All American Season 1 | Episode 12 “Back in the Day” Review

Episode 12 of All American focuses on the struggle of sobriety, invisibility, pushing people away and acceptance. It’s an emotional episode, specifically for Olivia, that brought me to tears by the end. I know I seem to cry a lot with this show, but that’s only because it deals with such real issues that so many struggle with, and I’ve witnessed those struggles in person. One thing I hope people take away from this episode is that you are not alone. No matter how invisible you may feel, there are people who see and care about you.

Let’s dive into this episode before I get on a soap box.

Struggling to Stay Sober

In previous episodes, we’ve heard about Olivia’s past, how she almost overdosed and how sobriety is something that she handles day-by-day. “Back in the Day” shows Olivia struggling to remain sober just one day before her 1-year sobriety mark. She wakes up to find that her family has seemingly forgotten the anniversary. Jordan and Billy are busy preparing for the championship. Mrs. Baker is prepping for election season. At first, Spencer is the only one to ask if she’s okay, but she brushes it off. It’s a busy time of year. “I’m fine,” she says… until she finds a bottle of pills in an old purse. She remembers that night, a year ago, at a party. The day she kept taking pills. The night she paired the pills with alcohol. The night she hooked up with Asher. The night she almost over-dosed.

She rushes to her sober sponsor, who tells her that’s the “nature of the beast.” When she arrives late to school, Spencer catches her still in her car lost in remembrance of that night. He asks if she’s really okay, and she finally tells him what’s going on. About how it’s her sober anniversary and how she found the pills. She promises that she tossed the pills and went to see her sponsor.

While everyone else may have forgotten about Olivia’s anniversary, at least her best friend didn’t. Layla finds Olivia and gives her a Wonder Woman pin as a gift. Olivia pulls out the bottle of pills that she found. I guess she didn’t throw them out after all. She confides in Layla about how she’s finding it hard not to relapse and how everyone is too busy to talk to about it. Layla tells her that it’s time to stop “struggling in silence” and that she’s not alone in this fight. It’s a beautiful best friend moment.

Later, Olivia gathers her family at the house via “911” message, and she makes note that it’s sad how she has to send that to get them together. She goes on to tell them how she understands everyone is busy, but she feels invisible in her own family, which was essentially the cause of her almost overdose. Jordan comes in her room later to apologize for not outing her when he knew that she was using. He just thought he was being a good brother by not being a tattle-tale. The next day, he’s with her as she accepts her 1-year token, and to her surprise, so is her mom and dad. 😊

Pushing People Away

While Olivia’s dealing with her sobriety, Spencer’s dealing with his own drama. He may have told Layla that he’s cool with Asher living with her, but he’s not really showing it. It all starts when the couple can’t seem to get any time alone together. Then, when Layla cancels on him to be there for Olivia, Spencer automatically jumps the gun by assuming it has something to do with Asher. He walks by the restaurant to see Layla with Asher and not Olivia. Once again, he jumps to conclusions. Turns out, Layla was just giving Asher a key to her house because he locked himself out. Layla states that jealousy doesn’t look good on Spencer before walking away.

The whole ordeal causes Spencer to reflect on his relationship with Kia and why they broke up. Through flashbacks, we see exactly what happened. Towards the end of their relationship, Spencer apparently got into a couple of fights. There’s one in which Spencer gets into a fight in the hallway because a guy was talking about Kia. Kia witnessed it and told him that was the final straw. When Spencer gets home, Grace gives him a tongue lashing about the fight, controlling his actions, and how he’s angry about his father. He’s not hearing any of it, though. There’s nothing she can do to help him. Little does he know, that’s the night Grace calls Billy to ask for help in getting him to Beverly so he’s not reminded of his father every day.

Back in the present, Spencer talks to Coop about his problems, and she reminds him that this is what he does – pushes people away because he’s afraid of them leaving first. He even tried pushing Coop away in like the 4^th grade, but Coop wasn’t letting that happen. Spencer takes Coop’s advice and talks to Layla, where they say they love each other. He even gives Asher a chance by offering to run some new plays with him for the big game.

Eviction Notice

Coop just can’t catch a break. As if she already isn’t dealing with enough, she’s been given a dozen eviction notices. Not because she’s behind on rent, but because she’s under 18. So, she has the option of living on the streets or getting emancipated. Tyrone encourages her to go back home to her parents, but we all know why she doesn’t want to do that. Her mom still can’t accept her for who she is. However, Coop’s dad comes back to town and convinces her otherwise. It’s obvious that Coop and her father are super close and have a very different relationship than she and her mother. She trusts him.

So, when he asks her to just come to dinner, she goes without much hesitation. It’s all going well until Coop gets a call from Patience. Her mom just can’t play the charade anymore. She still doesn’t accept Coop, and Coop’s father knew that. The reason they were trying so hard to convince her to come home is because Tyrone has connections at Coop’s dad’s trucking company and threatened to get him fired. Yikes. Coop is confident, though. She knows that she’s “dope as hell” and one day, her parents will see that. Unfortunately for them, it’ll probably be too late. You tell ‘em, girl!

Thankfully, it doesn’t end that bad for Coop. Her dad shows back up at the apartment building. He’s quit his job and signed the emancipation papers with his wife. Not because he wants to lose his daughter, but because he doesn’t want her living on the streets. In the meantime, he’s going to work on her mother in getting her to accept and love Coop for who she is.

All American returns Wednesday, February 27^th on The CW!