All American Season 2 | Episode 4 “They Reminisce Over You” Review

It’s the 25^th high school reunion for South Crenshaw High, which means this week’s episode of All American focuses heavily on the parents. It’s a nice change of scenery as we check in with Grace, Corey and Billy. Besides, their drama ultimately entangles with the teens’ drama, so it’s only fair that we see how they’re feeling. Meanwhile, our favorite California teens are still struggling. Jordan gets in even more trouble. Spencer pushes Layla too hard. And Asher is forced to be the go-between for his parents. It all leads up to an ending I’m not sure anyone expected and left me theorizing about Cory.

Ambush

One thing I’m glad about is that the writers of All American aren’t downplaying or rushing Layla’s depression and mental health issues. However, that doesn’t make it any easier to watch. It’s bone-chilling how real and sensitive these issues are, but the All American writers and Greta Onieogou are handling it perfectly. Episode 2×04 has Spencer pushing Layla too hard to come clean about what’s truly going on with her. He skips school with her to ask about the cuts on her wrist, but she gets defensive and claims that the cuts are from her bracelets. Um… girl, that is the most BS excuse I have ever heard! No bracelet is going to leave marks like that! Spencer isn’t buying it either, so he tells Olivia, who voices her own concerns for her best friend. Spencer then enlists Coop to do some recon by getting help with her song writing. Well, Layla notices that he keeps calling Coop, and she’s not happy about it. When the emcee from Coop’s rap battle comes up demanding the studio time she promised, she doesn’t hesitate to get in his face before storming off and disappearing.

Being the concerned friends that they are, Spencer and Olivia break into Layla’s hotel room only for their concern to grow stronger at seeing her trashed room. Feeling helpless and with no other options, Spencer calls Layla’s dad. Unfortunately for them, she comes in at the tail-end of the phone call, demanding to know who it was. When she finds out, she’s furious and breaks up with Spencer. At the end of the episode, she’s crying amongst the heap of mess she tries to clean up. Poor girl. ☹

If you or someone you know are struggling with mental health issues, please know there is help and you are not alone. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1.800.273.8255; Crisis Text Line: TWLOHA to 741741

Good Cop vs Bad Cop

Jordan seems to be slowly getting his act together, but he’s still grounded. He’s lucky he got his phone back from his mom, but she isn’t budging on the car. Olivia has a loophole for him, though. If he agrees to go to Billy’s reunion BBQ and at least pretend to enjoy himself, she’ll let him borrow her car. Done. Jordan goes and gets in some quality time with his pops, and – gasps! – he even seems to enjoy himself! Billy even gets on Jordan’s good side by reluctantly agreeing not to tell Laura about Olivia’s car. This will definitely come back to bite him in the rear, though, especially since Jordan wrecks Olivia’s car into their neighbor’s fence! Yup. The girl he’s with catches another girl calling him and causes a lot of distraction and Jordan loses control. Oops! As one can imagine, Laura is not happy with anyone in her family. She grounds Jordan indefinitely, even canceling his and Olivia’s big birthday bash. The episode didn’t show her confronting Billy, but I’m sure he isn’t safe from her fury either.

The Go-between

We’ve seen plenty of Asher’s father’s disturbing behavior, but we’ve never seen his mom. According to Asher, he hasn’t seen or heard from her in a year until now. She calls and asks to meet with him because she has big news. Not sure what to expect, Asher brings Olivia along for moral support, and even his mom can’t deny that they’re cute together. They share some sweet and comforting moments as his mom informs him that she’s engaged. Of course, she can’t get married until she’s divorced from Asher’s father, and he’s been refusing to sign the papers. Then, she has the nerve to ask her son to serve his father the papers. Now, Asher’s dad has been cleaning up his act and attitude, so Asher feels awful for having to do this. He does it nonetheless, though, but also reassures his dad that he’ll always be there for him. Aww!

At the end of the episode, his mom shows up at the house and his dad hands her the papers, but she wants more. She wants to be a part of Asher’s life. Well, apparently, she has a secret that Asher’s dad promised to keep if she stayed away from him. At first, she starts to walk away, but then she turns around and tells him to go ahead. Ooooo!

Starting Over

Ever since Cory came back to town, Grace’s relationship with Micah got put on the backburner. Scratch that, she ghosted him. I don’t think she intentionally did it, she just had a lot going on. Now, she misses him and invites him to be her date to the reunion. They share some small talk but keep getting interrupted by Cory and Billy. Cory apologizes to Grace for coming back to town and messing up her world, but she says they should just focus on the future rather than the past. At the end of the episode, when Micah takes Grace home, Grace starts rambling about how sorry she is and Micah interrupts her with a kiss. They’re going to start over. 😊

Living in the Shadow

This episode kicks off with flashbacks to Cory and Billy as kids and, throughout the episode, we see them grow into teenagers and when they meet Grace. We also see Cory and Billy’s fallout in high school. These flashbacks seem to be Cory remembering how he’s always sort of lived in the shadow of Billy. That still hasn’t changed as Billy is known as the NFL star of South Crenshaw High, gets a tribute during the reunion BBQ and gets the football field named after him… the football field that Cory now coaches on. I mean, can you imagine what Cory’s feeling? He may have been a dead-beat dad for his own kids but living in someone’s shadow is a brutal feeling.

So, it’s no surprise when the two come to blows in the high school hallway. It’s then that Cory reveals that he didn’t quit football, he got sick and had to take a year off to recover. By the time he was well, there was nothing to come back to, Billy had already cut him and Grace out. Billy apologizes for what happened to their marriages. He didn’t cut Cory out because of Grace, he cut everyone out because it was his way of coping with things, like his mom dying. Cory says it’s about time they start forgiving each other. However, I don’t see anyone getting over what he’s about to do.

Early in the episode, at the BBQ, Cory gets a phone call, but we only catch the end of it. The call visibly changes his whole demeanor and attitude. Later, he meets with Billy again and hands him two letters to give to Spencer and Dillon… goodbye letters. Billy begs him not to do this again, but Cory says he can’t carve his own path in Crenshaw, especially on Billy Baker Field. He makes Billy take the letters and walks away. At the end of the episode, he watches Spencer and Dillon on the front steps from his car before driving off.

My theory is that Cory’s not afraid to live in the shadow of Billy. He’s sick again. What do y’all think?

All American airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW!

Featured Image: IMDb