'All American' Season 2: Layla is having a mental breakdown and fans are worried about her health
The second episode of 'All American' Season 2 dives right into complex relationships and spills murky family secrets. Spencer James (Daniel Ezra) has trouble with his girlfriend Layla (Greta Onieogou) when she finds out about Spencer's dad's offer after Olivia (Samantha Logan) accidentally mentions it to her.
Even when he tries to make it up to her, she pushes him away and drives off in her car. Moreover, she has been crashing in a hotel room and nobody knows that she hasn't fixed her issues with her father. Her father is in Japan and she is hiding her pain from her close ones. She is even offered counseling help but she declines it saying, "I have bad days, just like everyone else."
Layla is certainly going through a rough time and is showing signs of depression. Towards the end of the episode, she forgives Spencer for not telling her about his dad's offer and reveals her situation. She says, "I lied," and tells him that he never came home and is probably in Japan.
Fans are worried about her mental state and have been tweeting about it. One viewer wrote on the microblogging site, "It's time for All American to write a storyline where Layla befriends a therapist and gets a hug," and another user posted, "Layla needs to talk to somebody and not go through whatever it is alone." "That’s another thing, people be so busy pouring out their problems they never stop to ask the other person, 'Are you ok?', 'Do you feel like listening?', 'Can you handle my baggage?', 'Can I listen to you for a change?' #AllAmerican," one tweet read.
One suicide attempt survivor even wrote about how mindfully it was portrayed. "I just can’t really explain how it makes me feel to have #AllAmerican really committing to a mental illness storyline. It’s rushed or handled poorly so much in TV. As a suicide attempt survivor, it means a lot to me to see it done right," the user wrote, and another one added, "I suffer from mental illness as well and I am blown away by how mindful it’s being written and executed."
As the third episode rolls out next Monday, October 21, here's hoping that Layla finally gets some help and her mental state improves.