Kyle XY: The Complete Third and Final Season
Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
US DVD Release Date: December 22, 2009
Broadcast Year: 2009
Rated: TV-14
Running Time: 436 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 (English)
Subtitles: English (SDH), French, Spanish
Movie: 2.5 out of 5
Kyle XY debuted on the ABC Family cable channel in the summer of 2006, and followed the story of a teenage boy who was found naked wandering in the woods in suburban Seattle, with no memory of who he was or where he came from. The young boy is taken in by a foster family, the Tragers, and is given the name of Kyle. As the series unfolds, it is discovered that Kyle (Matt Dallas) is a clone of super-genius Adam Baylin, and was secretly created by the Latnok Corporation, who want Kyle back regardless of the cost. Season 2 introduced Jessie (Jaimie Alexander), a clone of Baylin's super-genius girlfriend, Sarah (Ally Sheedy), who is almost the polar opposite of Kyle, having killed a man in the same woods during her escape from the underground Latnok lab. For more detailed summaries of the prior seasons, please check out Neil Middlemiss's reviews of Season One and Season Two.
At first, I thought Kyle XY was going to be a retread of the short-lived FOX series John Doe, which was about a super-genius amnesiac 30-something man found naked in the woods outside of Seattle (plyed by Dominic Purcell), who helped solve crimes while trying to find out who he was. Kyle XY was more about an innocent teenager learning to live and find love in an often difficult and confusing world, with the help of his foster family. The show often dealt with teenage issues such as drinking and pre-marital sex, although I felt the latter was not dealt with seriously enough, bringing a whole new meaning to the network's slogan of “A Different Kind Of Family.” During its first season, Kyle XY became the highest rated series on the network, although ratings began to dwindle near the end of the second season. The series also made Matt Dallas a teen heartthrob, with his picture plastered on bus stops everywhere promoting the show.
As season three opens, Kyle's girlfriend, Amanda (Kirsten Prout), has disappeared as the two were leaving the Prom and heading to the after-Prom party. Kyle gets a call from Latnok on his cell phone with video of Amanda bound and unconscious, with the corporation demanding a meeting. It is at this meeting, after Jessie and Kyle rescue Amanda, that the series introduces a new villain in the form of Cassidy (Hal Ozsan), a twenty-something genius who runs a think tank at the local college and was hired by Latnok to recruit Kyle. It is at this point, near the end of the season premiere, that the series jumps the shark and goes way off track on a seemingly ludicrous plotline with the series ending in a cliffhanger that comes out of nowhere, and leaving a lot of questions unanswered.
When the finale was written and filmed, the producers knew that it was either a mid-season or season finale (only 10 episodes were ordered), and not the series finale, so the unanswered questions are not entirely their fault. The cancellation of the series, though, is the fault of both the network (ABC Family) and the show's creators. The first two seasons premiered in June of 2006 and 2007, but ABC Family held the season three premiere until January of 2009, a good 18 months later than usual, and with limited reruns of the prior seasons during the hiatus. As I stated above, the writers and creators had really taken the series off track for this third season, so when Kyle XY finally returned, I wasn't too surprised to see the ratings had slid as quickly as they did. After three episodes, ABC Family announced they were pulling the plug once the initial 10 episode order had completed its run. Since all 10 episodes had already been completed and delivered to the network at that time, it is likely the network executives had seen the remaining seven episodes and felt the series had run its course. In the commentaries and featurette on this set, the show's producers admit that this third season would eventually payoff during the following fourth and fifth seasons.
Video: 3 out of 5
Kyle XY is presented on DVD in its native 1.78:1 aspect ratio, anamorphically enhanced for 16:9 displays. All 10 episodes are spread across 3 discs. Detail is adequate for a standard-definition DVD, although I did notice some edge enhancement on some very rare occasions. Colors are vibrant, with accurate flesh tones, and blacks levels are very good, although there were some minor shots where some crush was evident.
Audio: 3 out of 5
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, encoded at 384 kbps, does its job. Dialogue is centered and intelligible, with music and effects spread out over the left, right, and surrounds. The track overall has good fidelity, although, at times, the low-end frequencies were overpowering.
Special Features: 3 out of 5
The features may, on the surface, appear slim, but they do contain quite a bit of information and insight to this final season.
Audio Commentary by Executive Producers David Himelfarb and Eric Tuchman on Life Support (Disc 2): This is a very interesting commentary by two of the show's executive producers discussing their favorite episode of the series, which was originally intended as a two-parter.
Audio Commentary by Executive Producer David Himelfarb and Co-Executive Producer Julie Plec on Bringing Down The House (Disc 3): This is where things begin to get interesting. While the two producers fondly recollect what happened during the run of the series while viewing the series finale, we also find out how arrogant they became during this season. They constantly remind us of how everything that happened during the third season would eventually pay off in seasons four, five, and beyond. Near the end, they plant a seed for the possibility of a movie to tie up all of the loose ends.
Kyle XY: Future Revealed (Disc 3): The producers, writers, and cast members discuss the build-up to the series-ending cliffhanger as well as where the series would have gone had the series not been cancelled. Much of the same territory discussed in the above series finale commentary is also covered here, only fleshed out in more detail. (12:36)
Deleted Scenes (Disc 3): Twelve scenes, mostly cut for time, are presented in 16:9 widescreen, but the quality is very rough. These can be viewed with or without commentary by Executive Producers David Himelfarb and Eric Tuchman.
Sneak Peeks (Disc 3): Trailers for Greek: Chapter Four, Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, Extract, 10 Things I Hate About You: 10thAnniversary Edition, Make It Or Break It: Season One, Surrogates, Blu-ray Disc Promo Spot, and TRON: Legacy. If you listen carefully to the trailer for TRON, you will hear the same theme from Kyle XY that is used in all of the menus screens on this DVD.
Overall: 3 out of 5
A disappointing season brings what was once an interesting series to a premature end. Die-hard fans will likely want this set, and the video and audio presentation warrant a purchase for that audience.
