Speechless – J-I– JINGLE T-H– THON

By: Taylor Gates

Ray (Mason Cook) wakes up to see the DiMeo’s Christmas tree on fire and ushers everyone out of the house. The fireman tells Maya (Minnie Driver) and Jimmy (John Ross Bowie) that the cheap lights are the culprit of the emergency. He’s sad they lost all their presents, but Maya tells him they were just fake presents until they could afford real ones.

Dylan (Kyla Kenedy) doesn’t know this and is upset about losing all their gifts. Kenneth (Cedric Yarbrough) offers to bring his gifts for them over, hinting that he got them all stuff from Apple. This makes Maya jealous, and she lies and says the presents she got them are even better. Jimmy doesn’t approve of Maya’s actions, but she assures him it’s a victimless crime.

JJ (Micah Fowler) and Dr. Miller (Marin Hinkle) surprise Kenneth by letting him coach girls basketball. He refuses, as he had a bad relationship with it as a child since his sisters always upstaged him.

JJ decides to give Kenneth another surprise by taking him to visit his sisters Kiki (Niecy Nash) and Kendall (Lisa Leslie). He wants Kenneth to make his peace with them so he can coach like he wants. However, Kiki and Kendall waste no time making fun of Kenneth’s lack of basketball skills. Finally, Kenneth gets tired of it and challenges them to a game. If he scores even once, they have to stop making fun of him forever.

Kenneth is getting beaten badly and is about to give up before JJ gives him a pep talk. JJ tells Kenneth he worries about what he’s going to do without him–he wants him to have something once he’s gone, and JJ thinks coaching could be it. The teen girls walk in to practice and are shocked that Kenneth has been losing for two hours. They are inspired, wanting him to teach them persistence. Kenneth eventually does score on Kendall, and everyone cheers. However, he almost goes crazy when Kendall tells him she let him have one.

The local news station interviews Ray, calling him a hero for saving his family. However, the next day when they sit down to watch the news, Ray is horrified to find they are lying and saying that Pepper saved them all. To make matters worse, they get Ray’s name wrong, calling him “Dolph.” Ray wants to be the bigger person and let it go, but Dylan is determined to remind him until he goes insane. She brings Pepper to school so he can watch all of his classmates fawn over the dog instead of him.

A woman named Candy Kensington (Tricia O’Kelley) from the charity Santa’s Purpose rings the DiMeo’s doorbell and announces that, after hearing their story on the news, she and her team decided to replace all the presents that Maya lied about. Maya and Jimmy feel guilty at first but quickly start having fun with the VR goggles they got for Ray. However, the kids overhear them talking about Maya’s fib and get angry.

Jimmy and Maya announce that the only way they can keep the presents is if they all volunteer at the Jinglethon. Ray gets stuck dressing like an elf with Pepper playing Santa. Ray tries to convince himself he has beef with Dylan, not the dog, but he isn’t too sure that’s the truth. Pepper begins to eat the Christmas cookies on the table, and when Ray tries to stop her, Pepper makes it so he falls into the cake and knocks over all the sets. He tells the horrified crowd that Pepper pushed him and that he’s the one who really saved the family, and they’re all shocked when Ray refers to her as a “dumb dog.”

Jimmy and Maya work the phone line. Because they get so many donations, they win the hourly incentive–box seats for a sports game valued at hundreds of dollars, which makes Maya feel even guiltier. Once Candy announces that they’re going to give the entire $10,000 they raised that day to the DiMeos, Jimmy comes clean about the fact all the presents under the tree were collectively worth $7. Everyone judges them, and they are forced to flee the gym and hide.

In the hallway, they run into JJ, who is there to deliver a sports drink to Kenneth. Maya apologizes she got them into this mess, but JJ tells her she didn’t have to lie–they have everything they could ever want already. Dylan even thanks Ray for being a hero and saving them.

Pepper eventually leads Candy to the DiMeos. Candy tells Maya and Jimmy that donations are now pouring in after they scammed her organization. Although she originally wanted everyone to give out of love, it turns out disgust works even better. They all go onstage and insult the charity and Pepper in order to get the organization even more donations.