All American Season 6, Episode 1 Recap: Time Jump, Spencer & Olivia's Relationship & More In The Premiere (2024)

All American season 6, episode 1, "Things Done Changed", takes the CW sports drama further into the future than many fans expected and finds the returning cast dealing with new stages of their lives. Partially inspired by the true story of Spencer Paysinger, All American follows a rising high school football star, Spencer James (Daniel Ezra), from South L.A., who is recruited to play at the upper-class Beverly Hills High School. The balancing act he has to accomplish between his two worlds as well as his relationships and goals is the focus of the series.

By season 6, Spencer is out of high school, and playing Division One football at the fictional Golden Angeles University. The season 5 finale saw some massive changes for everyone, including Olivia (Samantha Logan) leaving Spencer to go abroad to London. Season 6 returns everyone to Los Angeles, where characters reunite, some argue, and others deal with the fallout of traumatic events from the previous season. All American is a great football show because of how it balances drama with the sport, and season 6 does that as well as any before it.

All American Season 6 Jumps 15 Months Into The Future

Olivia Stayed In London For An Extra Year

All American season 6, episode 1 makes an unexpected time jump, set 15 months after the season five finale. Not only does this mean characters have grown up and changed in dramatic ways, but it also means Spencer's story is fast-forwarded toward its inevitable conclusion: being drafted onto a professional football team. It was always assumed that All American would eventually see Spencer get to the NFL, but skipping so much of his college years is certainly unexpected, and hints that he will go professional before season 6 ends.

Olivia And Spencer Reaffirm Their Love

Spencer And Olivia Meet For The First Time In Months

At the beginning of All American season 6, episode 1, it's revealed the show jumped 15 months into the future, and Olivia is just now getting back from her trip abroad. She was only supposed to remain in London for three months but ended up staying for 12 more after truly finding herself there. In a flashback, Spencer is shown visiting her when she drops the news on him that she wants to explore more of who she is. Though the two wrote to one another the entire time, the lead-up to their first time seeing one another is tension-filled.

Both have changed over the months, and they both wonder if they will still have the same feelings for one another after so much time apart. However, since Olivia and Spencer are some of the best characters in All American, they realize that though they have changed, their feelings for one another haven't, and the pair reaffirm their love. Not everything is rainbows for the couple though, and Olivia secretly mentions to Coop (Bre-Z) that the only reason she enjoys living in California is that Spencer is there.

Coop pointedly asks her what she'll do if Spencer gets drafted away, and she then has to spend some time apart from him but still in California. It's a similar worry that Spencer has voiced and reveals that there are still some questions that need to be answered if Spencer and Olivia's relationship is to survive.

Spencer And Jordan Compete For The Top Spot On The GAU Team

A New Coach At GAU Likes Jordan More

Drama is also brewing on the football field. Spencer has been getting much more media attention than Jordan (Michael Evans Behling) during this GAU season. However, GAU ends up getting a new member of the coaching staff, largely in response to the Bountygate scandal, and this new coach seems sure that Jordan is in fact the better athlete. The rivalry between Spencer and Jordan is just getting started in season 6, episode 1.

Patience Survived The Stabbing

Layla Blames Herself For Patience Getting Attacked

All American season 5 ended on a cliffhanger that saw Patience (Chelsea Tavares) getting stabbed. Thankfully, the season 6 premiere shows she survived Miko's (Courtney Bandeko) attack. However, the stabbing has left Patience traumatized, and it's exacerbated when she learns that Miko may be let out of jail on bail, or worse, acquitted after a crucial piece of evidence goes missing. During Patience's first musical performance after the stabbing, she has a panic attack and hallucinates Miko on stage with her, causing her to flee.

Layla (Greta Onieogou) admits to Patience she feels responsible for Patience getting stabbed as Layla was the one who served Miko with a restraining order, causing Miko to turn her anger on Patience. Patience dismisses the notion and promises Layla she is in no way responsible. At the same time, Coop is finding it difficult to tell Patience about her true feelings for her and doesn't seem to know when it's appropriate considering everything Patience has been through.

Jordan And Layla Plan To Wed After College

Layla Is Running A Music Lounge With Ryan

Layla has continued being an entrepreneur and, in the last 15 months, opened her own music lounge in place of Slauson Cafe. Layla and her business partner Ryan (Brian Borello) are facing some business challenges though, exacerbated by one of their headliners, Patience, cutting her set early. Jordan and Layla continue to be one of the strongest couples in All American, and they promise one another they will eventually marry, but decide to wait to have a ceremony until after they graduate.

Asher And Jaymee Are Now Parents

Jaymee Had AJ Between Seasons 5 And 6

Asher (Cody Christian) and Jaymee (Miya Horcher) may have had the most life-changing last 15 months, because in All American season 6, episode 1, it's revealed the couple had a sweet young boy, AJ. As cute as the kid is, Asher and Jaymee are finding out that parenthood comes with plenty of challenges. Coach Montes (the late Kamar de los Reyes, in one of his final TV performances) is fortunately there to help. Not only does he promote Asher to offensive assistant coach, he even personally babysits AJ, while Asher takes his coaching exams.

All American season 6, episode 1 reorganizes the series after 15 months of story went by and does so by placing everyone in a more mature, but also more complicated era of their young lives. While the characters aren't adults just yet, this season premiere shows that they are starting to realize adulthood is coming fast.

All American

Drama

Sports

This sports drama, inspired by the real-life journey of football player Spencer Paysinger, follows a high school student from south L.A. when he is recruited to play for Beverly Hills High.

Where to Watch

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Not available

*Availability in US

Cast

Samantha Logan , Cody Christian , Monet Mazur , Taye Diggs , Jalyn Hall

Release Date

October 10, 2018

Seasons

6

Showrunner

Nkechi Okoro Carroll