Speechless – U-N-R-Unrealistic

By starrymag | April 18, 2019

By: Taylor Gates

 

The DiMeo family gets pumped up as it is the day JJ (Micah Fowler) figures out whether he got into NYU or not. Although it kills Maya (Minnie Driver) to pretend to be excited, she rehearses her happy face so as not to spoil the day for him.

 

Unfortunately, JJ finds out he didn’t get into NYU after all. Not only that, but they rejected Izzy (Kayla Maisonet) as well. She is going to go to Chapman while he goes to Irvine in the next town over. Maya is secretly thrilled that JJ will remain so close to home.

 

Dylan (Kyla Kenedy) lies to Jimmy (John Ross Bowie) about wanting to spend time with him by building a model of the Golden Gate Bridge together. In reality, the project is something she has to do for her homework and just wanted help. Jimmy is upset that she manipulated him and tells her that if she wants to do things halfway, she’ll have to deal with the consequences.

 

The next day, Dylan comes home to find Jimmy building a model for an interview with an architect firm he has coming up. Dylan says she’s proud of him, and Jimmy is touched, putting extra pressure on himself to make the model great.

 

Ray (Mason Cook) goes on his junior class trip. Because nearly every boy played a nasty prank on one of the chaperones the first night, Ray is left alone with all of his female classmates. He starts hitting on them with absolutely no reciprocation and blatantly asks all of them why they don’t like him at all.

 

All the girls tell Ray all of his faults: from being both insecure and too confident to growing too tall too quickly. They finally give Ray a breakthrough–he’s been so busy trying to get anyone to notice him, nobody has actually gotten to know him. He’s been chasing a feeling instead of a person. Ray finally confesses all of his deep secrets in order to open up and be vulnerable, but as soon as he does, the cool guys show back up. They’re back on the trip, as one of their dads is a lawyer who threatened to sue the school.

 

Although Ray doesn’t find a girlfriend on the trip, Dylan lets him in on some information she overhears in the girls’ bathroom. Apparently, all of them were impressed with his honesty and decided to make him their project the next year.

 

A few weeks later, Jimmy has yet to make any progress on his model even though his interview is the next day. He tries to give Dylan the same excuses she gave him about not finishing her class project, and she turns the tables on him, telling him to buckle down and do the work so he can feel how rewarding it can be.

 

Jimmy continues to get stuck and inside his head, eventually admitting to Dylan that he is worried about failing and disappointing everyone. Dylan promises Jimmy that she doesn’t care–she loves him no matter what and couldn’t be less interested in his building stuff.

 

Before he goes to meet his potential boss, Dylan gives Jimmy a present: the exact pencil he once mentioned wanting in order to complete his architecture projects. Jimmy crushes the interview and lands the job of his dreams.

 

A month after getting rejects from NYU, JJ goes to look at an apartment with Izzy, Kenneth (Cedric Yarbrough), and Maya. They find a great one that is accessible, and everyone is satisfied that JJ will be close by but still have his own space.

 

Later, JJ feels bummed about Izzy breaking up with him, and Maya goes to confront her. Izzy tells her that she doesn’t want JJ planning his life around her–it turns out he did get into NYU, and they really want him to come. However, he turned them down in order to be with Izzy. She’s begged him to follow his dream, but he won’t listen to her.

 

Maya tells JJ she knows he got into NYU and encourages him to at least think about going. JJ tells her he won’t leave Izzy. He doesn’t think it could ever work with her long distance and doesn’t believe he would ever find someone else who loves him. He tells her to be realistic about his options. Maya tells JJ that staying out of fear wouldn’t be love, as love is about taking risks and pushing limits.

 

The class has selected JJ to be their graduation speaker, and although JJ wants to wing the speech, Kenneth encourages him to plan something out in time since he’s not great on his feet and he doesn’t want to look like an idiot. Kenneth spends the weeks leading up to the graduation ceremony begging him to at least make bullet points.

 

JJ surprises Kenneth by having written a speech. Kenneth goes up to the podium, his voice cracking with tears while reading JJ’s words. The DiMeos go up to help Kenneth out and each tries to read it, but they all end up crying, too.

 

Eventually, JJ tells them to ditch the speech and has Maya read his board. He tells Lafayette High that one lesson he has been learning for years, and learned again today from his first teacher: the best thing you can do is be unrealistic.

 

The entire family goes to New York with JJ two months before college starts. They help him navigate the city, determined to help him succeed.