All American - Fight the Power - Review

First of all I want to apologize for falling behind on my All American reviews. Real life got in the way. So before I start reviewing "Fight the Power", let's quickly recap what's happened in the last few weeks. Jordan was seriously hurt after getting hit again after cheating concussion protocol.  He learns that he's done playing football for the year which means he might not play in college, either. The secret of Simone and Jordan's marriage is out, and Olivia is in recovery again and Nurse Joy (who I love) is her new sponsor. Oh, and Billy worries about memory loss? Did I miss anything? 

 

At the end of the previous episode, Olivia released the body cam footage of the cops and Tamika. I understand that Olivia wanted to help, and she thought she was doing the right thing, but she didn't think before she did this. She thought that her mom just didn't want to release the tapes and was hiding something. How did she not realize this was an active investigation, and her mom couldn't talk about it? To be fair, we've all been teenagers and done things without thinking about the consequences. Unfortunately, this was something with massive consequences. 

Olivia didn't realize that releasing the footage actually hurt the D.A.'s case against the cops that murdered Tamika. And the public thought her mom was trying to hide something and called her horrible things. I'm glad that her mom's co-worker told her the truth about how Olivia's actions actually did more harm than good, and she made things worse.  I feel like I usually defend Olivia, and before this season she was my favorite character, but I really can't defend her here. She didn't understand why her mom couldn't talk to her about this? It was an active investigation. That's why her mom couldn't talk about it. Even Layla understood that. Hopefully, in the future, Olivia will think before doing something impulsive like this. And I hope Laura doesn't lose her job over this. 

I've said this before, but I love Grace James. She is one of the best parts, if not the best, of All American.  She always seems to have the right things to say.  I loved her chat with Laura when Laura was not feeling her best.  She made Laura feel better and understand that Olivia doesn't hate her.  Everyone should have someone like Grace in their life.  I'm interested to see if Laura and Grace will have more of a friendship now.  

Someone who doesn't make Laura feel better?  Simone.  And I have to say, I'm definitely on Laura's side here.  They forged her signature on the marriage license.  Doesn't that make the marriage invalid anyway?  Laura has every right to be furious that Simone and Jordan got married and then lied about it.  Then Simone decided to announce it when Jordan was unconscious?  Simone should be lucky that Laura didn't lose it on her right there at the hospital.

Raise your hand if you think this marriage is going to last.  Yeah... that's what I thought.  And now Jordan is more focused on figuring out what to do now with football than Simone.  I really wish that Jordan would listen to the doctors about his concussion.  Now he's asking Spencer to help him get back?   This cannot end well at all.  And did Jordan not learn anything from last time?  I know that Jordan loves football, but he can find something else that he loves.  He might get himself hurt or worse if he tries to come back and play again.  Head injuries are not something to mess around with.

Speaking of football injuries, I was worried about Billy.  After we learned he doesn't remember anything about beating up Principal Carter.  I'm so relieved that the doctor's don't think it's CTE.  The Bakers already have enough issues in their family.

The other big story in "Fight the Power" was Crenshaw forfeiting their football game.  At first, Spencer just wants the team to take a knee, but he decides it won't be enough.  He tells the team that in order to make a difference and fight for justice for Tamika, they need for forfeit the game.  I was surprised that everyone on the team agreed since this means they are out of the playoffs.  For some of these guys, it was there last chance to try to get a college.  It was nice that the other team also forfeited.  That honestly brought tears to my eyes because they didn't have to do that.  They don't owe anything to Crenshaw and this meant their playoff chances were over, too.  But they decided this was more important that a football game.

There was a lot that happened in this episode.  Did you agree with Crenshaw forfeiting the game?  How did you feel about Olivia releasing the body cam footage?  Leave a comment and discuss below.