“Birthdays, baby pictures, blueberry pancakes. They were talking about memories and traditions. But I had none of my own.”
- Kyle
So it took me watching this episode a few times to realize the producers and writers basically did a bottle episode. For those not in the know, it’s when you’re running short on money so you fill primarily on one set to cut down on costs. Some awesome episodes have come from bottle episodes (see Leverage season 2 episode “The Bottle Job”). Anyway, the premise of why everyone is stuck in one place is due to a giant rainstorm that has started to trigger some possible memories for Kyle. He wakes up in the middle of the night after seeing a hooded man in the rain staring at him through a window. Before he can even process what he’s seen, another figure appears in the rain knocking on his bedroom window. This turns out to be Declan. He tells Kyle he got in a fight with his dad and that’s why he has a cut on his head. I was very excited to see the beginning of the Kyle and Declan bromance. They really are pretty awesome together.
The next morning, Lori finds out Declan crashed in Kyle’s room and she is not happy. For once, she didn’t do anything wrong and if her parents catch Declan in the house, they are both in huge trouble. Luckily, they sneak him past Nicole and Kyle has the door open when Steven comes downstairs so they can play it off that Declan came over because it is Lori’s birthday. Lori isn’t exactly thrilled it is her birthday but she does enjoy some blueberry pancakes (her favorite). While Lori then goes and hides in her room, Declan and Josh bond a bit with video games. Oh and Kyle draws several pictures of the man he saw in his dream. And in a rather observant moment, Declan points out that Lori probably hates her birthday because she and Hilary are still fighting. Kyle is a little anxious to figure out what it means and if he’s actually remembering something but Nicole begs him to be patient. And then of course the power goes out. Steven heads outside to check the circuits when Foss shows up. I have to say I like the character (because I know what happens to him beyond this season) but he is kind of a crappy liar sometimes. He does manage to get one of Kyle’s drawings and calls whoever he is working with to report that Kyle is starting to remember things.
Declan goes to hang out with Lori and they have kind of a sweet moment where they admit that they are sort of friends again but he gets kind of defensive when she asks him what really happened to his head. He told her a different story from the one he told Kyle and a third story came out when Steven asked about it. Clearly Declan has something going on and I’m sure he’d feel so much better if he just shared it but he is a teenage boy and not one to get all mushy with his feelings. And because there aren’t enough people in the house already, Amanda has to come over because her power is out. I feel bad for Kyle because Amanda is kind of sending mixed signals his way right now. She seems kind of flirty with him but she obviously has a boyfriend. They do end up sharing a strange little scene wallowing in Kyle’s tub.
With the power still out and the rain still coming down, the kids decide to play with a spirit board. At first it’s obvious people are pushing the pointer. When Lori asks who the biggest bitch in school is, Josh clearly makes it so it spells out her name and Josh’s question about beating Declan at video games doesn’t even get a chance. But Kyle’s question of when is his birthday spells out a six-digit number: 781227. Josh jots it down in his Kyle file and things kind of take an ugly turn. The rain stops, but then Kyle sort of predicts a lightning strike in the front yard and then the power comes back on. Josh is spouting off one of his numerous theories about Kyle being an alien and Kyle just can’t take it anymore. He starts yelling at Josh that while they all think it’s funny, this is his life. I’m glad Kyle finally got angry and showed some negative emotion. It shows he’s growing as a person.
Elsewhere (in the one scene set at a different location but for all we know they just changed set dressing on one of the rooms in the Trager house), Foss reviews video footage from the night and puts things together with Declan sneaking in. it turns out Declan was involved in a hit-and-run and he took off because he was scared. After having a nice little chat with Lori, he agrees to turn himself in. It is the right thing to do after all. And Nicole gets Kyle to calm down a little after his freak out. Things are starting to calm down a little in the Trager house as it approaches cake time (well Steven has a slight panic attack over the fact that Lori isn’t a virgin anymore but whatever) and Lori even agrees to share her birthday with Kyle for the year. It is a really sweet scene and he even gets the wish he was hoping for (a kiss from Amanda). After the emotional day he had, Kyle is feeling pretty good the next day until he sees a photo of a missing university professor. He puts it together with the memory of the man in the rain and we have the dead man; Professor William Kern.
Overall, I thought this was a decent episode and a good use of a bottle episode, too. Things were a little crowded and I probably could have done without the Amanda bits but it was still a fun episode and finally gave Kyle some emotional depth that I feel he’d been lacking up until now. Plus, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post we see the vey beginnings of Kyle and Declan forming a bond. They are honestly my favorite non-romantic pairing on this show!
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