All American leaned into its original cast by bringing back Laura and Patience to help celebrate G.W.'s birthday. However, that was not the only big event that occurred, as there is finally a big update regarding Coop and Patience's relationship, a break in the case surrounding Billy Baker's half-brother, and a strong narrative choice for Jordan, Layla, and Khalil. The pieces of season seven's main characters interacting are finally starting to fall into place, even if it is far later than it should have been. Still, this episode has been a rare moment in season seven where All American has gone out of its way to find a way to integrate different characters into each other's storylines.
Coop is a major part of this episode, as part of her storyline revolves around the implied and obvious emotional distance between her and Patience that came from months of living across the country from each other. Coop and Patience are more out of sync than ever, and with how Coop is not as emotionally hurt by the idea of Patience revealing her plans to move to London, it is only a matter of time before the two officially call it quits. While Coop and Patience's sit-down talk about how they really feel about their relationship does not come to a conclusion in this episode, the implication of where they are at is very strong. Still, if All American commits to breaking them up for good, the audience deserves to watch the break-up unfold, seeing as Coop and Patience's relationship has been a major part of the series for years, even if Patience's role has not always been front and center.
Another questionable part of Coop's storyline is highlighted even more in this episode, and it is hard to avoid the problematic writing of the decision to continue avoiding confirming Coop's current living arrangements. Coop's professor sends her a textbook to Layla's Cafe, and Patience's plans to surprise Coop have her showing up at the Baker house. However, All American never confirms or implies that Coop is living with Layla and Jordan. So, where is she living? Why wasn't Coop's textbook sent to her place of residence? Why didn't Patience go to surprise Coop at her own home? The refusal to at least confirm Coop's place of living is frustratingly lazy, as it just requires one sentence giving a suggestion of a house, apartment, or on-campus graduate dorm that Coop lives in. This has been a problem since the beginning of the season as Coop floats between the Baker house and Preach and Amina's house without ever confirming where she lives, as in both instances, it appears Coop is a visitor, not a resident.
As for Jordan, the detective search may have finally come to an end. But, if he was searching for a stronger connection to Billy, he may have found it in stepping up for Khalil. While Jordan says he may have been searching so hard because of how much he misses his father, G.W. acknowledges that Jordan's standing up for Khalil was very much something Billy would have done. However, Jordan continues the trend by taking it a step further in bringing Khalil into his home, just as Billy invited Spencer to live with their family, even though Spencer's situation had been vastly different from Khalil's. Bringing Khalil into the Baker house, as well as committing to showing Khalil, Amina, KJ, and Tori all interacting, finally shows All American committing to devoting more time to seeing the new main characters building their own relationships with each other, as well as the original characters. This is something that All American's seventh season has desperately needed to do for several episodes, and it has finally moved the narrative forward by creating the opportunity to build real bonds or opposition between its new leads.
Jordan's belief that Coach Bobby was Billy's half-brother is ultimately proved to be wrong, and All American goes the extra distance to suggest that Cassius was also not the secret uncle, for any fans who may have been theorizing that his frustration with the Baker family had something to do with being aware of estranged relations. The decision to end Jordan's search for his estranged uncle can go two-fold, as season seven had Jordan and Layla discussing it a lot, but the series also was not nearly as interested as it should have been in following this mystery as it would have liked the audience to think, seeing as Jordan and Layla's excursion for answers was a skipped storyline opportunity. While having answers to this question may be nice, the storyline was introduced too quickly at the end of season six and was not given enough emotional weight in season seven to really come across that leaving it unsolved makes it a loose end. It is hard to ask for emotional narrative closure in a storyline that did not offer a lot of it to begin with.
With an uncertain future ahead of it, given its main cast overhaul and no official news on if the series will be renewed or canceled, season seven has so far been a mixed bag. While some episodes present a more balanced presentation of original characters and new additions, other episodes have struggled to keep the show's quality and energy. Moving Khalil into the Baker house while also creating a reason for Khalil, Amina, KJ, and Tori to spend time together is the opportunity to set the foundation for what the rest of season seven can look like if it devotes itself to striving to create a new sense of an ensemble cast, rather than watching three different shows at once. If All American is renewed for season eight, then the rest of season seven can prepare the new bonds that will help push the series forward. If All American is canceled at the conclusion of season seven, then while Jordan and Layla's storylines as a married couple were fun, and seeing Coop thrive in law school help give a sense that these characters ended up doing great as adults, it was only hurtful for the show to continue past season six, which offered a beautiful set of final episodes that could have worked as a series finale, in comparison to introducing a brand new set of characters only to never let them truly develop and lift off the ground.