Animation
Kevin
‘Kevin’ is another entry in a long line of adult animation that substitutes vulgarity for comedy, and it’s predictably worth avoiding.
The brotherly bond between Niall Kennedy and Ruben Pallister is complicated, to say the least.
Though not actually related, Niall and Ruben were brought together by their mothers who are in a somewhat-closeted romantic relationship. Living in their moms’ combined home, the boys shared a room in childhood and lived like “brothers from another lover,” as Ruben puts it.
While the teen Niall certainly looked up to Ruben, as most younger brothers would, he’s also terrified of him. And Niall has good reasons to feel so afraid.
Ruben spent time in a young offender’s institute during secondary school, and he alternated between acting aggressive and being straight-out abusive. This wasn’t your typical high school angst, either. Teenage Ruben wasn’t shoving kids into lockers on occasion; instead, he felt twisted delight when he threatened peers with knives as they begged for mercy.
Ruben’s violent behavior was especially concerning—and confusing—when it came to Niall. When Niall was bullied in school, Ruben defended his little bro, brutally. But Ruben also choked Niall in their shared bedroom. And alarmingly, sometimes Ruben crossed Niall’s sexual boundaries, too.
By the time Ruben and Niall are adults, nothing about their dynamic has changed.
When the show opens, Niall is a grown man preparing for his wedding day. Ruben arrives uninvited, showing affection for Niall but then physically—and sexually—abuses him.
The series bounces back-and-forth from the brothers’ encounter at Niall’s wedding to key scenes from their adolescence and adulthood in which the broken men hurt and occasionally help one another.
Niall encapsulates their destructive dynamic saying, “Ruben is the best and worst thing all at once.”
Written by Richard Gadd—the creator of Netflix’s Baby Reindeer—HBO’s six-episode miniseries Half Man is wholly frightening. But according to Gadd (who also stars as Ruben), the show’s frightening nature is by design.
“It’s a show about male violence, male rage, male repression,” Gadd tells The Hollywood Reporter. “If we spend six episodes and we don’t see the lengths to which he’s [Ruben’s] capable of, then the show’s not really going to work.”
So, to make the story “work,” Half Man pulls no punches in brazenly displaying violence and rage throughout.
Both as kids and adults, the much bigger Ruben punches and pushes Niall, and sometimes these attacks draw blood. Ruben brags about how he threatened a bully with a knife, and later, we see the bully’s face mutilated with brutal bruises. Even when Ruben isn’t beating someone up, his violent tendencies seem ready to burst at any moment, and the characters’ use of harsh profanity—including the f-word, the s-word, c-word, and misuses of God’s name—intensify the impact of the show’s violence.
Ruben also crosses sexual boundaries in his relationship with Niall. In one scene, Ruben sits near Niall and “coaches” him after coercing Niall into having sex with a woman—who’s topless throughout the scene. And at Niall’s wedding, Ruben attempts to touch Niall inappropriately.
Perhaps because of Ruben’s actions, Niall seems to feel conflicted about his own sexuality. And based on reports from other reviewers, Niall may engage in sexual relationships with men in later episodes.
Half Man also includes some references to drugs and alcohol, including a scene where teens smoke a form of marijuana. Some articles also suggest that Niall might become addicted to cocaine in later episodes.
Amid its content challenges, Half Man asks compelling questions about loving people who are different, deeply broken and even seemingly undeserving of love. While these are topics that families may want to discuss, Gadd’s HBO series probably isn’t the ideal conversation starter. After all, Half Man’s depiction of gruesome violence, sexual abuse, substance abuse, same-sex attraction and its use of harsh profanity will make it wholly unfit for most families.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
In the present, Ruben shows up uninvited to Niall’s wedding in Scotland. In a flashback to adolescence, Niall discovers that Ruben will share a bedroom with him and go to the same secondary school now that Ruben has been released from a young offender’s institute.
When they’re adults, Ruben punches Niall in the face, causing him to fall to the floor. Ruben screams at him and continues punching until Niall’s face is covered in blood. Ruben threatens Niall and then nearly suffocates him. There are rumors that Ruben bit someone’s nose off. We hear that Ruben threatened a school bully with a knife. Later, the school bully is seen with his face mangled and covered in bruises. When they’re teens, Ruben chokes Niall and threatens to hurt him more. After this incident, Ruben and Niall fall asleep together in the same bed.
An adult Ruben tells Niall that if they weren’t family, he’d “get up and underneath that kilt right away.” Then, Ruben tries to inappropriately touch Niall multiple times. A bully in school steals another teen’s sticker. The bully then puts the sticker into his pants and sticks it into the teen’s mouth. A man is seen without a shirt, and a teen boy is seen without his shirt. Bullies at school draw a crude depiction of male genitalia in someone’s notebook.
Ruben sneaks a girl into his room while Niall is there. Ruben kisses her, and both strip down to their underwear—Ruben is in his boxers, and the girl is in a bra and underwear. Later, the woman takes off her bra in front of both Ruben and Niall. What follows is a disturbing and graphic sexual encounter in which Ruben “coaches” Niall in losing his virginity with the woman. It’s clear that Niall is uncomfortable with the encounter, and Ruben strongly coerces Niall into participating. Aside from the woman’s breasts, nothing critical is seen, but the characters describe the details of sexual encounter using crude and explicit language. At one point, Ruben touches Niall inappropriately during Niall’s sexual encounter with the woman. After this encounter, Ruben makes fun of Niall for asking if he could get AIDs.
Ruben’s mom talks about how she used to send love letters to Maura. Because of their moms’ relationship, Ruben refers to Niall as his “brother from another lover.” Niall says he’s OK with his mom sleeping with another woman as long as it makes her happy. A male character stares at a poster featuring shirtless men.
Maura, Ruben’s mom, tickles Niall after he tells her to stop. To get her to stop, Niall pushes Maura, and she falls.
There is harsh profanity including 29 uses of the f-word, two uses of the s-word, one use of “g–d–mit,” multiple uses of the c-word and multiple misuses of God’s and Jesus’ names. There are also a few uses of “p-ss,” “d–k,” “d–n,” “b–tard,” “b–ch.” Characters use a variety of crude insults for people with same-sex attraction, and people make crude references to male and female genitalia. Some rude British expressions are uttered as well.
Niall’s mom tells him that she doesn’t need to give him respect. When young Niall expresses fear that Ruben will be living in his room, Niall’s mom brushes his concern aside. Niall observes that his mom seems to care more about her romantic partner than him. Maura calls Niall a brat.
A character helps someone cheat on an important exam. Niall yells profanities at his teacher and insists that his mom is not a lesbian. A drunk man stands outside a house and yells insults at his son. Ruben makes several sexual innuendos about a teacher’s mom.
Teen boys smoke cigarettes. Later, Niall and Ruben smoke something with marijuana. When they’re adults, Ruben feeds Niall a flask of alcohol.
‘Kevin’ is another entry in a long line of adult animation that substitutes vulgarity for comedy, and it’s predictably worth avoiding.
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