all american – TheScreenReview

All American Midseason Finale Raises the Stakes and Returns to the Realm of Football

Bre-Z and Daniel Ezra in All American (2018)

In the midseason finale, “Homecoming”, All American balances out all the high school drama, as the day of the impending homecoming match finally arrives. It is, after all, a show predominantly about football, and even though I’m not the biggest sports fan, its return was a welcome reprieve from last week’s non-stop relationship drama.

Coop is definitely my favourite character at this point, so let’s talk about her plotline first. She and Spencer have some really nice moments throughout this episode. Spencer still wants to help Coop get out of her troubles with Tyrone, who has been threatening her and Shawn for the last few episodes. Spencer and Coop go to Mrs Baker for help – a good decision, they are way too inexperienced to handle this stuff on their own. All they need to put Tyrone behind bars is for Shawn to be their snitch, which of course, he refuses to do. Instead, he takes things into his own hands, which goes just as badly as you would expect. Shawn’s death may have been predictable, but it broke my heart all the same. Coop’s reaction was especially hard to watch. Combined with the knowledge she would have to tell his mother and child, the scene was a tear-jerker for sure.

Back in Beverly Hills, the stakes are lower, but somehow just as complicated. Football returned to centre stage, and we see the aftermath of Asher and Jordan’s poor decision-making last episode. Asher is forced to sit on the sidelines and Jordan is still reeling after a wild night out with his girlfriend. Throughout the match, it quickly becomes clear that someone had tipped the other team off on Beverly’s strategies. This provides a nice opportunity for Spencer to step up. He works with Olivia’s new beau from Spencer’s old school, and together they plan out new strategies so that the Beverly Hills team can retaliate at full force in the second half. Spencer champions the team to victory, and Jordan works out what really went down.

I immediately assumed the traitor was Jordan’s new cheerleader girlfriend from the opposing team, but in a plot twist, it’s revealed that it was actually Asher. I’ve been pretty forgiving of Asher’s mistakes up until this point, but his actions in this episode were downright petty. Sure, I feel sorry for the guy – his dad is truly the worst. It still doesn’t give him a free pass to sabotage the rest of his team, especially when it’s his own fault he got himself suspended. Yes, he was drunk, and yes he regrets it, but he’s going to need quite the redemption before I (or I’m guessing, Jordan) will forgive him.

I have to say, Jordan is starting to annoy me. I really liked him at the start of the season, but he is being so oblivious right now I seriously want to reach into the screen, grab his face and yell at him to get his act together. He still has his moments – I especially appreciated the scene where he called Asher out for slut-shaming Olivia. Still, he was pretty hypocritical about the whole “there’s more to life than football” thing. I’m on the same page as Coach Baker on this one – Jordan really needs to figure out what’s important to him. I’m all for Jordan doing other things with his life, but he just spun the whole thing against Asher at the end because it was convenient for him. Asher totally deserves what he got, but it still was unfair for Jordan to pin it all on him. After all, Jordan’s hardly the perfect player right now – his girlfriend is a seriously bad influence on him. She may not have been the traitor this time, but she still has no respect for Jordan’s interests and his dedication to the game. Hopefully, Jordan has learnt his lesson this episode and we’ll see him stand up to her sometime soon.

Whilst Jordan’s love life continues to frustrate, Spencer and Layla’s relationship is actually starting to grow on me. Layla was freaking out for the first half of the episode because she thought Spencer had officially turned her down when he suggested last episode that they shouldn’t get together yet (as she had just broken up with Asher). When the two do finally cross paths halfway through the episode, Spencer reassures her that he definitely still likes her in a surprisingly sweet scene. I’m still not completely sold on the two, but I’m remaining cautiously optimistic for now.

In other news, the show seems to be hinting at more mysteries involving Coach Baker. The opposing team’s coach tells Spencer that his dad loved him and must have had a good reason to leave him, whereas Coach Baker “will do anything to get what he wants.” They receive an anonymous tip that someone in Beverly Hill’s team had been under the influence of drugs throughout the game, and they are all forced to take a drug test. When Jordan tells Coach Baker he will fail the test, Coach Baker switches out Jordan’s sample to ensure he won’t be suspended. I’m guessing the anonymous tipper was Jordan’s girlfriend, but we’ll have to wait until the rest of the season comes out next year to know for sure.

All American’s “California Love” Turns Up the Dial on Teen-Drama (and Forgets About Everything Else)

All-American-107-California-Love-03 — Daniel Ezra and Greta Onieogou in All American (2018)

All American isn’t even trying to be a sports show at this point. Yes, All American does teen-drama very well, but when you remove the sports and the insightful political conversation, all that’s left is tired love triangles – and that’s really all there is to episode seven, “California Love.” The episode sets up for the midseason finale, “Homecoming,” in which it looks like the football plotline will finally be returning to center-stage. In “California Love,” however, the show stacks love triangle upon love triangle, completely lacking the balance that makes the teen-drama in the previous episodes more digestible.

It wasn’t until this episode that I realised how little I care about Spencer and Layla’s romance. The writers have been pushing for the two to get together from the very beginning, but still, I held out hope that they would subvert my expectations and take a turn onto a different path. However, in “California Love,” the show takes a more definitive step in their direction. All of the simmering secrets and drama finally collides and pushes Spencer and Layla closer together. They’re not bad together – in fact, I really admire Spencer’s approach to the situation this episode. He was very blunt and honest with Layla about his feelings, which was a relief in a genre that uses miscommunication all too often to create drama. I just don’t find them all that interesting together. Also, I have to say it was incredibly rude of them to slow dance in front of Asher and the rest of the school directly after Asher and Layla’s breakup – even if Asher wasn’t the greatest boyfriend.

Asher was really put through the wringer this episode. I know he’s done a lot of bad things, but dammit I felt sorry for him. He was surprisingly understanding about Layla kissing Spencer – although I suppose he should be given the whole Olivia situation. Still, Layla’s actions were pretty cruel in comparison, keeping in mind she didn’t know about the Olivia situation at that point. I actually yelled at my screen when Asher took to the microphone. I could understand where he was coming from, but the consequences were rough. Homecoming is an unfortunate game to be benched on, considering Asher doesn’t have the money to pay for tuition without a scholarship. Karma really hurts sometimes.

I’m still not sure how Olivia feels about Spencer – I’m not even sure if she knows. She seemed okay with everything when she was talking to Layla at the start of the episode. She was perfectly happy for Layla to take her shot at Spencer, but then later in the episode, Olivia gets made at Layla for making a move on Spencer when she knew Olivia liked him. I think it’s time Olivia’s get over him and moves on. At least she’s trying. She took the guy from last episode to Homecoming with her, and he seemed really sweet, but she left him to go comfort Asher, which confused me a little. I didn’t realise the two of them were particularly close, although I guess they have a fair amount in common. It’d make more sense for Jordan to comfort Asher, but I suppose he wasn’t around, so Olivia was the next best thing.

The girl Jordan was flirting with last episode made another appearance, and it looks like things are getting more serious (on his part at least.) I can’t say I care about their relationship at all really – she just appeared out of the blue last episode, and she doesn’t seem to be particularly good for him. There’s a good chance she’s manipulating Jordan to make him vulnerable for the Homecoming game, but I have no idea why. They definitely could have given this arc a bit more thought, and introduced her in a way that made more sense. Hopefully, we’ll see some pay off next episode. I’d like to know who she is, and why she’s doing what she’s doing – right now the whole thing is far too random for my liking.

The most serious arc of the episode was Coop’s. Her struggles always provide a welcome shift in perspective from the ‘first-world’ problems of the kids of Beverly Hills High. Coop had a welcome moment of reconciliation with Spencer towards the start of the episode, and the two returned to their usual buddy-buddy friendship again. She even accompanied Spencer to Beverly’s Homecoming dance – and looked incredible I might add. Back in the hood however, things aren’t looking too great. Coop and Shawn find themselves getting deeper and deeper into their criminal pursuits, despite Shawn’s attempts to go clean. Their arc is one of the most interesting arcs on the show right now, and I know I’m curious to see how it plays out in the upcoming episodes.

Although “California Love” wasn’t my favourite episode, it was well executed nonetheless. It moves the plot forward in an explosive payoff to all the secrets and drama that had been slowly building up over the season. This will hopefully allow for a shift in focus towards some more interesting storylines in the future.

All American’s “The Choice Is Yours” Revives Its Tired Love Triangle But Retains Its Insightful Deconstruction of Marginalisation

The most recent episode of All American, “The Choice Is Yours,” starts by bringing us back into the world of sports. Honestly, I’d almost forgotten this was a show about football with all the family drama going on recently. That being said, I’m always a sucker for family drama – and this show does it pretty damn well.

What I’m not a sucker for, is love triangles, and the way they treated the Spencer/Olivia/Layla love triangle in this episode was frankly, quite confusing. You see, towards the start of the episode, Olivia didn’t really seem all that interested in Spencer anymore. (I think the ‘hey that guy might be your brother’ thing may have put her off a little.) In a conversation with Layla, she discussed the whole situation. She heavily implied that she knows Layla is into Spencer, saying “we both know that you trying to set me up with Spencer was more about you than it was about me.” Olivia then proceeds to go on a date with a guy she met whilst volunteering at a community event. She does seem a little wary of committing to a new relationship – but I assumed that was more because the whole Spencer thing was super stressful, not because she actually still had feelings for him. However, later in the episode, Olivia witnesses Layla and Spencer kissing and she is completely taken aback. She actually starts crying, which I found odd, given how okay Olivia seemed about Spencer earlier in the episode. Maybe she was jealous of Spencer, not Layla – I can’t be the only one who’s noticed Olivia and Layla’s chemistry… Or maybe I just missed something.

Speaking of Layla and Spencer kissing, it seems like Layla is sick of putting up with Asher’s lies. I’m honestly not sure if she kissed Spencer because she has actual feelings for him, or just out of frustration with her relationship troubles with Asher. I’m also not sure which option the show wants me to be rooting for – if it’s the first, they’re not doing a very good job. Either way, I’m sure the aftermath will be complicated. If Asher’s lies are her only real issue with him, then she may be happy to know that Asher has started to open up to his friends about his financial struggles – that’s got to be a step in the right direction.

After fighting with Jordan all episode, Asher finally told his best friend his secret. Jordan had been understandably passive aggressive around Asher, due to the previous episode’s revelation that Olivia and Asher had slept together. Jordan believed that Asher had taken advantage of Olivia’s mental state at the time, but after Asher confronts Jordan about his attitude, Asher reveals that he had also been struggling at the time and that they were both equally drunk (and equally ashamed once they sobered up.) The two boys were able to reconcile – as if these two could stay mad at each other for a whole episode. I’m not saying gay but… As a gay myself, I have the right to say gay if I want to say gay – that’s how that works. They did show Jordan flirting with a random girl this episode though, so I’ll say bi instead and leave it at that. Is it unrealistic of me to hope either Jordan and Asher or Layla and Olivia get together at some point? Probably, but I’m going to hold out hope anyway.

The one lesbian romance All American does have is still going strong, so at the moment, I’m more than happy with that. We see Coop and Patience looking quite cosy towards the start of this episode. Spencer and Patience chat about their mutual concern for Coop, who is still working with Shawn – who’s into some shady stuff. Spencer repeatedly expresses his concerns to Coop herself throughout this episode, pointing out that it’s not just her in danger – it’s him and his family too. Coop, however, is too close to Shawn (and too financially desperate) to cut him out of her life. She finds out this episode that Shawn has a (really cute) daughter, and they have an honest conversation about the dangers of what they do. Shawn tells her that he doesn’t have much choice, saying, “you’re playing yourself if you think people like us get the same shots as other people – cause if we did, I’d be out.” On so many other shows, Shawn would be made out to be a total bad guy who’s manipulating Coop for his own gain. All American’s approach is far more powerful. Coop isn’t a gullible idiot – she’s working with Shawn for a reason. He’s actually a pretty compassionate guy, and it’s really our main character, Spencer, who’s looking at the situation in black and white.

Another refreshingly complex relationship explored in this episode was Layla’s relationship with her father. When her father returned with a young girlfriend on his arm last episode, I figured we’d probably see the same old “teenage girl is angry at her father for dating hot new young chick – who is probably a ditsy gold-digger” storyline. At the start of this episode, I still thought that’s where it was going, but it turned out to be a lot more nuanced than that. I won’t get too deep into it, but Layla’s father’s girlfriend turned out to be pretty cool, and her father turned out to be… less cool? They didn’t completely villainise the father though. Layla was originally angry, but, in the end, he admitted to his mistakes openly and honestly and the two shared a particularly emotional scene where they bonded over the loss of Layla’s mother. All episode, Layla sought validation for her not wanting her father to be in a new relationship. She tried to find someone to blame – some sort of conspiracy to break the two apart. Although some of her reasons for suspicion were valid, at the end of the day, there wasn’t anyone to blame, and I really enjoyed watching her come to this point of realisation.

Well, that’s a wrap for this week’s episode of All American. In future, all I can ask is that they continue to surprise me – and that they maybe turn the love triangle down a notch. As a general rule, an extra sprinkling of gay can never hurt, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the depth of Coop’s character so far, so far be it from me to complain. If All American keeps it up, I can see the show turning into quite the success.

All American’s Latest Episode Features More Clichés and Family Drama with a Compelling Ark of LGBT Self-Acceptance on the Side

heart-to-heart-all-american-season-1-episode-5 — Taye Diggs and Daniel Ezra in All American (2018)

With every new week, All American has impressed me more and more, and this week is no exception. ‘Poor kid enters into rich lifestyle’ isn’t the most revolutionary premise, and I’ll admit, I originally started watching the show because I was starting to miss Cody Christian’s Teen-Wolf-sized absence in my life. I was pleasantly surprised however with how invested I quickly became in in the array of characters the show has on offer. It’s far from perfect, but I rarely go into low-budget teen shows expecting all that much, so let’s just say it’s exceeded my expectations so far. Sports shows especially, aren’t usually my cup of tea, but All American manages to weave in enough drama and social commentary to keep me interested.

I had hoped to get a glimpse of Spencer’s father this episode, with Spencer deciding to visit one of his team’s football matches – no such luck, however. Having apparently quit the team, the father remains elusive for now. It looks like we’ll be learning more about him next week though; Jordan and Olivia’s grandfather suggests at the end of the episode that there is something more to Coach Billy’s history with Spencer’s parents. He asks Billy, “how do you think [Spencer]’s going to react when he finds out what really happened?” Looks like there is no shortage of drama to come. As long as said drama isn’t about Billy still somehow being Spencer’s real dad, I’ll be happy.

I was glad to see this week’s episode bring (what I hope is) an end to the question of Spencer’s parentage – I’ll be pretty frustrated if they do bring back the possibility of Billy being his father. Potential incest has never been my favourite plot point, but I did enjoy where it led in this episode. The investigation became more of an exploration of Olivia and Jordan’s relationship with their father than anything else. Their ‘detective duo’ dynamic was definitely an episode highlight for me and it was a much-needed break from the Olivia/Spencer awkwardness of the previous episode.

Love triangles were never my favourite plot point either, and every episode that moves further from the original Spencer/Olivia/Layla setup is a good one in my book. There are still traces here and there, but it’s shifted mostly into the background for now. Instead, Layla’s relationship with Asher has been receiving more focus in the last few episodes. It’s rare to see the ‘popular girl dates popular guy who’s a bit of an ass’ trope get all that much development, so I’d call that a happy surprise. If it weren’t for the whole ‘Asher cheating on Layla with Olivia thing,’ I’d actually quite like them together. At least Asher told Layla about losing his money; it’s a good indicator that he does genuinely care about her, which I appreciate. What can I say… I’m a sucker for honesty and healthy communication?

But back to the cheating thing – another trope I don’t love. In this episode we see Olivia open up to Jordan about sleeping with Asher. This show really has a habit of reusing tired tropes, but then shaking up the norm just enough for me to almost forgive them for it… almost. Olivia and Jordan’s sibling dynamic is one of the more interesting relationships on the show, and the scene is actually quite compelling as a result. It starts with Olivia conceding she’s, “sorry [they’re] not close anymore.” She admits she had pushed him away, eventually revealing that she and Asher had slept together whilst they were both drunk a year prior. Jordan is justifiably upset. I’m guessing this revelation will drive quite the wedge in Jordan and Asher’s bromance, which should be interesting to see play out; it’s about time this whole thing unravelled (and about time Layla finds out).

The highlight of the episode for me was Coop’s subplot, in which she struggles with the idea of being in an openly gay relationship. She begins pushing away her love interest, Patience, lying to her about not wanting to go out on a public date. Coop ruminates on this throughout the episode and discusses it with Spencer at his party. It’s a small detail, but I really enjoy how Spencer pays close attention to his friend’s life, unlike so many main characters. Their friendship is one of the more believable and healthy relationships on the show, and their conversations are more balanced than your average main character/best friend; they actually come off as equals. Spencer is quick to point out why Coop hadn’t brought Patience with her, saying “you and me, we gotta stop worrying about the parents rejecting us.”

Coop admits to Patience that a part of her is still ashamed and afraid of openly admitting her sexuality. However, she indicates she doesn’t want to hide anymore, asking Patience, “do you think you could help me with that?” Patience agrees, and we see a shot of them holding hands out in public later in the episode. This was definitely a plotline I appreciated as an LGBT+ person myself, as it showed how some of the most basic things can become a challenge for those in a gay relationship. All American often shines a light of more subtle elements of social inequity (usually racism) in a way that never seems forced; it’s just a part of the character’s day to day lives. It demonstrates a level of nuance that I wasn’t expecting when I embarked upon the show.

All American has some real potential to become a quite compelling show, and I can only hope it gets the more attention in the meantime so that it has a chance at scoring a second season. The next few episodes might just make or break the show; if it carries on with too many clichés, it may suffocate its more promising elements.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: