Speechless – E-I– EIGHTEEN

By starrymag | March 6, 2018

By: Taylor Gates

 

 

During JJ’s (Micah Fowler) birthday breakfast, Maya (Minnie Driver) tells him he’s allowed to do anything he wants with Kenneth (Cedric Yarbrough) except get a tattoo. The two celebrate by going to a gas station and buying lottery tickets, dry ice, and cold medicine.

 

JJ spies Troy (David Valdes), who is there getting oil for his car. Troy shares that he’s driving up to San Francisco with his girlfriend but is stressed about finding a job and starting Stanford in the fall. JJ, however, is jealous of the truly adult stuff Troy is getting to experience that he’s not.

 

JJ sulks during his backyard party, especially when he figures out one of the guys in his class went to a casino for his eighteenth birthday. He takes out his frustration on the people around him, talking back to Maya. Jimmy (John Ross Bowie) tells him he needs to apologize and that they can still tell him to do things since he lives under their roof. JJ asks when he won’t be living in their house, and when Jimmy doesn’t have an answer, JJ goes upstairs.

 

Maya storms after him, spying Kenneth in JJ’s room but no JJ. JJ has called a ride share service, and while Maya is extremely impressed at the speed and ease of it, she’s furious at JJ. Though it takes every ounce of her willpower, she stops herself from following him.

 

Kenneth follows JJ and finds him at a tattoo shop about to get a panther on his bicep. He tells JJ that he treated Maya horribly. If JJ wants to stop feeling like a child, Kenneth says, he’s going to have to stop acting like one. Being in a wheelchair is no excuse for being a jerk.

 

When they get home, JJ has Kenneth read a statement he wrote apologizing for being ungrateful and thanking them for everything they’ve done the first eighteen years of his life. He shows them a tattoo he got of his favorite childhood cake—Fudgie the Whale—to commemorate his birthday. Maya surprisingly doesn’t hate it and takes him to the garage to reveal his gift: a man cave. Though they still have to clean it out, it will be his own private space he can relax in.

 

Meanwhile, Ray (Mason Cook) announces that Taylor (Sedona James) has a hot foreign exchange student named Lars (Janis Ostojic) staying with her. Ray confides to Jimmy that he feels threatened by Lars. Jimmy tells Ray to just be himself but admits that he wasn’t himself around Maya when they first started dating. He mysteriously refuses to elaborate or give details on what he did.

 

Ray goes to Maya for Jimmy’s secret tricks, and she gives him Jimmy’s old playbook. Inside are tips like “talk about guacamole” and “wear denim.” Jimmy sees Ray using these techniques and confronts him, saying he’s not ready for them. Jimmy continues to observe Ray throughout the birthday party, nervous that he’s going through the steps too quickly. Jimmy commands him to stop the seductive games, but Ray refuses, thinking Jimmy is just jealous of his skills.

 

Ray recruits Kimberly (Jackie R. Jacobson) to try and make Taylor jealous. Although Ray bribed her to come, Kimberly assures him she’s actually having fun and gives him a kiss, shocking Ray. Ray tells Maya and Jimmy, who disagree on what Ray should do. Maya thinks he should come clean while Jimmy thinks he should keep it a secret.

 

Taylor and Ray cuddle on the couch, and Taylor admits that seeing him with Kimberly made her jealous. Her honestly makes him want to tell the truth, and he tells her about Kimberly kissing him. Taylor gets upset and kicks him out of the house, telling him never to come back.

 

The wrestling coach (Andrew Borba) catches Dylan (Kyla Kenedy) beating a kid up in the hallways and asks her to join the team. She attempts to say no and run away, but as she’s leaving, she smacks into a cute and equally arrogant boy named Rev (Jack Dylan Grazer). Seeing that Rev is on the team, Dylan agrees to give it a shot. They start to really connect, but the coach breaks the news that they’re going to have to have a wrestle off the next day to see who’s going to compete in their weight class, and they’re worried their relationship will suffer.

 

Dylan talks over her dilemma with Maya and becomes determined to gain weight so that she and Rev will be in different groups. She’s thrilled when she gains three pounds and excitedly heads to wrestling practice. Unfortunately, during the weigh-in Dylan finds out Rev has gained three pounds as well and they will still have to wrestle for the new slot.

 

During their match, Dylan is clearly the better wrestler. She momentarily considers losing once Rev promises to take her on a fancy first date, but she realizes losing is just not in her nature and can’t stop herself from pinning him. Afterwards, they kiss, and Rev says he didn’t even mind losing to her. They decide to compromise and go for burgers.