This year I'm saying thank you to Scott Silveri and the TV bosses at ABC for bringing Speechless to our little screens. In this special Thanksgiving themed outing, we meet another bunch of DiMeos, Uncle Billy's family. The writers perfectly exploited the new additions and made interesting pairings in a very successful attempt to drive out the best and the worst out of the DiMeos.
The DiMeos tried to get out of their annual Thanksgiving dinner with Jimmy's brother, Billy and dig a hole they've barely crawled out of. I like how the writers spin the surprise visit from the annoying relatives into a game for the whole family. Let's break down the story one annoying character at the time.
Cornered by a Relative
Ohhh poor JJ. We all know how it feels when the annoying relative corners us and drops question after question. I liked how they've upped the regular pushy relative act to a new level with Joan's dancing . The flashback of JJ trying to avoid it was hilarious.
JJ: She changed outfits 5 times.
Maya: It was a medley my hands are tied
The Yeeeees Cousin
How dumb and hilarious was this one????! The kid that played Duncan (TJ Zecchino) was the perfect actor for this role. His interactions with Dylan were priceless, not to mention Dylan's enthusiasm to win the competition and force him to say the word. Raising the level of awkwardness in holiday cousin interactions by reducing Duncan to a single word was smart writing and delivered a bunch of laughs. Giving Duncan more complexity later on just for Dylan to shut it down felt so authentic.
Over sympathetic In-law
I truly love Andrea Anders and thinks she is a real great comedic actress but this was a missed opportunity to exploit all of her amazingness. The role of the over sympathetic and little bit fake in-law suites Andrea well but the excessive crying did get annoying after the 1st time. Maya's ways of trying to lure the tears out were hilarious, though. The two actresses played very well of each other.
Maya was a delight once again. Minnie does such an excellent job and her comedic timing is just pure perfection, no matter if she is interacting with Audrey, Kenneth or any other member of her family.
Humble bragging
As a long time fan of Rob Corrdry I was ecstatic to see him in this outing of Speechless, I do hope we'll see much more of him in future episodes. Rob's Billy was a major pain in the but cheeks and a hilarious thing to watch. His pushy braggy personality and the way it irritated Jimmy was felt just perfectly in place. The instant intensity between the brothers gave the episode the needed substance and created some sort of emotional stake to care about. The reveal that Billy is broke now was certainly an unexpected game changer.
Luckily our DiMeos know a thing or two about being poor and invited Billy's folks to stick around, con people and spend more time together at a Black Friday sale. Eventually, Jimmy and Billy finally cleared the slate and shared brotherly bonding.
Special kudos to the creative team for coming up with those nonsense commercials. Especially the first one with Billy taking on multiple roles. Rob Corrdry is a genius.
He doesn't have anywhere to go to
I didn't anticipate it to be Kenneth, though. Kenneth jumping on the DiMeos invite was a perfect opportunity to pair him up with a character he hasn't shared meaningful scenes yet, in this case, Ray. The interaction between them and Kenneth's troubled family relationships were a great ground for many hilarious jokes. I enjoyed every single one of them.
Choosing Ray to be the one to reveal the game to Billy's family was perfect. His anxiety and awkwardness just give all his scenes another dimension, not to mention that how high pitch his voice gets whenever he is in distress.
How did you enjoy Thanksgiving at the DiMeos? And how grateful are you for this show airing this season. As always the comment section is wide open for your very appreciate comments. The next episode of Speechless airs in two weeks on ABC.
