One of the lesser known success
stories of ABC last season was the winning comedy Speechless. It centered around the Dimeo family, an otherwise transient
family building its life essentially cerebral palsy inflicted J.J. (Micah
Fowler). Stuck in a wheelchair and communicating only through a language board
in front of him, J.J. became one of the most appealing characters on TV. His personal growth could be considered
remarkable were it not for the entire Dimeo families energy and spark, heading
by that force of nature Minnie Driver as Maya, the ultimate matriarchal figure
on a channel that has remarkably strong ones.
As the second season opens, there
are certain signs of personal growth as the Dimeos find themselves reaching for
the high ground as J.J. becomes even more ambitious. Ray is finally approaching
a point where he might actually be respectable, and has a girlfriend after
years of struggling. Meanwhile, youngest daughter Dylan finds herself in an
awkward position when it becomes clear that her family isn't going to do what
it always does and run away after a few months. Maya in the meantime, finds
herself in a position of authority when the principal welcomes her back to the
school with a group of special needs children who want their help. Maya starts
with an aggressive attack on the district - and then finds herself in retreat
when she learns the funds for J.J. are nearly tapped out. She goes back to her
second mode, which is to run away, but her husband talks her out of it when he
tells how good it is for the family. This forces her to turn to the principal
for help (Marin Hinkle continues to ring comic perfection) which forces her to
use the incompetent people that she can fire as aides.
One of the more impressive feats of
ABC is that it has managed to find showrunners who can take ideas which could
be disasters in theory and mine them for comic gold. This is demonstrated in
fine fettle in Speechless. J.J. has a
real personality even though he never says a word, and his relationship with
his aide Kenneth (Cedric Yarborough continues to steal every scene he's in) is
simultaneously funny and sweet. It was particularly intriguing in last night's
episode where J.J tried to get Kenneth involved with his Spanish teacher, and
learned the more disreputable parts of Kenneth's personality. This led to a
painful moment about the issues of boundaries, and some funny and
simultaneously sad ones between the two.
And as long as Speechless centers itself around Minnie Driver, there will be no
shortage of laughs. Yes, Maya is the kind of mother you go out of your way to
avoid in school functions, but she's exactly the kind of parent you'd want
fighting for you. Only the immense amount of comic talent robbed Driver of an
Emmy nomination last time, and she makes it very hard for you to take your eyes
off her.
Speechless is a winning comedy - there
are no two ways about it. And with Modern
Family getting long in the tooth, and The
Middle airing its final season, this would seem to be the perfect series
for ABC to build a new comedy bloc around. Put it together with black-ish, Fresh off the Boat, and American Housewife, and they'd have
another powerhouse Wednesday night.
My score: 4 stars.
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