All American recap: Everyone deserves a second chance
By Mads Lennon
College recruiters paid a visit to Beverly in this week’s episode of All American, but what happens when Spencer gets the offer he’s been waiting for, only to learn it may come at the cost of his integrity?
This week’s All American is all about a future of possibilities. It’s why Spencer and Jordan are both stressed about the combine event and the opportunity to impress the college scouts. Spencer needs to win a full ride scholarship if he wants the chance of being able to afford college and Jordan is desperate to prove himself as great on his own merit – not just because he’s Billy Baker’s son.
But the arrival of the Crenshaw team causes Spencer to lose focus. It’s one of those rare instances where being loyal comes back to bite you, as Spencer mentioned how great his old Crenshaw pals were to the visiting Coach King (an old friend of Billy’s) and he took that as a challenge to spring some healthy competition on the Beverly boys.
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Even though they succeed in shaking Spencer’s confidence, it’s not enough to throw him off his game completely. He still succeeds in impressing the coaches. Spencer gets offered a full ride to California Southern. He’s ready and willing to accept it but his mother points out that he’s selling himself short.
It’s not a bad school but Spencer could, and should, do better. That’s the whole reason they sent him to Beverly in the first place.
Turns out she was right, since their sleazy booster, Brett Hanson, is giving out bribes to potential players. Spencer finds a cool two thousand tucked into his invitation envelope and Cam has a flashy Rolex watch on his wrist.
When Spencer tells Billy about the foul play, he confronts Coach King. Apparently, he’s known about it and considers it “part of the game”. But neither Billy or Spencer is about that kind of life so Spencer’s offer to California Southern is withdrawn.
He is understandably upset but honestly, it was the right move. Grace always knows best. She, Dillon, and Spencer all make an agreement to follow their dreams and try to do what’s best for them, including Grace making the decision to go back to school herself.
A second chance
Thanks to Olivia, Asher makes it to the recruitment event and even scores a golden ticket to the booster’s night out. He makes amends with Coach Baker and gets his spot back on the team. It turns out, the poor kid has been living out of his car and Olivia takes it upon herself to pick up the pieces and help him get his life back on track.
Asher has made some bad decisions, but he defies the typical “jock bully” character trope by showing more depth. It wasn’t hard to root for him getting a redemption (not to say he hasn’t made some seriously poor judgment calls but I’d like to see what his arc is moving forward). I appreciate the writers treating these characters with emotional maturity that sometimes goes missing on teen shows.
Since Asher can’t keep living in his backseat, Olivia even manages to coax Leila into letting him stay at her house. She has a big place and because her dad is always traveling, there is plenty of empty space. Plus she even gets Spencer’s approval, he trusts her.
This should make for some interesting storylines coming up, that’s for sure!
Odds & Ends
- I missed Coop this episode!
- Jordan’s hunger to prove himself outside his dad’s shadow could send him down a dark path in the future if he’s not careful. But then again, it must be nice for him to get his grandfather’s full attention for a while. I wonder if his extra training is going to make him a real competitor for Spencer down the line. I wouldn’t be surprised if, at some point, Billy has to make a tough decision between the two boys.
- Chris and Olivia are super cute but I can’t deny how fond I’ve grown of the Olivia/Asher pairing. That said, I’d be happy to see the two of them be good, supportive friends to each other for a while. It’s certainly going to be fun to watch this love pentagon play out now that Asher is living at Leila’s house and Leila is dating Spencer. This entire scenario is full of dramatic possibilities.
- So did Billy full-on get away with swapping out Jordan’s urine samples for the drug test or do we think that’s going to come back up again later on?
A new episode of All American titled “Back in the Day” airs Feb. 6 on The CW.