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S01.E12: H-E-R-- HERO

Drogo

By Drogo
in Speechless [V]

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Nordly Beaumont

Nordly Beaumont

"Okay, do it again, but weirder this time... I just want to see if it's possible."

"Let me just look in her usual spot. Nope, not behind Dylan!"

Kenneth narrating at the end of the episode and then disappearing (if he was ever really there at all...) was freakin' hilarious!!

Great episode of a great show!

  • Love 12
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omgsowicked

omgsowicked

"JJ might be skinny but he has a big fat asset- his heart."

I burst out laughing. God I love this show. I also loved the girl who spoke as if everything? Was a? Question? Haha, that really is annoying! And then Kenneth narrating the end and mysteriously disappearing... I think the Thanksgiving episode was my favorite but this one may have replaced it.

A little disappointed that there was no followup to Kenneth and the principal but it's not too big a deal. The kid who played the guy who was using JJ for his essay looked very familiar but I don't know from where.

  • Love 6
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bros402

bros402

That episode was hilarious. The girl who spoke as if everything was a question made me crack up.

Having an insurance person? I can understand that - whenever I have a tricky claim, I get the number of whoever I get when I call member services, then deal with them.

JJ quoting Tiny Tim was hilarious - I thought it was going to be the line of the episode, but then Kenneth narrated the end.

  • Love 3
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Steph01924

Steph01924

This has become one of my favorite new shows, and this episode was particularly hilarious. When Maya began dancing for the horse, I could not. stop. laughing. Kenneth and JJ's friendship is also just one of my favorite things, how they were bonding over being cliches. And when the Dad walked up because Maya was talking about how he gave up graduate school to help his disabled son, and then the kids told her to stop spinning fantasies and he just walked away.

I wouldn't have thought I'd love this show as much as I do when it started, but everyone has managed to win me over. 

  • Love 10
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Empress1

Empress1

"They wanted to make Dylan the pillows. I stopped that!" I fell out.

I also liked the little moment where Kenneth mentioned JJ's pen pal, because it shows that they really know each other. I thought that was very sweet. 

  • Love 4
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MaryHedwig

MaryHedwig

(edited)
Quote

I wouldn't have thought I'd love this show as much as I do when it started, but everyone has managed to win me over. 

I get so touched by the family interactions. I loved when Dad was talking about how expensive JJ's equipment/medical needs were and said (something like), "It's almost not worth it to be disabled" lovingly right to JJ. I loved JJ's expression of recognition of a joke well-played at his expense.

Edited by MaryHedwig
  • Love 9
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tennisgurl

tennisgurl

So many laughs, but I think my favorite was the ending, where Kenneth is doing his Morgan Freeman style narration, and then just disappears, while JJ and Ray look around looking confused. For real, he does have a good narration voice, he could do audio books! 

The inspiration porn stuff was all great, and I am really glad they called people out on it. I used to watch a lot of Hallmark movies with my mom, and wow were they guilty of that. 

  • Love 3
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Steph01924

Steph01924

45 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

So many laughs, but I think my favorite was the ending, where Kenneth is doing his Morgan Freeman style narration, and then just disappears, while JJ and Ray look around looking confused. For real, he does have a good narration voice, he could do audio books! 

Yes, the actor who plays Kenneth has such a great, deep voice! They definitely need to tap him for some voice acting in the future. That part where he was narrating everything as the Magical Negro was spot on.

  • Love 5
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dmmetler

dmmetler

Awesome! This show does such a great job of combining real-world situations with enough snarkiness to be funny. I had never really thought about Inspiration porn and the Magical Negro trope being the same thing, but Kenneth is right on the money. 

 

And I'd so buy an audio book with Kenneth narrating. 

  • Love 2
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ItCouldBeWorse

ItCouldBeWorse

Was anyone a little bit bothered that the parents encouraged JJ to do something that was very likely to break his chair?  One could say that they would likely allow Dylan or Ray to do something equally dangerous that might result in a broken bone, but in our world, it's easier to get a bone set than to replace a good wheelchair.

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Chit Chat

Chit Chat

Quote

Was anyone a little bit bothered that the parents encouraged JJ to do something that was very likely to break his chair?

Maya probably figured they could get him a new wheelchair if that happened.  She didn't know that they had a new agent. 

About the young lady who said every sentence as a question: I've heard several TV hosts mention this and they called it "up talking."  It seems to be the thing with some of the younger ladies nowadays.  One host in particular mentors young women and she tells them to STOP IT!  It doesn't go over well in interviews, etc.   I dislike it as much as  hearing the word "like" as every other word in a sentence. 

I'm glad they filled us in about Jimmy having been in Graduate school when JJ was born, but had to get a job in order to pay the medical bills.  I love how he and Maya are so in sync with each other.  Kudos to the writers. They do a great job with the show.

  • Love 1
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bros402

bros402

7 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Was anyone a little bit bothered that the parents encouraged JJ to do something that was very likely to break his chair?  One could say that they would likely allow Dylan or Ray to do something equally dangerous that might result in a broken bone, but in our world, it's easier to get a bone set than to replace a good wheelchair.

Maya thought she could just butter up Stu (Or whatever he name was) to get them a new wheelchair

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Crs97

Crs97

For about a three week period I kept getting letters from an insurance claims adjuster that announced they would no longer cover any therapies we might want for our oldest (with CP) and we "should consider ourselves lucky" that they had bothered to pay anything for him and weren't demanding reimbursement.  Each time I would call the national office and they would say she was wrong, finally exclaiming, "Who is this woman?!?"  I guess she was our anti-Stu.  My husband finally had to get the head of HR to call one of the insurance company's head people to tell her to cease and desist.  

Needless to say, I loved this episode, even though I missed the tag of Kenneth's narration.  Need to watch it again on demand to catch that; bad DVR!

I loved "God bless us, everyone!", Ray's speech, "Nope, she's not behind Dylan.", "Dancing for a horse.  Yes, I can see how I could have worded that better.", Dylan trying to throw the race by physically pushing the girl ahead of her while shouting motivational phrases  . . . it was all good!

  • Love 1
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kat165

kat165

I was hoping that JJ would get a new chair because, even though Dylan didn't let the girl win, she did encourage her and urge her on. So she might have told her mom that later and maybe gotten Janet (sp?) to soften and give JJ the new chair in thanks for Dylan's kindness.

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neuromom

neuromom

I really enjoyed the episode.  It was nice they addressed the inspiration porn. And, I'm wondering how Maya is able to sweet talk agents to get things for JJ. I must be REALLY lousy at sweet talk, or I have the wrong agents, because I can get hardly ANYTHING covered. And I go through 2 insurance companies AND a regional center. The cost over the years for orthotics, helmets, special therapies, etc has cost many thousands of dollars. Ironically, the wheelchair , that my son only uses for long distance, is the ONE thing I did get. Oh, except the tub lift...which took over a year to get approved and installed while I stressed my back lifting my kid out of the tub. I wonder if insurance agents actually exist that can be bribed. 

  • Love 2
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bros402

bros402

(edited)
18 hours ago, Crs97 said:

For about a three week period I kept getting letters from an insurance claims adjuster that announced they would no longer cover any therapies we might want for our oldest (with CP) and we "should consider ourselves lucky" that they had bothered to pay anything for him and weren't demanding reimbursement.  Each time I would call the national office and they would say she was wrong, finally exclaiming, "Who is this woman?!?"  I guess she was our anti-Stu.  My husband finally had to get the head of HR to call one of the insurance company's head people to tell her to cease and desist.  

Needless to say, I loved this episode, even though I missed the tag of Kenneth's narration.  Need to watch it again on demand to catch that; bad DVR!

I loved "God bless us, everyone!", Ray's speech, "Nope, she's not behind Dylan.", "Dancing for a horse.  Yes, I can see how I could have worded that better.", Dylan trying to throw the race by physically pushing the girl ahead of her while shouting motivational phrases  . . . it was all good!

I hope that claims adjuster got fired.

1 hour ago, neuromom said:

I really enjoyed the episode.  It was nice they addressed the inspiration porn. And, I'm wondering how Maya is able to sweet talk agents to get things for JJ. I must be REALLY lousy at sweet talk, or I have the wrong agents, because I can get hardly ANYTHING covered. And I go through 2 insurance companies AND a regional center. The cost over the years for orthotics, helmets, special therapies, etc has cost many thousands of dollars. Ironically, the wheelchair , that my son only uses for long distance, is the ONE thing I did get. Oh, except the tub lift...which took over a year to get approved and installed while I stressed my back lifting my kid out of the tub. I wonder if insurance agents actually exist that can be bribed. 

Jimmy works at an airport - whoever hires him probably have good insurance. If it is TSA, then it would be government health insurance, which is great. Government plans err on the side of Cadillac plans - so that might explain it.

My parents had a lot of medical costs (due to me) before my mom got her current job - great insurance. Now instead of taking state & federal medical expense deductions, we just take the state one (In NJ, everything over 2% of AGI is a deduction)

Edited by bros402
  • Love 2
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scrambled eggs

scrambled eggs

Best episode of the season. I laughed so hard at Maya's misunderstanding of "dressage" and her dancing for the horse. Fun to see Jim O'Heir for a moment as well. One thing did confuse me though. They said Dylan is 12, but she was running in a high school meet? 

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bros402

bros402

8 hours ago, scrambled eggs said:

Best episode of the season. I laughed so hard at Maya's misunderstanding of "dressage" and her dancing for the horse. Fun to see Jim O'Heir for a moment as well. One thing did confuse me though. They said Dylan is 12, but she was running in a high school meet? 

She was running a middle school track meet, I believe.

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bros402

bros402

8 hours ago, scrambled eggs said:

Best episode of the season. I laughed so hard at Maya's misunderstanding of "dressage" and her dancing for the horse. Fun to see Jim O'Heir for a moment as well. One thing did confuse me though. They said Dylan is 12, but she was running in a high school meet? 

She was running a middle school track meet, I believe.

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Indy

Indy

This has become my favorite show. I love the family, how they all interact and support/torment each other in just the right way

This episode had so many great bits. LOVED Maya's version of dressage. That made me laugh out loud. Dancing FOR horses. 

Kenneth at the end was also hilarious, narrating everything ever so magically. And JJ's snarky Tiny Tim moment, which was great with Kenneth's dry delivery of the line. 

  • Love 1
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bros402

bros402

23 hours ago, scrambled eggs said:

That's what I thought at first, but I think the other girl's jersey said Lakewood High, not Junior High. 

With how large the school is, I would not be surprised if they had 7-8 & 9-12 on the same campus.

  • Love 2
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Big Mother

Big Mother

I had a hard time buying this plot, because this is not how insurance claims work. You can't just take a claims rep out to lunch and try to make underhanded deals. These kinds of things go all the way up to the state level. And usually a wheelchair is covered easily by insurance, it's not such a big deal.

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bros402

bros402

2 hours ago, Big Mother said:

I had a hard time buying this plot, because this is not how insurance claims work. You can't just take a claims rep out to lunch and try to make underhanded deals. These kinds of things go all the way up to the state level. And usually a wheelchair is covered easily by insurance, it's not such a big deal.

Yeah, but it was fun for plot purposes.

  • Love 1
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neuromom

neuromom

(edited)
On 1/22/2017 at 8:42 PM, Big Mother said:

I had a hard time buying this plot, because this is not how insurance claims work. You can't just take a claims rep out to lunch and try to make underhanded deals. These kinds of things go all the way up to the state level. And usually a wheelchair is covered easily by insurance, it's not such a big deal.

I agree with you for the most part. However, sometimes insurance is a pain in the ass. My son was denied his wheelchair through his primary insurance, and it WAS covered by secondary insurance..but the whole process took several months. (Which paled in comparison to the year it took to get a tub lift, which had to be covered by the regional center. And over a year to get approval for a "lift chair" for the car- which never happened because it took so long I had to say "screw it" and bought a new car, literally 4 days before they finally approved the request)

Edited by neuromom
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Crs97

Crs97

Wheelchairs never seem to be easily covered by insurance.  I can easily believe JJ's claim for the broken chair would be denied.  We have discovered that our insurance will only replace a chair every five years or so, regardless of whether it breaks or our son outgrows it.  Luckily Mr. Crs97 is good at jerry-rigging.

  • Love 3
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Big Mother

Big Mother

Insurance denied a stroller for my son multiple times, bc he isnt physically disabled but he needs one for safety (he's autistic and elopes). I ended up fundraising for one, and getting a used one through craigslist for the 2nd one. It's a crazy world.

  • Love 2
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neuromom

neuromom

(edited)
22 hours ago, Big Mother said:

Insurance denied a stroller for my son multiple times, bc he isnt physically disabled but he needs one for safety (he's autistic and elopes). I ended up fundraising for one, and getting a used one through craigslist for the 2nd one. It's a crazy world.

I can believe it! My son needs a helmet for school, because he has some motor planning delays and a visual impairment. So he needs it for his safety as well. (Because he does walk quite a bit)  But it's not covered, because he is not officially diagnosed with one of the "head injury " diagnoses on "the list." (Never mind that if he took a bad fall without a helmet , he COULD suffer one of these injuries. ) Crazy world indeed! 

Edited by neuromom
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bros402

bros402

2 hours ago, neuromom said:

I can believe it! My son needs a helmet for school, because he has some motor planning delays and a visual impairment. So he needs it for his safety as well. (Because he does walk quite a bit)  But it's not covered, because he is not officially diagnosed with one of the "head injury " diagnoses on "the list." (Never mind that if he took a bad fall without a helmet , he COULD suffer one of these injuries. ) Crazy world indeed! 

Maybe you can get a neuropsych & neurologist to coordinate and try to fit him into one of the categories insurance requires?

  • Love 1
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possibilities

possibilities

Lots of stuff isn't covered. It's like people want medical equipment who don't need it and are just trying to get it to defraud the insurance companies for funzies. Because medical equipment is such a great accessory! And filling out forms is so fun! And docs writing prescriptions do it just for the hell of it! And there's a black market for helmets, so if you manage to get one you can sell it for a million bucks and the joke's on the insurance industry for funding your yacht!

  • Love 3
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alexvillage

alexvillage

Quote

Wheelchairs never seem to be easily covered by insurance.  I can easily believe JJ's claim for the broken chair would be denied.  We have discovered that our insurance will only replace a chair every five years or so, regardless of whether it breaks or our son outgrows it.  Luckily Mr. Crs97 is good at jerry-rigging.

Actually, in most cases, wheelchairs that one can use outside are not covered. 

Yes, that's right. Disabled people who need wheelchairs to move around are sometimes denied them because some insurance companies only cover what disabled people need at home. People who who need the wheelchair to go to work need to find creative ways of getting it, and usually pay a lot for it.

 

About the plot: I think it is just a way of highlighting the absurdity of insurance claims for real needs, make it quick and funny. Because, as the father said, It is almost not worthy to be disabled.

  • Love 2
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Crs97

Crs97

They could have had a lot of fun with taking the chair into the shop to see if it could be fixed.  The place we have had to use a couple of times sometimes has one or more newer models out.  Whenever I go, it makes me think of a very bargain basement car showroom.  I could totally be on board with a scene that equates the two: show them window-shopping while the shop is looking at the old chair; have a rep explain all the newest features of the fancy chair; then have the rep ask what insurance they have and drop them like a hot potato when he finds out their insurance won't cover the top-of-the-line model.  It wouldn't be completely realistic, but has the potential to be really funny.

  • Love 1
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Mystery

Mystery

Especially if they end up having to take the one that the sales person totally trash talked about while trying to upsell them. 

I appreciate hearing about what people are actually doing to get what they need. Thanks for the information, posters! 

  • Love 1
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GRChereck

GRChereck

On 1/12/2017 at 9:20 AM, Steph01924 said:

And when the Dad walked up because Maya was talking about how he gave up graduate school to help his disabled son, and then the kids told her to stop spinning fantasies and he just walked away.

When Ray said, "Mom, this is no time for jokes!" I was a little confused at first as to whether Maya was telling the truth about the grad-school bit, and if she was, whether or not he believed her. But later, the way Jimmy said to himself, "Oh my God, I matter. I ... matter. I matter!" when he discovered that the insurance agent was another track parent, it hit me that that may have been a bit of a callback to the earlier scene -- I think Ray had probably been just so fixated on the cash prize and desperate to find an essay subject that would guarantee him a win, he was simply dismissing his mom's suggestion to write about his dad as unhelpful toward that specific goal, but I could see Jimmy thinking Ray was dismissing him and his sacrifice as not particularly heroic or even noteworthy, and becoming a bit down on himself about that until he was able to help Maya deal with the insurance agent. 

Anyway, I loved this episode. :)  Sort of a spiritual twin to "Inspirations" (1x4), the cynical take on "inspiration porn" (even drawing similarities to "magical Negro" stereotypes) was both interesting and very, very funny to me. And I loved how the theme of integrity tied this JJ-Ray-Kenneth plot together with the Maya-Jimmy-Dylan plot. 

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