SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Monday’s episode of All American.
Season 6 of All American has spent plenty of time catching audiences up on where its young adult characters are in the year and a half since they lost Billy Baker (Taye Diggs).
But, the past two episodes have also branched beyond the kids to give a glimpse how his wife Laura (Monet Mazur) is moving forward after losing her husband and the father of her children. Naturally, Laura spent much of that time focusing on keeping her family together amid the tragedy. But now that the kids are thriving, she’s able to turn her focus to herself.
In Episode 5, Laura is a guest lecturer in one of Coop’s (Bre-Z) law classes — which causes some tension when Laura uses the details of Patience’s (Chelsea Tavares) stabbing case as a class exercise.
And during Monday’s Episode 6, while the kids are all at the lake house working on their relationships, Laura is back at in L.A. wondering what’s next for her. Once her own mom encourages her to create a dating profile, she realizes she might not be ready for that step quite yet, but it’s something she’d eventually like to explore.
“At first, Laura’s not ready to move on, and so I think she realizes, she’s not moving on, she’s just moving forward,” Mazur told Deadline.
The actress spoke with Deadline about the past two episodes, exploring Laura’s life on a deeper level, and whether audiences can expect an update on Laura’s love life (and her mom’s) this season.
DEADLINE: Let’s first backtrack to last week’s episode. Coop and Laura butt heads quite a bit in that episode.
MONET MAZUR: Well, she does have a plan as to why she picked that particular case [and] switch the topics around, which Coop isn’t privy to yet. She thinks Laura is being insensitive. And just sort of [using] this personal, vulnerable matter that she has attachment to. But what she’s really trying to do is see where all the holes are in the case and all the different ways that it could be presented in court and how they could counter pivot. Coop is very emotionally attached to the to the case. So they butt heads, and she later does find out exactly why [Laura] was doing it and how she overstepped her boundaries. At the end of the day, as close as they are, Laura is her superior, her professor.
DEADLINE: Why do you think it was important for Laura to set that boundary? At the time, Coop seemed pretty upset to be kicked out of class.
MAZUR: Well, I mean, as proud of her as Laura is for her being there, there isn’t any favoritism. She’s got to work just as hard, if not harder, than all the other students. She’s not giving her any special attention just because they’re close. Coop has a lot of bravado, and I like to think that she’s very competent as a character and sometimes gets a little bit ahead of herself. But she’s always really good at seeing the whole picture after and being able to accept her part in it.
DEADLINE: So in this week’s episode, the kids are away and Laura is spending time with her own mom, who encourages her to start a dating profile. What kind of feelings do you think that conversation with her mom brought up for Laura?
MAZUR: It was a very fun episode. I love when Jaclyn’s on and their dynamic of mother and daughter is very funny, because Jaclyn’s character is so over the top. She’s a broad. So she’s like, ‘Come on, honey. It’s time to pull up the bootstraps and get out there again.’ At first, Laura’s not ready to move on, and so I think she realizes, she’s not moving on, she’s just moving forward. It’s a big step for her, because I think in her heart she feels like it’s a part of her letting go and really, what she comes to realize, is she’s not letting go of him. She’s just taking the first step forward, and I could only imagine how scary and emotional that would be. It’s hard enough to take a step forward in your life when you’re dating if you haven’t had someone pass away. But venturing out into the big, wide world of online dating apps is probably a very new experience for her, having been married for so long. So it is definitely a funny episode — with possibly a future date out there down the line for her that we may see.
DEADLINE: I was going to ask about where that storyline might go.
MAZUR: You will see it go somewhere later in the season.
DEADLINE: It has been nice to see more from Laura and get to see her life outside of the kids.
MAZUR: It’s been nice to explore different facets of her as a professor, as a widow and single mom. I think she always sees the bright side of things as a very positive person. So as we jumped forward a year or so after Billy’s passed away, and you see everybody thriving and, sort of, a rebirth on the show, I feel like this season everybody’s come full circle and starting over.
DEADLINE: I have to say, I also loved seeing Laura’s mom hit it off with Billy’s dad.
MAZUR: That was hilarious. It was also very funny when we were shooting, because I think they’ve worked together a handful of times over the years, not many. But now without having Billy there, and Jaclyn’s character giving her expertise on the online dating world, it could potentially go somewhere too.
DEADLINE: It seemed like Laura didn’t mind it either?
MAZUR: [Laughs]. Yeah, she was sort of like, ‘What’s going on here?; So surprising things may bloom in that area.
DEADLINE: The kids are at the cabin sorting through some communication issues during this episode. I wonder what Laura’s advice to them would be about the ways they’ve been struggling recently?
MAZUR: I think transitioning from a young adult into an adult into relationships that have gone on for a long time, where you’re just learning and discovering who you are as you’re also discovering who this person you’re with is, really defines who you are and how you deal with things in conversations with people and when issues arise. Something I tell my own kids is sometimes you have to be quiet and actually listen to what the other person is saying and needs and not just constantly, always express what you need. But when you’re actually quiet and you’re listening, and you can hear each other, you can often get to a solution. Then there’s also times where you need to just calm down and let things dictate where they’re going to go and let them play out how they’re going to play out without trying to control every second of everything. Communication is paramount. Most problems in relationships come when someone’s assuming the way the other person feel. It doesn’t really lead anywhere constructive.
DEADLINE: We’re approaching the halfway point in the season. How did you feel about getting two more episodes?
MAZUR: We’re so excited. We literally found out the day before everybody else found out. Normally we do 20 [episodes], so 13 felt very short to wrap up a season storyline. But I think this gives us a little bit more room to finish up some storylines and potentially redirect or branch out storylines. We don’t know if we’re doing Season 7 yet, so we really needed those extra two episodes to not really leave the fans hanging, whatever happened. There’s things that the fans want to see, and we gotta give them what they want. So you’ll get to see some some really special things happen.
DEADLINE: What are you most excited for fans to see?
MAZUR: I think they’ll be surprised. I think they will be happy. The extreme gift of being able to be on a show for six seasons…the fans, at times, can also create the storylines. We all see what they say on comments in chat rooms and articles and stuff. There’s things that they have invented, like ship names. So there’s some really neat things that happen, I think. I’m afraid to say anything else. It’s just a fulfilling end for the season.
The post ‘All American’: Monet Mazur Talks Laura’s Love Life, Moving Forward After Billy’s Death & More appeared first on Deadline.
