All American deals with the fear of new changes

Changes are a central theme in an All American episode surrounding shifts and transformations. It is happening regarding the group individually and in their relationships. Although change can be a good thing, it can also be terrifying as it can be a vast difference from the world people have grown accustomed to.

Spencer’s main storyline continues to be his desire to prove himself to the coach and be on the field. However, he still falls short of getting the coach’s attention. But, when he meets Davita, another athlete with a background in branding and marketing, Spencer starts to entertain her ideas on a more prominent social media presence.

Although Spencer does not care for social media, he agrees with Davita’s ideas because she is an athlete who had been where Spencer is now, intensely wanting to be on the field. Although Spencer decides against a more significant social media presence and asks to join special teams instead of his usual position as a way to get on the field, Spencer’s storyline also plays into Olivia’s fear of changes.

Olivia is surrounded by change, whether in her house, as none of her friends seem to be on the same page anymore or sees Spencer make different decisions because of Davita. Layla and Patience have yet to mend fences, and Patience and Coop are still dealing with the awkwardness of living together while freshly broken up.

Their friend group is not behaving as usual, which is a significant change from the closeness they have exhibited previously. But, things can not be healed instantly, as much as everyone may want to fix uncomfortable moments or alterations as quickly as possible to return to a sense of normalcy.

In the end, it is Coop, inspired by her time at the nursing home and scenes from General Hospital, that delivers a speech to her friends about the importance of sitting in the uncomfortable element of change.

Changes happen, and they can be terrifying. However, letting things be awkward and uncomfortable for a while as they try to figure it out slowly will ultimately be better than quickly preventing them from happening at all, which could make things worse.

Meanwhile, “Changes” also decides to broaden JJ’s backstory. Always playing a supporting role or standing in the background, JJ never took center stage before. However, “Changes” takes the opportunity to dive into his storyline after Asher finds that JJ may be prevented from playing because of a failing grade in a film class.

During a tutoring session, JJ cannot go deep or describe any adversity he had ever gone through. Although JJ claims to have gone through hardships, he does not name any, and Jordan, Spencer, and Asher all claim that JJ has never told them he had ever gone through anything.

However, JJ later reveals that he had been in a car accident a few years previously but had never told his friends. JJ had allowed his friends to believe he had been having a great time and never corrected them.

Although it is mainly a storyline for JJ, it does work out in Asher’s favor too. Due to Asher’s initiative to help JJ raise his grade, the coach grants Asher the chance to shadow him during a game.

Overall, All American highlights the shifting storylines taking place for everyone. There is no specific or easy way to deal with change that works for everyone. Instead, the friend group must navigate their transforming relationships and lives in the best way possible.