In Praise of Myles, ‘American Vandal’ Season 2’s Middle School Scenestealer

American Vandal is exclusively cast with unknowns filled with talent, specifically the hard-to-master task of acting in a mockumentary. Not only can these kids deliver memorized lines (the baseline requirement for acting), they all know how to convey the awkwardness of real life. Not the highly-stylized or melodramatic or larger-than-life fiction we get everywhere else, but the small, seemingly bland gestures and vocal rhythms that we hear every single day but rarely on screen. And among American Vandal Season 2’s stacked cast, I found myself most entertained by one big-haired middle-schooler completely unaware of the shitstorm he’s tangentially tied to: Myles Crimmins.

Elisha Henig’s 10-year-old EDM musician and burgeoning tea enthusiast only shows up in a handful of episodes for brief asides, but man oh man does he steal every one of them. American Vandal uses Myles every single time to underline the context the entire Turd Burglar mystery exists in: no matter how astute the observations are or poignant the commentary on human existence is, this show is about teenagers that are emotional and awkward AF. Every time the show gets too lofty, Myles is one of the comedic characters that comes in and bursts that dramatic bubble.

So, who is Myles? We first meet him in Episode 2, “#2,” as a way to show just how wrecked Kevin McClain’s life is after confessing to being the Turd Burglar, a cyberbully that perpetrated several IRL poop-related pranks on St. Bernardine High School. Instead of spending time with his few high school friends, Kevin is alone on house arrest with only one person to keep him company: Myles. Kevin met Myles at a bar mitzvah ice cream buffet and Kevin, betrayed by his ex-best bud Tanner, extended an offer to Myles to join the EDM band Horsehead Collective.

“We’re trying to get back into the bar mitzvah scene,” rationalizes Tanner, saying that Myles has an in with the bar mitzvah crowd since he’s a middle schooler. Myles says that he brings middle school cred to the Horsehead Collective, since it was always kinda creepy for a bunch of high schoolers to be hanging around a bar mitzvah. The fact that Myles is 10, that Kevin is only hanging out with him and that Tanner was replaced with him, is a major plot point. It gives Tanner motive to pin the Turd Burglar crimes on Kevin (how dare he be replaced by someone who is barely even a tween!), and it makes us feel really bad for Kevin “Shit Stain” McClain.

But forget Tanner and Kevin! This article ain’t about them, it’s about Myles! Just as Travis Tope’s performance as Kevin reminds us all of that guy from high school, Henig’s brief performance is just as in touch with the wide-eyed eagerness that defines… well, part of middle school. Middle school is undeniably hell, and it’s low-key way worse than high school (speaking from personal experience here). But remember what it felt like to be 10 and hanging out with the older kids and feeling hella cool by proxy? That’s Myles’ whole jam. He sees Kevin as a peer. He’s into rocking the horse head and rocking out (even if he doesn’t know how to play jack).

His next big scene comes in Episode 6, “All Backed Up,” when we get to see a bit of downtime where Kevin teaches Myles the proper way to drink tea, to get a really vaporful experience. Hearing Kevin’s complicated methodology first, and then seeing that it’s directed at a kid half his size, cradling a tea cup in both hands, just highlights how preposterous Kevin is. High schoolers don’t yet know that acting twice your age makes you seem way immature, and this scene gets that across hilariously.

And then Tanner enters, and we get the first face-to-face confrontation between the accused Turd Burglar and the ex-BFF that ratted him out. And it all happens in front of Myles, who just takes it all in silently.

Henig’s timing in this scene is crucial, because once again American Vandal uses him to undercut all that drama. Tense words about the Turd Burglar turn to Kevin confronting Tanner about making out with their mutual friend Chloe–and then *honk honk*, Myles mom is outside!

Myles bounds up, throws on his backpack, and casually tosses out the line “That’s my mom! See ya, Kevin! Great work today, bro!”

But Myles gets at least kind of a heads up by the next episode, “Sh*t Storm,” because he suddenly plays the part of Kevin’s enforcer. When Kevin pulls out of the documentary after an intimidation tactic by fellow suspect DeMarcus, sleuths Peter and Sam knock on their former lead’s door. Myles face pops up in the small window before he opens the door, suddenly trying to play the part of a heavy and insisting that Kevin–who is on house arrest–is not there.

No one’s getting past this kid. I mean, unless they really try to. He’s just a 10-year-old.

But even this suddenly in-on-it Myles, one trying his hardest to stonewall some detectives, still thinks like a middle schooler. When Peter and Sam say they have new evidence, Myles runs off upstairs (obviously to check with Kevin) only to return and say, “Yep, he is not here.” And when they hand Myles a folder of said evidence, he throws it on the ground and shuts the door. The reactions on Sam and Peter’s faces are priceless, as they are equally confused, amused, and frustrated.

While that’s practically it for Myles, Henig steals all of his few scenes. This is the latest moment in a series of Moments for Henig in 2018. Not only is he stealing scenes in American Vandal, he’s also the main instigator of The Sinner Season 2. Forget poop launchers, Henig’s character in The Sinner straight-up murders people with poison! And on the other end of the spectrum, Henig played Zach Braff’s son on the short-lived sitcom (although acclaimed, at least by Decider) Alex, Inc. Henig’s all over TV in 2018, and hopefully that will continue into 2019.

Also, can we get a middle school version of American Vandal while we’re at it? But make Myles one of the amateur investigators, because it’d be weird to have Peter and Sam just hanging around the middle school.

Stream American Vandal on Netflix