Running Olivia’s Pregnancy Scare on All American Without Spencer Misses the Emotional Beats

Spencer James and Olivia Baker have been the heart of All American since the series began.

We rooted for both of them to overcome their personal demons and to grow individually and as a couple.

Spencer and Olivia always put each other first. Family was everything to them, which is why it’s hard to believe Coop and Jordan can’t reach Spencer when Olivia is in the hospital.

Olivia’s pregnancy scare is the biggest storyline in All American Season 8,  partly because it involves a legacy character, and the aftermath affected so many characters.

While I’m enjoying seeing how it affects her twin brother, it still feels like it’s missing a massive emotional beat without Spencer.

It’s the final season. We deserve these Spencer-and-Olivia moments.

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Spencer Should Be There for Olivia’s Pregnancy Scare

It shouldn’t be this difficult for Coop to track down Spencer. He knew Olivia went to visit Jordan and Layla and should have checked in.

This feels like lazy, bad writing since every character from Coop to Layla thought Spencer would be there, and Spencer not answering his phone is just wrong.

Olivia wouldn’t totally calm down unless someone could reach Spencer, and you never want a nervous pregnant mother-to-be.

While the doctors are doing their best, going into labor several weeks early is scary.

While Jordan could make medical decisions about Olivia’s care as her twin brother, he would likely feel more comfortable having Spencer make those.

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I suspect that Jordan will begin to feel overwhelmed because he’s already lost Billy, and now he’s struggling with Olivia in the hospital. He doesn’t have Spencer there to help.

I could see this causing issues because Spencer should be there, not living it up and promoting himself as the next NFL star.

This will likely be why Jordan and Spencer argue this season, and I hope we see that emotional beat, because Jordan will be emotionally exhausted and spew whatever he’s thinking.

We Don’t Know When Spencer Will Appear

The All American promos and teasers made it sound like Spencer might have appeared in All American Season 8 Episode 10, but Coop never found him.

Fans hated being fooled like that, since many longtime fans tune in mainly for his appearances.

We don’t know when he will appear this season, only that he will be in the finale. That does not leave much time for Spencer to contemplate his new future and see the birth of his twins.

I appreciate that All American has tried to give all the characters closure, but it feels like so many of these stories have been rushed and needed more time to breathe.

If the writers wanted to end the series with Spencer and Olivia’s babies being born, they needed to plan better around Daniel Ezra’s schedule so Spencer could appear more.

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Even if they could have shown a phone call from Coop or Jordan about Olivia. It’s just out of character for him to be off the grid when she’s so close to her due date.

It bothered me that parts of this season hit perfectly and others like this keep missing the emotional beats.

Hopefully I’m wrong, and we’ll be pleasantly surprised when Spencer shows up sooner than expected to see his wife.

Over to you, All American Fanatics.

When do you think Spencer will show up? Will he make it in time for his twins’ birth? Do you think his absence has hindered this storyline?

Let us know in the comments.

Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.

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