Maya DiMeo (Minnie Driver) races to the family van with a coupon for 50% off breakfast that expires in 3 minutes. Her husband Jimmy (John Ross Bowie) and daughter Dylan (Kyla Kennedy) buckle up. Her son Ray (Mason Cook) objects, pointing out that the restaurant is 10 minutes away and there's no way they can get there in time. Maya takes this as a challenge and the van speeds off. Jimmy hands his wife coffee and navigates as she calmly and confidently avoids construction by barrelling down a one-way alley, and goes off-road when a broken down car causes a traffic jam, only stopping so Dylan can yell at the annoyed driver for not putting oil in the car before getting on the road. She speeds past a cop car that wisely declines to go after her ("Life's too short", advises the older cop to his young partner) and makes it to the restaurant, snagging the last handicap spot. An older lady objects to their lack of handicap placard, but the DiMeo's are too busy unloading their secret weapon, J.J. (Micah Fowler), their wheel-chair bound teenage son with severe cerebral palsy. The older woman drives off as two bystanders smirk and laugh. Maya calls them out and J.J. flips them off to the best of his abilities. "Work in progress", Maya explains. Cue title card.
That opening scene is Speechless in a nutshell and perfectly introduces Maya as someone who won't let anything or anyone get in the way of what her family (J.J. in particular) deserves with the rest of the DiMeo's along for the ride whether they like it or not. Created by Scott Silveri (who grew up with a brother with cerebral palsy), Speechless (which debuts tonight on ABC, where it'll air every Wednesday after The Goldbergs) is a smart, gutsy comedy that like other family comedies that have debuted on ABC in recent years (black-ish and Fresh Off The Boat chief among them) showcases a family that doesn't get portrayed on TV that often: a family with a special needs child. More importantly, it showcases them in a way that allows them to be complicated and flawed and funny, wisely avoiding the urge to go overly saccharine with the show or put J.J. on a pedestal to be admired as an inspiration (as J.J's new classmates are ready to do in the pilot).
That treatment of J.J. is essential to the success of the pilot. Brought to life by Micah Fowler, an actor who has cerebral palsy (though not as severe as J.J., who is nonverbal strapped to his ear and needs a laser pointer and keyboard to communicate.), J.J. comes across as a normal teenage boy who just wants to talk to girls and be cool. He gets annoyed when his mother makes a fuss over him or when his new classmates want to elect him student council president before they've even met him. He knows how to take advantage of his condition to get his way. He's a bit of a jerk, picking on Ray and running off his initial aide because her voice isn't cool enough for his liking, but he does love his family and will do what it takes to help them out. All of this is expertly portrayed by Fowler who brings a lot of personality to everything J.J. does and making his limited range of motion an asset. It makes you confident that J.J. won't be treated as a prop or conduit for other character's stories, but as a compelling character in his own right.
In the first episode Fowler makes a strong impression, but the biggest and strongest impression by far belongs to Minnie Driver. As Maya, the mother who has moved her family six times in the past two years in search of the perfect situation for J.J. and who has fought tooth and nail to ensure he gets something close to a normal life, Driver is perfect, bringing an intense ferocity to everything Maya does, but also a bit of underlying weariness. You get the sense that that this woman is always fighting because that's what she's had to do for J.J's entire life. Maya's intensity could grow quickly exhausting in lesser hands, but Driver brings enough warmth and understanding to the role to keep her likeable, even with her flaws.
It's an impressive performance and one that could dominate the show, but luckily it's surrounded by strong performances across the board. The pilot is wisely told largely from the perspective of Ray (Mason Cook). Cook does excellent as a kid who loves his family, but is tired of all the moving around and a bit resentful that Maya puts J.J.'s needs ahead of everyone else. He comes across as a sensible voice while still being a kid who's prone to making mistakes like kids do. As Jimmy, John Ross Bowie isn't given a ton to do yet beyond play sarcastic, yet supportive, but he brings a lot to those notes to make Jimmy a funny, interesting character who gets a lot of the pilots bigger laughs (His tour of "the worst house in the best neighbourhood" has the family has moved to is an episode highlight). Kyla Kenedy also doesn't get a lot to do yet, but Dylan's ultra competitiveness in a school environment that tries to celebrate everyone should lead to comic dividends down the line. The character who needs the most fleshing out going forward is Kenneth (Cedric Yarbrough), the school groundskeeper who butts heads with Maya immediately but seems set to be J.J.'s new full-time aide by the end of the pilot. Yarbrough's dry delivery is terrific and he and Driver have good rapport, but hopefully Kenneth will get more dimension than just simply "the cool guy".
Beyond casting, what Speechless really has going for it in the pilot is a sense of perspective. Having a child with special needs can be a challenge and a strain to a family and the show isn't afraid to highlight that. When Ray and Maya fight because he's tired of her putting J.J over everyone else, he isn't presented as being in the wrong. There's real pain there and it will be interesting to watch the show explore that going forward. Of course having a child with special needs isn't a total burden either and the show gets that too. It's unafraid to mine the situation for comedy, from the terrible house the DiMeo family has to move to so J.J can go to his latest school, to the school itself, which is desperate to come across as inclusive and progressive (they recently changed their mascot from the Vikings to the Sea Slug, which has both male and female genitalia) to a late-episode quip from Jimmy about which child would be best to run after Maya and which would be best to wait in the van (This earns him the finger from J.J, which he admits is fair). It makes Speechless warm and welcoming, but also clever and biting and fearless. All in all Speechless is off to a strong start and if you're into comedies with a strong perspective, it definitely looks to be well worth your time.
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