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
