Speechless (TV Series) R-A-Y-C-- RAY-CATION (2016) User Reviews

R-A-Y-C-- RAY-CATION

[studioAT · 9/10 · 12 July 2023]

I agree with a previous reviewer - this is an excellent episode of 'Speechless', not to mention a fine example of how great the genre of a sitcom can still be.

I thought this episode was warm, it was funny, and it had a wonderful sense of heart that quite frankly I feel a lot of modern comedies lack hugely.

Everything works, mainly because the characters even by this early stage of the shows run, have been well-constructed, and are always well performed.

'Speechless' deserves more recognition, not only for its depiction of someone with a disability, but also for the way it manages to combine all the elements mentioned above.

Favorite episode yet

[compupane · 10/10 · 3 December 2016]

This had to be my favorite episode of Speechless yet. It was funny, yes, but it honestly touched upon a very painful truth…that the opposite sex often does not see a person with a severe disability as someone they could fall in love with. I'm not sure if it's any better with guys seeing females with disabilities as dateable, but I can't count how many times in high school and college I got to hear "Oh, you're going to make some girl very happy one day, but I just want to be your friend." I even heard this when, similar to JJ in this episode, all my friends thought a girl liked me as more than a friend.

It also broached the subject of parents of teens/adults with severe disabilities understanding and almost agonizing over the fact that it will take a very special person to see their child in a romantic way. I can imagine my parents having very similar thoughts and conversations like this when I was growing up.

This episode actually made me cry because not only did it bring up some painful memories for me, but it made me even more grateful that I found that "special person" in my wife (thank you sweetie for looking past the way I look and function to see who I really am). The other reason this episode made me emotional is that it reminds me of the fantastic job they are doing with this show and representing a population that either gets overlooked in media or is used for only inspirational or sympathetic purposes by the media. This show is not like that at all. It has to be watched to really understand what I mean.