Bruce Thomas, April Matson, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Chris Olivero, Kirsten Prout, Jaimie Alexander, Nicholas Lea,
Chelan Simmons, Magda Apanowicz, Josh Zuckerman, Hal Ozsan
Third Season
- Sci-Fi
- 2009
- Buy the DVD
Reviewed by Will Harris
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hose of you who’ve seen Bullz-Eye’s reviews of past seasons of “Greek” and “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” are probably already steeling yourself for yet another rant about how series on ABC Family get a bum rap from those who’ve never actually seen them. You can’t really say that about “Kyle XY,” though, because it has arguably the most devout fanbase of any show on the network. Or, rather, it did until the show was unceremoniously canceled at the end of its third season. Now, the fans are on a mission to get their series back, and if they have to insult the network that put it on the air in the first place to get their way, then by God, that’s the way it’s going to be.
If you think that’s a joke, you’re mistaken. When Premium Hollywood posted about the show’s cancellation, the fans came out in force, and quite a few of them were downright vicious with their expression of hatred toward ABC Family and, by extension, the entire ABC family of networks. “Why should we even bother watching any damned thing ABC puts on anymore?” asked one viewer. “Once someone gets into it and gets attached, it gets cancelled. If ‘Kyle’ gets taken off, I hope people just don’t watch ABC anymore and show them that they hurt their selves for taking off a great show. I mean, hell, if shows keep getting cancelled, maybe we all should say to hell with cable or dish or whatever service you all got and just stick to watching DVDs or going to the movies.”
That’s one of the tamer ones. “Kyle XY” fans don’t kid around.
At the time they were going nuts over the show’s cancellation, I was pretty far behind on the show and its Season Three goings-on, so I attempted to talk them down in a calm and reasonable fashion, explaining that television is a business and they can’t keep shows on the air for the long haul if they aren’t pulling in the ratings. Now that I’ve actually had the opportunity to watch “Kyle XY: The Complete Third / Final Season,” however, I’ve got more of a frame of reference to why they were so up in arms about the abrupt nature of the cancelation and, well, I can kind of see where they were coming from now.
Season One of “Kyle XY” introduced us to the title character – played by Matt Dallas – and began to explore the mysteries of this young man with no bellybutton, while Season Two revealed that he wasn’t alone in the world, that he had a female equivalent in Jessi (Jaimie Alexander). It was only inevitable, one supposes, that Season Three would spend a significant amount of time exploring the possibilities of a relationship between Kyle and Jessi while trying to figure out where Kyle’s longtime love, Amanda (Kirsten Prout), fit into the picture, but while that was indeed where a portion of the focus was, there were far more developments going on with the organization known as Latnok. The mysterious Cassidy (Hal Ozsan) tried to weasel his way into Jessi’s life, then proceeded to broker a deal wherein he would save the life of Nicole Trager (Marguerite MacIntyre) if Kyle would work for Latnok. It was this extremely intriguing storyline which led to a revelatory moment in the closing seconds of the season finale that could’ve had far reached effects on the series, which is why it has been cited by more than a few fans as the most frustrating part about the show’s cancellation. For those who enjoyed the teen angst of “Kyle XY,” rest assured that Season Three offered plenty of that as well, but setting aside the Kyle / Jessi / Amanda love triangle, nothing could top the relationship between Josh (Jean-Luc Bilodeau) and Andy (Magda Apanowicz) for both general cuteness and utter heartbreak.
Yep, it really sucks that “Kyle XY” was canceled: it was a really solid blend of teen drama, sci-fi action, and good humor. Word on the street is that the series bit the dust because it didn’t really fit in with the direction of the other programming on ABC Family, but if that’s really true, it’s pretty pitiful that the network couldn’t think out of the box enough to let it forge its own path. At least we’ve got three seasons to keep us warm at night, but given the potential as explored within the bonus material, we really should’ve gotten a heck of a lot more.
Special Features: There are audio commentaries and deleted scenes, as we’ve come to expect from previous sets, but the best bit of bonus material here is also the most depressing. The description of the featurette entitled “‘Kyle XY’: Future Revealed” says that “the essential fan’s guide to Latnok uncovers the truth behind Kyle and Jessi’s past and offers a glimpse into their future,” and so it does, but by doing so, it basically implies that the chances of seeing any sort of “Kyle XY” film or miniseries are pretty slim. Otherwise, why would the producers give away all of the secrets that they never had the chance to reveal within the series? Talk about your major bummers.
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