Filled with guilt, Coop flashes back to key moments in her life and an OG cast member makes a return. Here’s our All American Season 8 Episode 7 recap.
Coop’s guilt
Two days before the showcase, Coop is at her law office being given her flowers when she discovers Amina’s messages about the ICE raid at South Crenshaw. She heads to the school and sees the aftermath. She bumps into Khalil and KJ who fill her in on what went down. She learns about the live stream and has an idea. Meanwhile, Jordan took the South Crenshaw kids to Layla’s. A journalist wants to do a story behind the West Beverly and South Crenshaw rivalry, but Jordan encourages him to tell the story again about the ICE raid and the affect it’s had on the kids.
While watching the livestream video of Amina trying to call her, Coop has a flashback of when her best friend Shawn was killed in an earlier season. She later has a flashback of Preach getting shot.
Layla, KJ and Khalil come over to Coop’s place, but she feels helpless. They get a break when KJ and Khalil watch Macy’s livestream of the raid. They are able to get the name of one of the officers. Preach’s living room becomes their war room as the strategize to get Preach and Amina out from behind bars.
In the end, Breonna was able to locate Preach, but he wants them to focus on helping Amina. There’s clearly some tension between Coop and Breonna.
Miranda’s true feelings
Miranda stops by to see Khalil, but she isn’t too fond of KJ right now after what he did to Tori. Soon she realizes that Amina is Khalil’s priority at the moment. Things get awkward when Khalil overhears her real thoughts about Amina’s arrest.
“I know you [Coop] never leave the ones you love behind.” -Amina
Jordan and Cassius’ beef (continued)
Layla calls Jordan to come help with the tense situation at Preach’s house. It’s clear there’s also tension between Jordan and Cassius over Cassius working with Cliff Mosley and airing out their family business in front of the media.
Once at the house, Jordan, of all people, comes through with some great investigative advice. He’s his mother’s son. They decide to find a judge who can ask Amina’s judge to throw out her case, and Breonna knows the right person for the job.
Later at Layla’s, Jordan apologizes for the way he treated Cassius. Their kumbaya moment is interrupted when they find out the showcase is in jeopardy because of the walk out by the West Beverly football team setting up the story for the next episode.
Patience’s return
Later, Patience, who should be in London, shows up randomly after hearing about Amina and the raid. Coop confides that Shawn has been on her mind. She feels guilty about his death and moving on. She’s also upset that her trying to level up had her away and distracted when her people needed her the most. Breonna interrupts their moment to give them news about Amina.
Coop tries to rush Breonna into helping Preach right away, but she pumps the breaks. She’s not taking Coop’s crap. Later, Breonna pulls up to the Baker House to see Patience. Turns out Breonna is the one who called Patience to talk to Coop. Patience reassures Breonna that Coop loves her.
Coop’s purpose
Coop approaches her boss at the law firm about Preach’s case, but that’s not her kind of law. She asks Coop whether she’s in the right kind of law and why she wanted to practice law in the first place. She does some soul searching and remembers she’s “the disruptor the system needs” to quote the great Laura Baker.
Final thoughts
With all the flashbacks, this episode is really a celebration of how far Coop has come as a character. It was due since Coop, along with Preach, went through one of the biggest transformations over the course of the series. It has been gratifying as a viewer to watch her mature and evolve over the years.
It’s also a celebration of Bre-Z who brought her to life over the past eight seasons. I trust she’ll continue to find other roles, but this is one she can look at with pride.
With the showcase n jeopardy and Samantha Logan, aka Liv Baker, making her return, perhaps for the last time, next episode is guaranteed to make OG fans all warm, fuzzy and nostalgic.
Kevin Bourne is SHIFTER’s editor-in-chief and Senior Arts & Entertainment Reporter focusing on film & TV, music, and fashion. He was named one of 340 international voters for the Golden Globe Awards and a Tomatometer-Approved Critic by Rotten Tomatoes.
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