Season two of All American is proving to be the most explosive season yet with plot twist after plot twist and characters becoming messier by the minute.
Spencer James (played by Daniel Ezra) still leads the show as Beverly Hills High’s star football player. He continues to balance his life between Beverly Hills and Crenshaw with the support of his best friend Coop (played by Bre-Z), his single mom Grace James (played by Karimah Westbrook), and Beverly High coach Billy Baker (played by Taye Diggs). However, it was recently revealed that his mom cheated on his dad Corey James with Coach Baker, so naturally the after-effects are intense in season two. On top of all this, Spencer’s father has returned in his life after years of missing his childhood. Plus, Spencer is concerned for his girlfriend, Layla Keating, who seems to be spiraling out of control after her house is broken into and her dad is M.I.A. after the trauma.
Such drama makes for messy characters and you can hit the flip for the messiest of the messiest thus far!
Coop continually treaded dangerous territory in season one when she tried to avenge the death of her gangbanger friend Shawn. However, she’s calmed down in season two, although she’ll forever have the snitch title for helping authorities bust her adversary Tyrone. Now, she just has to work on her relationship with her mom and get her music career off the ground.
Another character who had a very messy start, considering he was jealous and lowkey racist towards Spencer James when he first arrived a Beverly High. But now, after becoming honest about his family’s financial downfall and refocusing his energy to football, Asher’s mess has cleaned up quite a bit in season two.
Layla gets a bit of a pass since she’s dealing with depression and all. But considering the things she’s said to her friends and family during her moments of rage, it’ll be hard backtracking her statements. She called her former addict best friend Olivia Baker “princess rehab,” she told Olivia’s mom to fix her own “broken family” and she broke up with her boyfriend Spencer James because he was worried about her and tried to intercede in her spiraling life. Again, considering her depression, all these things might be a thing of the past in future episodes. But let’s not forget that Layla was also living in a MESSY hotel room, so she still technically qualifies for this list.
This party-loving football player hasn’t played a major role in the show other than…well…partying. This can become an issue when you always prioritize the turn up over other people’s life drama. This man literally threw a birthday party for his teammate Jordan Baker and his sister Olivia Baker when he knew they were grounded and the after effects could be catastrophic (which they were). Not to mention, JJ is loud, macho and takes up a lot of space in general. No one likes a selfish partier.
The Superman act can get old REAL quick when people (especially men) bottle up their emotions and don’t take the time to process grievances. There have been plenty of times when Spencer didn’t give himself time to grieve and his anger came out in the most violent ways. Yet, he’s trying to save everyone around him, including his mom, his best friend Coop and his (now ex) girlfriend Layla. Chill out Spence. Handle your own problems before you spend time trying to fix somebody else’s issues.
The generational curse is real. Any issues Coach Baker or his son Jordan Baker have can probably be traced back to Grandpa Willy. Through flashbacks, we can clearly see that Willy manipulated his son, Billy, to make him a better football player. In the grand scheme of it all, he probably pushed his son too hard, which can cause major anxiety, unhealthy ideas of perfectionism or entitlement. We already can assume that Billy felt entitled to his wife and mistress Grace James, which led to their affair. But more on that later.
Yup, we’re coming for you Ms. James. At first, Grace seems like a great mom, holding it down for her two sons after their father left. But then, it’s revealed that Grace had an affair with Billy Baker while he was still married. And now she can’t even tell whether her second son Dillon is the son of Billy or her ex-husband Corey James. Messy, mess, mess.
Jordan is another character who wasn’t terrible at the beginning of season one. Aside from a little anger towards his father for not giving him attention, Jordan seemed to be a typical star high school quarterback with a solid family by his side. However, when it was revealed that his father Billy Baker cheated on his mom with Grace James, all hell broke loose. Jordan became reck-LESS. The teen basically held Billy’s infidelities over his head so he could do what he wanted. Jordan also had his girls on rotation without any consideration for their feelings, and now he has one girl pregnant.
Was it mentioned that he completely wrecked his sister’s car too.
Leave your kids once? Maybe they’ll be open to the forgiveness process.
Leave your kids twice? You’ll be lucky if they even utter your name into the universe.
Granted, it was revealed that Corey partially left his kids because he found out his wife Grace James was cheating on him with his former best friend Billy Baker. But still, that’s no reason to cut contact with your kids completely. You see how messed up Spencer is with his daddy issues. Then, in the latest episode, you’re going to leave your kids AGAIN? And you only left them some raggedy notes to remember you by?
And the number one messiest person goes too (drum role) Billy Baker! List of messy things include:
1. Cheated on his wife with a woman (Grace James) who happened to be the wife of his (former) best friend Corey James.
2. Lied about the infidelity to everyone and moved his mistress’ kid into his house KNOWING that he had something to do with Spencer’s instability in the first place.
3. Swapped out his son’s (Jordan Baker) drug test just so he could play in a football game.
Again, at first glance, Coach Billy seems like a calm, level headed guy who cares about his family and team. But behind the exterior is a hot, big, bubbly mess.
