S03.E06: C-E-- CELEBRITY S-U-- SUITE

[GRChereck]

Quote

When the DiMeos land in the hospital on Thanksgiving, Maya's determination to save the holiday leads to an uneasy truce with her rival, Melanie Hertzal (Sarah Chalke); and Jimmy gets jealous when Kenneth bonds with his brother, Billy (Rob Corddry). Meanwhile, wounds from an old breakup are re-opened, but Ray finds brand-new love in an unlikely place.

[GRChereck]

Stray observations:

-- Uncle Billy's decline continues (glasses, heart medication, dating a girl probably young enough to be his daughter, not even a mention of Audrey and the kids this time); good on Jimmy for wanting to try to get along with him better, and I suppose it's only fitting that they're able to find common ground by poking fun at Kenneth's attempt to encourage deeper, more mature brotherly bonding (Billy might have fun playing with Kenneth like a new toy, but he and Jimmy have a lifetime of in-jokes that Kenneth couldn't even begin to get -- although I kinda liked Kenneth getting his revenge by mocking Jimmy's heart-to-heart with Ray, and Jimmy admitting he had it coming) :)

-- Ray had said he wanted to work on himself before pursuing Taylor again (or another relationship), but I guess all it took was growing his first chest hair to boost his confidence give him the sign of maturity he needed; his befriending a pregnant girl was sweet (nice "Unforgettable Pain" callback, too! :D ) -- and gave him much-needed hope after learning from Logan that Taylor is on a ski trip with a boyfriend -- but this sweetness was undercut by both his method of calming her baby boy (perhaps his creepiest move yet) and discovering he was talking to the wrong baby at the end :p

-- Still nothing on the root of JJ and Logan's feud? So it's basically going to be a 'Calvin & Hobbes' "Noodle Incident" -- deliberately left up to the reader / viewer to imagine the most outrageous explanation possible

-- Maya and Melanie working together to get the VIP suite away from that hypochondriac / attention-seeking "Famous Amos Anus(?)" were great (like their prolonging their jury-duty mini-vacation in "One Angry Maya"), too bad they had to relapse into trying to "screw [each other] over" -- something I thought at least Maya was above :\

-- Nurse: "They need to be out in 5 minutes -- James Van Der Beek sprained his toe." xD

-- Choice cue: Bing Crosby, "I've Got Plenty to Be Thankful For" (1942, from Holiday Inn)

Edited November 18, 2018 by GRChereck
correction

[kathyk24]

I thought the opening scene and Maya and Melanie teaming up were hilarious! I didn't like Ray's and Uncle Billy's plotline . I can understand why JJ doesn't like Logan he's a jerk. Kenneth needs to find a life outside working with JJ it's not normal for him to spend so much time with the family.

[Shenanigan]

This show is usually good with continuity, but did no one remember Jimmy’s hospital juice? He should have been able to secure the celeb suite with no trouble! 

[readster]

5 minutes ago, Shenanigan said:

This show is usually good with continuity, but did no one remember Jimmy’s hospital juice? He should have been able to secure the celeb suite with no trouble! 

Oh yes, the show changes continuity at the drop of a hat. It's like going back to Maya and Melaine trying one up each other and then trying to pull a trick on the other. Here they were trying to show that old habits die hard. However, with Kenneth, how many times does he have to play the: "I use to be a top athlete and had money" crap. Or Jimmy for all his connections and use, all of a sudden can't find his car keys?

[GRChereck]

45 minutes ago, Shenanigan said:

This show is usually good with continuity, but did no one remember Jimmy’s hospital juice? He should have been able to secure the celeb suite with no trouble!

Considering the room was already occupied (hence Maya and Melanie's scheme to get rid of the guy), I guess Jimmy's "juice" only goes so far. :\ Plus, I would imagine Melanie (with her special-needs son) probably also had juice to some extent, as it seemed to me both she and the DiMeos were getting away with an awful lot of crap that would likely not be tolerated coming from most other families.

I agree that Maya's regression here was definitely disappointing -- especially after that great jury-duty episode, not to mention how she ended up taking the high road in the s.2 Christmas ep -- but I was sort-of glad at least she was ultimately the one to call the truce (even it meant being pushed to a breaking point by Melanie somehow screwing with the room's A/C, alarm and lights while she was locked out).

As for Kenneth, I've more-or-less accepted him as not only JJ's aide, but also his best bud and a close family friend -- I actually enjoyed him getting involved in Jimmy's relationship with his brother this time, especially since his sympathetic outsider's perspective finally allowed for Jimmy to open up a bit about what he and Billy were like growing up and how he misses what they used to have -- but he really seems to be dropping the ball lately. (First with last week's "job" offer; now, he sees a prescription bottle sitting out and automatically assumes it must be JJ's medication.) Perhaps he needs to take a little break from JJ, for at least an episode or two, and work on himself a bit.

[71dude]

This one was really silly. Ray's plot didn't work at all. A random teenage boy can attend a childbirth - with no mask - and would even want to? Maya and Melanie doing "I Love Lucy" shtick? Well at least we got some evil glares from JJ. Hopefully they get the heart back soon- CY tweeted that Kenneth and JJ have a heartfelt scene in the Christmas show.

[kathyk24]

I think cramming three plots in half an hour doesn't work on Speechless. Having Kenneth over the Dimaio's house so much doesn't allow for many scenes between the kids. We still haven't had a decent plotline with Dylan and JJ. JJ seems disconnected from the rest of his family this season.

[Chit Chat]

I didn't like this episode at all.  There was too much going on.  It didn't work for me.  Maybe the next one will redeem itself.  

[bros402]

14 hours ago, GRChereck said:

As for Kenneth, I've more-or-less accepted him as not only JJ's aide, but also his best bud and a close family friend -- I actually enjoyed him getting involved in Jimmy's relationship with his brother this time, especially since his sympathetic outsider's perspective finally allowed for Jimmy to open up a bit about what he and Billy were like growing up and how he misses what they used to have -- but he really seems to be dropping the ball lately. (First with last week's "job" offer; now, he sees a prescription bottle sitting out and automatically assumes it must be JJ's medication.) Perhaps he needs to take a little break from JJ, for at least an episode or two, and work on himself a bit.

With the prescriptions, I mean they bottles and labels looked similar - so he probably just grabbed the bottle, maybe the pills look somewhat similar, and gave it to JJ. It seemed like a regular routine, maybe nobody else in the DiMeo immediate family takes meds, so JJ would have the only prescriptions.

Kenneth definitely needs a little break from JJ, maybe over JJ's winter break from school. 


Now I am wondering what JJ takes meds for.

[GRChereck]

6 hours ago, bros402 said:

Now I am wondering what JJ takes meds for.

My first thought was, maybe something to manage chronic pain or whatever; but since he spends most of his day basically sitting in the same position, it's possible he's on something to help prevent blood clots (especially in his legs). :\

[balmz]

another disappointing episode

 

It seemed really weird that billy left his medicine out in the open, like for me who takes alot of meds I ALWAYS make sure it's in a safe place, watch it carefully when i use it and would never leave it out ever, it's lucky that the dimeos don't have small children or that pepper didn't eat the meds, also what kind of medicine would jj need to take anyway? also it seemed weird that kenneth didn't wonder why the medicine was out, also if they did want to do a taking a wrong medicine joke they should have done that jj inadvertently took Viagra instead, at least that would be funny if very juvenile

 

the maya and the other mom plot was boring and annoying them abusing the purpose, needs and supplies of the hospital, didn't care for it at all

 

ray plot was boring and again mean spirited to him, he should have told the lady to screw off when she said he was boring her, also he really lacks self esteem if he feels he has to be in a relationship always, also why would he want to be with taylor again?

[neuromom]

I was concerned about JJ taking thr wrong meds. It was a heart med. I don’t know what the side effects are, but no one really seemed that concerned.  I thought maybe the meds were anti seizure meds? We don’t know JJs entire medical history, but I do know a few kids at my son’s special school with CP, who take anti seizure meds.

i guess I’m a little sensitive on the meds since my son was on them for seizures for 18 months. Didnt work. God awful side effects . He’s been off meds for over 9 years now. My dad had some weird side effects to some BP meds, which he is weaning off of. So, I was strsssed for JJ the entire episode.

Ray was creepy this episode.

Billy was downright annoying. And with the current climate of the opioid issue, and deaths related to prescription drugs, I was really disappointed that Billy would write illegal scrips to play around with drugs.

[GRChereck]

Now that a transcript for this episode is up, a few things I must have missed:

-- Maya only just found out about the VIP / celebrity room;

-- Its occupant is a "big donor" to the hospital (all the more reason his "juice" would override that of the DiMeos or Melanie's family)

-- MAYA: I have this whole place wired. The nurses love me, the doctors fear me, and I buttered up the weird morgue attendant because I wanted toe tags for my luggage.

MELANIE: Well, I've got all the heating and A/C guys, and I'm tight with the alarm tech 'cause Logan's a fire alarm-puller...

MAYA: Security lets me play with their guns, and I've got all the gossip on the desk-jockeys, and they hate --

BOTH: Being called desk-jockeys.

https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=speechless-2016&episode=s03e06 :)

[tennisgurl]

Maya and Melanie teaming up was cute, and their rivalry is always hilarious. Logan really is a jerk though. How dare he diss Jimmy's terrible and dated Borat imitation! 

Rays plot walked that line between cute and creepy, and I think it landed mostly on cute. Mostly...

[possibilities]

I agree that illegal prescriptions are not funny in general. I did laugh though, because I remember when I had novacaine injected into my face for some dental surgery, and the effect really does feel exactly how Kenneth and annoying uncle looked, with their arms flinging around and their feet being like heavy bags of sand. There was nothing realistic about it (he had novacaine with him? they injected it in the waiting room?) but it was good physical comedy.

My friend with CP took something to reduce the intensity of her muscle spasms. JJ doesn't look like he has the same kind of involuntary movements she did, but then again when a drug is working, sometimes you can't see what things were like before you took it.

They did seem panicked about JJ having taken the heart medication. That's why they rushed to the hospital. And the hospital kept him for monitoring. But not all heart meds are equally dangerous. https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/common-medicine-heart-disease-patients#1

I think they take a lot of liberties on this show, as far as realism is concerned. This week was medical, other times it's about schooling, and it's always there wrt Kenneth's 24/7 presence. They might as well make Kenneth a live-in aide who lives there in exchange for free room and board; there's no way the Dimeos get enough funding to pay him by the hour. It's problematic, though, because of the history of Black "help" in white families. It's worse because the rest of the show is white to a degree that lacks all credibility. They live in CA, not Sweden.

[bros402]

16 hours ago, GRChereck said:

My first thought was, maybe something to manage chronic pain or whatever; but since he spends most of his day basically sitting in the same position, it's possible he's on something to help prevent blood clots (especially in his legs). :\

An antispasmodic makes sense - same with a blood thinner - especially if the uncle's heart medication is a blood thinner - you don't want to double up on blood thinners.

11 hours ago, neuromom said:

I was concerned about JJ taking thr wrong meds. It was a heart med. I don’t know what the side effects are, but no one really seemed that concerned.  I thought maybe the meds were anti seizure meds? We don’t know JJs entire medical history, but I do know a few kids at my son’s special school with CP, who take anti seizure meds.

i guess I’m a little sensitive on the meds since my son was on them for seizures for 18 months. Didnt work. God awful side effects . He’s been off meds for over 9 years now. My dad had some weird side effects to some BP meds, which he is weaning off of. So, I was strsssed for JJ the entire episode.

Ray was creepy this episode.

Billy was downright annoying. And with the current climate of the opioid issue, and deaths related to prescription drugs, I was really disappointed that Billy would write illegal scrips to play around with drugs.

They seemed concerned - their first instinct was jump into the car and head to the ER. I have epilepsy, been on a total of 9 meds (currently on two meds) and yeah, some have interesting side effects (One of them increased the frequency of my seizures and another gave me full body muscle and joint pain!). After the ER doctor said everything was fine, I stopped worrying for him because this isn't that kind of show where they would have anything super serious happen to the main character. They would've led with that.

I agree that Ray was pretty creepy - they should have ended it with Ray being kicked out of the room, because at least "this kid is so boring he helps me give birth" is funny - the skin-to-skin that Ray did, that was not good. They should've just had it be him being caught unbuttoning his shirt to rest the baby on him, not practically being undressed.

They definitely should have used Billy better - maybe this will come back to bite Billy - I mean every time we see him, he is worse off - maybe next time his medical license will be suspended or he'll be under some kind of probation due to anyone seeing that lidocaine fight reporting it.

I'm wondering how he was standing if he injected his legs with the lidocaine.

7 hours ago, possibilities said:

I agree that illegal prescriptions are not funny in general. I did laugh though, because I remember when I had novacaine injected into my face for some dental surgery, and the effect really does feel exactly how Kenneth and annoying uncle looked, with their arms flinging around and their feet being like heavy bags of sand. There was nothing realistic about it (he had novacaine with him? they injected it in the waiting room?) but it was good physical comedy.

My friend with CP took something to reduce the intensity of her muscle spasms. JJ doesn't look like he has the same kind of involuntary movements she did, but then again when a drug is working, sometimes you can't see what things were like before you took it.

They did seem panicked about JJ having taken the heart medication. That's why they rushed to the hospital. And the hospital kept him for monitoring. But not all heart meds are equally dangerous. https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/common-medicine-heart-disease-patients#1

I think they take a lot of liberties on this show, as far as realism is concerned. This week was medical, other times it's about schooling, and it's always there wrt Kenneth's 24/7 presence. They might as well make Kenneth a live-in aide who lives there in exchange for free room and board; there's no way the Dimeos get enough funding to pay him by the hour. It's problematic, though, because of the history of Black "help" in white families. It's worse because the rest of the show is white to a degree that lacks all credibility. They live in CA, not Sweden.

Billy probably wrote the script, brought it to the hospital pharmacy, and got it filled. It would make a lot of sense for a hospital to have some novocaine, or maybe it was subbed with lidocaine, which hospitals would have boatloads of. 

I mean at this point it seems like Kenneth has adopted the DiMeos as his family, so he was there for Thanksgiving on his own free time, and probably thought "oh since i'm here i'll help JJ with his meds"

Then he was at the hospital because he felt bad.

[GRChereck]

11 hours ago, bros402 said:

I agree that Ray was pretty creepy - they should have ended it with Ray being kicked out of the room, because at least "this kid is so boring he helps me give birth" is funny - the skin-to-skin that Ray did, that was not good. They should've just had it be him being caught unbuttoning his shirt to rest the baby on him, not practically being undressed.

See, that still would've been funny (while being a little embarrassing for Ray); as it was, though, I think it stepped just a bit too far into cringe-humor. o_O

 

11 hours ago, bros402 said:

They definitely should have used Billy better - maybe this will come back to bite Billy - I mean every time we see him, he is worse off - maybe next time his medical license will be suspended or he'll be under some kind of probation due to anyone seeing that lidocaine fight reporting it.

After his gambling losses (s.1) and losing his family (s.2), and now he appears to be in declining health, I imagine his job (or his own practice) will probably be next if the series gets a 4th season / Thanksgiving ep. :\ (Even so, as an 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' fan, I think it's kinda funny to see an otherwise sweet family show like this have a sort of a Rickety Cricket figure, albeit nowhere near as extreme... :D )

***
EDIT: I don't normally share press releases outside the Media topic, but I think the premise for the next new episode (airing Dec. 7) sounds promising:

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20181119abc16/

So much for Kenneth/JJ taking a break (they also have a plot in the Dec. 14 Christmas episode involving Kenneth's sisters), but go Jimya! <3 

Edited November 19, 2018 by GRChereck
update

[bros402]

14 hours ago, GRChereck said:

See, that still would've been funny (while being a little embarrassing for Ray); as it was, though, I think it stepped just a bit too far into cringe-humor. o_O

 

After his gambling losses (s.1) and losing his family (s.2), and now he appears to be in declining health, I imagine his job (or his own practice) will probably be next if the series gets a 4th season / Thanksgiving ep. :\ (Even so, as an 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' fan, I think it's kinda funny to see an otherwise sweet family show like this have a sort of a Rickety Cricket figure, albeit nowhere near as extreme... :D )

***
EDIT: I don't normally share press releases outside the Media topic, but I think the premise for the next new episode (airing Dec. 7) sounds promising:

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20181119abc16/

So much for Kenneth/JJ taking a break (they also have a plot in the Dec. 14 Christmas episode involving Kenneth's sisters), but go Jimya! <3 

I think it'll get a 4th season just because of the third season rule - unless this season doesn't get a back 9, or gets cut short again, then it is up in the air. But if it gets a back 9 or if the order doesn't get cut much, we'll get a fourth season - because after the purchase of FOX goes through, they have 100% ownership of Speechless. Him losing his practice or his job seems like the natural progression of things for next season - probably have a throwaway joke about how even a dental school won't hire him as an adjunct or something.

That episode sounds entertaining, but I am wondering why Ray and Dylan are taking on government bureaucracy? Maybe they are looking into things for JJs future, like planning for the future. I think Kenneth, Jimmy, and JJ going to a social security office, or some kind of other government bureaucracy (voc rehab, maybe?) could be entertaining - since they are used to having Maya cut down all of the red tape with a swipe of her hand. And, well, you can just picture Kenneth being shocked at how packed & busy it is - especially voc rehab, since at least for the two places my voc rehab counselor has been at, it's in the back of the department of labor offices - so you have to walk by people filling out unemployment paperwork, all kinds of fun stuff - and I imagine Kenneth has filed for unemployment in the past, probably after his basketball career tanked.

[GRChereck]

17 hours ago, bros402 said:

That episode sounds entertaining, but I am wondering why Ray and Dylan are taking on government bureaucracy? Maybe they are looking into things for JJs future, like planning for the future.

When Futon Critic first leaked the title ("Follow Through") late last week, my first instinct was to wonder if it could possibly refer to picking up Ray's inclusive-playground charity idea (from 2x3 "J-J's D-R-- Dream") again; throughout the rest of s.2, he was never really shown taking any steps toward making it happen. I could see him finally getting called out -- even though it had started as a lie just to impress Taylor, he saw how far his family had gone to keep up the ruse and ended up saying he would make the charity a real thing -- only to maybe hit some sort of snag with local government when he actually tries to find a location for the playground or whatever, and relying on Dylan to channel their mother's righteous anger (similar to how she did with JJ at the movie theater in 2x15 "U-N-- Unforgettable P-A-- Pain"). 

Edited November 21, 2018 by GRChereck

[possibilities]

What disabled person doesn't spend half their life taking on bureaucracy? None I know. There are a million ways we wind up having to engage with it. It's not like you can just check a box and spend the rest of your life having it actually function the way it ought to.

It would be funny, though, it if was NOT about JJ, and JJ is just involved in big brother mode.

[bros402]

15 hours ago, GRChereck said:

When Futon Critic first leaked the title ("Follow Through") late last week, my first instinct was to wonder if it could possibly refer to picking up Ray's inclusive-playground charity idea (from 2x3 "J-J's D-R-- Dream") again; throughout the rest of s.2, he was never really shown taking any steps toward making it happen. I could see him finally getting called out -- even though it had started as a lie just to impress Taylor, he saw how far his family had gone to keep up the ruse and ended up saying he would make the charity a real thing -- only to maybe hit some sort of snag with local government when he actually tries to find a location for the playground or whatever, and relying on Dylan to channel their mother's righteous anger (similar to how she did with JJ at the movie theater in 2x15 "U-N-- Unforgettable P-A-- Pain"). 

True.

13 hours ago, possibilities said:

What disabled person doesn't spend half their life taking on bureaucracy? None I know. There are a million ways we wind up having to engage with it. It's not like you can just check a box and spend the rest of your life having it actually function the way it ought to.

It would be funny, though, it if was NOT about JJ, and JJ is just involved in big brother mode.

Bureaucracy is fun! I spent the first half of 2017 dealing with social security because their software had an error and counted things wrong and demanded 26k from me (They ended up overpaying me like 3200 in SSI due to incorrect statements by multiple representatives). That took like 2 visits + 3 phone appointments.

Ooh, or earlier this year when it took my dad and I six phone calls to insurance over 10 weeks or so to get them to pay thousands of dollars in claims. They claimed I wasn't covered, they sent paperwork saying I was, their system said I was covered on the customer rep side, but not in billing. It was super fun.

JJ helping them navigate the bureaucracy due to his observing Maya handle it for him would be very fun - if they handled it for JJ, I hope the show would do it decently, but they don't exactly have the... nuance they did in season 1 - so having JJ being involved in big brother mode would be great.