S07.E08: Squabble Up

[KWalkerInc]

  Quote

It's homecoming weekend at South Crenshaw High; as part of a new tradition, Amina is named Ms. South Crenshaw, which brings up memories of her mother; Khalil prepares to play for the first time since making the football team.

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Airs March 24, 2025

[Lonesome Rhodes]

I'm happy to own it if I am wrong about this...the very last time we saw Bobby with Jordan, he ripped him to shreds, declaring that he was no good.  At the top of this ep, he and Jordan are all smiling and lightly teasing.  Then, Jordan asks for Khalil to start for the umpteenth time.  Bobby is totally cool with that.  Rod Serling would be proud of the creation of that new and different dimension.  Then, the end when he interrupts Bobby and utterly contradicts him.  Beyond any semblance of reality.  

Mina creates some cray cray quasi-panty raid, the lads show up as directed, in the middle of the night, and she blows it off utterly.  Next day, she ducks her responsibility as prez to represent at the pep rally.  The HOMECOMING rally.  Fiddle dee dee.  Rhett took too long to figure out who Scarlet was.  Any chance that Khalil and "Jeremy" can extricate themselves without too much more damage?   

Layla the Oracle is nice and all, and Greta is thoroughly winning in her portrayal.  But, c'mon. 

The confrontation in the hallway was crazy fantastical.  The cherry on top was that Amina, the Homecoming Queen, was able to steel herself away - solo - is straight nuts.  I laughed out loud when the football official declared the cancellation of Homecoming activities.    

One thing I really liked was Khalil shouting out praise to Yasi in the locker room.  It's tough to squash serious squabbles, and these two worked to make it happen.  Good stuff. 

OK, gotsta end with a football note...the last thing to call when the defense is flying to the QB, is a slow-developing play.  A double move is such a play.  Yasi would've been killed, figuratively speaking.

 

[KWalkerInc]

Bobby had definitely not appeared since being critical of Jordan at the party (Jordan hadn't really either), and Jordan even mentioned in this episode that Bobby was still trying to make him prove himself.  They had probably won several games in the meantime, but it was definitely a tone shift.  I'm surprised that Bobby didn't blame Jordan for Yasi's injury because he suggested that play (even though it came on a dirty play after he was down), or blame him for the forfeit because of Khalil claiming responsibility.  And it made no sense that he would have Jordan at the interview, unless the reporter specifically requested it.  It was at least funny when he refused to high-five Jordan though.

I knew someone would get injured on the "Jordan Baker" play, but I didn't think about the specifics until Khalil mentioned later that his dad wouldn't let anyone hurt him.  Of course only Layla thought to have them check the security cam footage of the fight, though they ended up supporting Khalil anyway.  I'm surprised South Crenshaw has any security features, given how anyone can just walk in at any time (the earlier confrontation as the latest example).  It was definitely clunky and hilarious when the referee announced that the homecoming event was cancelled.  If they couldn't have a principal or someone (and of course they can't afford another actor), the ref could have ordered the stands be cleared and then Preach could have been seen telling Amina that homecoming was off.  But as it was, the only thing that made me laugh harder was when the CW voiceover guy announced that the show was sponsored by cat litter!

I'm sure that Preach (and Coop) wanted to protect Amina from everything about Mo, but she seemed to be investigating things herself online and such when she was much younger.  I could do without her constant whining about how no one else wants to say nice things about her mom and yelling at Preach and Coop.  Does she really want to hear that her mom shot unarmed Coop who was trying to make peace after Mo gaslit her and planted drugs on her tour bus?  At least she will be gone for an episode or more since they aren't showing her trip to Baltimore any more than they showed Jordan and Layla in Napa.  I forgot about the storyline where Mo's parents tried to get custody of Amina, though I now remember that I complained every week about their own parenting skills.  The show will probably make Amina feel better by revealing that Mo had a mental illness, although her parents etc. never mentioned it before.  That's what I took from Preach saying they really didn't have any answers (I always thought she just wanted "revenge" for her brother).

It was funny when Layla mentioned that Patience is still on her label, because when she hadn't yet decided who was going to sing Elle's song, I was like, "Well, we know it isn't going to be Patience..."  I still don't think Elle would really have been totally cancelled for her statements, as terrible as they were, unless she had been some super-positive role model for teens or something.  I guess that's what they were getting at, and I know they couldn't make her behavior even worse or they couldn't redeem her.

I was bored by KJ trying to set up Cassius with friends, no matter how many times they made the "DTF" joke.

I'm glad that the site saves content before it's been posted, as I always have to refresh after something freezes or does something weird.  It was only once this week though!

[mojoween]

Wow KJ was annoying.  A refreshing change from all of the other times he has been.

I hope, when this is all over, we get a spinoff with Coop, Preach and Khalil.  I would watch the hell out of that.

I seriously thought they already told Amina what happened when her mom got shot.  Like she was mad at Coop for a minute?  No?

[KWalkerInc]

I think I remember a scene in the park where Coop couldn't bear to tell Amina the truth and said that she shot Mo, and Amina said she never wanted to see her again.  I think she was also mad at Coop for having lied to her when she eventually was told that Preach shot her.  They would always just have Amina say her mom was "complicated," but I thought that was just her wanting to preserve her memory and not bash her too much.  It seems that now they are saying that she didn't know that much about the things her mom did, which is a little implausible between the Internet and info that everyone in the neighborhood probably had.  I think that in the preview of this episode, they had Khalil talking about gang ties to Amina and referring to Coop, Preach and Mo, but I don't think that line was in the episode.

When they showed Coop on the wall of homecoming queens, I was trying to remember if they had mentioned her winning that originally.  I remember her winning prom queen later even though she was no longer in school after she had been shot.  It's possible she was also homecoming queen and I forgot, or else the writers either got the two confused or just decided they wanted to do that so they could have her picture next to Mo's for dramatic effect.