Speechless – J-A– JAVIER’S P-A– PANTS

By starrymag | January 10, 2019

By: Taylor Gates

 

 

The DiMeos have an intervention for Maya (Minnie Driver), telling her she can’t go to college with JJ (Micah Fowler). Though she’s sad, she knows they’re right and she’s going to have to find something else to occupy her time.

 

During their special needs moms support group, Melanie (Sarah Chalke) announces that her husband has just left her. Though Maya makes it her mission to help Melanie, her strong emotions quickly make Maya uncomfortable. JJ’s physical therapist Joyce (Liz Cackowski) tells her she should exact revenge, but Maya says that’s not the way to go. Instead, she needs to just embrace her emotions and allow herself to feel.

 

Though Melanie seems to take her advice at the time, she accidentally drunk calls Maya that night thinking it’s her ex. Maya goes to the bar to pick her up and finds Joyce there as well encouraging her to get vengeance on her husband. Maya begs Joyce to stop encouraging her violent thoughts, as she’s trying to diffuse the situation so she can get back to her own life.

 

Maya sees a man named Javier (John Turpin) stripping onstage. When he rips his pants off quickly and easily, she gets the idea of what her next chapter could be–a clothing line for people with disabilities. She tells JJ to meet her at the strip club in order to try them out, and they work perfectly. Her business brainstorming session is interrupted by Melanie calling her and panicking, as she and Joyce have snuck into her ex’s place and are now hiding in the bathroom.

 

Maya rings the doorbell of Melanie’s ex’s house, and he and his new girlfriend open the door. Maya pretends she’s there to have an affair, effectively distracting both of them enough. Unfortunately, Joyce ruins it by spontaneously saying she’s sleeping with him, too, and they catch Melanie trying to leave the house.

 

Melanie and Maya talk while throwing bottles of Melanie’s ex’s expensive wine against the house. Melanie sadly says she’s going to be alone soon, and Maya can sympathize, telling her about the adaptive clothing line she wants to start. Melanie thinks that’s a great idea and mentions that she went to business school. Maya asks her to partner up and start the company with her, and Melanie agrees.

 

Dylan (Kyla Kenedy) has gotten suspended from track, and JJ forces her to join Kenneth’s (Cedric Yarbrough) girls’ basketball team in order to learn sportsmanship. Kenneth tells her it’s not all about winning–it’s just about trying her best. Dylan doesn’t believe that, vowing to become good by their tournament the next day.

 

At the game, Dylan finds dirt on the other team and talks so much trash while she’s on defense it actually scares them. Kenneth begins to lecture her about playing fair, but when his team ultimately ends up winning for the first time in years, he changes his tune and tells all the girls to follow Dylan’s lead.

 

JJ sees Kenneth conspiring with Dylan and gives them both a lecture with only chastising looks in the locker room. They both agree that they have let the team down and need to go back out there and play the right way. They decide to reframe the idea of winning in their minds, defining success as working together as a team. Though they lose the championship miserably, they throw a huge celebration at the end.

 

When Jimmy’s (John Ross Bowie) car gets a flat, he’s excited to pass the knowledge on how to change a tire along to Ray (Mason Cook). However, he’s shocked when Ray already knows how to complete the task. Jimmy has a crisis, worrying he’s failing him as a father.

 

Jimmy decides to teach Ray other things like installing a shelf and tying a tie, but it turns out Ray has already learned all the tips and tricks from watching instructional videos on YouTube. Ray apologizes for stealing his thunder, touched when he goes on his computer and sees Jimmy has searched “how to be a better dad.”

 

Ray asks Jimmy to teach him how to tie a special kind of knot after school. Jimmy agrees without knowing how, going online to research it. Only one video pops up–a special message from Ray telling Jimmy that he hopes to be the kind of man he is someday. Even if he misses some of the small things, he always gets the big ones right.

 

Jimmy picks Ray up from school and brings him to do something the internet couldn’t have managed. He uses his work travel vouchers so they can fly to Wyoming, as if he’s accompanied by a parent, Ray is allowed to drink a beer. They toast to all the father/son moments left to come. Jimmy immediately sees that Ray hates the taste of the drink and orders him chocolate milk instead.