Speechless – O– OUR M-A-G–MAGEDDON

By starrymag | January 31, 2019

By: Taylor Gates

 

 

JJ (Micah Fowler) has a dream that Mr. Powers (Jonathan Slavin) does a Q&A with him in film class, asking him about the decision to depict Izzy (Kayla Maisonet) so lovingly with such lingering shots. It erupts into chaos when Ray (Mason Cook) gets angry that he stole his crush.

 

When he wakes up, Izzy compliments him on the movie and asks about his plans for the sequel. She also wonders if he’s free after school. Before he can reply, however, Ray swoops in and asks her out for coffee, to which she begrudgingly agrees.

 

JJ asks Kenneth (Cedric Yarbrough) what to do about a forbidden crush he has. Although he wants to keep it a secret, Kenneth’s excitement makes it so the entire house knows in a matter of seconds. Ray tells JJ that bro code doesn’t mean anything and that, when it comes to love, everything is fair game.

 

When JJ breaks the news that his crush is on Izzy, Ray is entirely too cool about it, telling him he should ask her to the Valentine’s Day dance. JJ is confused, asking him why he won’t fight him for her. Ray goes to Jimmy for advice, panicking because he doesn’t want to compete with JJ and stand in the way of his love interest. Jimmy gently reminds him things don’t usually work out between him and girls so he just needs to be himself around Izzy and everything will naturally fall into place for her and JJ.

 

While everyone is setting up for the dance, Ray corrects Izzy’s grammar and offers his take on what modern feminism gets wrong. Shockingly, Izzy doesn’t tell him off, continuing to hang out with him. However, after Ray continues to insult her, Izzy snaps, saying she doesn’t understand why JJ would talk Ray up and say he thinks they would be great together.

 

Ray confronts JJ about talking him up to Izzy, and JJ says he’d rather Izzy choose Ray than reject him. Ray gets rejected because of his choices, but JJ gets rejected just because of who he is. Worse yet, no girls will even tell him the truth–they’ll just make excuses. Ray has a feeling Izzy is different and encourages JJ to try.

 

JJ goes to talk to Izzy, who leads him into a place called the “Tunnel of Love.” Although it’s just the Halloween maze with some slight alterations, JJ likes it. He tells Izzy he was afraid to ask her out but admits he likes her and wants to go out. Izzy begins to lie and say she has a boyfriend from out of town, but JJ tells her it’s okay and she doesn’t have to make up a story. Izzy thanks him for understanding and leaves.

 

Ray tells JJ he’s sorry Izzy rejected him, giving him a big binder full of people who rejected him that he can look through and pick from. They have a good laugh reading the reasons people have come up with not to date Ray.

 

The next day at school, Izzy admits that JJ didn’t misread any signals–she does like him, but his disability kind of freaks her out. She doesn’t know what dating him would look like and is nervous, but JJ assures her they could take it one day at a time. Relieved, Izzy says that, in that case, she would love to go out with him.

 

Kenneth asks Jimmy (John Ross Bowie) to go with him to check out the turtle races at a bar, and Jimmy agrees, doing anything to get him out of the house. Unfortunately, Melanie (Sarah Chalke) becomes available last minute and wants to go out with Kenneth.

 

Since Joyce (Liz Cackowski) is the one who told Kenneth about the bar and is there all the time, Kenneth begs Jimmy to stall Joyce for a few hours so he can enjoy his night. Jimmy pretends to hurt his back so that Joyce will stay and take a look at it.

 

Eventually, Jimmy and Joyce take a drive in Joyce’s car. Kenneth calls Jimmy, and Joyce answers and puts it on speaker without Kenneth knowing. Awkwardly, Kenneth asks Jimmy if he can stall Joyce for two more hours since Melanie is going to be late.

 

Jimmy apologizes, but Joyce tells him it’s not his fault–they’re both just Kenneth’s booty calls. Though Jimmy adamantly disagrees at first, when he realizes it’s always Kenneth canceling their plans, he realizes Joyce is right.

 

Joyce shows up at the turtle race bar and begins yelling out Kenneth’s social security number. Kenneth apologizes for never actually saying goodbye and ending the relationship, and Joyce accepts it automatically. Jimmy is not impressed, and Joyce realizes he’s projecting his own feelings onto her.

 

Jimmy admits to Kenneth he also feels used by him, and Kenneth cancels on Melanie in order to hang out with him instead. Now that they’re friends, Jimmy assures him there’s going to be a lot more of that. However, when Kenneth starts listing off things they could do together now–a morning improv group and jazz brunch–Jimmy reevaluates whether he actually wants to hang out with Kenneth or now.

 

Maya (Minnie Driver) and Dylan (Kyla Kenedy) attend a mother-daughter tea at Lafayette High hosted by Dr. Miller (Marin Hinkle). While they see all of the mothers and daughters arguing and having disagreements, Dylan realizes they’ve never fought. Maya tells Dylan it’s because she’s a mini her, which Dylan takes offense to.

 

Dylan asks Ray if he looks at her like a mini Maya, and he tells they’re two peas in an angry pod. Dylan doesn’t want this and wishes to be her own person, so she decides to try and disrupt their dynamic.

 

Maya reads a school announcement saying they are considering a ban on straws due to their environmental effects and is outraged since JJ can’t drink without one. Maya orders Ray and Dylan to think of clever and biting phrases to write back to the school, but Dylan refuses, saying she is for the straw ban in order to create a rift between herself and Maya. When she signs the online straw ban petition, Maya grounds her, and the entire family nervously prepares for Armageddon.

 

Dylan tries to sneak out of the house, but Maya has thought of all of her maneuvers and tricks, telling Dylan they share a mind and there’s no escaping it. Dylan’s frustration escalates, ranting about how she hates sharing a room with Ray and JJ, and she steals Maya’s car keys off the table. She jumps out the window and gets in the van, accidentally driving it into the garage instead of backing out of the driveway.

 

Dylan thinks this is the kind of thing that happens when she asks for what she wants and says she should just keep her head down. She relents, telling Maya she’ll figure out a way to take her name off the petition.

 

Maya surprises Dylan by sectioning off part of the room she shares. The insurance company gave them a new garage door, but they never specified where they had to put it, so they’ve installed it to give Dylan some privacy. Dylan looks up at the ceiling, musing she likes this view better than Ray’s butt through a mattress.