All American’s season 8 premiere suggested that the series had learned from its biggest mistakes and was aiming to do better. The follow-up episode, “Fight for Your Right,” shows that perhaps those lessons were not learned after all.
“Fight for Your Right” leads things off on a bad note by not including Coop in the episode, a glaring decision following not only a premiere that emphasized her relationship with Breonna and her law internship but also an entire season that showed her having a close relationship with Amina, a relationship that “Fight for Your Right” has completely disregarded during Amina’s mysterious suspension and potential upcoming expulsion from Dinsburg. “Fight for Your Right” has several plotline mistakes. The episode's primary focus on Amina while refusing to directly confront what she is keeping hidden is one of its biggest drawbacks.
Amina’s storyline is entirely about a vague thing she did regarding a news piece she was working on for school, but the storyline never actually gives descriptive details about what this thing was, why it resulted in suspension, what Amina’s motives were in chasing this story, or who it affected. Of course, all of these details are inevitably meant to lead to a large reveal. However, the decision to dance around the subject makes the mystery get old far too quickly for how long All American may want to drag it out.
It does not help that the plot relies too heavily on the messy dynamic between Amina, Khalil, and KJ, going out of its way to show how Amina and Khalil’s friendship negatively impacts Khalil’s relationship with Miranda while removing Tori from the episode completely as to not confront the drama that would unfold between Tori and KJ had Tori been aware that KJ and Amina were keeping secrets and got closer during Amina’s six months away.
Amina’s storyline, focused on the events of an article she was working on, also hits a little too close to previous seasons, where Olivia was the one working on a controversial article, most notably her piece on the GAU football coach who was telling his players to purposefully tackle others with the intent of harming them. Olivia’s interest and connection to journalism and speaking the truth were massive aspects of her character development, and one of the reasons they connected so powerfully with the audience was because viewers got to experience the growth and decision-making with her. Olivia’s point of view came from an organic and genuine place, but that is not the case with Amina.
Instead, Amina’s storyline comes more out of nowhere, existing for the sake of giving her something to do. There is next to no emotional investment in Amina’s future as a journalist, whistleblower, or anything else connected to the journalism field. Olivia’s background goes back to her podcast, Liv The Truth, where she even made trouble for her own mother by speaking out against wrongdoings that could have threatened Laura’s job in order to give information to the public. It was explosive and a massive understanding of how far Olivia was willing to go to get the truth out there, and it was an earned storyline that All American has not built up with Amina.
The biggest long-term emotional plot thread in “Fight for Your Right” lands on Jordan’s shoulders, as he questions what his adult dreams are for his professional future. Jordan’s arc is perhaps the only one with a significant amount of weight behind it, as Jordan aims to determine what his big next move is, how that involves building his own legacy, and what that could mean for wishing to continue his father’s legacy. Jordan’s uncertainty follows his NFL dreams coming to an end due to his concussions and putting his health first.
While being a quarterback coach for South Crenshaw High School has helped open doors for Jordan in terms of viewing his future in a different way, the offer to be the head coach for Beverly High School, where his father made a significant impact, may be too good to pass up. Jordan admitting to loving coaching helps allow Jordan’s future as a football coach to make sense.
Still, putting Jordan in a position to rival Cassius for the Beverly High head coaching job is going backward. There is no need to stir up any sort of new rivalry, bad blood or not, between the two cousins who have finally gotten on the same page. The decision is lazy, asking Jordan and Cassius to once again view each other as opposition, even if they are still working as a team toward the showcase, and suggests that the team behind the show may have been looking for an easy, dramatic, tension-filled storyline over organic development. Putting Jordan and Cassius in yet another pressure cooker situation, after that dragged on far too long in season 7, is asking too much of the show even if they avoid hating each other this time around.
While Jordan has not fully accepted the job yet and admitted he still needed time to think, pushing Jordan to be the Beverly High head coach does not come across as the proper endgame for his character, especially if he has to take the job from his cousin to achieve it. The one somewhat positive decision that All American made here was making sure that Jordan told Cassius the truth to his face to inform him of the head coach offer, as well as clarifying that Jordan had not yet taken the job. It leaves room for Jordan and Cassius to avoid another big blowout, especially as Cassius heard the news directly from Jordan and not from someone else.
Khalil’s storyline is a close second in terms of emotional weight, as his character confronts the need to believe in himself in order to move forward toward a career in football and attending a D1 school. Khalil is faced with several emotional hits, from struggling under the weight of an uncertain future to feeling left out of Amina’s life to how Khalil and Amina’s confrontation suggests the drift in their friendship that neither was truly ready to address.
Khalil’s discussion with Jordan also helps to have a better mindset of where Khalil’s frustration was coming from, as he was looking to others for something he needed to see in himself. Khalil’s step forward in recognizing that he needs to believe in himself helps flip a switch in his readiness to tackle academics and truly go for either getting back his Stanford scholarship or being valued at another D1 high-level institution.
Layla’s storyline acts more as groundwork than anything, as she discusses wanting a vacation with Jordan in Scotland, only to not move ahead with discussing her plans with him later on. Layla’s decision not to talk to Jordan about her hopes for a vacation continues to speak for Layla’s thought process and emotional state, but it still falls under the umbrella of not communicating.
It is likely that Layla may be jumping ahead, believing that Jordan will place all of his focus on his job and not make room for spending time with Layla, something that he had already done and apologized for in the season premiere. Yet, Layla’s decision not to discuss her thoughts, emotions, or uncertainties with Jordan raises questions about what is going on in her mind as to why she would not want to talk to Jordan about a vacation that he had already said he was excited about.
Overall, while there are some plot threads that are expected to continue behaving as underlying storylines for the remainder of the season, “Fight for Your Right” does not move in the same positive direction as its previous episode. Instead, it finds a way to make all of season 7’s mistakes all over again.
“Fight for Your Right” lacked the ability to have significant storylines for every character and instead acted as a dull filler, refusing to push the plot forward by making Amina’s mystery hold out longer than it needs to. In “Fight for Your Right,” Amina’s storyline holds the entire episode back, as she manages to avoid telling Khalil, Preach, and Coop the truth about what happened for yet another episode. “Fight for Your Right” suggests a two steps forward, three steps back approach in season 8, as the hour acts more like waiting around than feeling like something significant is at stake.
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