This show literally left me speechless. I watched the pilot for ABC's upcoming a couple of times and each time it made me laugh from the bottom of my heart. The chemistry, pacing, writing and especially the acting were on such a high level throughout this first half hour that it simply left me wanting for more.
ABC's newest half-hour comedy introduced the DiMeos family to us, consisting out of parents Maya and Jimmy and kids J.J., Ray and Dylan. J.J. is suffering from cerebral palsy and is the center of attention of the overly pushy and know it all mother Maya. Maya is played by the amazing Minnie Driver, and God she nailed every single line she said or face she put on. The way she pushes people around for the benefit of her disabled son is just a hilarious and Minnie simply owns it. Will it be too much in the long run? Possible, but for the first episode it worked so I won't complain about it yet.
The rest of the family isn't lacking character either. Father Jimmy, played by TBBT's John Ross Bowie, is the peacekeeper and tries to keep every member as happy as possible. Dylan, the youngest child in the DiMeo family, seems to do fine besides some slight anger issues. Those little anger outbursts were strangely charming and TWD's Kyla Kenedy is really adorable. J.J is the oldest child of Maya and Jimmy, suffering from Cerebral Palsy, which made him quadriplegic and unable to speak on his own. J.J.'s only way to communicate is via a head lamp and a word board attached to his wheelchair. J.J. is played by Micah Fowler, who is suffering from Cerebral Palsy himself. I love how the writing was handled this week for JJ, he is strong and outspoken showing a different light on disabled people overall. He showed off he doesn't want to be cuddled and treated differently and the way it was executed throughout the episode worked really well.
The first episode does a fine job of showing a lot of character sides and produces a bunch of laughs in the process. We meet the DiMeo family when Maya and Jimmy reveal to their kids that they are moving to New Port so J.J would have better conditions in a school. This mostly pisses of Ray, who just settled into his school. Still, Jimmy convinces him that Maya will screw up fast and that they will move back even faster.
At the school, J.J. get his first aid speaker and she isn't anything he wanted her to be. Instead of a cool voice, he got a high pitchy, stuck up lady which isn't really comfortable with J.J.'s outspoken nature.
Of course, Maya gets herself in a lot of trouble delivering truly hilarious scenes. Especially hilarious imo was the trash or person scene. It was some excellent work from Minnie, Marin and Cedric. The confusion on the Principal's face was just hilarious and I hope we see much more of Marin Hinkle. Also one of the better scenes in the episode was the confrontation between Maya and Cedric's Kenneth. This pushed Maya over the edge and she made another rush decision and move the whole family back to avoid more confrontation. As Ray finally found a reason to stay in New Port he confronted his mother and in a really tense scene, Maya gets an unexpected wake-up call.
Maya: Ray I may fight the fights, but they start them. I am not gonna apologize for taking care of your brother he got the right mother.
Raymond: Yes, he did!!!
And he dropped the mic. The complete momentum of the episode shifted as Maya realized she isn`t doing the best for her other kids. After a sweet scene between Maya and Jimmy, she looked for Ray to reconcile but he was off to the school fair to meet up with his new crush. The school fair scenes felt a bit rushed but it was nice to see JJ form a bond with Kenneth who eventually became his aid speaker. JJ and Kenneth also played a major part in rescuing Ray from the bullies. The episode, of course, ended with the whole family reconciled and in a good place.
The first half of the episode was much better than the second but still the show was funny enough to get me hooked. It`s your time now! What did you think the series premiere of Speechless? Drop your opinion in the comments and share if you enjoyed this episode as much as I.
