Class is officially in session for the Bringston Lions. This week, All American: Homecoming Season 3 dropped episode two of the third and final season. In this episode, the show follows the Bringston family as they navigate the first week of classes. They touched on several subjects that come with being in college, including relationship issues, living with friends, and choosing a major. Let’s break down some of this episode's key moments in this recap.

They Started Off As Close Friends

Team Lando, our man is back! We didn’t get to see him in the season premiere, but he blessed our screens in this week’s episode. A lot of things have changed since we last saw Lando, who is played by the talented (and incredibly handsome) Martin Bobb-Semple. Lando is now a member of KEK, focusing on his photography due to his no longer playing baseball, and the biggest shock of them all is that he has a new love interest. We would normally glaze over the fact that he is dating someone new, especially since Simone chose Damon, but what makes his new love interest such a big deal? His new boo, Eva, is Simone’s PKZ little sister. Can anybody say awkward?

We learned that Simone and Lando hadn’t really spoken since she chose Damon the year before. Simone felt that she needed to give Lando some much-needed space, which is understandable. But it isn’t until she sees Lando with Eva that she decides that space is no longer needed. There is no such thing as a perfect character. All characters have their pros and cons, which is what connects them to their viewers. But as much as I love my girl Simone, I did not like her in this episode. Once she saw that Lando had moved on with her little sister, none the less, she decided that she wanted to rebuild their friendship without regard to how Lando felt. Simone has a habit of doing what she wants to do without regard for the people around her, and once things hit the fan, she wants to come back and apologize. Why would he want to be friends with an ex who broke his heart and picked his teammate over him? Like, come on, Simone, let’s think.

If I were in a relationship with someone and they chose my teammate over me, I wouldn’t want to be their friend either. Lando had every right to feel how he felt. Simone decided she wanted to be his friend again when it was convenient for her. Lando blocked Simone in every attempt to rebuild their friendship, and when her attempts didn’t work, she threatened him with blackmail. Simone forced Lando to spend time with her by bringing in sorority and fraternity business. Nate and Keisha tried to tell her that maybe she should fall back from trying to rekindle her friendship with Lando, but in true Simone fashion, she didn’t listen.

Lando eventually asks Simone why she chose Damon over him, and her response was very lackluster, to say the least. I don’t think Simone even knows why she chose Damon, if we’re being honest. She told Lando that she and Damon had history, and she felt like “she had to see it through.” When he insisted that she chose Damon out of obligation, she told him not to “twist her words,” but we all knew that’s exactly what happened. Lando was the all-around better choice, but due to the slow burn between Simone and Damon, they would have gotten together eventually.

So, after working together on the voter registration drive, we see some of that friendship starting to come back between the two of them. At one point, Simone and Lando meant a lot to each other, and they still do, just in a different way now. Simone and Lando have a moment at the end of the episode where they discuss the nature of their relationship. For Simone, she misses what they had and believes that they can still be friends, but for Lando, he can’t be friends with her because he had such strong feelings. Simone FINALLY respects his wishes and reluctantly agrees. It’s still early in the season, and I still have high hopes that the two of them will get together eventually.

Friends, Can’t Live With Them; Can’t Live Without Them

One of the biggest pieces of advice college students are given when it comes to housing is: don’t be roommates with your friends. Being roommates with your friends can either go very well or very badly. I know plenty of friendships that ended after being roommates. This storyline was one of the more realistic storylines of the series, as this is something that a lot of college students go through. We all know that Dr. P is traveling back and forth between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta; therefore, Simone, Keisha, and Nate have moved into her apartment while she’s gone. Like most friends, the trio starts off super excited to be living together, but things start to go south very quickly.

Ms. Rinse and Repeat, aka Simone, believes that washing your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher is counterproductive, and this does not go over well with Nate and Keisha. Since the beginning of the series, Keisha has lived alone since she was a RA. As for Simone and Nate, they are former roommates, so living together is nothing new to them. Nate is irritated that Keisha isn’t as tidy as she and Simone. Keisha leaves her shoes in the middle of the floor, which is a big issue for Nate. After all, she did put a shoe caddy by the door for this exact reason. But the biggest issue for both Nate and Simone regarding Keisha is that she allows Cam to stay in their apartment while she’s not there. Nate walked into the apartment to find a half-dressed Cam sitting on their couch. Although Cam is their friend as well, he’s Keisha’s boyfriend and shouldn’t be in their apartment without a heads-up.

We know that Nate is a natural-born leader; that’s why the students at Bringston voted for her as SGA President. But her desire to be in charge outside of campus has caused some issues between her and her friends. In Dr. P’s absence, Nate felt the need to take on “the mother” role to ensure that Dr. P’s apartment was exactly as she left it. Leaving Keisha and Simone to believe that Nate was treating them like children. Due to a lack of communication, which happens to even the best of friends, the trio stopped speaking to each other. It wasn’t until some help from JR that they reconciled. Living with other people is not always easy, even if they are your friends. Not is it important to respect the people you live but the space overall since you have to share it. Hopefully, this will be the first and last major problem for our favorite trio. I can’t handle anymore breakups.

JR Can’t Catch a Break

Ever since the end of last season, it seems like JR can’t catch a break. His aplastic anemia returned, he got kicked out of KEK, he had to stop playing baseball, his brother is in another country, and now that his girlfriend broke up with him, they need to cut JR some slack. Before I get into how I believe JR is being done all kinds of wrong, I just want to say that Sylvester Powell, who plays JR, has done such an amazing job in this role. JR has become one of my favorite characters throughout the series, and I can’t wait to see him in more projects once the show ends. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming, I’m convinced that the writers have it out for JR because it seems like when it comes to him, it’s always something.

Earlier in the episode, we see JR hanging with some of his former KEK brothers, including Cam and Lando. Although JR is no longer a part of the fraternity, Cam lets him know that he’s always welcomed and will always be their brother. That nice sentiment lasted all of five minutes. Some of the KEK brothers felt uncomfortable about JR being at the frat house, even though none of them would be there without him, but I digress. Cam tells JR that he has to take a break from hanging KEK. Being the nice person that he is, JR understood. I would have said something if I were JR. I put myself on the line, got kicked out of the fraternity my family has been a part of for generations, and this is how you treat me?

With JR officially being shunned by his frat brothers, he decides to put his energy into trying to bring back the baseball team. Most of the team, including Damon, have left Bringston to play elsewhere, so he seeks help from Landon, who initially shuts him down but eventually comes around.With all of this going on, JR turns to someone he can really trust. You would assume I’m talking about his girlfriend, Gabby, right? Nope, I’m talking about Keisha. As I mentioned in my last recap, JR and Keisha have become extremely close since Keisha donated bone marrow to help JR. She knew about the situation with KEK as well as him trying to revive the baseball program.

With everything that JR has been through, I never expected him and Gabby to break up. They seemed to be perfect, and I really enjoyed them together. In the episode, we discover that Gabby was with JR when he almost died as a result of his aplastic anemia. While at dinner, JR collapsed, and she had to give him CPR until help arrived. Ever since then, Gabby has been extremely attentive to JR, making sure that he takes his medication regularly and monitoring any slight changes in his behavior to ensure that he’s okay. Although she meant well, JR felt that Gabby was smothering him and still treating him like he’s sick, even though he’s made a full recovery. In this episode, I definitely understood both sides. Gabby just wanted to make sure JR was okay, and JR just wanted to be treated normal.

When it comes to JR, it always seems like Cam is the person to drop the bomb. While discussing rehearsal schedules with Gabby, Cam mentioned that JR was trying to revive the baseball program, which was news to Gabby. In Gabby’s defense, JR has been keeping a lot of things from her, starting all the way back to the Cape Cod Summer League. In a heated argument, JR tells Gabby that he didn’t tell her about the baseball program because he knew she wouldn’t be supportive. She goes on to tell him that she can’t support him trying to revive the thing that nearly killed him, and they end the relationship.

Now that Gabby and JR have broken up, this opens a door for my theory about JR and Keisha getting together. It seems like everything is heading in that direction. Keisha is still with Cam, so there’s that storyline, but that too could be coming to an end. JR isn’t the only one keeping things from their significant other. Keisha has been leaving the house in the wee hours of the morning to “rehearse.” At least that’s what she told Cam. She later received a text message from a mystery number telling her how great she was this morning. I’m curious who it could possibly be. If it's not another guy, I can definitely see a Keisha and JR ship sailing in the future.

To Vote or Not To Vote

In the words of the men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., “a voteless people is a hopeless people.” In this episode, All American: Homecoming touches on the importance of voting. It is an election year, and a lot of shows and programs are expressing the importance of voting regardless of your political affiliation. PKZ is holding a voter registration drive to get students involved in the voting process. This is how Simone was able to blackmail Lando into spending time with her, but we already talked about that. Simone believes that if we want to see real change, it's important for us to vote, especially college students. While Lando is on the opposite side of the spectrum, like students their age, he believes that voting is pointless and doesn’t result in any real change.

They wouldn’t be Simone and Lando if they didn’t bump heads. I missed seeing them challenge each other; that was one of my favorite aspects of their relationship. All American: Homecoming doesn’t always get everything right, especially when it comes to authentic HBCU experience, but sometimes they cover issues quite nicely. The voter registration storyline is incredibly accurate, as many young people think that their vote doesn’t matter. But regardless of your political beliefs, it’s important to exercise your right to vote, especially for young Black voters.

Once upon a time, it was illegal for Black people to vote. Some of our grandparents, great-grandparents, and beyond were met with scare tactics to keep them from voting. Some of them even lost their lives in order for us to have the right to vote. Therefore, we would be doing them a disservice by not exercising that right.

Working the voter registration drive inspired Simone in more ways than one. She was finally able to pick a major that she felt best suited her and her goals. In addition, it helped her figure out how to help bring order back to the athletic department. As a result of the rebrand, athletes no longer have seniority when it comes to things like court time and trainers. Knowing Simone, she will be able to turn things around just like she did with the voters.

What to Look Forward To

In a preview of next week’s episode, we see that Dr. P has made an appearance back at Bringston after being in Washington, D.C. We also see students on edge as news of a student attack makes its way through campus. At the rate the show is going, I think we can expect that every episode will be jammed with storylines. Since the show is ending, the writers have to address a lot of things in these final episodes. It’s sad that the show is ending because I feel that if they were getting another season, things wouldn’t seem as rushed and the stories would flow a lot more. It’s still early in the season, so there’s still time for things to turn around.

Season 3 of All American: Homecoming premieres on The CW on Mondays at 8 p.m. EST.