S07.E04: Face Off

[KWalkerInc]

Quote

After Beverlyʼs humbling loss, KJ is determined to turn things around by looking to Jordan Baker's old plays; Layla refuses to work with pop star Elle Grant over controversial social media posts she made as a teen.

 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

KJ checks his phone and sees it's time.  Time for Pete, Liz, Seymour, Alice, Jason, Bernie, and my all-time crush, Helen.  It's time to head a few miles across memory lane (La Cienega) to Whitman High and Room 222!  It was no coincidence that 2:22 was displayed on KJ's phone.  Major, major props for that callback.

Jordan is being a damn fool.  "Stealing" a son away from a Crips OG/leader?  The show bit off way more than it can chew for this arc.

Elle was dead wrong to reach out as she did to Layla. And then to trek out to Beverly unannounced to try to contact her in person?!  So much for following 12 Step canon.  Where was her sponsor Olivia?  She should have been screaming at her to not approach Layla unless it was to make a sincere amend - and make it only if it would not hurt Layla (or others).  Liv would know that there was a very great risk of hurting Layla and should have laid down the law.  No contacting Layla!!!! At least for now.  At this point, it matters not.  Tra la tra la tra la.  No harm, no foul.  Ugh.  Don't get me started on Coop pulling what she did.

Cassius took this job for a horrible reason.  He did it for himself.  He needed the kids.  No bueno.  As a coach, refusing to adopt (steal) something that others have used which is something as old as football, is a fool's ego run amok.  

KJ didn't turn to Tori for any of the messed up family and team dynamics?  This, after mom was being a pain, and then not even taking his calls?  Similarly, where was Amina?  She's all grown, right?  She would know how to help Khalil.  She's not afraid of gangs, or nothing.  /sarc

Coach Bobby, once again, is playing it 100% as most any coach would.  He's let Khalil know he is on his radar, but he tamped down expectations.  This is a guy I could play for.

I am curious to see what the Beverly Principal's gonna do.  The championship jersey being intentionally swiped from the trophy case and seeing the spirit that was ignited?  Whoa.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

[KWalkerInc]

It's kind of funny that the show has, in back-to-back weeks, both teams winning because of ignoring a mandate from the head coach.  Maybe (though not likely because they're so competitive and at rival schools) Bobby and Cassius could get together for a drink after the season and talk about how much they hate the Bakers.  This could lead to the Big Reveal about which of them (if any) is actually Billy's brother.  And I still won't care.  It's interesting that they even acknowledged the original mystery, whether Spencer was Billy's son, even though they probably aren't bringing in the same audience interest with this one.  I did laugh at how Layla wasn't interested in helping, then when Jordan said they would be near Napa she immediately said she was getting her bag.

On an Aaron Spelling show when he was still around, they probably would have made a reference to Hart to Hart when Jordan was talking about married detectives (and Layla could have been like, "What?").  I don't think that show has been in syndication in forever though, maybe in was on FX when the network first started.  I liked their assistant and dog.

I know that Olivia wants to pay back and help others as a sponsor, but it doesn't seem like she is the greatest at this.  She tried hard with that girl who was good at dancing, I think?  But it was mainly just in that one episode where she and Spencer were really trying to spend a day together and couldn't until the end.  Even though what Elle posted was bad, I was imagining something even worse.  But I guess the show really couldn't do that or they could get in trouble (plus they had to tie it to Layla somehow).  Coop did not need to lay a guilt trip on Layla by saying, "You did these mean things to us when you had problems with mental illness, so you should understand."  They could have just had Coop trying to advocate for second chances in general--though giving someone a chance is a crapshoot on this show.  It can work out well, but you can also end up shot or stabbed or almost thrown off a cliff.  I hope there will not be a similar situation for Layla for accepting Elle as a songwriter.

It made me uneasy that Coop seems smitten with her professor, looking her up on social media and all.  This will not be good.

Maybe Preach (in one of the episodes where he appears) will give some type of warning to Jordan about what he is getting into by crossing Khalil's dad.  I do like how they have portrayed how torn Khalil is over his loyalty to his dad.  But Dad seems like a narcissist to risk his son's life and not want him to ever have anything better than what he has chosen.  He's like the anti-Preach (though of course Preach didn't know about Amina until Mo needed to manipulate him).  Somehow I think this storyline will end up involving Coop at some point.  When she was in a gang in season 1, wasn't she a Blood?  I should remember, and I was going to buy all the episodes and re-watch, but I used my birthday money on a sweatshirt.

It was odd that the other players' lockers all said last names with their number, but Khalil's said "#0 - Khalil."  Do Jordan and Coach Bobby not know his last name?  Maybe they thought the audience wouldn't understand that it was him if a last name were listed.

Although Ava gave decent advice to ease Cassius' ego, not so much what she said to KJ at halftime.  He shouldn't have been praised for ignoring his Pee Wee coach and throwing the ball when he was supposed to be on the line.  Did he break the glass to get Jordan's jersey?  The Beverly principal is the same one who was there when Jabari and some extras took the championship trophy and resulted in Spencer not being able to go to graduation (so principal could be sensitive), but he's probably just happy they won a game.

Even though I read the article from a while back where they talked about who is recurring and who is a regular, I don't remember because I didn't know who any of the people were when I read it.  Tori I think is recurring so they didn't feel a need to explain away her absence (like the cheerleaders are practicing for a competition and she's supporting them).  Amina makes some sense after the embarrassing moment with Khalil.  She could have decided to hide under the bed or fake sickness for a few days, and Preach can't stop her when he isn't in the episode either.

Edited February 25 by KWalkerInc
Added note about Khalil's locker.

[mojoween]

KJ was WROOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGGG.  Just because the play worked doesn’t mean what he did was right.  Coach Long-Suffering Father should have cut his ass right then.  Also this is the first episode where I learned that Coach is named Cassius.