After spending six weeks in relationship limbo — well, six weeks for them, but a torturous five months for those of us at home — All American‘s Spencer and Olivia have come to a decision about the fate of their relationship… and many of you aren’t going to like it.
To be fair, neither Spencer nor Olivia really like it, either: At the very end of Monday’s Season 5 premiere, Spencer confesses that he thinks they should break up, but only because he knows he’s standing in the way of journalistic ambitions that make Olivia truly happy.
“That was pure joy, baby,” Spencer says, noting the way Liv’s eyes lit up when she talked about journalism icon Dan Rather earlier in the episode. “But it dims just a little when you’re around me, and I can’t be the reason your light dims, Liv.” Olivia — who had voted for staying together with Spencer — counters that she loves Spencer, and he says he knows.
“But right now, you love your dream more, and that’s OK,” he tells her. “I would never ask you to give up anything for me, just like you never asked me to walk away from football.” Despite some initial protests, a tearful Olivia seems to know that Spencer’s right, and she grabs her bag to leave Spencer’s Christmas party.
“I get it. I do,” Olivia says on her way out. “This is not where our story ends. I’m sure of it.” (#Spelivia fans, you doing OK?)
In other premiere developments…
* Olivia painstakingly reviews footage of past GAU football games that Wade Waters had provided to her, but it’s not until Asher makes an offhand comment about GAU’s team that Olivia can understand how truly incriminating the footage is for Coach Garrett. Together, she and Billy realize that GAU’s opponents on the field often walk away from games with serious injuries — and Billy suspects that Coach Garrett is running bounty plays, meaning GAU players could be getting paid bonuses to injure men on the opposing teams. If that’s the case? It’s not just Coach Garrett’s career on the line; it’s the entire GAU football program.
* Speaking of Coach Garrett, he rushes Jordan back onto the starting lineup as soon as the cast on Jordan’s hand finally comes off. Jordan seeks a second opinion on the hand from one of his dad’s doctor friends, and the doc recommends physical therapy and more healing time before Jordan plays again… but Jordan’s efforts to tell Coach Garrett that he wants to stay benched are ultimately futile.
* Layla and Clay — man, what a waste of a perfect “Clayla” relationship name — remain on frosty terms in the premiere: Clay has no plans to give Layla control of her dad’s record label, and he’s now poaching musical artists that Layla wants to sign, purely because she wants to sign them.
* Simone and Keisha are in town for the holiday break, which gets Simone increasingly upset at the thought of Jordan pursuing something with Layla. She’s even more irked when Jordan seems to insinuate that she and Damon are already dating back at Bringston — an implication she finds insulting. But even though Layla and Jordan aren’t officially dating, and there’s no proof of romance between them except for Jordan’s constant heart-eyes in Layla’s direction, Layla’s thoughtful Christmas gift to Simone — a pair of new charms for her charm bracelet — indicates that Jordan has been sharing personal details about Simone with Layla, including the nuances of Simone’s relationship with baby Shay, and Simone is thoroughly peeved. (Keisha does her best to comfort Simone, but she’s also got her own drama with beau Cam, who is acting shady around Keisha in an effort to hide that he’s lost his football scholarship.)
* In fact, maybe Coop is the only one without drama here. After initially feeling hurt when Laura Baker hires a new associate to help out at her law firm — someone with a legitimate law degree and substantial resources to help on cases — Coop decides she isn’t backing down from this new criminal justice dream: She plans to transfer from online courses to GAU’s pre-law program, and Laura is delighted when Coop asks her for a letter of recommendation. Yay, Coop!
OK, your turn. What did you think of All American‘s return? Grade the Season 5 debut in our poll below, then hit the comments to back up your vote!
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