Bigger Dreams, Greater Stakes.
All American: Homecoming is a 2022 drama series airing on The CW. The series is a spin-off of All American.
Simone Hicks (Geffri Maya) is trying to find her way in life and back onto the tennis court after graduating Beverly Hills High and being a former teen mom. She decides to attend Bringston University, a historically black college
in Atlanta, Georgia after spending a weekend visiting soaking in the university's culture, and at the urging of her journalism professor aunt Amara (Kelly Jenrette). But entering college comes with its own problems as Simone and her friends get wrapped into the high-pressure world of college sports and the trials and tribulations of being a young adult.
Also in the cast is Damon Sims (Peyton Alex Smith), a superstar baseball athlete; Jessie "JR" Raymond (Sylvester Powell), Damon's childhood friend; Thea Mays (Camille Hyde), a queen bee tennis pro; Keisha McCalla (Netta Walker), Simone's friend and unofficial Bringston leader; Nathaniel Hardin (Rhoyle Ivy King) is Keisha's fun and flamboyant best friend; the new stern baseball coach Marcus Turner (Cory Hardrict), picking up the pieces of the baseball team after a cheating scandal; and Cameron "Cam" Watkins (Mitchell Edwards), football prodigy and former nemesis of Spencer James who previously recurred in All American.
The show was in development and aired a Poorly Disguised Pilot in All American's season 3. It was officially picked up to series in February 2021 and premiered in February 2022. It has aired for two seasons, and in June 2023, a third season was greenlit, albeit with Peyton Alex Smith and Kelly Jenrette dropped from series regulars to recurring status.
The series provides examples of:
- The Ace: Damon, a gifted baseball player, who was even scouted by Major League Baseball coaches in high school.
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Simone and Jordan are in a Long-Distance Relationship, and on both this show and All American, both of them are gravitating towards different love interests. They later break up as they can't maintain the relationship.
- All for Nothing: The first season finale reveals that Jesse's attempt to keep his family together after Celine's affair and putting Damon up for adoption way back when was all for naught - Damon is actually his son, and wasn't the result of an affair, meaning he gave his own child away and destroyed his family for no reason.
- Alpha Bitch: Thea is this with the tennis team and on the tennis court.
- Academic Alpha Bitch: Thea also this, as she excels in her classes. During a group project, she takes control and assigns her group members their parts.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though she can be helpful in her own ways, as her tough advice helps Simone decide to attend Bringston.
- Amicable Exes: Marcus and Amara dated in college before it ended due to Amara's sister Tina interfering with the relationship thinking Marcus wasn't good enough for Amara. They do stay friendly and are possibly on the path of reuniting. They begin dating again in season two.
- Betty and Veronica: The show begins with Simone torn between Jordan, her first love, making him the Betty to her Archie, and Damon, the charismatic baseball prodigy, making him the Veronica. she breaks up with Jordan because he himself was caught between Simone's Betty and Layla's Veronica, and he ends up choosing Layla.
- In the Damon/Simone/Thea love triangle, it can be argued that while Thea starts off as an Alpha Bitch at HBCU, she's just an introverted, troubled girl who's not used to letting people near her, while Simone is witty, determined, with a sharp tongue and a talent in standing her ground and showing who's in charge, and quickly gains the love and admiration of her peers. This ultimately makes Simone the Veronica, and Thea the Betty. In season 2, Damon chooses Simone, but Thea actually breaks up with Damon first, for reasons unrelated to the love triangle.
- In season 2, Simone's well deserved hot girl summer era continues when she is again torn between Damon (Betty), and newcomer Lando (Veronica).
- Big Little Brother: JR is a year older than his brother Damon, but Damon is several inches taller.
- Bitch Alert: Thea is introduced in the pilot with exposition from Keisha about her talent and attitude, followed up with her being snotty with Simone and crushing her in a warm-up tennis match.
- Camp Gay: Nathaniel (who is also non-binary and transfeminine), who was the stylist and did the makeup for the university fashion show.
- Career-Ending Injury: Cam hits his head during a pick-up basketball game, gets rushed to the hospital, and it's discovered he has a brain aneurysm, effectively killing his football dreams.
- Class Representative: Keisha, who despite not having any position in student government, is knowledgeable about all things Bringston and its culture.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Damon, who is a gifted athlete who is still somewhat insecure about living up to everyone's expectations, much like Spencer from All American. Unlike Spencer, Damon doesn't seem to have any supportive adults in his life, nor any hometown/family to latch onto. Damon also starts off with an adversarial relationship with Coach Turner, unlike Spencer and Coach Baker.
- Date Rape Averted: Thea starts dating Kevin and at a party, he drugs her drink and then tries to have sex with her. Thankfully, Damon was there to stop Kevin.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Simone, who after breaking off an engagement and having a baby and giving them up for adoption, wasn't sure about her college future and whether or not to enroll at Bringston. At the end of the pilot, she ends up deciding to attend.
- Double Meaning: The Bringston chant ends with, "We are Bringston Lions! And can't nobody mess with our pride."
- Everyone Can See It: Almost all the characters can see that Simone and Damon are attracted to each other. Simone and Damon were in denial about it due to Simone dating Jordan.
- Evil Is Petty: Veronica Skinner, who is on the Bringston board trying to get Amara fired for getting her sister suspended from college years ago.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Keisha wants to be a choreographer, but her father (who is also the school's president) wants her to pursue a career in medicine.
- Hates Being Alone: Both Damon and JR have abandonment issues, Damon from being put up for adoption and JR for his parents splitting in the middle of the season.
- Ineffectual Loner: Damon joined the baseball team to help uplift it, but was too focused on his own throwing skills to be an effective leader. He realizes this and steps aside to let JR be team captain.
- Intrepid Reporter: Amara, who uncovers an athletic scandal (thanks to the anonymous source from Marcus) with Coach Shaw as he helped enroll his teams in fake classes to keep them eligible for play.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Well if you didn't know the first season's big revelation that Damon and JR are brothers, and Damon was given up by his biological parents for adoption, tuning into any promotional material for the second season will certainly tell you. That and that drama factors heavily into the second season's storylines.
- Magical Queer: Downplayed as Nathaniel has her own insecurities and issues she needs to work on, but Nathaniel is mostly there to help the straight characters work through their issues and be a shoulder to cry in.
- Mood-Swinger: Marcus, who suffers from Bipolar I disorder.
- My Beloved Smother: Damon's adoptive mother who micromanages his life and schedule in order to get her son to the MLB straight out of high school.
- My Greatest Failure: When Amara was in college, she was approached by a classmate who worked at a medical facility which was charging their mostly Black and poor patients huge amounts for unnecessary procedures. They broke in, got caught, and agreed to bury the story to stay out of prison, which Amara still feels guilty about many years later.
- No Social Skills: Thea, who despite her Alpha Bitch nature on the court and school, barely has any friends and terrible at socializing.
- Queer Establishing Moment: Keisha is interested in Cam and Nathaniel mentions her break-up with a girl over the summer.
- Parental Abandonment: Damon was adopted and doesn't know his birth parents, only that they attended Bringston when they were young adults. It's a big reason why he visited that weekend, and eventually commits to playing baseball to Bringston. The end of the first episode hints that he and JR may be related, possibly brothers. It's revealed at the end of the season that he and JR are brothers, JR's father Jesse gave Damon up for adoption as he thought Damon was the result of Celine's affair.
- The Reveal: Who are Damon's parents and why did they give him up for adoption? Towards the end of the season, the truth is finally revealed. JR's mother Celine is Damon's mother, and Damon is the result of an affair that Celine had with Damon's father Xavier. The adoption story was a cover to hide the affair. JR and Damon did take a DNA test earlier in the season which came back as a negative, but the results were incorrect as JR had a bone marrow transplant as a child, resulting in him having two sets of DNA (a Truth in Television for people that have had transplants). And then the season finale throws another curve ball: It turns out that Damon is the biological child of both of JR's parents; JR's father Jesse mistakenly thought he was the child of Xavier and put him up for adoption due to being burdened by JR's health issues and Celine's affair.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Amara tells the president about the paper classes Coach Shaw has his players in, and but the president is reluctant to press forward due the NCAA regulations and rules. Amara tells him how much Bringston means to her and the school's reputation is more important than protecting cheaters.
- Sickly Child Grew Up Strong: JR suffered from aplastic anemia before becoming a high school athlete.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Amara uncovers the paper classes scam due to Marcus tipping her off, and reports to the president who has no choice but to tell Coach Shaw to resign. It's a huge show of their integrity, however in first episode, Amara has her course curriculum reduced due to school trustees and the parents of the suspended players blaming her for the scandal's fallout and later starts getting harassment. Marcus has to rebuild the baseball team from the ground up since the starters have been suspended due to the scandal and the baseball program is at risk of being cut. And to add insult to injury, Coach Shaw gets hired by another school and suffers very little consequence beyond having to resign from Bringston.
- Trans Tribulations: Nathaniel is nonbinary (assigned male at birth, uses she/her and they/them pronouns) and faces off against a transphobe that was trying to get her in trouble for receiving special privileges, such as having her own bathroom and living amongst the girls. Nathaniel realizes she can't rely on Keisha to fight her battles and decides she needs to handle them on her own.
- Who's Your Daddy?: Much like the show it was spun off, the Driving Question of the first season's main arc revolves around the paternity of the main character. Damon starts to suspect that he is related to his best friend JR, but they take a DNA test and it turns out they aren't related. Or so they thought. In the season finale, Damon finds out that he is the child of both of JR's parents.
