Speechless – D-I-DiMeo A-C-Academy

By: Taylor Gates

Maya (Minnie Driver) tells JJ (Micah Fowler) the school will not allow him to graduate this year due to absences and below average grades. Maya goes down to Lafayette High, ready to fight with Dr. Miller (Marin Hinkle). Dr. Miller came prepared, assembling all of JJ’s teachers to attest that he hasn’t completed the necessary work yet. Instead of being intimidated, Maya is excited by the challenge. She convinces all the teachers to agree to give him a passing grade, but Dr. Miller manages to stay strong. She says graduating JJ before he’s ready wouldn’t be right for him. Although he won’t say it in front of JJ, Jimmy (John Ross Bowie) happens to agree.

Kenneth (Cedric Yarbrough) shows up to the house, ready to get JJ to school. JJ is adamant about not going back and facing everyone, so Maya breaks the news that Kenneth might be out of a job. It’s especially bad timing considering he just splurged on an extravagant watch. In order to sell his rare baseball card collection and pay off the watch, Kenneth has to go to his mean ex-wife Robin’s (Tamala Jones) house. He’s shocked when she acts friendly towards him and even more surprised when he sees how nice her new house is. Her lavish lifestyle makes him feel inferior and unsuccessful.

The next day, he rents a fancy car and goes back over to Robin’s house. He tells her he’s doing some real estate and music—exactly what he wanted to do while they were together. Robin is impressed, admitting she had him all wrong. Her dog jumps in the car and pees on the seats and he’s forced to admit the car isn’t his and he just borrowed the nice clothes he’s wearing. He tells her the truth, and she’s surprised that his job is helping someone. When they were together, they didn’t care about others. He realizes he has changed for the better since then and now feels fulfilled.

Maya’s solution is to homeschool JJ. She researched it online and, if they can get him enough credits, he can graduate that year. Maya has been reading up on subjects like chemistry and french and is ready to teach. She manages to create activities that combine subjects like math and gym and even gets a guest history lecturer to talk about World War II.

During his science lab, Ray (Mason Cook) farts while the class is watching him demonstrate thermo-imaging with a balloon. Dylan’s (Kyla Kenedy) day isn’t going well either, not having been voted team captain of her track team. They both decide to enroll in Maya’s school as well. Because attendance has tripled, Maya convinces Jimmy to call in sick to work the next day to teach Dylan and Ray while she and JJ go on a field trip. The three of them think this crazy idea of Maya’s will blow over soon and decide to play video games instead of do schoolwork.

Maya is upset when she gets back and sees everyone drinking milkshakes. She calls Jimmy into her office/the bedroom, and they fight about whether or not DiMeo Academy is a real solution to have JJ graduate on time. Jimmy is hurt that Maya never consulted him about the decision, telling her that it’s a bad idea and that she’s just throwing a tantrum.

Maya sends JJ to a guest lecture at a university to test how ready he really is for college. She tells Jimmy them disagreeing is new for her and she doesn’t like it. Jimmy admits they disagree a lot, but he doesn’t tell her most of the time. They compromise: they will test out DiMeo Academy for two months, and if it’s still going well after that period, they’ll turn the garage into a faculty lounge. Dylan and Ray, however, will return to Lafayette after Dylan beats them in track.

In a turn of events, JJ breaks the news he wants to quit DiMeo Academy. He realized through being on campus that college is full of a bunch of kids who can take care of themselves. JJ needs practice doing that without Maya’s help. Maya is proud he learned independent thinking from DiMeo Academy in one week, but JJ replies he’s been going there his whole life.

During her race, Dylan’s leg gives out and she can’t finish. Her old Lafayette High teammates pick her up and carry her across the finish line, despite her being mortified and not wanting their help. She reluctantly thanks them, recognizing they’re all better people than she is.