All American Season 2 | Episode 6 “Hard Knock Life” Review

The teenagers of All American are dealing with some real grown-up stuff, y’all. No longer is it just about football or relationships. While those issues are still thrown into the mix, season 2 is dealing with mental and physical health issues, teen pregnancy and taking responsibility for your actions. Layla’s slowly coming to terms with her mental health while finding a connection with her dead mother. Spencer, his family and Darnell learn the truth about Corey’s health. Jordan’s finding a balance between football and his soon-to-be role as a father. Meanwhile, Asher and Olivia are figuring out their relationship, the lead booster is pushing the team too far and Coop’s facing the harsh reality of the music business. It seems that no matter how hard they may try to avoid their problems; they just keep piling up.

Best Friends

Last we saw Olivia and Asher, they were making out and eating ice cream in the kitchen. As cute as it was, we can’t just expect everything to be hunky-dory for these troubled teens. They both have a lot going on – Asher with his mom and trying to redeem his actions from last fall, and Olivia figuring out who she is while simultaneously trying to help her loved ones. So, it’s no wonder Olivia is hesitant to jump into things with him, but Asher doesn’t get it. In fact, he distances himself from her when she pumps the brakes with the explanation that she’s “just processing”. The whole ordeal, on top of everything else she’s dealing with, makes Olivia want to hit the bottle to the point where she calls her sponsor. After the scrimmage, she explains her feelings. She wants to talk to him about everything but kissing made things weird. He says that it doesn’t matter if they’re fighting, she can always talk to him. She knows that because he’s her best friend and she doesn’t want to risk losing that. Thankfully, Asher understands and doesn’t want to lose her either. Call me crazy, but I don’t think this will be the last we see of their romantic feelings. You can’t just shut those kinds of feelings off… no matter how hard you try.

Music & Healing

Coop is ready for Layla’s dad to hear her music, but since Layla and Mr. Keating probably aren’t interested in talking to him, Spencer suggests she go straight to Layla for help. So she does. Layla loves the song, but feels it’s missing a good hook. With the help of her mom’s lyrics and Patience’s vocals, the song is perfect. Coop thanks Layla for the help and Layla says she’s the only one that doesn’t treat her “like a glass egg that can shatter at any time.” Besides, listening to her mom’s old tapes and helping Coop produce the song seems to have been really therapeutic for her, and she’s good at it. Are we looking at a future music producer like her father?

Unfortunately, we have to take the bad with the good. The good news is that Mr. Keating loves the song. Bad news is that he only wants Patience because he already has a lot of artists like Coop. He tries to push Coop on being a duo, but respects that she’s solo and advises her to keep hustling. Coop doesn’t tell Patience about JP’s offer for her, just that she doesn’t think it’s going to work with him. And while listening to her mom’s tapes was therapeutic, the lyrics about giving up and ending pain only leave Layla with one important concern. Was her mom’s car accident an accident or did she give up?

Taking Responsibility

As expected with any teenage boy who just got the news he’s going to be a dad, Jordan’s still reeling and processing the news. He’s been avoiding Simone, unsure what to do. Olivia advises him to be a man, take responsibility and make Simone feel supported and not alone, to which he promises to finally call her back. Meanwhile, Laura’s decided to let Billy and Jordan deal with the whole thing on their own since Jordan went to his father first. She’s feeling a little left out, which is totally understandable. I mean, she’s a recently single mom whose teenage son is going to be a dad and he didn’t go to her. Not to mention all the trouble Jordan’s gotten into under her watch. She starts to feel like maybe Jordan was right to pick Billy over her, but Olivia assures her that Jordan is just afraid of disappointing her and that none of his issues are her fault. Jordan is going to need his mom… he’s just “too dumb to see it right now.”

Jordan may be wising up, though, thankfully. Early in the episode, Simone informs him of an ultrasound appointment that she needs someone to go with to since her parents don’t know about the pregnancy yet. He promises to be there for her. Right before the scrimmage, he calls her and promises she won’t be alone. I thought he was going to bail on the appointment for the game, but to my surprise, he leaves during halftime and Billy understands. “It’s tough to be a leader on the field when you don’t take care of your responsibilities off the field,” he tells his son before offering him the keys. However, Jordan has another ride in mind – his mom. She takes him to the appointment where Simone is waiting, and she makes sure to tell her son that she’s proud of him. Aww!

Scrimmage & the Truth

While all of this is going on, Cliff (the lead booster) has put together a high-profile rematch scrimmage between Beverly and South Crenshaw, much to Billy’s dismay. There’s too much bad blood between the teams and the heat of the state championship is still too fresh. Still, Cliff pushes and hypes up the game. It all leads to Darnell and Spencer making a bet: if Beverly wins, Darnell promises to go back to Colorado, but if South Crenshaw wins, Spencer must help him find out why Corey really left. Spencer tries to get him to back off because it’s a waste of time. He’s made peace with his dad leaving and he’s done blaming himself for it. Good for him, but we all know that avoiding our problems until they eventually goes away never works. So, the bet is on.

However, the 7-on-7 light touch game gets too rough, which is continuously encouraged by Cliff. It’s not until the game is almost over and Spencer is about to drive in a win that he realizes what’s happening and remembers what Corey taught him. He and Darnell both take a knee, forfeiting the game, and Spencer agrees to figure out the truth about Corey. Sadly, the truth may just be too painful. During a conversation with the James family plus Darnell and Billy, Grace and Billy reveal that Corey didn’t quit football, he was sick with Myeloma. With the help of Dillon’s research and putting some other information together, they sadly realize that Corey left because he’s sick again, and it’s most likely more aggressive and terminal this time. At the end of the episode when Spencer is sitting with his mom and Dillon, crying, he asks what they’re going to do. She says that there may be nothing they can do about Corey dying, but they can make sure he doesn’t do it alone. ☹

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

Featured Image: IMDb