Speechless - R-O--ROAD T-R--TRIP & H-E-R--HERO - Double Review

A new year, a new bunch of exceptional episodes from Speechless. Speechless entered 2017 with two amazing episodes and followed its pattern of delivering outstandingly funny but still moving outings continuing to strengthen the bond between the family members and introducing new sides to each family member.


R-O--ROAD T-R--TRIP

The first episode of 2017 featured the annual road trip the DiMeos take after New Years and it had a DiMeo twist on it. The DiMeos don't plan trips they just make random decisions and see where the road takes them. This went against everything Ray believed in and it was a brilliant writing choice that made me laugh quite hard a couple of times. The interactions between the family members were very enjoyable as this was the first time they all shared a story together. The whole family ganging up on Ray just to enjoy his mini tantrums quickly bit them into their behinds when Ray revealed that he planned the whole thing out. Ray planned it all from their Craft fair visit to the strawberry market and alpaca to visiting the beautiful hotel they stayed in. The look of shock and disgust on Maya & cos face made me laugh so hard.

But Maya wouldn't take it and checked them out of them hotel and continued their random road trip. That swiftly ended when Ray's appendix burst and he needed emergency surgery. This lead to some beautiful moments between mother and son which was a neat throwback to the pilot and their sweet bonding on the Ferris wheel.

Besides the mother-son bonding, we enjoyed some nice scenes between Jimmy and JJ who were secretly selling their family stuff to make some profit out of their trip.
But certainly, the scene stealer of the of this episode was Kyla Kennedy's Dylan who suffered for being her Curly Mother's daughter. Her appearing with complete curly hair was a shocker and her reaction to it was even better. Kudos to Kyla for a truly convincing portrayal.

Meanwhile, back at home Kenneth was looking for his place in a world without JJ. He was lost and hilarious at the same time. It was nice to see him interact with the principal Dr. Miller and form a sort of romantic bond which was disturbed when Maya called Kenneth for help after Ray's surgery. Would certainly enjoy more of Kenneth and Dr. Miller and see JJ play Cupid.

H-E--HERO

Speechless second outing of the year was way more personal and tackled integrity issues no one saw coming. Things between JJ and Ray got quite bit convoluted when Ray intended to write an essay about JJ being his hero to score and award. Shockingly to Ray, JJ was insulted by this intend and Ray decided to go into different hero directions. An even bigger shock followed when an unknown classmate named Donald ( Bradley Steven Perry ) exploited JJ's story as a way to score a win to prep up his college scores. JJ got pretty pissed at this and a team up with Ray should secure them the win and teach Donald a lesson. A very strange build up lead to some hilarious scenes between Ray, JJ and Kenneth as they've prepped the essay while pulling an all-nighter. Eventually, Ray couldn't pull it through and Donald won but Ray kept his integrity.

But the real deal was happening during Maya and Jimmy's mission to secure JJ a better wheelchair. Maya's attempt to sweet talk their usual insurance guy, Stu failed miserably as he was moved to another department. So Maya and Jimmy had to face Janet (Jaime Denbo). Janet was a real ball buster and wouldn't let anyone sweet talk her. Maya and Jimmy's went full out for their boy and while Maya stole a horse Jimmy went through Janet's car. Minnie Driver was at her best this time around, praying to the gods to learn how to ride right away, dancing for her horse and just being the pushy mom she usually is. Stellar work and killer dynamic between her and Jaime Denbo.
Eventually, Janet decided to indulge the DiMeo's request if Dylan loses her next race. Maya and Jimmy as true parents wouldn't even ask Dylan for it, but when she heard them talk about it, she offered to throw it herself. It was heartbreaking to see Dylan agreeing to this, she is such a fighter but she loves her brother too much for it. In a hilarious follow-up scene, Dylan did the best to throw the race but Maya and Jimmy couldn't let it happen and cheered Dylan to the victory.

At the end, Janet decided to gift them a new wheelchair cause of the lovely and inspiring connection between JJ and Donald.

Side Note: I enjoy the opening scenes so much. The musical number from Road Trip and the ramp stunt in Hero were truly hilarious and great openings for each outing. Looking forward to seeing what they come up next episode.

Speechless continues to be the best new comedy of the season and I look forward to every new outing. And while we wait for next Wednesdays outing feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.