A spinoff of teen show "Dawson's
Creek," "Young Americans" aired for an eight episode summer season.
It centers on the lives of students at the private Rawley Academy in New England.
Will (Rodney Scott) is a local there on a scholarship, and he struggles with no
longer fitting in with his old friends or his new schoolmates. His rich roommate
Scout (Mark Famiglietti) falls in love with Bella (Kate Bosworth), a local girl
who is forbidden to him. What makes the show interesting for us is the presence
of Jake (Katherine Moennig, The Shipping News, "The L Word"),
a girl who passes as a boy and lives in a single room in the male dormitories.
She binds her chest and rides a motorcycle that is the envy of the other guys. Inevitably,
one of the girls falls for Jake and kisses him. But Jake is heterosexual, and
she only has eyes for Hamilton (Ian Somerhalder, Celebrity), the Dean's
son. He begins to think that he is gay, until after a passionate kiss in the men's
room, Jake finally lets him in on the secret. Turns out that Jake/Jacqueline has
only done this to mess with her mother, who doesn't understand her. Jake
and Hamilton are assumed to be a gay couple by those around them. Meanwhile, the
rest of the students' soap opera lives continue. |