I miss the old All American: Homecoming. We are three episodes into season 3, and the show is not doing it for me the way it used to. I think a lot of it has to do with the show's ending; therefore, the writers didn’t have time to carefully think and plan out the storylines carefully. Everything seems so rushed; we’re skipping over important details, and I’m not sure if I’m here for it. I was so excited for the show to return, as it became one of my favorite shows, but with the direction it's going, I don’t think I can say that.
The bully has become the bullied
I thought after last week’s dance with Lando that Simone would have come down from her high horse, but I guess I was wrong. In this week’s episode, we see Simone once again push the people around her because she’s going through something. Last week, it was Lando; this week, it was the freshmen on the tennis team. Simone is now in her second year as captain of the tennis team. Something we had no idea happened due to the several time jumps throughout the show. The Bringston tennis team has a match coming, and the pressure is on both on and off the court.
In our first time seeing Simone as captain, we see her exhibit some Thea-like behavior. We all remember in Season 1 how Thea treated Simone. We can’t even consider what Thea did as tough love because that was straight-up bullying, and now she’s doing the same. You know Simone is a problem when Tootie even calls her out on her behavior.
Throughout the episode, Simone continues to bump heads with a new player named Molly. Initially, Molly is excited to meet Simone, as she’s heard nothing but great things about her, but that quickly changes when Simone gives her the cold shoulder when they meet for practice. While on the practice court, Simone scolds Molly for being late and continues to use the court that Molly has reserved for practice. Now, old Simone would have understood that things happen and offered to practice with Molly. I don’t know who this new version of Simone is.
During another practice, Simone calls in her team to criticize them for the minor mistakes they are making right before the match. Molly, who in this moment reminded me a lot of how Simone used to stand up for herself, told Simone about herself all in all, saying that people must have been wrong about how much of a good person she was (she definitely ate her up). Thus, Molly and the other walk-ons leave practice.
Tootie tries to help Simone see the error in her ways by comparing her to Thea, whom Simone says she’s nothing like but insists that she just expects greatness from her team. This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed Simone acting like people she never wanted to be like. In the last episode, the way she talked to her PKZ little sisters reminded me of how her big sisters talked to her. Simone insisted in both PKZ and tennis that she would never act like the people who came before her, but she’s not doing a very good job. In both cases, the bullied has now become the bully.
She wouldn’t be Simone if she didn’t see the error of her ways after someone had to point them out to her. At the end of the episode, the reason for Simone’s behavior is because she misses Damon. She didn’t want their breakup to be in vain, so she wanted to make sure that she put in as much work as possible when it came to tennis, but she soon realized that she may have gone about it the wrong way.
Simone then finds Molly to apologize and offers to help her practice. She explained to her that she was going through something, and the way she was acting was not the real her. I’m all for Simone seeing the error of her ways, but how many times do we have to go through this? Simone is always overstepping, causing major fallout, and then when things hit the fan, she wants to apologize because she was going through something or just trying to help. For once, I would like to see Simone wallow in her consequences a little bit longer. Meaning that when she causes a problem, I would like to see it carried out into the next episode. Every time she does something wrong, the issue should not always be wrapped up by the end of the episode.
A voice for the voiceless
In another time jump, we see that Nate is in her second term as SGA President. Although she was a student body favorite during the election, many believe that she is self-serving and only cares about issues that pertain to her. She has made changes around gender inclusivity and religion, aka issues that matter to her. When a student is attacked off campus, Nate believes that this is a perfect opportunity to prove the students wrong.
After the campus attack, the students have a bunch of questions that Nate is not prepared to answer. The student who was attacked wants to remain anonymous, but after talking with her boyfriend, Nate quickly finds out that the victim is a disabled student named Ezra. I can see why Simone and Nate are friends because, when their minds are made up, they ignore what others want and do what they think is right. Nate pays Ezra a visit to learn more about the attack and tries to convince him to come forward. Ezra explains that he does not wish to come forward because he does not want to be seen as a victim, as people already look at him in a certain light because he is in a wheelchair. Despite Ezra’s plea to remain anonymous, Nate decides to take matters into her own hands.
In an attempt to improve safety on campus, Nate meets with Dr. P, who is in town from Washington, D.C., to see what can be done. When Nate suggests that campus security broaden the area of patrol outside of campus, Dr. P shuts down the idea. Nate storms out of her office, determined to do something. This interaction between Nate and Dr. P was interesting to watch because, just like last week, Nate told JR how much she missed Dr. P and how she wanted to make her proud, but now that she can’t do something as fast as you like, she is just like the rest of the administration. Working in student government, Nate should know that important matters don’t get taken care of overnight. So, her getting mad at Dr. P was totally unnecessary.
To take matters into her own hands, Nate holds a gathering on campus to address the students and their concerns. While addressing the students, Nate seemingly throws shade at Dr. P for her decision while also indirectly exposing Ezra as the act victim.
After addressing the students, Nate pays Ezra another visit, and he gives Nate an earful. Ezra scolds Nate for going against his wishes about coming forward while also seeing through Nate and the real reason why she’s pushing so hard for changes in campus safety protocols. This is Nate’s last year as SGA President, and she wants to leave behind a legacy. Her pushing Ezra to come forward was more about being seen as a good leader than getting justice. She wanted to prove to the student body that she wasn’t self-serving, but in turn, she did the opposite.
Seeing the error in her ways, Nate apologizes to Dr. P for her outburst. Together, the two of them figure out a way to improve safety on campus. Using her resources at the White House, Dr. P was able to get the vice president to donate safety devices for students and faculty. The device allows a person to call for campus security, whether they are on or off campus. I really liked this storyline. I believe that every campus should have a program like this, not just HBCUs.
Coach Marcus, you are the father!
The All American universe loves a storyline about fathers. We learn in this episode that Coach Marcus is the father of a 14-year-old son that he knows nothing about. His ex-wife, Crystal, withheld this information from him all this time. Early in the episode, we see JR see Coach Marcus as he’s leaving class and notice that something is wrong. JR proceeds to see Coach Marcus talking to a strange man, and because this group lacks personal boundaries, he proceeds to tell Dr. P.
As much as Dr. P acts like she no longer cares about Coach Marcus, we can very much tell that she still loves him. She even admits that her taking the job with the vice president serves as a distraction from their breakup. Dr. P approaches Coach Marcus about what JR told her, and he reveals to her that he hired a private investigator to learn about his son Noah. I really need All American: Homecoming to get better at filling in the space between time jumps because, how did we get here? What made him think that he had a kid? What happened after he and Crystal signed the divorce papers? I still have so many questions.
Coach Marcus eventually confronts JR about going to Dr. P but tells him about Noah. Coach Marcus was unsure if he wanted to tell Crystal that he knows about Noah since his stepfather is already a male figure in his life. JR then reminds Coach Marcus that when his own father was not always available, it was him who stepped up as a father, not just for him but for other young men as well and that is the man Noah deserves to know. I’m excited to see how this storyline goes, although we’ve already had a father storyline in this series. I think this is a good way to supplement the usual Coach Marcus and Dr. P storyline. It seems like things are starting to settle down in Coach Marcus’s life. I wonder how meeting Noah will change that.
What to look forward to
At first, I was going to say that we don’t have much to look forward to due to my disappointment in how the season is going so far, but then I saw the trailer for episode 4. In episode 2, we see Simone get hit in the shoulder with a tennis ball, causing an injury. In this episode, we see that the injury is still present along with a new medical issue. It seems like the show is going to touch on the medical industry and how it handles Black patients, something that I believe needs to be talked about more. As important as that story is, the real reason why I’m excited about next week’s episode is because Lando is back. We see him and Simone briefly, looking like they are about to kiss. Team Limone, wake up; it's our time to shine.
Season 3 of All American: Homecoming airs on The CW on Mondays at 8 p.m. EST.
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