Chasing dreams are hard. especially when you’d do almost anything to achieve them. On All American, Spencer James has undoubtedly been the same carrying the weight on his shoulders guy, but it’s been that of his dream, not of helping people or making a difference. Maybe it’s good that he’s focusing on himself for once, but he’s losing himself in the process.
I’m still here for Spencer (Daniel Ezra) struggling. College football isn’t supposed to be easy. But he did forget about why he was playing football in the first place. Instead of loving the game, he was so focused on impressing the coach.
The new girl brought up an interesting point about social media. In a lot of cases, that can help you get ahead. For example, in The Bold Type, Kat Edison encouraged Sutton Brady to use social media to show her style so that Scarlet would hire her as a stylist. With fashion, you can see a more straightforward pathway to getting where you want to go, but in sports, not so much. Unless you want sponsors, and that’s another conversation that it looks like All American will get into. College athletes getting endorsements is a good thing, but are they ready for it? That should be interesting to dive into.
Back to Spence. He’s done the work on and off the field, but the coach still won’t’ give him the time of day. So, he decided to give social media a try. Luckily, she wasn’t trying to make him a social media star. She just wanted him to remember why he started playing in the first place. She kind of tricked him since she convinced him to start social media.
It was clear he was losing himself because he was ready to try anything to get back on the field. Olivia Baker (Samantha Logan) called him out on it while being upset that this new girl had so much influence over him.
Once again, Mama Grace James (Karimah Westbrook) had the best advice. She told him about a time when he hurt his shoulder and asked the coach to be a kicker so he would still get to play. He loved the game so much that he didn’t care what position he played. Grace wasn’t sure how that translated to college football, but it was a good piece of advice.
And Spence took it. He went to the coach and asked to be moved to special teams. It was the first time the coach looked at him with anything but a scowl. Being true to himself paid off.
Asher Adams (Cody Christian) also got a win by being himself. Coach Montes (Kamar de los Reyes) asked Ashe to make copies of a document and put it on the coaches’ desks. It was a list of players who could be ineligible to play if they didn’t improve their grades. Of course, JJ Parker (Hunter Clowdus) was on the list. So Ashe went to him and told him. Funny enough, JJ thought it was all under control. He thought that using a high school paper for his college paper was okay. Wow, JJ, just wow. But Asher got him to redo the essay, and Coach Montes took notice and is letting Asher shadow him on the field. This is a big win for Ashe. And all he did was be himself.
On the other hand, JJ hardly ever shows us his vulnerable side. I was beginning to think he hadn’t been through any adversary. But Spencer was right. He just didn’t want to show it to anyone. Who knew JJ was in a car accident because his uncle was drunk. And if the Rock is what helped him through that and made him live life to the fullest more power to him. It makes more sense why everything is a party now. And I’m glad we are getting to know JJ more.
Do you think Spencer moving to special teams was the right move? Tweet me @PrimetimeDrama or @MandyTTCarr or comment below.
