"The Stanley Dynamic": Twin Brothers, One Toon, One Human, Both Hetero-Horny, One with a Boyfriend

 I was interested in The Stanley Dynamic (2014-2017), the Canadian teencom, about twin brothers: the human Larry (Charles Vandervaart, left) and the toon Luke (voiced by Taylor Abrahamse) .  Is this a world where toons and humans interact all the time, as in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?  And, of course, is there any gay connection?

First I checked the first episode for premise exposition:

Scene 1: Ulp, there's a lot of it, blatantly out there.  They might as well be at the first table read, announcing "My character is ___, and their defining traits are ___."

Dad Lane (Michal Barbuto, left) is a struggling cartoonist, who can nevertheless afford one of those mansions that pass for middle-class housing on tv.

Mom Lori is a stay-at-home Mom who is just re-entering the work world.  For some reason she's making dozens of cupcakes at breakfasttime.

Preteen Lisa, Mom's favorite, is a genius attending a school for gifted kids.

Luke and Larry, Dad's favorites, are screw-ups who have been home schooled.  Until now.  

Scene 2: The boys' first day of high school.  Everyone ignores Luke, so apparently toons are commonplace in this world, yet he is the only one around.  We meet a snively, stuck-up antagonist, Ronnie (Graeme Jokic, seen here flirting with Ehren Kassan in the crime show Coroner).  He's the president of the chess club, who refuses to let Luke join.

Ulp! The Girl of His Dreams approaches, and Luke dissolves into a puddle of hetero-horniness.  Larry is overcome with hetero-horniness, too, but you can't tell because "Luke got all the cartoon parts when the zygote split in our mother's womb."  So they're identical twins?

Boy antagonist, Girl of Dreams -- this is extremely retro.  

Scene 3:  Back home, Dad is trying to work on his comic strip.  Mom comes and suggests that, since they're alone in the house...Dad interrupts: "We could eat cupcakes!"  She meant sex, har har.

Scene 4:  Larry shoves Luke into a locker so he can talk to the Girl alone.  Then he accidentally shoves a Hot Guy, who tells him "Meet me by the bleachers after school!"  Oh, great, another male antagonist.  I've seen this in a hundred teen nerd movies: men can only be competitors or threats..  

Scene 5: Brockdale Community Center. We meet new characters, the officious manager Pamela and the dimwitted janitor Doop (Bill Turnbull, right, hugging his costar from Todd and the Book of Evil, which I'm going to look up later).  

Dad is teaching a cartooning class (maybe there will be gay students?   No, they're not differentiated.)

Mom brought cupcakes for the art students, but manager Pamela bullies them away from her. 

Scene 6: Larry apologizes to Hot Guy (Isiah Lea, shown here in a later episode where they both become gender-transgressive cheerleaders.  There have been boy cheerleaders since the 1920s). 

"Just meet me after school, and we'll see what you got."    But it was an accident!  Hot Guy is being a retro bully!

Scene 7:  Back home, the boys ruminate over the bully problem.  They want to drop out, but the parents explains that they can't afford to send them to private school because they're spending so much money on Spoiled Sister's genius academy, where they have limos with waffle bars instead of school buses.  Geez, the girl only appeared in one scene, but stil, I can't stand her.

Scene 8:  Genius Sister hates her new school -- the cafeteria just has a 2-star Michelin rating, and besides, they put her in the remedial class.  Larry tries to talk her into switching to public school, but it doesn't work.  

Scene 9: Community Center.  Manager Pamela liked the cupcakes so much that she offers Mom a job as the center's full-time caterer (wouldn't that be a cook?).  

Scene 10:  Hot Guy accosts Larry, wondering why he didn' show up yesterday.    Um...because he didn't want to get clobbered?  But it turns that Hot Guy wasn't interested in fighting; he was impressed by Larry's blocking ability, and wanted him to go out for football.  (You might have clarified!) They hug and walk off together, Hot Guy wrapping his arm around Larry's shoulders.  Maybe he's gay? 

Scene 11:  Home. Larry made the football team, Luke is joining chess club, and Dad came up with a new comic strip idea: about his family.

Scene 12:  Luke shoves Larry into a locker so he can talk to Ronnie, the president of the chess club.   Wait -- first Larry betrays Luke for a girl, then Luke betrays Larry for a boy?  I'm confused.

Beefcake:  None.  Charles Vandervoort has not yet bulked up.  Some of the guys are cute.

Heterosexism: The Girl of Their Dreams.

Gay Characters:  Hot Guy may have a gay subtext.  And Luke-Ronnie?

Toons: Luke's toon identity is irrelevant.  He could be human, with no change to the plot or dialogue.

Hiding Canada:  The location is never identified.  There are no exteriors.

My Grade:  I'm not sure.  The show seems very retro-cliched, but then it subverts some of the retro tropes. I'll have to check a few more episodes.

Postscript:  In later episodes, Hot Guy (Darnell) treats Luke like a romantic partner.  It may be an unrequited crush:

 "You're dating a girl?  But you won't have any time for me!  I'll sabotage the relationship!"

"You asked a girl to the dance?  But I thought you were going with me!  I'm so upset that I'm not going to dance with you -- don't bother to ask!"

See also: Charles Vandervaart.