Grand Army: Season 1/ Episode 6 “Superman This S**t” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

As Joey tries to figure out what can become her new normal, Dominique struggles to choose between money and sports, and Leila and Sid are forced to deal with revelations.

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Director(s)	Tina Marby
Writer(s)	Katie Cappiello, Randy McKinnon
Aired (Netflix)	10/16/2020
Introduced This Episode
Rabbi Schultz	Lynn Weintraub
Rebecca	Katie Griffin

This content contains pertinent spoilers.

Recap

Guilt Is Hard To Deal With – Leila, Rabbi Schultz, Owen, Jay, Omar

With talking to Omar, feeling like she is being listened to and seen by a boy, Leila’s wall starts to come down. The one protecting her ego, her self-esteem, and with that, she makes a genuine connection. Mind you, she still curves Omar something vicious, but one could submit their conversation leads to a shift in how she sees Joey.

Note: not overnight. After all, Joey has been the villain of Leila’s fantasies forever. However, speaking to Rabbit Schultz seems to get through Leila’s thick head that Joey isn’t her enemy and her assault wasn’t a cry for help or whatever nonsense Leila has painted it as.

Switching to Jay, he learns he’ll get a spot at an all-state competition, because Owen is suspended. This creates immense guilt, the kind that leads him to want to talk to Owen, but that doesn’t absolve Jay from what happened. For one, Owen, at his new school, has gotten jumped, and he is looking all kinds of messed up. Add onto that, Owen learning he was the top player, and now he can’t compete? And the boy who wasn’t can, whose testimony ruined his life? It’s too much. He effectively ends his friendship with Jay and tells him to not come around anymore.

Things Can’t Go On Like This – Rebecca, Joey, Sid, Meera, Victor, Flora, Bo

Joey is trying to hold it together and pretend she can push through, but seeing George causes her to fall apart. Making her ready to move or do whatever it takes to not deal with everything and nearly everyone she knows. Which her mother, Rebecca, understands, but whether or not Joey will ultimately no longer be part of Grand Army remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Sid finds himself in a tough spot. In his room, he has a moment with Victor, which includes him getting a boner and Victor revealing he is bi-sexual. Following that is a reveal that he and Flora are back together, and Sid is actively trying to figure a way to make their relationship last through college.

Though with Bo messing up their swim meet, for the team more so than Sid, and Sid going off, Bo retaliates. You see, full-story, Bo jumped into the pool too soon, and with that, Grand Army got disqualified. However, Sid’s time was impressive enough for the Harvard scouts to take an interest. But before Sid goes off to meet them, he goes off on Bo and throws in Bo having a learning challenge – that allows him extra time.

Leading to, since Sid left his laptop unlocked and open, Bo deciding to go through Sid’s computer and post his essay. Because, you know, absolutely no one would question why Bo is on Sid’s computer, and Bo knew just the thing to look for and post before Sid got back.

Priorities – Dominique, John

Domonique is just overwhelmed. Her coach wants her to focus more on the basketball team, John is making moves to make it clear he digs her and wants to fit into her schedule when he can and, she needs money. But, one thing that fell to the wayside as she was juggling everything was that internship with Sisters Thrive. Which, thanks to some clients, she is reminded of and pushed to not just do e-mails but make a phone call.

Leading to, as seen in Industry, a reminder that if you want to get things done, PICK UP THE DAMN PHONE! Because now Dom is coming in for an interview.

Review

Highlights

Leila [81]

Between Leila’s conversation with Rabbit Schultz and Omar, it reminds you, Leila, is just a freshman with identity issues, insecurities, and without any real mentorship available beyond her parents. Two people she loves, don’t get us wrong, but they don’t get it. Heck, they didn’t even know that Leila could have used some kind of connection to her culture through putting her in a class to learn Mandarin or even make sure that she had access to the local Chinese community.

So with that in mind, you can understand her hate for Joey, since Joey had everything she wanted, and even misunderstanding Omar, since his attempts to connect don’t click with her. Rather, while she appreciates the effort, it seems she still feels a bit isolated and alone.

Yet, him talking about all religion brings did bring her to Rabbi Schultz who seems to fill the voids in Leila’s life. Granted, did Leila have a bit of selective hearing and didn’t get the full statement Rabbi Schultz was putting out there? Probably. But, baby steps – baby steps.

Dominique [87]

This show could be all about Dominique, and I could be happy. Heck, I want them to go deeper even. For example, the idea that sports, between her and Sid, are the way for many people of color to get into good schools being one topic. Alongside that, for those like Dominique, who are brilliant, exploring the class divide that they deal with and the subject of code-switching. A topic that could have been explored with Owen but, you know they don’t care about Owen and Jay beyond what they must.

Joey [82]

As things slow down for Joey, so comes the question of what’s next for her? Primarily, with her going through the rape kit process, the boys being taken in for questioning, her friendships destroyed and reputation in limbo, what is next?

Sid [83]

We hate the fact Sid got outed but love Meera supporting him. However, whether Flora will, that’s up to be questioned. Especially the possibility of her seeing their break, and former lack of sex, due to Sid not being straight.

Yet, this could be the perfect moment to show a heteroromantic bi-sexual can not only exist but be in a relationship with a woman who knows. Though, considering the drama this show has, while it is likely the ideal path can be taken, we won’t hold our breath.

Low Point

Owen and Jay’s Storyline [69]

At this point, we doubt this storyline will get better. Even when grasping at Dom’s coattails, it was struggling, and on its own, there is just nothing to invest in here. Mainly because there isn’t the drive to go deeper and talk about all the issues the show grazes over. Be it Jay’s privilege, Owen’s trajectory irrevocably changed for the worst, the stark contrast of investment between Owen’s new school and Grand Army, and so much more.

To summarize, while many storylines in the show can fit amongst many and still shine, the more we see of Jay and Owen, the more this plot appears unable to mesh well with the others. Thus pushing the idea, it needs to be solo.

Score	80.8
Summary
While Owen and Jay stick out like a sore thumb, the other stories progress nicely as they deal with either taking control of your life or watching yourself fall from grace.