Top 5 Moments from ‘All American’ Season 1 That Made Me Ship Olivia + Asher

When people think about the ships on The CW’s freshman series All American, they probably think about Spencer & Layla or Spencer & Olivia or even Coop & Patience. Very rarely have I seen people say that they ship Olivia & Asher. But now that the season has aired in its entirety, I can definitely say I’m one of those people.

The Olivia and Asher relationship has some of the classic tropes that I love: it all started with a ‘we-were-drunk-and-it-obviously-was-a-mistake’ hook up; Olivia is Asher’s best friend’s sister; and most importantly, they care about each other when other people seem to have forgotten about them. There’s a lot of potential with these two and I hope this show gets a second season so that the writers can explore it on a deeper level.

With all of that being said, here are the 5 moments from All American season 1 that made me realize I hardcore ship Olivia and Asher.

1×03 — “Actually, it’s you.”

Olivia and Layla are partnered up together for an English project, and it is the first time that they are spending any kind of time together since their friendship fell apart last year. As they spend time together, Olivia is reminded of what she had done to Layla by sleeping with Asher and feels very uncomfortable.

Asher shows up and crashes their study session, presumably to keep Olivia from spilling the beans. Layla leaves to go order drinks and Olivia calls Asher out, saying that she already agreed to keep their hookup a secret. But as it turns out, Asher doesn’t care about covering his ass; he wants to make sure the secret doesn’t the destroy the three people he cares about the most. He rattles off Layla and Jordan’s names and Olivia assumes the third name is going to be himself. But Asher surprises her by saying, “Actually, it’s you.”

Olivia tries to brush it off, but you can see in his eyes that he’s actually telling the truth. “I’m serious,” he tells her. “You had a rough ride last year and you’re finally turning things around. I don’t wanna mess that up for you.”

That’s all he says before it cuts to the next scene. But it was enough of a moment to have peaked my interest and left me thinking that maybe there was actually something between them worth exploring.

1×07 —  “I can’t leave him there alone.”

After Asher goes up on stage at the homecoming dance drunk and lets the entire school know that he and Olivia hooked up last year, Coach Baker suspends him for the next two games. All in his feelings about it, he continues to drink outside the school on one of the benches. As Olivia walks out of the dance with Chris, she sees Asher sitting there and decides to help him. Chris asks her if she’s sure she wants to do this considering everything Asher did, but Olivia says she can’t leave him there alone because she knows what it’s like to hit rock bottom. So she goes over to Asher and pours out the rest of the contents of his flask. No words are exchanged, just the simple gesture.

It’s a small moment, but yet another moment that showed that there is some real depth to this relationship. Yes, it could have also been interpreted as Olivia just being a good person, but I like to believe that Olivia did it because she truly cares about Asher and doesn’t want him to hit rock bottom like she did.

1×11 — “I’m back on the team.”

When Olivia realizes that Asher was missing out on his chance at the combine, she goes to find him and ends up finding him sleeping in his car. She promises not to say anything to anyone if he goes to the combine and gives it a shot. Asher has a great showing and even ends up getting invited back to the 7-on-7 game the next day.

He talks with Coach Baker, telling him that a scout from a junior college expressed interest in him and that he assumes the coach doesn’t know he’s been kicked off the team. Coach Baker tells him that he has no intent to go out of his way to tell coaches about Asher’s lack of a role on the team, but if asked he will tell them the truth.

So instead of just rolling with the lie by omission, Asher tells that coach the truth. While it may have gotten him kicked out of the 7-on-7 game, it proved to Coach Baker that Asher was ready to take accountability for his actions and, in turn, earned him a spot back on the team.

Although he didn’t necessarily seek out Olivia, she was still the first person he told. She was beaming with excitement for him, immediately throwing her arms around him and hugging his neck. He thanks her for helping him and she brushes it off, not wanting to take the credit. But Asher looks straight into her eyes and says, “Yeah, you did.” 

These two don’t only support each other when things are rough. They’re also there for each other when everything is going right. I also like to think that if Olivia hadn’t found him, she would have been the first person he shared the news with.

1×15 — “I can’t have two people in my life going down the same hole on the same day.”

After finding out that Spencer knew about her dad’s affair with his mom, from Layla of all people, Olivia wants to drink her sorrows away. But just as she’s about to drink the beer she just poured herself, Asher snatches the cup out of her hands. She questions him, but he firmly responds that he can’t have “two people in [his] life going down the same hole on the same day.” He asks her what the hell she’s thinking, ruining her sobriety like this, but she says she’s just trying to enjoy herself. Chris comes over and interrupts their conversation when he sees that Olivia is annoyed by Asher looming over her every move. But Asher refuses to back down and Olivia eventually leaves them to keep bickering.

Chris knows about Olivia’s issues with addiction, but he wasn’t there to see her hit rock bottom so he doesn’t know how bad it actually got. Asher was. Asher cares enough to make sure he doesn’t even tempt going back there. This was just yet another moment that shows how they are always there for each other, especially when others aren’t.

1×16 — “It’s a nice way to wake up.”

Asher wakes up one morning to the sound of his dad laughing. He comes downstairs to see Olivia and his dad in the kitchen making omelettes. She was just stopping by to say hi but he was sleeping so she hung out with his dad instead. Asher makes a comment about how it’s been a long time since he heard his dad laugh. “It’s a nice way to wake up,” he says.

In the grand scheme of things, this scene has very little to do with the plot of this episode. But it’s the little things in this moment that made me realize how hardcore I ship the two of them. He’s smiling from ear to ear when he sees her standing next to his dad making breakfast. She went over to his house just to say hi; I mean, c’mon — who does that if they’re don’t have feelings for the other person in some shape or form?

I also firmly believe that when Asher says his comment about that being a nice way to wake up, he wasn’t just talking about hearing his dad laugh for the first time in awhile; he was talking about seeing Olivia hanging out in his kitchen with his dad, not consumed by anger like she was in the episode prior.

What do you think of Olivia and Asher? Would you want to see them together romantically should All American get renewed for a second season? Let me know in the comments below!

*All GIFs are my own*