All American: Homecoming Recap: Simone Goes Out on a Triumphant Note in Series Finale — Grade It!
All American: Homecoming came to an end after three seasons on Monday, and Simone Hicks’ story ended much like how it began: with a little drama on the tennis court, and even more drama off it.
Let’s start with the off-court developments that unfolded during Monday’s series finale — the result of The CW’s All American spinoff getting cancelled back in June. When Season 3 began earlier this summer, Simone found herself romantically caught between Damon Sims and Lando Johnson; this time around, the same quandary presented itself to our protagonist, as Damon made a return visit to Bringston just as Simone and Lando were poised to admit they loved each other.
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Actually, Simone did tell Lando she loved him during Monday’s hour, but Lando — newly insecure after spotting Simone and Damon catching up with each other — told her he couldn’t trust her confession and walked away, leaving her heartbroken. Later, though, after giving Cam a love life-related pep talk (more on that in a minute), Lando realized he was simply letting his own fears stand in the way of a real relationship with Simone. That evening, he met up with Simone and showed her a sweet slideshow of his own life, telling her that she’s filled it with beauty and joy “unlike anyone has ever done before” since the day they met. And at long last, he reciprocated Simone’s feelings of love — “I want you. I want us.” — and they sealed the deal with a kiss. (No need to worry about Damon, though: He initially wanted to rekindle things with Simone upon returning to Bringston, but he sensed the deep connection that Simone and Lando had formed, and told her it’s OK that their year apart grew them into different people.)
Meanwhile, on the court, rumors began to spread that Simone may have taken performance-enhancing drugs (which we know were really her cancer meds), casting a pall over the tennis team’s upcoming conference championship. At first, Simone planned to keep her cancer battle a secret, even in a sports documentary chronicling the team’s recent success. But when Simone realized that even her own teammates were questioning what kind of substance she’d been taking, she decided to come clean about her breast cancer to her fellow players and to the journalist interviewing her, citing her hope that other young women may be inspired to listen to their bodies and advocate for themselves when seeing a doctor.
On the day of the conference finals, Simone seemed to dread the response she might get from the crowd and the other competitors, telling Lando and Amara that she wasn’t ready to face “the stares, the pity and the gloating opponents.” But our girl couldn’t have been more wrong about what awaited her out there: When she stepped on to the court, Simone was instead greeted by thunderous applause and a standing ovation from her teammates, her tennis challengers and all of the Bringston spectators. Aw!
Elsewhere in the finale:
* Nate came off the Bringston Law waitlist! Hooray! But on a more sour note, she and journalist boyfriend Ryan ended things after Nate snooped through Ryan’s private reporting notes in order to get justice in Ezra’s court case. Ryan told Nate that he couldn’t be with someone he didn’t fully trust, and the pair split — though Thea commended Nate for doing what she thought was the morally right thing.
* Marcus took son Noah to get a mental evaluation, concerned that Noah may have inherited Marcus’ bipolar disorder. The evaluation idea did not sit well with Marcus’ ex-wife, Crystal, at first… but she later confessed that her frustration was really stemming from fear that Noah would feel different and alone if diagnosed as bipolar. Marcus urged her to remember that the two of them would be by Noah’s side regardless of the evaluation results, and she apologized to Marcus for keeping Noah from him for so long. But hey, good news: Not only did Noah not have bipolar disorder, but he excitedly asked Marcus if he could spend the summer with him. (Marcus, of course, said yes.)
* Meanwhile, in an unresolved storyline that had me wondering whether the Homecoming writers knew this would be a series finale, Keisha’s love triangle with Cam and JR never fully sorted itself out. On one hand, Keisha appeared to choose herself at the end of the episode, after noting earlier in the hour that she was constantly in a relationship and wanted to fly solo now that she’s out of her “self-sabotage era.” On the other, she and Cam seemed to have some unfinished business together, especially after he served as her partner in her final dance exam — and the emotionally intense routine they performed together clearly mirrored their own romantic relationship. Lando encouraged Cam not to let his fears keep him from being with Keisha, but last we saw, Cam and JR were in a bit of a standoff over her. “Since when is she ‘your girl’?” JR asked, to which Cam replied, “She always has been. Just took me a second to remember that.” Well… guess we’ll have to invent our own endings to that one!
With that, I turn it over to you. What did you think of All American: Homecoming‘s final episode? Grade it in our poll below, then hit the comments with your full reviews!
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