Kyle XY - What’s the Frequency, Kyle?
Kyle XY – Season 2, Episode 7 –
What’s the Frequency, Kyle? –
7/30/07 ABC Family, 8/3/07 ABC
If you haven’t seen Episode 7 of Season 2, here there be spoilers!
Recap:
This week I’ve summarized each storyline separately instead of doing a chronological recap. There’s a lot going on in this episode.
Lori’s Attack-
Lori’s attacker is unknown. Her family is being overprotective. Her father is sleeping on a twin bed in her bedroom, and Kyle is standing watch outside her bedroom door. She’s got a nice bruise on the side of her head by her eye, and fingernail scratches on her neck from when the attacker stole the necklace Lori got from Declan.
More…Jessi stops by Lori’s room on the way to her session. As usual, the conversation is strange, and XX seems unsympathetic.
Lori is showing her brave face. She decides to go to a party Friday night. But when the time comes, she backs out. She sends a text message to Declan that she is bailing on the party. He sends a message back, “Open your window.” Declan figured she would bail, and he was waiting outside with chick-flicks. Lori invites Declan to stay. He agrees on one condition, Lori sings her song for him.
Lori confronts Josh because he isn’t being his normal, smart-ass self with her. He explains it’s because every time he looks at her, he gets mad, and wants to beat up the person who did this to her. Then he makes a smart comment as he leaves, and it seems as if they will be back on normal terms. Lori then opens her locker, and her necklace is there waiting for her.
Kyle XY tells Declan his story-
Kyle meets up with Declan at Declan’s basketball practice. Kyle has already told Declan the story of what happened to him at this point. Kyle recommends that Declan stop by to see Lori.
Jessi XX is troubled-
At Jessi’s session with Nicole, XX inquires about what she is writing in her notes. XX wants to see what she is writing, but Nicole informs her that the notes are confidential.
Nicole brings Emily in after Jessi’s session. She is concerned about the way Emily treated Jessi at the dance last episode, and treats her in general. Emily suggests that maybe Nicole isn’t the right therapist for Jessi. Nicole threatens Emily – if Jessi misses one appointment, she’ll call Social Services.
Jessi recalls Nicole’s pencil strokes from her memory, recreates them using her own pencil and paper, and discovers that Nicole was writing that Jessi has no empathy, is socially manipulative, and has no remorse. XX is upset by this revelation. Declan stops by and XX and Declan briefly discuss Lori’s attack. Jessi doesn’t understand why Declan wants to stop by and see Lori, or why he is upset about the attack.
Emily has a heart-to-heart discussion with XX after Emily comes home and Jessi is sitting in the dark crying. Emily tells Jessi that tomorrow is a clean slate, a chance to correct your mistakes.
The sinister Mr. Ballantine, the Madacorp dude, wants Emily to bring in XX for a “reboot” after Emily reports Jessi’s defiance and Nicole’s threat. Emily disagrees, and starts going off on Mr. Ballantine. She’s upset because the assignment has lasted longer than they lead her to believe. And she misses her little…(she almost says “girl.” But it was enough for Mr. Ballantine to arrange for someone to pick up her little girl from school to scare Emily. The Madacorp employee took Paige home after her unscheduled pick-up, but Emily got the message. She brings Jessi XX in for her “reboot.” Mr. Ballantine tells Emily that it is time for Emily to now concentrate on Stephen Trager.
Stephen’s father-
Stephen receives a call from the hospital. William Trager, Stephen’s father, has had a stroke. The two haven’t spoken to each other in years. Stephen and Kyle go to the hospital to visit Stephen’s father. He is unconscious, and the doctor tells the two that he can’t even hear them. Kyle hears a shrill tone while visiting Stephen’s dad.
Kyle is compelled to draw an image he can’t get out of his mind. The image is that of a church. When he shows the picture to the family to see if anyone recognizes it, Stephen instantly recognizes it as St. Augustine’s, his father’s church. It was torn down years ago, and its image wasn’t in any of the family photos, so how did Kyle draw it? There is talk that Stephen’s father is trying to communicate through Kyle.
Amanda convinces Kyle to visit Stephen’s father again to see if he can receive another image. Meanwhile, Stephen walks in, wonders what they are doing there, and tells them to leave because he isn’t giving his father any more chances.
Later, alone in his room, Kyle blacks out. When he wakes up, he discovers that he has created a mural size drawing of a room, which appears to be a living room. Stephen instantly recognizes the room as his father’s living room. Stephen takes Kyle to his father’s house to show him the living room. Kyle mentions that he doesn’t understand how religion can bring so many people together and yet split so many people apart. Stephen explains that he is a “science guy” and needs proof. Stephen confides to Kyle that his father used to pour himself a whiskey and read his Bible every night – and ignore his kids. This is why he doesn’t care for religion too much. The last time he spoke to his father was in this room. Stephen had written a letter to his father, but before his father had read it, the fight escalated out of control. Stephen’s father ripped up the letter, without even reading it. They hadn’t spoken since.
Amanda encourages Kyle to keep trying to reach Stephen’s father. She believes in him, even if he can’t explain why he can do what he can do. Kyle stays at the hospital, but all he can see are the numbers 15 and 11. And he can’t figure out what these numbers mean. He tells Stephen about the numbers, and Stephen recognizes that the numbers represent his father’s favorite verse from the Bible, Luke 15:11. Kyle get William’s Bible, and looks up the verse, and finds Stephen’s letter. Stephen’s father had taped it up and read it after all.
Kyle meets Amanda at the garden where she used to sit and talk with her father. She tells Kyle that she was sorry that she didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to her father, and that is why she was pushing his work with Stephen and his father. Amanda and Kyle have their first kiss.
Likes:
I think it was brave to talk about religion. It’s obvious that Amanda believes in God, and Stephen doesn’t. But the writers were careful not to give Kyle any definite position on the subject – he was neutral.
I’ve noticed that after about 45 minutes into the show, one of the major storylines raps up, and I think that the show is over. I’m ready to see scenes from the next show. But I am surprised to see that there is more, and that’s kind of cool.
I’m glad that Jessi XX isn’t portrayed as a mindless robot. It was interesting to see her feelings and desires come through, and to watch her learn how to deal. A human being, no matter how created, is too complex to be completely controlled or programmed. We’ll see how she acts after her “reboot,” courtesy of Madacorp.
The title of the episode makes me think of the REM tune, What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? I’m sure this was the intention - to mimic the title of the famous song.
Dislikes:
I was robbed. I didn’t like the fact that we didn’t get to see Kyle give Amanda the piano last week. I didn’t mention it – I was going to let it go. But now we get robbed again, because we didn’t get to see Kyle tell Declan his story. I was curious to see how he would tell it, and to see how Declan would react. The after-the-fact scene at basketball practice was lame.
I don’t think Amanda and Kyle’s first kiss scene was all that impressively romantic. She uses this “you tell me, mind-reader” line on him that was pretty cheesy.
Food for Thought:
What was Nicole doing that she was too busy to support her husband? She did not go to the hospital with Stephen to visit his father. Even though the kids didn’t know their grandfather, why didn’t we see them visit him, either? Kyle was the only one in the Trager family that went to see the old guy (besides Stephen, of course).
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