All American Hits 100 episodes with one nostalgic episode

Troy Harvey/The CW

Six years ago, Spencer James was just a kid from South Crenshaw with a big dream. 100 episodes later, he’s never been closer to that dream.

The CWs All Americans celebrated a milestone on Monday that is becoming extremely rare on television. At the time, reaching 100 episodes was an achievement, as it meant a show qualified for syndication. But now it means so much more. This means the series has defied the odds and survived the tumult of an ever-changing television landscape.

It is completely normal that All AmericansThe 100th episode of , titled “100%”, was also directed by its star, Daniel Ezra.

“I think I just told him he was directing,” showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll said of Ezra’s decision to direct his third episode of the series.

Ezra remembers that Carroll “called me and said, ‘So this season we’re going to hit our 100th episode.’ We think it’s entirely appropriate that you lead it. But she warned me: “It’s going to take a lot of work.” There is no scenario where you will be light in this episode.

For Ezra, taking on this task was obvious. He says no, he would have regretted it “forever”.

The episode takes place roughly halfway through season 6, as the stakes reach an all-time high for all the characters. But no one feels the heat more than Spencer. He has already been declared a draft candidate, and after a difficult season, GAU’s championship prospects were miraculously revived after another team’s unexpected defeat in the playoffs.

Not only are the Condors heading to the Rose Bowl to compete for the national title, but they are also facing local rival and defending champion, Coastal California.

To help understand the weight of the moment, Carroll and co-writer Chynna Ladage also infused a heavy dose of nostalgia into the episode.

“We were a mess the whole time we were filming,” Carroll recalls.

Reminders are meant to be more than just tears, though. Taking a poignant trip down memory lane helps reinforce the idea that everything Spencer has experienced up to this point is woven into the fabric of his life. Everyone who has ever been on his journey stands with him on this day, whether they are still on the earth side or not.

Who better to guide Spencer on his journey to the championship than everyone who has been with him since day one?

“We just started talking about the ghosts of the football fields of old, (which) kind of emerged as a theme before we even got into the writers’ room,” Carroll said.

All Americans opened its 100th episode with the return of Billy Baker (Taye Diggs) in episode 608, when Laura (Monet Mazur) gives Jordan (Michael Evans Behling) and Olivia (Samantha Logan) the letters their father wrote to them when they were children. She also offers Spencer Billy’s diary from the first year when he took Spencer in and recruited him to Beverly, in the hopes that it would provide insight into Spencer’s own journey at the moment.

“Probably a disproportionate number of us on the show lost our fathers at a very young age,” Carroll mused. “And the one thing we all constantly talked about was how they stayed alive with us. We found ways to talk to them or reconnect with them at really pivotal moments. Nothing is more crucial for Spencer than leading to the NCAA championship and draft.

In Episode 609, after receiving some information from Billy’s diary, Spencer thinks he has it all figured out – as most twenty-somethings do. It doesn’t take him long to realize that he’s more nervous for this moment than he might have let on, even to himself.

What helps calm his nerves is being surrounded by the support of family and friends, like Chris (Spence Moore II) and, of course, Coop (Bre-Z). His mother too. However, the person he finds the most comfort in is Shawn (Jay Reeves), who visited Spencer in his dreams before the big day.

“Part of the plot of the show is that Shawn protected Spencer so he could achieve this dream without Spencer realizing it,” Carroll explained. “He put a protective halo over him in the neighborhood to make sure he was one of the people who got by. So, as he approached arguably the biggest match of his career to date, it seemed only right that Shawn would be a part of it.

The fact that Reeves was “an immediate yes,” as Caroll recalls, is a testament to the community this show has created. “Without seeing a scenario… He told me: “I’m blocking certain dates. I’m yours. Let me know what you need.

As Spencer prepares for the championship, he visits each of the fields he has ever played on to remember how far he has come.

“All of these areas mean something to me, as an actor,” Ezra said of each of them, now taking the reins on both sides of the camera. And it all culminated with a return to the Rose Bowl, where the series had filmed in Season 1 under very different circumstances.

“We weren’t allowed on the field,” Ezra recalls of filming that scene in Season 1. “Coming back six years later to spot it and go through the tunnel was a very, very, very moment. Very poignant for me.”

The 100th episode wasn’t just an opportunity to show how far Spencer has come and how close he is to everything he’s ever dreamed of. It was an opportunity to highlight each character’s growth to become the person they always dreamed of being, even if they didn’t, that’s who they wanted to be.

Asher (Cody Christian) returns to the field in a moment of crisis for coastal California, not to return to the game, but to say goodbye so he can focus on his family and create the family for his son that ‘he never had. as a child. Olivia turns down her book deal after her publisher insists that she include details about her father’s affair, which could potentially stunt her career trajectory, but also likely open the door to something new and, ultimately , more fruitful.

When Layla (Greta Ongieogou) tries to plan a surprise wedding ceremony after feeling Jordan drifting away from the planning, it almost feels like she’s returning to a version of herself. That is, until Jordan meets her with empathy and understanding, and she is able to understand that it is triggered by her parents’ relationship. They hit the speed bump and cancel the nuptials last minute in one of the most emotional scenes of the entire episode.

“This is the only scene from the episode that I remember telling NK about, it came out fully formed in my head. It was one of those scenes that I didn’t have to block out or plan…I was like, ‘Oh, I know exactly how this scene should be,'” Ezra said. “The most important thing to show was the journey… they are much more communicative. They really approach issues as a unit and as a family, and this is all a result of the work from the previous season.

This is true for all the characters, not just Jordan and Layla. And while Ezra was the perfect choice to direct, having Ladage – who started as a production assistant on the series – co-writing with Carroll also seemed like a no-brainer.

“I feel like I grew up with the show,” she said, as Carroll pointed out that Ladage drove the golf cart to take Ezra to lunch. Carroll adds that “it just seemed like a full circle moment.”

Having both been there from the beginning, Carroll and Ladage said there was no limit to the ideas they had for this episode.

“The hardest part was what we had to lose,” Carroll lamented. “Everything about that script felt like it had to be there.”

(Perhaps one day audiences will be able to read what Carroll called a “beautiful scene that no one will ever see,” written by Ladage, featuring the main characters who were “part of the motivation” for the turning point of the championship game.)

In some ways, making tough decisions about what to cut has been the story of the season, as Season 6’s original 13-episode order represented a significant reduction from previous 20-episode orders of the series to which the writers are accustomed.

This season was recently greenlit for two additional episodes, extending the season from 13 to 15, to allow the writers to better flesh out the story and build a satisfying conclusion to this season. As of now, there has been no news about season 7.

“I requested these two episodes,” Carroll told Deadline. “In this particular chapter of the story, I thought there were a few other stories that, in a perfect world, I would have liked to have space to tell.”

The two additional episodes allowed Carroll to expand on stories that she felt needed more room to breathe in the second half of the season, as well as open up new threads that couldn’t fit into one season of 13 episodes.

With a championship under Spencer’s belt, all signs point to the draft to follow – although Carroll is remaining tight-lipped about what’s yet to come. There is also, presumably, a wedding in Layla and Jordan’s future.

Whatever’s in store, Carroll warns, “Until the end, I might just say keep a box of tissues nearby.”