All American Season 1 Episode 2 Review: 99 Problems
Stacy Glanzman
at
.
Spencer may only be a teenager, but he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
His unselfishness is admirable, but as everyone tried to point out to him on All American Season 1 Episode 2, it's time to start focusing on himself.
He can't be there for everyone else in his life if he doesn't take care of himself first.
There's a reason flight attendants tell us to put our own mask on before assisting someone else. The more Spencer spreads himself thin trying to take care of everyone else, the more he fails.
He's trying to be everything for everybody, but by doing that, at least one aspect of his life falls short.
This time, it was the football team.
Related: All American Season 1 Episode 1 Review: New Recruit
He moved to Beverly to focus on school and football, and those two things deserve his undivided attention. He can't keep going home every night when he needs to get a good night's sleep to be game ready.
I didn't ask you to protect me either, but you did, for a long time. That's over now. You cannot save the world, Spencer. You gotta save yourself.
Coop
He's worried about Shawn's influence on Coop, and rightfully so, but right now he needs to believe that Coop can take care of herself.
Is she headed down a bad path? Maybe, but Spencer can't be there for her every second of the day for the rest of her life. Eventually, he has to let her stand on her own two feet rather than always leaning on him.
He says over and over that he came to Beverly to win games. He blames Coach Baker for their loss, but deep down he knows it was his own fault that he wasn't out there.
Related: Enjoy UNLIMITED access to thousands of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video
If he hadn't confronted Shawn, he wouldn't have been injured, and he would have been helping his team win instead of watching from the sidelines.
It was a lesson he needed to learn the hard way.
He wasn't the only one with a lesson to learn.
Coach Baker needs Spencer to win games, but he let that blind him from seeing that his own family needed him too. While Spencer was trying to be everything for everybody, Billy was focusing all of his attention on Spencer and ignoring his own kids.
The moral of the story here is the importance of finding the right balance in our lives, and it's not always easy. We've all been there.
Dad, do you really not see what's happening? You have a son who's desperate for your approval. Why do you think he even picked up a football? And you also have a daughter, just out of rehab, and the one person you're focused on, the one person you're trying to save is Spencer.
Olivia
Jordan shouldn't have taken out his anger and jealousy on Spencer, but at least he realizes that and the two were able to come to terms with their situation. Asher, on the other hand, is a little harder to read.
Jordan may not be ready to make Spencer his best friend, but he's done trying to hurt him. Asher may just be getting started.
Related: The CW Orders Additional Scripts for Legacies, Charmed, and All American
But is Asher really the villain here, or is his dad putting too much pressure on him? Asher did pull his father back when he was telling off Billy, so there's hope for him yet.
We saw what Jordan was pushed to do to win his father's approval; Asher may be in an even worse situation. Hopefully, he can overcome it and end the adversity on the field.
We learned a little bit more about why Olivia is the school's outcast. We already knew she did a stint in rehab, but that didn't explain why everyone avoids her now.
She and Laila used to be best friends until in a drug-induced haze she slept with her boyfriend, Asher. Okay, I can understand why something like that would get in the way of their friendship, but can someone please explain to me why she's still with Asher?
They both messed up and made a poor decision, why didn't she dump both of them? I suspect there's still more to the story that hasn't been revealed yet.
Regardless of why she's still with him, she might not be for long. The chemistry between Laila and Spencer is heating up, and Asher is not wrong to be concerned.
While Olivia appears to be developing feelings for Spencer, there doesn't seem to be any interest beyond friendship on his part. That might be a good thing, considering there's a potential ick factor brewing.
All American Season 1 Episode 1 already laid the groundwork and put the idea in our heads that perhaps Coach Baker is, in fact, Spencer's father.
To be honest, I didn't give it much credence because we were also led to believe Spencer was old enough to remember his father by the time he left. The flashbacks didn't do anything to denounce that theory.
So what exactly are we to make of this supposed revelation?
It just doesn't feel believable that Spencer doesn't remember what his dad looked like, or that he never asked to see pictures of him over the years. There has to be more to this that we're still missing.
Perhaps the father Spencer knew as a kid was his step-father, and Billy is his biological father who has never been a part of his life.
If you have any theories, please feel free to leave them in the comments.
Your turn! Are you guys still invested?
It would be sad if it ends up getting canceled. The CW needs a non-supernatural/superhero show to find success.
If you need to get caught up, you can watch All American online.
Stacy Glanzman was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in March, 2019.
