Speechless – W-H-Wheelchair P-L-Planet

By: Taylor Gates

JJ (Micah Fowler) is adamant about going to school in New York, as they have a great film program and he wants an adventure. Since he only has 24 hours to shoot an application film, Jimmy (John Ross Bowie) recommends they apply now and worry about the details later. Izzy (Kayla Maisonet) suggests JJ make a film about disabilities to showcase his unique perspective, and JJ agrees. Maya is shocked by how out-of-character everyone seems to be acting.

JJ wants to shoot a film called Wheelchair Panic–a Twilight Zone-inspired film that takes place in a world where everyone uses a wheelchair except one person. The single man who can walk is considered a freak. Ray (Mason Cook) points out the script seems complicated, but JJ thinks if they work through the night, they can get it done. He asks Maya to help, but she still feels betrayed about JJ wanting to leave.

Because Maya refuses to help, JJ enlists Dylan (Kyla Kenedy) to be the person who keeps everyone on track. Jimmy helps by contributing a second camera from a nanny cam in a teddy bear he invested in the previous year.

Realizing there is footage of them doing strange things in the living and dining room because of the camera, Ray and Kenneth (Cedric Yarbrough) panic. They make a pact to secretly destroy it, thus erasing all evidence. They intercept the bear and cut it open only to find all the footage gets uploaded onto a special cloud.

They agree to tell each other their secrets, and whoever’s is more horrifying will look and delete both the footage. Kenneth whispers his, and Ray is visibly shocked. However, Kenneth is confused when Ray tells him that he’s been making out with Tia, the hottest girl in school, for the past month and doesn’t want his family to ruin it. Kenneth is about to take the plunge when the screen goes dark, Dylan having unplugged it.

Mistaking Izzy for Maya from behind, Jimmy accidentally gives her an awkward shoulder rub. Due to the two of them being the leads, the rest of the filming is incredibly uncomfortable, with Jimmy trying to avoid Izzy as much as possible.

Eventually, he gets the idea to dress as JJ and show Izzy that she, too, could make an honest mistake. However, that also comes off creepy, and Jimmy realizes he’s just making everything worse.

Finally, Maya comes around to helping the team, helping Jimmy cry on command. Dylan struggles figured out a set to shoot the rest of the scenes in the movie, and Maya implies she can help. JJ makes a deal with her–for every piece of advice Maya gives him, he’ll listen to one of her terrifying arguments about New York. Maya accepts the proposal, breaking a window into Lafayette High so they can film in the hallways.

They break in, and Maya runs into Dr. Miller (Marin Hinkle) in the hallway. This delights Maya, as now someone else can ruin JJ’s project. She tries to pressure Dr. Miller into ruining everything, but she gets surprisingly emotional as she’s talking. Dr. Miller comforts her, telling her she’s given JJ all the tools he needs to succeed.

Maya has a change of heart, calling in dozens of disabled actors to help JJ with a climactic scene. She tells JJ it’s New York that needs to get ready for him. The final scene of the crowd mobbing Jimmy, the man who can walk, is an epic display of teamwork, turning out wonderfully.

Unfortunately, when they sit down to watch the scene, they realize it didn’t record. Maya worries she might have blacked out and accidentally done it, but Dylan stands up and admits it was her. She doesn’t want JJ to leave and have everything change. Kenneth observes that the family seems to be going crazy, and the only thing that could make it stranger is if Ray were making out with a hot girl. He says he is, but nobody believes him.

Maya comforts Dylan, saying that–although things will change–they will always come back to each other. Dylan apologizes, and JJ says that he would do the same thing to keep her. They share a sweet moment until Ray walks in with video evidence of him kissing Tia. Just then, Tia walks in and is offended that Ray just thinks of her as a prize. She says the two of them are through.

Maya tries to problem solve, wondering how they can rectify the situation and find him an ending. This gives JJ an idea–he edits the footage into a documentary about how a family came together to make a not-so-great film together. He set out to make a movie about being disabled, but it turned into a movie about being a DiMeo.