What a surprise!
Jordan and Simone didn’t get remarried on All American Season 3 Episode 18.
As soon as the spinoff All American: Homecoming was announced, that development was inevitable.
Still, the narrative that transported viewers to that obvious conclusion was well handled. There was even that TV trope, the replacement ceremony.
And, best of all, the other storylines proceeded apace and got the narrative weight they deserved as well.
After watching Simone’s Mom-zilla in action leading up to the ceremony, it’s impossible to blame her for wanting to put 2,200 miles between herself and Tina.
Tina was horrible, the way she dismissed Rescue Smoothies as the site for the rehearsal dinner, even though it held great sentimental value to Jordan and Simone.
Didn’t she get that the wedding wasn’t all about her? No, wait. She didn’t.
I feel even worse for Robert, Simone’s father, and Tina’s husband. At least he will no longer have to play referee after Simone heads off to college.
Fortunately, Laura was gracious enough to host the dinner at her house on short notice and even had the energy to snipe at Tina throughout the event.
Poor Jordan. He kept putting Simone first and was willing to accommodate whatever she (or Tina) wanted.
He should have seen the writing on the wall when he got an “oh, by the way” from Simone: “Oh, by the way, I’m chucking Stanford and going instead to my new dream school, Bringston. Sorry, because I know that goes against all we’ve been planning for the past couple of years.”
Jordan’s answer, to paraphrase: OK, I’ll come with you. They have some kind of football there.
To be honest, Jordan’s football career is circling the drain, so being on an HBCU team beats getting rejected by the Pac-12 squads he had been dreaming about playing for.
Still, Jordan is a bougie Cali boy, and Bringston would be culture shock for him, no matter how often he’s visited GW and Spencer in Crenshaw, which Simone realized more and more as she watched Jordan in his natural environment, with his friends and family.
She tried to articulate her feelings to her father when she really should have talked with Jordan long before the wedding ceremony itself. She didn’t leave him at the altar, so they avoided that cliche anyway.
After her freakout with Layla and Olivia, she finally did open up to Jordan, and her solution was fairly well reasoned.
They would do the long-distance thing, and their love would keep them together (whatever).
Of course, it’s simple to take that stance when there’s already a hunky pitcher named Damon waiting for her at Bringston. Talk about inevitable.
Then again, maybe this is that one such relationship that actually works out.
Jordan was remarkably chill afterward with his boys. He almost looked like “Dodged a bullet,” especially while watching Tina trash the joint.
It was laughable that Jordan was the only one who didn’t know that Billy and Laura had been hooking up. Even Asher was aware, which was shocking.
At least Billy and Laura didn’t waste the opportunity to get remarried to Jordan and Olivia’s delight.
Jordan even laid some truth on Olivia, getting her to understand that she didn’t have to be lonely just because she’s in recovery.
Things worked out pretty well for Spencer, even though he had to go through quite a bit of drama first.
First, the whole South Crenshaw team was stressing because the school’s fate was on their shoulder pads. It was win or get bussed. Billy heaping on the extra practice and weight training certainly weren’t helping.
Then Spencer got surprised by Grace’s relationship with Principal Carter. I know Dillon is a moody teenager now, but how was it that he hadn’t mentioned that little detail to Spencer?
That resulted in Spencer blowing up at Grace, and D’Angelo, and Billy, basically every adult in his life. Fortunately, he did realize how stupid that was after Coop reminded him.
He became an adult about Carter and was rewarded with an improved South Crenshaw thanks to D’angelo’s school campaign.
Finally, Olivia recognized the wisdom of Jordan’s words (four words I didn’t expect to string together) and got back together with Spencer.
Spencer also had some intel for Coop, informing her about Preach’s daughter Amita. Then she understood why Preach stayed in L.A. rather than going to Vegas to handle Coop’s merchandise.
That also means that Mo’s trap has been set, now that Andre has been putting in the position of handling Coop’s merch. Why that’s important is yet to be seen.
And yay! Coop earned her G.E.D. so she can focus on her music.
Layla may be in even more danger from her stalker, Carrie.
Carrie has been acting sketchy ever since she showed up on Layla’s door on All-American Season 3 Episode 13.
Initially, her needing a place to stay was believable. But she began acting really possessive of Layla, especially when Olivia was around.
Now Layla is aware that Carrie ran away from home (not rehab), but she seems to think she can manipulate Carrie on her own. That’s not a good move.
To revisit the peril of South Crenshaw, watch All American online.
What do you think about D’angelo coming around, and should Grace get the credit?
Now Spencer can just play football. Is that a good thing?
Who’s in more danger, Coop or Layla?
Comment below.
Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.