S05.E06: Can't Nobody Hold Me Down

[jewel21]

Quote

After what happens at the press conference, Spencer and Jordan try to secure as many commitments before the end of National Signing Day to help their team. Asher tries to capitalize on the unfortunate opportunity by swaying some new recruits with an assist from an unlikely source. Olivia is torn on how to publish her article while also protecting those she loves. Patience is pushed outside her comfort zone while shooting a music video. Meanwhile, Jordan and JJ throw a party that escalates and ends with Jordan witnessing a rude awakening.

Airdate: 11/21/2022

[FnkyChkn34]

Does the name Jayden Davis have any significance that we're supposed to recognize?

Also, I'm 99.5% sure that this is not at all how top collegiate football programs work.  Mr. Coach Montez would yell at Asher for having his girlfriend tag along, not commend them both.  ::eyeroll::

[Artsda]

Morris Chessnut? Taye has his buddy on the show now.

Since when doesOlivia care about who this will affect, she didn't learn anything from her going after her mother.

[KWalkerInc]

I do think that Coach Garrett needs to have stiffer consequences than just resigning because otherwise he will just continue to do the same thing at his next job.  Although that part is confusing because I thought A.D. Barnes said the NCAA had been tipped off, so they'd probably try to step in or at least keep a close eye on the next program.  But I don't know what good it does for Olivia to use an alias when everyone in the world seems to already know she was writing the article.  I don't know that her alias is supposed to mean anything, and my initial thought about Jayden Davis was that he was a failed outfielder for the Giants a couple years ago, but that was Jaylin Davis.

They really didn't need Jaymee (that's the spelling they list in the press release for the season) to mention her health condition again.  With everything so perfect for her and Asher and them already talking about their future and the coach wanting Asher to marry her, it couldn't be more obvious that she'll drop dead soon.  So for her sake, maybe she should try to avoid being in the fall finale next week.  The part with Asher answering Marco's phone to taunt Spencer was really annoying, so I'm glad he signed with GAU (for the moment at least).

I know J.J. seems to have a major problem, but he's kind of getting on my nerves.  He's better in small doses.  Even though he's often provoked, Jordan has a problem too--he can't go more than a couple episodes at a time without punching someone, even though he's a quarterback and he's already missed time with a broken hand.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Soooo much to overlook in order to enjoy this one.

Glad J.J. was finally called on his shite.  A great moment for me was when he emphasized the three were Freshman.  That's right between the eyes obvious, yet our protagonists are front and center and leading on everything when the reality is they would be mushrooms.  The instant adulthood, including the costuming and make-up choices, this season have been very off-putting.  It does, at least, more closely match the actual age of the cast.  Layla is what, 30?

The move by the bad coach was super on point.  That kind of stuff really does happen all the time in bigtime athletics.  The AD desperate to create the flimsiest of fig leafs is also spot on.  Daddy-o getting played by him was delicious, and right in character.  But, the NCAA is a toothless tiger and would turn a blind eye to the extent possible.  The school would not be punished, or perhaps barely touched, for the individual actions of the coach.  It would have to be proven they knew, or should have known, of the bountygate.  That just didn't happen here.  Our man Billy would have known this and told Olivia by way of helping assuage her anxieties.  

Asher's coach was as manic as can be before he sent out Asher to flip some guys.  Then, with things still in major flux, he was as calm and assured as a banker when Asher returned to report his "failure."  An oracle, he was.

No mention at all of booster participation in retention and recruiting of talent?  Massive miss.  Especially so in this new era of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL).  Elite recruit: "Yeah, Spence, it's cool that you care so much about me as a person.  Show me the money!"

Layla's failure to be allllll over the enormous layout of cash and the specifics of the Patience video was all kinds of cry cray.  Then again, she plays at her career, doesn't she.  Still so little appreciation for the value of money.  Coop nowhere to be found in the goings on at the taping site/stage?!  Riiiiiight.  Patience was all alone and utterly vulnerable to a total co-opting.  Puhlease.

The show could have got all of this done with much more credibility/believability.  It's gonna be super interesting to see if this is the end.  Spence would be a fool to stay, for example.  They could certainly do a major re-shuffling.

[FnkyChkn34]

1 hour ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Soooo much to overlook in order to enjoy this one.

Glad J.J. was finally called on his shite.  A great moment for me was when he emphasized the three were Freshman.  That's right between the eyes obvious, yet our protagonists are front and center and leading on everything when the reality is they would be mushrooms.  The instant adulthood, including the costuming and make-up choices, this season have been very off-putting.  It does, at least, more closely match the actual age of the cast.  Layla is what, 30?

Daniel Ezra (Spencer) is 30, Greta Onieogou (Layla) is 31, Bre-Z (Coop) is 35, Chelsea Tavares (Patience) is 31, and Hunter Clowdus (JJ) is also 31.  The others are not much younger, all appear to be 26+.  The only people playing even close to their real age are Taye Diggs and the other adults, and even then, some of those are off.  The actor who plays Dillon is now 15, but since the show has only progressed 3 years, not 5 like in the real world, he's aged out of his role too.  

[mojoween]

Oh my god Asher you nerd leave JJ alone.  I still don’t understand why we even still need Asher.

Although I was quite sure JJ was going to end up dead from alcohol poisoning by the end of the ep.

[luckyroll3]

I'm on JJ's side in all of this. Asher has been so fucking obnoxious every episode!! Especially with constantly trying to put JJ in his place and purposefully recruiting players in JJ's position to prove his point. Yes, we get it. You're a "student coach", whatever that means. He keeps hounding JJ about responsibilities, but I have yet to see Asher go to a class or do homework or anything related to being an actual student. Also, JJ is an 18 year old in his first year of college. AND it's the off season. He's allowed to live his life. I will say throwing lots of parties at the house is probably a bit much, and the comment he made about about Layla was rude as hell, but them acting like he's just so different and how dare he not mature into a 30 year old like us in the first semester of college is eye-roll inducing. I'll just go sit over here by myself!

[KWalkerInc]

J.J. has always been the most realistic of the young characters and did a good job helping balance out the other characters and remind them to have fun.  But this year, he has to have a major problem because they felt they needed something big to do with him.  I don't know why they couldn't have just let the character be who he was before.  Asher is almost always annoying and it seems he's taken it upon himself to always nag J.J.  Of course now there's cause for concern, but he was doing this before without any prompting from the coaches.  I think even that time when J.J. was failing a class last season, Asher saw that himself on some list, he wasn't asked to do anything by anyone else.  I hope they won't go for a storyline like "Jaymee dies and it brings Asher and J.J. back together."  That is too much like when all the players were punching each other (regardless of team) before the championship and then they all banded together for Spencer after Coop was shot.

[FnkyChkn34]

This show has the same problem that most if not all of these teen drama shows have - they aren't real "teens."  They don't look, talk, or act like teens, yet the viewer is supposed to believe that they are 16, 17, 18.  Come on now.  Beverly Hills 90210, Dawson's Creek, Gossip Girl (which I never watched but I assume), Outer Banks, etc., etc. - and this show.  All so completely unrealistic.  But I guess we still watch anyway, suspending all belief in reality...