All American: Homecoming - General Discussion

[paulvdb]

Spin-off of All American. Premieres February 21, 2022 on the CW.

From the executive producers of ALL AMERICAN, ALL AMERICAN: HOMECOMING is a young adult sports drama set against the backdrop of the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) experience at Bringston University, where Black excellence is a way of life. The series follows Simone (Geffri Maya, "All American"), a young tennis hopeful from Beverly Hills who is trying to fight her way back to great after some time away from the court, and Damon (Peyton Alex Smith, "Legacies"), an elite baseball player from Chicago who is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. After Simone's aunt Amara Patterson (Kelly Jenrette, "Manhunt"), a journalism teacher and activist, exposes a scandal that threatens to derail the school's beloved baseball program, new coach Marcus Turner (Cory Hardrict, "The Outpost") is determined to bring a championship back to Bringston the honest way - with Damon's help. Damon will adjust to his new normal with fellow baseball player and childhood friend JR (Sylvester Powell, "Five Points") by his side. Meanwhile, as Simone struggles to find her footing, she will get a little guidance from Thea (Camille Hyde, "Katy Keene"), the super-competitive queen bee of the Bringston tennis team, and Keisha (Netta Walker, "Come as You Are"), the school's unofficial mayor, who will help Simone learn how to live her best life. As they contend with the high stakes of college sports, Simone and Damon will also navigate the highs, lows, and sexiness of unsupervised early adulthood at a prestigious HBCU.

[KWalkerInc]

I thought the point of introducing a show through a backdoor pilot was that when the actual series premiered, you didn't need as much exposition.  Because there was a LOT.  And the EVIL ex-baseball coach was just a tad over the top.  I was confused about Simone's status on the tennis team, as I thought the reason she missed prom on All American was that the coach really liked her and had her playing in a tournament.  (Of course, it was really just an excuse to create chemistry between other characters on that show and distance between her and Jordan as they ease her away from him and toward Damon.)  The twist at the end about Damon and the catcher was at least unexpected.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

The overall proclamations of excellence at the school is good to see and hear.  The contrasting reality of corruptions in the administration belies these chants.  They are also very well done and represent real-world problems in all of academia.   HBCU's are not the only ones with these issues and they are most certainly not alone in these.

The budding Hicks/ballplayer relationship is a winning piece.  

I love her aunt, but there are moments she almost becomes Super Woman.  This is wholly unnecessary and it is distracting.

I understand the limitations of TV drama, but it is very difficult for me to instantly buy the deep friendships already portrayed with/among Freshmen.  I do enjoy the small hazing moments.  Welcome to Bringston.

It would be a huge mistake for Simone and the  tennis captain to become besties.  The show needs that tension.  It's a genuine one IRL.  Senior leaders don't much respect Frosh - especially those who arrive with the type of baggage a Simone does.  The crafty tennis coach has a lot of potential, as well.  I hope they don't make her a big fan of Simone, either.  Auntie is more than enough filling that role.

I hope the show continues to display some of the uglier sides of college life while inspiring youngsters who may be watching.  The triumphs depicted will only have meaning if they are achieved with genuine roadblocks and difficulties along the way.

[KWalkerInc]

I really don't think Coach Marcus and Simone's aunt are Damon's birth parents.  If they are, then Simone would be related to Damon and they'd have to throw away all of their potential couple storylines.  It was interesting that they brought that up as a potential twist, but I'm not buying it.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

What a soapy ep.  Blecch.  Except...

This was a pretty good look at the brave new world of collegiate revenue sports.  The Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights granted student athletes by the courts has forever changed whatever notion of amateurism remained.  It also is creating the very divisions Marcus warned Damon about.  Haves and have nots.  Very few shows have touched on this, so kudos to TPTB for being among, if  not the very, first to do so.  That they did a fine job with the exposition of the issue merits much praise.

They are gonna ruin the Thea character, aren't they.  Why can't we have a typical taskmaster who is super insular and afraid of their own shadow, taking this out on others?!   It was very tough to buy that she went along with the party that a FRESHMAN, and a troublesome one at that, was organizing.  Captain Thea was a wonderful "villain" who brooked zero nonsense.  You give less than your optimal self at all times to the team?  You are gonna HEAR it.  Now?  Ugh.

It was also utterly inconceivable to me that the tenure track profs who were frozen did not already commiserate about this amongst themselves.  How is it that Pam didn't already have it?!

I love, love, love  the transgendered character is determined to deal with the ridicule and scorn that the world can heap on those folks.  I hate that this happens as much as it does.  But, that's a person I would love to know and support.  Many (all?) have crosses to bear in life.  I admire the ones who do so head-on, accepting the difficulties and pain that come with.  Good on the show for this. 

[KWalkerInc]

It seems like the timelines between this show and its parent aren't really lining up.  Jordan can apparently show up because it's his football team's bye week, but on All American, they haven't played any games yet (and it seems like it will be a big deal when they have the first one).

They sure like their secrets on this show.  How many times are two characters going to have half a conversation and then one person just drops it or it gets interrupted by something else?  The part where J.R. thought his dad was going to talk about Damon but really announced a divorce was predictable.

I must need to clean out my ears or something, because I at first thought the girl who is seeing Damon said her name was America.  Of course it turned out she said, "I'm Erica."

[Lonesome Rhodes]

It's more and more difficult for me to not scoff at how Bringston seems to revolve around Freshmen (Damon excepted).

Most everyone seemed to have aged noticeably since the last ep.  Of course, All American the Original takes that cake.  

I snorted when the elder tennis player served the ball sideways and Simone couldn't handle it.  Each of those young ones should have made blistering returns most every serve.  

The J.R./Damon beef playing out during the game was similarly ridic, imo.  Ya think maybe J.R. reeeeeally wanted to put it to Daddio in that match-up?  No way he would have messed with Damon in that context.

The video montage at the banquet was unintentionally silly.  What on earth do the athletic achievements of other schools (Jackson St., Miss. Valley St.) have to do with Bringston excellence?  

Not every ep can deal with deep truths about the "black experience."  But, the various relationship and willful misunderstanding tropes in this one were off the soapy charts.  At least Erica has not been revealed as especially catty.  I give it until about 10 minutes into the next ep for that trait to be exposed.  

 

[luckyroll3]

Did I miss something last week? When did Simone move back into the dorms?

[KWalkerInc]

Yeah, I thought she would be going back to her aunt's house after that girl complained about her staying in Nate's room.  Yet suddenly she's back in her own room again.  I thought I just hadn't been paying attention.

Also, when Thea's grandma and friend were clobbering Simone and Thea in the tennis match, I thought we were going to later find out that the younger women were losing on purpose to make the big donors feel good.  (I thought that's what Thea meant when she said, "Follow my lead.")

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Gotta give props to the developing frenemy relationship between Thea and Simone.  This one, above all the others, rings the most true to me.  Legit hostility when they first met, followed by a thaw resulting in genuine mutual respect.  This can really be a lasting bond.  of course the show will never allow it - draaaaaama is always the order of the day.  I don't much care for Simone.  I do like Thea.  We could have been friends.

J.R.'s angst about the truth surrounding his rents is also legit, imo.  This is a common issue for many who go away for college.  Just what is the nature of the Mom/Dad/Child dynamic?  The real one?  What do they want it to be?  It all can be a treacherous and scary (and necessary) situation.  I'm not buying, however, the contrived tension between J.R. and Damon.  A J.R. would almost certainly be leaning on a Damon for support.  

Auntie's attempt to dip her toes, and maybe other things, into the very deep well with Coach is lousy of her.  It's fine to have been reticent about picking things back up.  No worries at all there.  But, now that the truth has come out, and it resulted in the bursting of the...dam, there's no going back.  Sink or swim, lady.  Don't be a beeyotch.

I do not understand, at all, the online marketing of individuals like what Keisha is attempting. I know it's super prevalent in her generation so the show has every right to show it.  What I really do not get is when and how she has the necessary time and energy to devote to it.  She was certainly purty in the video, but not all that, imo.  However, I don't blame Cam a bit for being smitten and allowing himself to be used by her.

The blackout was a boring device.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Major spoiler interview with Netta Walker (Keisha).  Very good article, imo.

https://timesnewsnetwork.com/news/entertainment/all-american-homecomings-netta-walker-on-keisha-nathaniels-special-bond-whats-next/

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Ridiculous levels of soapy suds in this one.  After several weeks together, these youngins are now family.  Riiiiiight.  Where was sister Thea?  I loathe the trope of "family" being instantly created and cheaply.  Then again, TPTB openly assert the series is about family.  I much prefer the theme of raising up through hard work and faith.

So, what to do with Santiago?  He's family, amIright?  He won the game (although no manager would ever risk the final out on a stolen base attempt unless the runner were especially fast) with his throw, did he not?  But, if J.R. comes back, where will he be put?  Hello, bench.

I really enjoyed Keisha and Nathaniel mocking Simone for her "principled" declaration that she was gonna find a way to make it without mama's cash.   Of course, no mention of her actual family, the well-off hubby Jordan.  How strange that she didn't call him straight away when the latest offense was given by Mama.  Not.

Keisha's father is absolutely right about the waste of her education if dance is to be her life.  I'd yank her after this semester and let her go full-bore in the dance.  Let's just see if she has the passion and the strength to pursue that life.  The shock to her system, having been raised in a upper-middle class home, would be quite something.  I am NOT against dance.  Anyone who chooses the necessary sacrifices deserves respect.  My point is that Keisha is much too naive and comfortable to really give such an effort.  She's also starting behind many who have been living and breathing dance for years.  

Simone got a very small dose of mommyhood when Shea had a crying fit.  She would be utterly miserable as a new mom.  It's one thing to sit for a day.  Quite another to devote most all one's energy to the care of an infant.  Serious tennis?  Suuuure.  Again, a pampered young lady with little clue about day to day struggles with basics.  I do not doubt that she has a special love for Shea.  I also do not doubt she is in no way ready to be his fulltime mom.

I want Maury to make a cameo. 

[KWalkerInc]

It wasn't at ALL predictable that Shea would stop crying soon after Damon showed up.  Well, Shea having the crying fit in the first place was predictable too, but at least that was probably realistic.

It's nice that Damon's mom has started to be a bit nicer (though who knows how long this will last), because most of the parents on this show have been awful (probably to explain why the students are family after a few weeks).  I had assumed she was a single mom, but of course she has a husband suffering from Alzheimer's who is the only one who knew details of the adoption.  It seems like the condition of Damon's dad would have come up sooner, unless it did and I wasn't paying attention.  So J.R. is older than Damon but was delayed going to college (maybe school in general) by his medical problems that I also don't remember them mentioning before?  I had wondered how they were both freshmen when Damon might be his younger brother and they had played on teams together for a while, but this may explain it.

J.R. will surely return to the baseball team, resulting in some "Who does Damon want to throw to?" kind of conflict.  I liked Santiago's reference to Edgar Renteria, but I don't know why they didn't actually identify Renteria by name if that's his hero.  (I rewound a couple times because I couldn't figure out what Damon called him, because it wasn't Renteria.)  I had to Google the nickname to make sure that was who they meant.

Simone doesn't seem to mention Jordan anymore and vice versa, so I don't know why they didn't just end it when he visited in that episode a few weeks ago.  Simone apparently is still rooming with Nate, so I guess Wallenda (?) didn't get her way.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Weakest ep yet.  The one genuine problem with weight, imo, is the president muting Auntie and she only resenting it.  Each side has excellent and relatable points.  It would be very odd if Keisha daddy really did have it out for Auntie.  He just came very clean with repentance.  Why would he resort to badly-motivated behavior to someone he actually likes?

I didn't get why the tennis facility was not considered a college facility.  I would love, however, to have the moving and set-up crew work for me should a need arise!  

The Thea arc remains intriguing.  If I had to deal with a Simone, I know I would be on my last nerve.  The sign having such a great effect was absurd.  It also seems that Simone has put on some poundage and most certainly has lost some muscle definition.  

Poor Cam.  He had his chance to escape the Keisha draaaaaama, but he appears totally smitten.  He's in for quite the ride.

[KWalkerInc]

The evil ex baseball coach popping up was not very entertaining, even though his bad advice to J.R. seemed well-intentioned.  Of course he would think that no one should play unless they're going to be a professional.  I didn't know J.R. was a returning player who had played for this coach, not a freshman.  It was probably explained back in All American backdoor pilot, but I forgot all the details.  Of course though Damon and J.R. make amends so that has to mean the test says they are not brothers.  I also figured that after Keisha's "focus on what you have" advice.  But why even start the storyline about his birth parents unless there will be payoff?

It's looks like more problems for Coach Marcus.  I thought they were going to have him abusing pills to deal with his anxiety, but judging from the type of pills, he has an even more serious mental health condition.

[Rae Spellman]

On 4/13/2022 at 2:12 AM, KWalkerInc said:

I didn't know J.R. was a returning player who had played for this coach, not a freshman.  It was probably explained back in All American backdoor pilot, but I forgot all the details.  

Damon visited JR at Bringston on the backdoor pilot. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

So Damon has been dealing with Dad's decline for years.  He decides it is cool to get all butt hurt now about missing family?  He gets angry with his Dad, having doubtlessly dealt with the medical issues for a good while?  He's Wile E. Coyote thinking he can grab the Road Runner and works himself into a state when reality strikes.  

Simone is a ridiculous character.  It's fine that she is majorly confused about stuff.  But, her being the center of the show's universe?  Does not work.  This new convivial and trusting Thea is no bueno, either.  It's great that she is trying to expand her circle.  However, devoting alllll this time to social pursuits at the expense of training and tennis practice?  Never.

I like Keisha's denial misery.  It's a nice touch that she is all over Simone for hers.  I've had my fill of Keisha daddy's whiplashing between accusatory anger and  apologetic understanding for Auntie.  Either he is about having her back, or he is about being El Presidente.  He's a joke as written now.

What happened to the new baseball season, which would have any number of games each week?  I am very curious about Santiago's (the new Catcher) fate.  

[Rae Spellman]

18 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

What happened to the new baseball season, which would have any number of games each week?  I am very curious about Santiago's (the new Catcher) fate.  

While it is spring and baseball season in our timeline, on the show Simone is in her first semester at college. If it's the early part of football season for Jordan, baseball season hasn't started yet. Regular season games would take place between February and May. The College World Series is in June.

Of course, since the male lead is a baseball player they show us off-season events such as alumni games, showcases, attempts to get sponsors, a kid on a baseball scholarship quitting the team, etc.

 

[KWalkerInc]

I think that they have fall baseball seasons at colleges now as well.  Sometimes when I am watching a spring game on TV, they will mention some player who was injured and missed fall ball, or had a good fall season, etc.  It's mostly for development and evaluation.  I'm not quite sure if fall ball has been a thing for a long time, but it's seemed to have picked up importance--but probably not to the level of on this show, where the president has threatened to drop the program unless they had a successful fall.

One other thing I remembered is that our town's minor league baseball team, which doesn't have its own stadium and shares with the college, is barred from using the stadium after a certain date (sending them on the road for all playoff games last year) because the college gets the field exclusively for fall season after that point.

[Rae Spellman]

During my initial look at my alma mater's (a Pac-12 school) stats for the past couple of years and didn't see any fall baseball game results. But, after the last post I took a deeper dive and saw they do have a couple of fall exhibition games. Maybe I'll start checking them out.  Of course I'll enjoy Bringston's showcase game tomorrow night and wonder how JR and Santiago might share catcher duties.

[KWalkerInc]

Even in the SEC (which I think was the channel I was watching when they kept mentioning fall ball), it looks like they play maybe three exhibitions a year along with some scrimmages, so the way Bringston is portrayed probably isn't that far off.  I still don't understand why the whole program is going to be dropped based on fall performance though, or how the university would even evaluate that.  I'm sure the evil ex-coach will pop up again sometime in the remaining 5 episodes.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Awful ep.

Huge/massive stuff all slammed into one 42 minute window.  The Amora arc is just absurd.  Having her past come back to haunt her is fine.  Good story in these cancel culture times.  However, her giving up, just after having gone through not one, but two, existential battles?  

Worst of all was her acceptance of the FRESHMEN foundational support.  Auntie?!  What farce.  She has the hide of a Gator (that is a compliment) and relishes the struggle.  SHE is the mentor, not Nate.  NATE!

The baseball resentment was good at hitting the myth of HBCU solidarity.  It seems that for some, the cause is the self.  Who knew?   They're just like people?!  Interesting position move which affirmed Santiago.  But, the drill we saw was hilarious.  I was actually impressed with the contortions JR went through to throw off the wrong foot.  

Again, Damon is shown to be just aight as a pitcher in games.  The score was 4-3 into the 7th or 8th inning?  If this is all he can do against lower-level collegiate competition, he was not the bonus baby he was made out to be.  The "bad" guy was similarly not great.  The showcase did not have DHs?  Why would they not create an extra position for some lad to get a chance to show off his batting skills and spare the pitchers?   Special tension built up that Damon at bat was a challenge for that pitcher?!  Seriously?  Drilling Damon on an 0-2 count was pretty cool, though.  THAT, is some beef!  

What was not cool was the bullying/near assault on Thea.  Will it come out that the liquid was a roofie of some sort and not just alcohol (which was bad enough given the intent)?  This is a HUGE issue on campuses of all stripes.  Good choice to show that even the strongest, like Thea, can feel extreme violation and weakness in such incidents.  It was a truly excellent moment when she asked Damon to hang with her in the aftermath.  That is the kind of portrayed vulnerability that can make real impact on young ladies.  If Thea can admit she can't handle such a thing alone, so can they.  

What I am gonna HATE is the new Thea/Damon crush.  It just can't come from this, TPTB.  No.  It's too important.  Thea opening up generally might be the best thing you've done to this point.  Allowing Thamon to become a standard rotational romance in the circle of leads in a draaaaama?  Cheapens everything.       

[Rae Spellman]

Lando's legacy story is certainly different that JR's. I wonder what his parents thought about whatever was televised. While it's reasonable that Bringston wouldn't have enough funding to offer scholarships to two pitchers, it's odd that we don't know who the other members of the Lion's pitching staff are. Surely, Damon's pitching arm will need occasional rest and he won't pitch every inning of every game they play. For goodness sake, he had the yips not that long ago.

Speaking of JR, somehow the (former) catcher, and my favorite character, was good enough to secure one of a limited number of baseball scholarships and then rode the bench. Then, he quit the activity that was funding his education while upset with the person/people who would presumably need to fund said education in absence of the scholarship. Now we find out that JR is able to make game saving plays at a position that he didn't think he could play and presumable hasn't practiced for in awhile. And, even though he enjoyed Amara's home cooking plenty of weeks he didn't go to the appreciation gathering even though Coach Marcus found time to show up.

[KWalkerInc]

I agree that it makes no sense that Bringston would just drop all interest in Lando the second that Damon committed to them.  Maybe if they were still a championship-level program they would have had a stacked pitching staff, but with as desperate as they clearly are after the scandal, they should have been happy to have a second pitcher!

The stupidest thing though is Coach Marcus' storyline.  I know that many people want to believe they are okay without medication and try not to take it because of side effects or the stigma unfortunately surrounding mental illness, but his thinking seems to be that anti-psychotic medication somehow equates to the PEDs that his friend was taking.  That is dangerous and I hope the show will make it clear that this is not the case.

Jordan and Simone, dragging out their relationship since 2019 (?).  Now across two shows!  I thought for sure that when Jordan said something (referring to Amara) about trying to hold on to something that you need to let go, there was finally going to be some realization that it isn't going to work.  At least the continuity between the two shows was accurate this week, unlike the last time he visited.

[Rae Spellman]

Damon knew about Thea because he researched all of Bringston's athletes. Yet, he didn't know who Lando, the star pitcher on the rival team was. Apparently he spends less time researching his actual rivals than Santiago does. 

Hopefully, Marcus' storyline goes better than we anticipate. If he's hoping to reconcile with Amara, surely the chances are better that their timing will be right someday if he takes his medication as prescribed. 

I'd prefer the Santiago position change, if he'd taken JR's spot at center field and JR moved to catcher. 

[luckyroll3]

Why is Simone always pushing to be in everybody's business?!?

[Rae Spellman]

So nobody knew Kevin was a predator before this. Nobody. 

Why does Keisha have a different last name than her father? McCalla doesn't sound like it would be her mother's last name, either. 

JR quitting baseball after becoming captain was suboptimal. But, Damon annoys me with the allegations that JR is a punk, a little bitch, or whatever. JR's behavior seems fairly age appropriate. He was raised an only child. So it's not like he could commiserate with siblings about his parents' divorce. It's a little surprising that he's not interested in learning more about who the kid in the picture is and/or if some other dude out there is/was his (temporary) brother. Then again, maybe he figured he was better off remaining an only child.

Seems like Thea told Damon what happened to Aqueelah. But, Aqueelah said she never told anyone what happened. So, what did she tell JR about that weekend he was away? Would a typical eighteen year old boy ask "hard questions?" That said, she seems like a nice girl, who still likes JR, and he's absolutely been a jerk to her. 

 

[luckyroll3]

JR's mom has some 'splaining to do!

[Rae Spellman]

Celine does. Apparently, the kid in the picture is her child. But, we don't know that the kid in the picture is Damon. As far as we know Celine doesn't even know Damon's birthday. Damon didn't take the baby picture home to Chicago and didn't compare it to other slightly older pictures of himself. 

Also, how much older than Damon is JR supposed to be? Last year he was riding the bench. This year he's on a baseball scholarship. Or was, if he didn't lose it in the three weeks he abandoned the team. Is he a sophomore? There don't seem to be juniors or seniors in the All American Homecoming universe. 

Celine cheated on Jesse when JR was barely born, got pregnant, kept the kid for a bit, figured out the kid wasn't Jesse's, gave the kid to his father, and then went on to be unhappily married to Jesse for another 17 years or so. Really? Maybe Amara needs to do a story on the lab that takes money from college kids and gives them faulty DNA test results. 

Basically, I'm saying Celine sure is JR's mother. I noticed the clothing change so the conversation with JR when he found her in his room was probably on a different day from the day Damon stopped by for the family reunion. But, this lady went from one tiny piece of information to concluding that Damon was her kid with minimal anecdotal data in a day. It's not like she was able to call Xavier and confirm.

[luckyroll3]

57 minutes ago, Rae Spellman said:

But, this lady went from one tiny piece of information to concluding that Damon was her kid with minimal anecdotal data in a day.

Like mother like son! JR jumped to that conclusion after knowing Damon for all of 10 hours...with less evidence.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Whatever its many faults in hyping draaaaaaaama with most every character jumping to new conclusions and using FRESHMAN as exemplars of  maturity and in campus leadership, the arc with Thea and Aqueelah is wonderful.

I completely bought Thea's anxiety when Kevin approached her.  I was tremendously sad and angry when Aqueelah explained the way of the world in "he said, she said" situations.  I'd love to sit here and proclaim that it is always best to confront evil directly, but I imagined myself as Aqueelah's friend and concluded I would not direct her toward that action.  

This may be the most important arc for young adults in all of TV this season.  Kudos to TPTB.

I still haaaaaaate the idea of Themon. 

I absolutely loved Cam's matter-of-fact retort to Keisha when she hinted at disapproval of his dating life.  He was very firm, but there was a real respect behind it.  This is an unusual, and welcome, dynamic for this show.

Nice try to display the financial barriers in athletics.  They needed more time to flesh out Mya.  The lightning speed to conclusion was just too much.

I hope Veronica proves to be an excellent villain.  Promising beginning.  

[Rae Spellman]

3 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

I absolutely loved Cam's matter-of-fact retort to Keisha when she hinted at disapproval of his dating life.  He was very firm, but there was a real respect behind it.  

His commentary about kids being priced out of bougie sports for decades was good, too. It also adds more context to Jesse's annoyance when JR quit baseball. The Raymond's might not have spent the $45K plus that Damon said his mom spent on showcases, etc. But, they probably spent plenty to get him to the Bringston baseball team. 

[KWalkerInc]

I missed the confrontation between Amara and Veronica (and Tina?) because my station showed a bunch of extra commercials for no reason.  They finally came back on with Veronica saying something ominous about changes at Bringston and walking off, Tina asking Amara what she meant and Amara complaining about being ambushed in class.  I tried on demand later, but I assumed "fast forward is disabled" meant just that you had to watch commercials, which I was willing to do.  But it wouldn't even let me fast-forward through the show itself and I didn't want to watch half the episode again to get to one scene, so I just hit exit.  Then I tried to find a recap, but the only detailed one didn't care about the non-student characters and didn't say much.  I don't know how helpful or accurate it would have been anyway, because the writer's takeaway from Marcus's storyline is that he is a drug addict!

Edited May 10, 2022 by KWalkerInc
I messed up Marcus's name.

[luckyroll3]

11 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

the arc with Thea and Aqueelah is wonderful.

I completely bought Thea's anxiety when Kevin approached her.  I was tremendously sad and angry when Aqueelah explained the way of the world in "he said, she said" situations.  I'd love to sit here and proclaim that it is always best to confront evil directly, but I imagined myself as Aqueelah's friend and concluded I would not direct her toward that action.  

This may be the most important arc for young adults in all of TV this season.  Kudos to TPTB.

Agree. Also, the song that played while Thea made the call to the dean was powerful (and honestly a but more emotional and gut wrenching than the storyline!); I had to look it up. Wolves by Jensen McRae if anyone's interested.

11 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Nice try to display the financial barriers in athletics.  They needed more time to flesh out Mya.  The lightning speed to conclusion was just too much.

I wish it took less than a day to fundraise for a brand new program! 

[Rae Spellman]

8 hours ago, luckyroll3 said:

I wish it took less than a day to fundraise for a brand new program! 

Another example of how privileged Simone and Damon are. Things fall into Simone's lap. The catering job after she spent all her money on flying to Chicago with Damon. Nate's dorm room after her parents didn't pay for housing. 

[KWalkerInc]

It was almost exhausting sitting through two hours of Simone's break-up with Jordan and its aftermath.  I feel bad for Thea that she seems to really like Damon but is destined to get hurt because he is still into Simone.  She seems like she's completely unaware of any of that, and yet everyone else who's ever met them apparently knows.  It's very predictable that they put him with someone else now that Simone is single, although I'm sure Simone would have pushed him away anyway.

I am glad that they actually resolved and explained Damon's parentage, though it's kind of weird that they turned the conversation into a flashback.

Nate is a really good friend, but it kind of sucks that almost all her air time involves giving advice to other characters.  But she does have some good one-liners, like finding out that J.R. and Damon are brothers, "I didn't have that on my bingo card" and the comment about second-hand awkwardness around Damon and Simone. 

[luckyroll3]

13 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

It's very predictable that they put him with someone else now that Simone is single

I said this out loud as soon as the she got into the argument with Jordan. So predictable. I would be pleasantly surprised if they let them be just friends, but I won't hold my breath. 

13 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

Nate is a really good friend, but it kind of sucks that almost all her air time involves giving advice to other characters.  But she does have some good one-liners, like finding out that J.R. and Damon are brothers, "I didn't have that on my bingo card" and the comment about second-hand awkwardness around Damon and Simone. 

They definitely need to give her more to do than being everyone's sounding board. It's like the replaced the Black BFF trope with the LGBTQAI BFF. But I agree, she had some great lines this episode. I'm still laughing at when she called out the coach for his outburst and then squeaked out a "respectfully...." when he gave her that look. Lol!

[luckyroll3]

13 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

I am glad that they actually resolved and explained Damon's parentage, though it's kind of weird that they turned the conversation into a flashback.

I gave a hard side eye to that whole bone marrow changes your DNA explanation, but apparently it's kinda true! It doesn't change your DNA per say, but it does result in having two-types of DNA in your system. Sometimes the DNA tested is yours, sometimes it's your donors, and sometimes it's both (resulting in an inconclusive result). 

[KWalkerInc]

Renewed for season 2.

I was a little worried when I was scrolling through another site and practically every headline was about the CW canceling something (and one article described it as a "bloodbath"); but when I got to the bottom of the page, this show was listed as renewed.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Damon lost all reason as he lashed out at J.R. and bio mom.  He wondered how it is possible that his life might could be better than the upbringing he had?!  Seriously?  He had a privileged childhood.  

Here we go again with Nate the oracle.  Puh-leaze.  Nate is definitely a good person.  Nate, on a core level, does not have it together.  Super confused, with really good reason.  So, let's everyone rely on Nate!

I really like Thea.  I especially enjoy how quickly she cops to her prideful remarks when called out by someone she respects/likes.  Very winning.  The training room and walking scenes with Damon were great.  Girl is making a massive error by jumping into the deepest of deep ends with the BMOC athlete, though.  No way can she handle the pressure of natural jealousy which will crop up bigtime.  The dude is all that in the eyes of many ladies.

The existential threat to Bringston is a juicy arc.  But, I have little faith it will be at all realistic. 

I wish I cared about Marcus' prior "scandal." 

Jordan and Damon caught one of the biggest breaks in their lives when Simone sent them packing!   She's not evil.  She is a hot mess, though.   

[KWalkerInc]

First they had Thea (who has been hanging out with the group for a while now) not knowing there was any flirtation between Simone and Damon, and now (just as implausibly) Damon still doesn't know Simone broke up with Jordan.  She probably didn't want to say it to him so as not to interfere with his relationship with Thea, but there's no way that someone else wouldn't blab it (even without Nate, who previously blabbed to Thea, in the episode).  I don't think Simone and Damon would immediately go running to each other in spite of their conversation at the match, so this contrivance is not necessary.  It also makes Thea look too desperate, but that may be what they're going for, her insecurities off the court.  I hope that she didn't talk to the invisible tennis coach (she was maybe in one episode?) and threaten to quit if Simone made the team or something.  They don't need to have her regress like that.  I did like that she still won the match against Katia the racket-breaker in spite of everything.  It would have been predictable to have her crumble, especially with Damon and Simone sitting together in the stands.

Even though Marcus was (and is, of course) out of control, that Ralph guy really bugs me for some reason.  Marcus, even when he was still on medication, seemed very worried about his PED use being exposed, but there are managers in the major leagues who were exposed for using steroids in their careers.  Maybe it's different because they think he'd be a bad influence on the young men, etc. but he could talk to them about the consequences of his poor choice.  It wouldn't have to be a dealbreaker.

It should be interesting to see how the "Save Bringston" campaign goes, whether they will be successful immediately or if there will be a cliffhanger that wouldn't have been resolved if they hadn't been picked up for season 2.

[Cassandre]

On 5/12/2022 at 11:22 PM, KWalkerInc said:

Renewed for season 2.

I was a little worried when I was scrolling through another site and practically every headline was about the CW canceling something (and one article described it as a "bloodbath"); but when I got to the bottom of the page, this show was listed as renewed.

I'm so happy the show got renewed. Since the CW loves to cancel stuffs I was too scared to even look for cancelation/renewal. So I kinda screamed when I read your comment! 

[Cassandre]

When I saw JR's look at Simone's face when she realized Damon and Thea were dating, I thought "if we get 4 seasons of this show one day you two will be together and it will cause chaos between the two brothers just like Damon and Simone getting together is going to cause chaos between Thea and Simone's frienship. Gotta love this show! This is All American all over again, I assume they will all date at some point if the show goes far. 

[KWalkerInc]

The show is on the fall schedule, continuing Mondays at 9 PM after All American.

https://deadline.com/2022/05/the-cw-fall-2022-23-schedule-the-flash-riverdale-nancy-drew-move-to-midseason-stargirl-shifts-to-fall-1235027977/

[Cassandre]

glad we didn't learn that Damon's mom already knew the truth. Wouldn't have handled the writers creating drama between him and his mom again. Though I'm really surprised that one wouldn't want to have the adoption paper in case something would come between them and the kid. What if random people came to claim Damon, I would ask the husband the adoption paper so I can at least prove that the adoption was legal and the kid is mine. 

It's crazy that the same guy (Cam) who used to beef with Spencer in All american is the same soft guy in Homecoming. They feel like two complete different characters to me lol. 

I like Thea but she reacted like a drama queen when she saw Damon and Simone talking. Like for someone who is unaware of what's going on between them why would she suddenly react like that by just seeing them doing nothing ? Their conversation wouldn't even have happened further if she just showed up. And the way she run away after earing it was comical. Just like that moment she bursted into tears because of her broken rackets. 

I like how they did their best to keep the coach's secret just to let him spill the beans that easily in front of everyone.

I feel like everything came out too quickly and easily in this episode. There were other ways for Thea to find out about Simone and Damon even thought it's already strange she didn't know before. 

It's funny how since Simone and Jordan broke up it's ok to put Damon and Simone's relationship into words now. It's not tacit that they like each other anymore.  I don't even remember when they established there was something between them and I didn't realize it was okay for Simone to be so open about liking Damon. 

I can't get enough of this show, I don't know why, it's not even that deep but I love it!

Edited May 19, 2022 by Cassandre

[Rae Spellman]

The story of Celine, Xavier, and  Damon is ridiculous. 

Celine was newly married to Jesse with an infant while cheating with Xavier who was also newly married to Keena. Initially, Celine brought her child with Xavier home to Jesse. But, Jesse didn't want to raise another man's son.  The blended family could have been Xavier, Celine, JR, and Damon with Celine receiving child support from Jesse for JR. But, even though Xavier thought Celine was the most beautiful woman in the world and remembers her years later when he has Alzheimer's he wanted to stay with Keena. When Jesse found out Damon wasn't his child, Celine gave Damon to Xavier and agreed to NEVER see him so that she could save her marriage. Eighteen years later, Jesse still hasn't forgiven Celine and divorces her. Damon doesn't recognize himself in a baby photo. But, super sleuth JR figures out his true identity. 

What did Celine name the son she gave brith to? Who are the parents listed on Damon's birth certificate? Has Keena or Damon ever seen his birth certificate? Surely they'd need to at some point in eighteen years. Maybe Xavier handled everything related to everything. Maybe Xavier obtained a fake birth certificate at some point. Did Celine initially identify her husband, Jesse Raymond, Sr. as the father? Did she give up her parental rights? Maybe she knew Xavier was the father from the start, told Jesse and he tried to raise the child as his own until JR got sick and he decided to invest his energy and financial resources in HIS son.

Damon certainly has a thing for women like both of his mothers. Celine had a side baby while married to Jesse. Simone pretended Jordan was Shay's dad for a bit. Thea is super intense about tennis and only tennis. Keena was super intense about being a momager and only a momager.

I'm really enjoying Tia's husband on this show! While I appreciate family dinners, I wouldn't mind if Simone left Bringston and took Auntie with her. 

Does Nate go to JR's baseball games? Will we ever see Akeelah again? Can Cam play catcher and take Santiago's spot? So many random thoughts about this delightfully awful show. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

As known, Thea is waaaaay out of her depth with Damon.  Then, out of nowhere, she's all mature in that come to Jesus convo on her bed?  She still lied by omission.  lol

Gabrielle may be the most ridic of all.  she knows full well Cam is always with Keisha and each are serious about it.  She cares not and simply wants a good time with Cam.  Cool.  Now, she instantly demands integrity and congruence?!  Awful character development as in lack thereof.

IRL, no way the baseball team survives the true scandal of the coach who lost his marbles very publicly.  It was directly related to the published scandal with Shaw.  With the school itself hanging by a thread, baseball is ovuh.

It was laughable that we got exactly zero presence by the tennis coach.  She kept Jerika on schollie?!  As broke as they all are?  If Simone were actually a Top 6 prospect, she would have had a match with #3, 4, or 5.  It was also very curious that Thea had time to practice before the showdown with Katia, but no time for a quick restring, or three.  

I am forgetting something about the Jerika friendship.  When did this happen?  

That was the weakest drumline battle/showdown evah.  I'd bet a lot that the nat sound from the video of it was way better than the canned mess we heard.

How does anyone, and I mean anyone, at Bringston take the prez seriously?   That man can't make a decision of any importance that he will stand by.  Everything is a 180.  It's astounding.

When Nate finds out that Nate was not included in any of the super huge dish in this ep, Nate gonna be real upset.  What was more important than pre-Homecoming, Homecoming, anyway?  

No cap.  I very, very, much want the show to succeed and be a light.  Unfortunately, that light appears to be a train heading straight for all the obvious good intentions.    

 

[KWalkerInc]

I find it very hard to believe that the take-charge, hands-on woman that Keena has been shown to be would just let Xavier handle everything about the "adoption" without asking a single question.  They didn't even make up some phony explanation that she was very different in her younger days or anything like that.  Of course it was just to preserve the mystery for as long as they could by having the truth be so elusive because of Xavier having Alzheimer's, but it was still stupid.

[KWalkerInc]

I have to admit I was caught off-guard by the twist of Jesse actually being Damon's father.  For some reason, I thought the testing was leading to them saying Damon had some type of genetic defect that would lead to some horrible illness.  I thought that would be a rather dark turn, so I'm glad it wasn't the case.  I liked the earlier scene where he told off Jesse over his insistence that he "protected his family," because that is just awful.  Damon's speech where he told Thea they were going to be together for the long haul even if the school closed and they were on opposite coasts was not at all convincing.  I can't believe she went for that, though I guess she really wants to believe him because she's vulnerable.  I don't think he would actually play for the evil ex-coach even though he hates Jesse.  I don't think he would betray JR like that, unless they both transferred, which they obviously will not do.

I liked the way Keena helped Marcus, especially when she told him he needed his medication and there was no shame in it.  I hope they won't try to put them together if Xavier dies soon.  It seems like a future pairing is the intention any time someone is nice and helps someone on a drama, but hopefully not in this case.

The "Thea hurt her shoulder because of Simone's racket" story is ridiculous.  When she was yelling at Simone for trying to get her to expand her horizons beyond tennis and blamed her because she was upset, that made some sense because she was lashing out, but the racket thing is pathetic.  I wish that instead of being at the tennis courts, her meltdown had been in front of Nate so that we could have heard the ensuing comment.  But I suppose that wouldn't have allowed the scene to be serious enough.  I hope that Thea won't do a complete 180 now.  That would make her relationship with Damon even more unlikely, if she was only nice to him and no one else.  It was kind of funny how they tried to act like they were giving Simone an exit back to the original show if this one had been cancelled, with the transfer option, but I don't think they would have really put her back there except maybe as a one-off guest star.  They annoyed me by again trying to compare her tennis ability to Serena, as in an episode of the original show where she told Jordan she was compared to her as a junior player.  I do not think so.  And now Naomi Osaka is also thinking, "Leave me out of this" after Simone's mom also mentioned her.  I was surprised that the invisible tennis coach made another brief on-camera appearance.

The president must have been sick of his job considering how accommodating he was about the mysterious donor demanding that he give Amara the position.  Of course she has no choice but to accept now, but the thing about her sister getting her the job was dumb.  Being a professor seems hard enough.

Cam's future does seem to be in music, but I think he should have held onto the football scholarship as long as he could.  It's not that Keisha wasn't right about him needing to find a new path, but college is obviously very expensive and he should have seen if he could track down other options first.  However, it seems odd that a team and university that were kind enough to keep him on scholarship when he would probably never play again would be so cold-hearted over one meeting--and also that they were so quick so send out the notice about how much he owed when the place had been about to close a couple hours earlier.  (Well, actually, I do kind of buy that part about demanding the money.)

[TVForever]

6 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

I liked the way Keena helped Marcus, especially when she told him he needed his medication and there was no shame in it.  I hope they won't try to put them together if Xavier dies soon.  It seems like a future pairing is the intention any time someone is nice and helps someone on a drama, but hopefully not in this case.

I'm not sure Show is going to wait until Xavier dies.