Don’t worry, Ted Lasso is still a warm blanket of positivity in its second season premiere
But growing tension and a new arrival suggest the honeymoon might not last for Ted and AFC Richmond
TV Reviews Ted Lasso
Watching Ted Lasso for the first time is meant to be disarming. The Apple TV+ series puts a character in front of us that we instinctively read cynically, because everyone around him—the news media, team ownership, his players, the fans—treat him as a joke. The fact the character originated as a commercial only increases the likelihood we’ll think of Ted as a walking punchline, a football manager Michael Scott for us to cringe at. Our relationship with the show is shaped by at what point we, as a viewer, embrace Ted’s endless positivity; its storytelling, meanwhile, is shaped not by AFC Richmond’s wins and losses, but by how each of the show’s characters accept the “Tao of Ted.”
I honestly don’t remember at what point I let down my guard and accepted Ted’s earnestness, but rewatching the show when you’re tuned to his wavelength—which I’ve done twice, because *gestures at state of the world*—really lets you focus on when each of the show’s characters turns the corner. Nate is first, because Ted is the first person to bother to learn his name, and Keeley follows shortly after because she’s a positive person and sees a kindred spirit. But while some characters like Higgins just can’t resist Ted’s charms, you have others—Roy, Rebecca, Jamie—whose character arcs are defined by the hangups they need to get past in order to accept Ted’s advice. And whether it’s Roy begrudgingly seeing himself in A Wrinkle in Time, Rebecca coming clean with Ted about how she had sabotaged him from the start, or Jamie poetically relegating Richmond by finally taking Ted’s advice to pass the ball once in a while, the show is built around us anticipating each character “waking up” to Ted’s philosophy like we did at some point in the earlier episodes.
Now, if you’re reading this as someone who has either never seen Ted Lasso or remains decidedly Tednostic, this probably sounds preposterous. And it’s safe to say that the show’s second season return is not going to turn you into a convert, as the world of Ted Lasso is not a safe space for those resistant to his charms. When Ted enters Rebecca’s office early in “Goodbye Earl,” he’s greeted with a chorus of “Ted!” from Rebecca, Keeley, and Higgins like he’s Norm entering the bar on Cheers, and I have to be honest: even as someone who was thrilled to return to this world, and who had excitedly hit play on the screener, this moment worried me. It’s one thing for everyone to be on Ted’s side; it’s another for the show’s characters to be channeling the same energy of someone who just binge-watched the entire first season. I felt similarly when just as I was about to add “The Independent” after Trent Crimm introduced himself, all the other journalists did it as well, as though they were just as in on the joke as I was.
These may be brief moments, but they were enough to make me question whether I was still tuned to Ted Lasso’s wavelength. “Goodbye Earl” bypasses the aftermath of AFC Richmond’s relegation to jump forward to the team working their way through their season and caught in an endless string of ties, and I couldn’t shake the idea that the episode was similarly stuck. The episode’s central problem—Dani Rojas getting the yips after accidentally killing the team’s greyhound mascot with a penalty kick—isn’t a huge departure, and the jokes and their rapid fire timing are about on par with the show’s norm. But while there’s nothing in the episode that I would point to as a grievous misstep, as the episode progressed I worried that the first season’s narrative arc transformed the show into a pastiche of itself. What if, absent the journey from skeptic to believer and the backdrop of (the first round of) pandemic quarantines, Ted Lasso is just a pleasant-enough comedy about likeable people solving problems? What if it is, like Rebecca’s prospective suitor we’re introduced to in this premiere, just “fine?”
By the end of “Goodbye Earl,” though, I came to two conclusions. The first is that I believe there’s no way the show can recapture the energy it had at the end of last season, and I do wonder if the writers—here Coach Beard himself, Brendan Hunt—felt the pressure of recreating that energy given how some of the premiere feels just a tad bit off. The second is that a lot of what I was responding to is sort of the point of the episode, and seemingly central to the thematic goals of the season as a whole. Ted puts a positive spin on Richmond’s string of draws and successfully taps into his personal history with dogs to handle the aftermath of Earl’s tragic death, but the truth is that there is tension under the surface. Ted’s asked at what point he’ll hit the panic button amidst the team’s inability to break through with a win, and while he isn’t there yet, there is a cost to maintaining endless optimism in the face of adversity, and Ted Lasso’s second season seems poised to explore at what point those costs come to bear.
This is particularly true for Ted personally, as Dani’s struggle with the yips leads to a logical solution—Higgins brings in a sports psychologist, Dr. Fieldstone (Sarah Niles)—and a complicated response from Coach Lasso. One of the first season’s tricks was how the show undercut Ted’s external optimism with a glimpse of his sadness surrounding his divorce, and so it’s not surprising to see him bristle at the idea of therapy. Even before he explains that he had a bad experience with his ex-wife Michelle, and even if we discount the autobiographical dimensions for Jason Sudeikis that are hard to ignore, it makes sense that Ted would resist the idea of someone else coming in to fix a problem in his locker room. The whole point of Ted’s philosophy is that belief—it’s on the sign, after all—in the power of positive thinking is enough to overcome even the most stubborn of problems, whether it be a cursed physio room or a curmudgeonly veteran. And even when that breaks down, as it did for him as he was processing his divorce, you don’t go to someone else for help: you rely on the people around you, like when Rebecca talked him through his panic attack. Having to bring in someone else to solve your problem is, to Ted and others who resist going to therapy, admitting your failure at solving it yourself.
It’s a storyline that solves the immediate problem—Dani realizes that football is life and death, and also just football—while creating a host of others. Ted’s reaction to Dani getting his head together is part jealousy and part envy: he’s jealous someone else solved a situation he couldn’t crack, and he’s envious that someone else was able and willing to get help he struggles to ask for. He goes upstairs intending to talk to Dr. Fieldstone himself, either to learn how to do what she does or ask for the help he knows on some level he needs for his own issues, but he finds a group of his players seeking guidance, pushing his jealousy to the surface. Ted’s vulnerabilities may no longer be revelatory, but the extent of them is something that his players—and the outside world—don’t have any awareness of, and based on the premiere the season is building to the moment when the “real” Ted Lasso breaks through the public-facing positivity.
Showing people your real self is inherently challenging in all circumstances, but it’s particularly true when you’re convinced that doing so will destroy the tenuous balance of your existence. It’s why there’s an inclination to accept an endless string of ties, because despite the fact you aren’t winning, you aren’t losing, and isn’t that really the concern? Rebecca’s story here is built around the idea that she’s dating again, and has found someone who Keeley agrees ticks all the boxes: Age appropriate! Financially appropriate! Not shy! But once Roy gets a look at him, he correctly identifies him as the human equivalent of a tie, and Rebecca realizes that she’s been looking at the idea of relationships wrong. She’s been protecting herself for so long that she was willing to accept a fairweather football fan who tells nothing but stories about Broadway just because he isn’t an abject embarrassment, and the support structure she had formed—positive reinforcement at the expense of honesty from Keeley and (briefly) Ted—was equipped to let her continue getting away with it. I am hopeful that Hannah Waddingham isn’t limited to Rebecca’s dating life for the entire season, but her moment of revelation in the coffee shop gives the story more gravitas than it maybe deserves, and hopefully sets her up for a more fulfilling journey.
When Roy isn’t dispensing with the “girl talk” and telling Rebecca the truth, he’s ignoring making big decisions about his retirement. Given that Sarah Niles is a series regular, I have to presume that she’ll eventually be enlisted to help address everyone’s problems, and I am already anticipating a possible showdown between her and Roy. In the wake of a retirement speech that apparently went viral (and which we don’t see here, although presumably we’ll see it eventually), Roy is actively avoiding his old life: he isn’t joining Keeley at AFC Richmond’s home games, he refuses to talk to Sky Sports about becoming a pundit, and he’s content for the yoga moms who have no idea he’s a footballer to be his only friends. And while Keeley is right to apologize for trying to pressure him into the Sky Sports gig, there’s no question that he’s yet to come to terms with his retirement, insofar as there is no way he can ever run away from it entirely. At episode’s end, his last football-free haven—the reality TV he watches with the yoga moms—is poisoned by the presence of Jamie Tartt, and Roy seethes as his former rival stars on Lust Conquers All. While Roy—unlike Ted—is able to release his anger on a regular basis, there’s still a deeper insecurity tied to his retired life, and it feels possible that both Dr. Fieldstone and Ted will be putting their philosophies to the test in order to help him confront that.
And in this way, “Goodbye Earl” is meant to disarm us: we’re presented with an overly cheery version of AFC Richmond’s status quo, where everyone is happy even when the team is no closer to escaping relegation, and where none of the characters have resolved any of the inner struggles that were revealed over the course of last season. And so while Dr. Fieldstone’s arrival is positioned to solve those and other struggles, her sudden arrival disrupts the honeymoon vibe the show entered by the end of last season, and creates a foundation on which the show will hopefully build a new journey for these characters worthy of their journey thus far.
Stray observations
- The largest breadcrumb that the premiere doesn’t have time to delve into is what’s happened to Nate in the gap between the end of the previous season and where we pick things up: he’s treating his replacement like dirt, and intends to motivate Dani by throwing his salary in his face, and you can see Ted and Coach Beard raising their eyebrows at his loss of perspective. Feels like another problem for Dr. Fieldstone.
- It feels a little formulaic to see every issue as a future Dr. Fieldstone story, but Sarah Niles—who I last saw as the detective on I May Destroy You—has a disarming presence that I’m sure the show will want to use with every character combination possible.
- I suppose we’ll know better once we actually see Roy’s retirement speech, but it’s fitting that he has his own viral moment not unlike Ted’s, in terms of linking their circumstances together. Definitely interested in seeing Retirement Roy interact with more of the show’s characters as he gets pulled back into the team’s orbit a bit more.
- In addition to the return of several of last season’s players, we’re also introduced to Jan, the overly honest Dutch person, who gets most of the player punchlines with his blunt assessments of the problems afoot.
- “Biscuits with the Boss” is still a thing, lest the show’s new merch be immediately out-of-date.
- I legitimately don’t know if we’re meant to interpret Dani Rojas waking up from his cartoon dream with two women in his bed to be a sign of his emotional distress or just his normal life? Open to opinions on whether Dani is normally a threesome kind of guy.
- “Tom Cruise was rocking a tiny little ponytail in both those films”—I don’t know why I thought I wouldn’t be on the show’s wavelength anymore, given how often I’m a step ahead of Coach Beard or Ted when they get into their pop culture banters. (See also: the Gin Blossoms argument).
- “And remember, this is when tickets to STOMP were hard to get”—Rebecca deserves extra biscuits for staying attentive for as much of that date as she did.
- I’m presuming that Jamie is hurt if he’s on Ted Lasso’s version of Love Island? I imagine the second episode will give us a bit more insight into what Jamie’s been up to, given that Phil Dunster remains part of the regular cast.
- This is only for some of you, but the two times I rewatched the show it most reminded me of the experience of rewatching the Lost series finale and waiting for each character to wake up from the Flash Sideways, but with waiting for each character to realize that Ted was actually great.
- Welcome to our weekly coverage of Ted Lasso! Will digging deeper into how the show works suck the fun out of it? I’m a little worried about that, to be honest! But I am entering into this process believing that the show will both stand up to this scrutiny and become richer for being subject to it, and thus I hope you’ll join me in the comments to explore this next stage in Ted and AFC Richmond’s journey. If you have something specific you want to address and would prefer to bypass the comments, you can reach me on Twitter.
83 Comments
I’m a really big sports fan. I watch all kinds of stuff.I’m more excited about Ted Lasso coming back than I am about they start of the Olympics. Perhaps an immunity to Olympic fever is one of the side effects of Pfizer….
Perhaps an immunity to Olympic fever is one of the side effects of Pfizer….
Or perhaps it’s the feeling that we’re being told “things are back to normal”, when seeing mass crowds congregate gives you anxiety attacks.
Of course after this summer they would start the new season with a missed penalty, at least no animals were harmed in the England loss
Aren’t missed penalties in big matches kind of an English tradition?
When an England team have to face penalties, the whole country enters this numb, trance like state of fear, pain, and dread. We know what is to come and don’t dare believe that this time might be different.
Too soon…
Haven’t watched the new episode yet, but I binged the last season three times in the past year. Once on my own, once after convincing my wife she had to see it too, and then a third time when we…just felt we needed to watch something like Ted Lasso again. I doubt being the perfect pandemic show was something Ted Lasso sought out but I’m glad I had it.
Wait the olympics have started ? Only realized when I saw an article that gaming themes were in the opening ceremony
Loved that girl with the ice pack on her head, absolutely matching Roy’s energy.
Have you only seen the first episode of this season? If so, my advice would be “Be Curious, not judgmental”. It’s obvious there will be a shift from Ted solving other people’s problems to Ted confronting his issues. I could care less if Ted Lasso is part feel good tv, and part Jason working thru his issues. Don’t be so cynical.
To answer your direct question: I wrote this review after watching the first episode of the season, yes.And to your final point: criticism is not cynicism. The core of episodic criticism like this is honestly sharing my response to what I’m watching: in this case, that means sharing the skepticism the premiere raised, and then rationalizing it in response to the rest of the episode. I realize I have to apply a grade and make a direct assessment of these episodes, but I am resistant to this suggestion that this means I am inherently being judgmental, or that I went into the episode with a cynical point of view. All I can do is be honest, and sometimes that means expressing concern and skepticism.And if that’s not something you want to read, I encourage you to skip the review and come down to the comments to share your perspective on the episode.
I really appreciated this review, as I found myself struck (and not in a good way) by exactly the same two moments you were, and thinking “Oh no, do I not like this show now?” I am normally a fan of earnestness, but the reporters saying “The Independent” made me cringe with the cheesiness. But your points in the review were very enlightening, and now I am looking forward to watching the rest. I knew they would have to come up with a new plot point other than “fish out of water gets everyone to jump in the pond with him”, and now I am ready to see where it goes.
Man, that was like puttin’ on a comfy pair of old sneakers. My brain slipped back into that world like a blueberry inside a pancake.Favorite non-spoilery line: “Oh, I forgot about the goddamn internet!”
You point out that they call out “Ted!” like he’s Norm without mentioning that Norm is Ted’s uncle? Well, I mean the actors are uncle-nephew.
Oooh, I can see the similarity in the faces.
As long as Nick Mohammed and Juno Temple are still endearing and lovely, I’ll enjoy this.
Since I’m paying for Apple TV, I should probably watch this. I have a surgery coming up so that could be the best time to get caught up on this series.
This really does feel like a perfect surgery recovery show, let us know how it goes!
Open to opinions on whether Dani is normally a threesome kind of guy.I mean, yeah. It’s totally in-line with what we know about Dani so far. Dude is all about savoring the joys of life.
I immediately assumed he exists in a state of constant throuple where the other two players rotate through at a varying rate and DANI ROJAS is the constant.
I immediately assumed he exists in a state of constant throuple where
the other two players rotate through at a varying rate and DANI ROJAS is
the constant.
Agreed. Dani isn’t a skeeze but he is definitely someone who embraces life fully. I imagine he’s often in some sort of group sex scenario, just delighted with all the limbs.
I wonder if he sings the DANI ROJAS song during sex and orgies
One can only hope
In this house, we all follow the West Ham. However, this show rocks. The guy who plays Rebecca’s date has literally been on every show in the UK. Currently he’s recurring on Breeders, where he’s off and on trying to fuck Martin Freeman’s wife.
I was distracted throughout the entire date trying to recall where I knew the actor from, and it didn’t click until the coffee date: the popular, good-looking boss that David Brent was bitterly jealous of on ‘The Office’.
He has played a a large amount of characters who could basically just be described as twats.
I was reacting to the opening scenes almost exactly the same as Miles (also instantly clocked the Lost metaphors in this review’s assessment of Season 1) but the arrival of the shrink, and the kinds of conflict that will create for Ted is instantly juicy to me, and I can’t wait to see where that goes. Everybody being lovey-dovey is nice, but cynicism was such a key part of the friction, and I think it’s something the show needs. The question is, will the doctor eventually be charmed over like everyone else, or can they pull off a different conclusion? Will digging deeper into how the show works suck the fun out of it? I’m a little worried about that, to be honest! Me too!Unlucky = The Jets. YupMy favorite Gin Blossom’s song is “Allison Road”Dutch guy being the better player, and letting you know? It tracks. Outside of Germany and Brazil, the Netherlands are awesome to watch play.
I do like the show but sometimes it’s so nice and kindly I end up feeling a bit like Vyv…Maybe I’m a horrible person (probably!)
My one-year free trial to Apple TV expired the day before season two premiered, naturally. Apple TV is not worth paying money for, though.
There’s a 6 month free sub if you have a PS5.
This is helpful to many of us (myself included, once I return to my PS5), but it’s a BIT less helpful to the folks who still can’t get a PS5, making it somewhat cold comfort.
Oh, that intro scene! Look, we can all agree that it was lazy writing. We all saw the dog jumping in front of the ball about six months before it happened. But I’ll be damned if the rest of the episode didn’t pick up the pace and get us right back to the joyous camaraderie that we love about a Ted Lasso episode.
Now if we could only get Apple to release them all at once instead of making us wait a week like it’s the 20th-fucking-century…
Nah. That combined with weekly reviews makes this proper appointment TV again. Why else are you on this water cooler site?
Ted Lasso doesn’t really seem like a water cooler show in the same way other streaming shows with a weekly release can be (The Boys, all Disney+ shows etc).
I don’t think Ted Lasso will ever be a “water cooler” show in that way given the lack of mythology and a lighter form of serialization, but I do think that it fits a “weekly appointment” model of how people watch, and I think the idea of people looking forward to another dose of positivity each week has a similar psychological dimension to wanting to see the next installment of Loki or what have you.
I put off watching this a bit out of nervousness. I surprised myself by just fully embracing the hopeful positive nature of the first season, and was worried that they couldn’t sustain it. Eventually the New Kid In Town just becomes another kid in town, not special. I thought this ep came out largely unscatched. I’m trying not to heap too much expectation on this season, but continue to worry that the wheels will come off NEXT week.I assume Doc Whatsherface is gonna show she’s insightful. Because if they just strawman her behind closed doors with patients while making her a stonefaced downer when she interacts with Ted, I call shenanigans. Still the show is about Ted disarming doubters, so.I wonder at the Magnolia connection in this ep. I could only watch the movie once, even though I loved it that time. They reference it on the field, and then play the Aimee Mann track from it when Rebecca has her revelation at the cafe. I don’t get it.You don’t say The Yips out loud. She’s a sports therapist, right?
I was going to comment on the Aimee Mann needle drop. I wonder if it started that they wanted to use the song then ended up with the Magnolia riff to go with it.
Huh. I never considered that. Thanks. I guess the title of the track “Wise Up” fits more than the movie reference.
Yes, but she’s a sports therapist in England. Maybe that’s not a thing there.
I feel like the Yips is VERY much an American Baseball phenomenon, culturally, and so it makes sense that she wouldn’t be invested in the mythology of it.
It originated in golf. I’ve mostly heard it there or in baseball.
Wikipedia lists cricket and snooker as sports that use the term (and darts, but referred to as ‘dartitis’).
The first half of this episode seemed a bit off and tepid, with a lack of urgency common to second seasons of hit shows. They tend to shift into a lower gear knowing they now have to stretch storylines and characters arcs over several more years, so not much forward momentum gets generated. But things clicked in the second half with the appearance of the sports psychologist. With Roy and Jamie off the team the player dynamics don’t seem as strong as the first season, and that’s a problem they’ll have to remedy. I appreciate they’re giving Danny some depth as in season 1 he was kind of one note. Feeling good about this season but not entirely convinced yet it’s going to be as good as number one.
It’s interesting: on the one hand I agree, but also I feel like a sports show inherently has the ability to shift gears with less difficulty because there’s a natural ebb and flow to a season, and natural narrative patterns that they can rely on. And so the show has tools at its disposal that other shows don’t, depending on how it chooses to use them.
Predict that the throwaway joke about another team sending them Thai food might be setting up something for later in the season- Richmond needs a proper rival.
That joke mostly annoyed me because nobody uses the word “tie” in that sense in England (it’s “draw”).
Dr. Fieldstone sharing a last name with the quack radio host from Sleepless in Seattle is intentional, right?
If it isn’t that’s an awfully big coincidence.
Thank you for the well written review. I have a suggestion for future installments: I remember when Ms. Vanderwerff wrote the excellent Deadwood reviews, she included a quotes from the episode section with each review because the dialogue in that show is so good (the best ever, to me). I think Ted Lasso has so many great lines each show that it would also merit such a section.I really enjoyed the first episode. I agree that the beginning felt a little off (the whole “TED!!!!” office thing was in character but over the top), but it was necessary to contrast the sports psychologist coming in and not being part of the Ted fan club.Already looking forward to next week!
Thanks for reading! I usually try to highlight a fair number of quotes in the Strays, although admittedly not all of them. To me, the approach of quote-featuring makes more sense with TV Club Classic than it does with weekly reviews, so including the ones that were fun enough to make my notes is usually my approach rather than being exhaustive.
Thanks for the response, and the great review! I am really looking forward to regular Lasso coverage.
Still an unfunny garbage show.
Really good use of your time on this comment section then
Pretty much agree with all of this. I found the first half a bit much (the Trent Crimm joke in particular felt like it was patting itself and the fans on the back in a really easy way), but around the time Roy fucking Kent comes back, it found its footing.They definitely do have an uphill struggle now that the element of surprise has gone. The reason I loved Ted Lasso so much is that I just expected a fun, generic sports comedy and instead got a warm, positive hug of a show. But while that’s great for ten episodes, it’s not necessarily something I need hours and hours of, so it will be interesting to see how they add more shades to the show. Also, Roy Kent is one of my favourite characters ever. There’s just something about a sweet, sincere, borderline poetic man who also has a permanent scowl, foul mouth, and violent temper that never stops being funny.
Roy is the best. I was worried he was going to flip out on Keely for pushing him toward taking the TV gig but I’m glad she apologized for it and the way he handled Rebecca’s romantic insecurities after the dinner was perfect. Hope he leads the South London Under 9 Girls to a Cup win!
I was initially wary of the Trent Crimm joke (not a fan when shows pick up things that the fans are doing), BUT I thought the little smile on Trent’s face was very telling. He too has found his people (even if it’s a much less-crowded press room than before). I also thought it was interesting that he was still there at all, considering it seems like he’s got his pick of which premier league teams he could be reporting on.
I feel like he would see the relegation and subsequent struggle as a good hook for a season of stories, and he might just feel like there’s a point where Ted will crash and burn and he wants a front row seat.
That last part of your last line sounds so cynical. Judging by his opinion of Ted in his profile on him, I think he’s actually pulling for Ted to pull them back out of the depths and in that he may want to be able to document (even try to put positive spin on it to subtly give Ted a bit of support) if and when that success story hopefully happens.
That’s fair. I think “front row seat” less in terms of “I want to see him crash and burn” and more “that’s a story I need to tell.” But I literally just rewatched the “Trent Crimm article” scene with my parents, and you’re right that I’m overstating his cynicism here.
Ah, good call. Trent Crimm would love it either way – the cynical reporting of a team’s descent into the lower leagues of the Champions League or (and what he secretly wants, I think) the cheerful detailing of Richmond’s rise to the top. (Though with 8 straight draws it’s going to be a real slow climb to the top.)
Richmond AFC is also London-based. There’s no reason he can’t also be a beat writer for a Premier League team and regularly drop in on a second tier team.
Fair play. He can write up gossip from AFC Richmond’s press room and then document another Spurs loss.
I’m not alone in possessing extreme sensitivity when it comes to dogs/animals being harmed in TV/film.And, sorry, but FUCK Ted Lasso for the Season 1 opener.Talk about something that is utterly off tone for the show and a betrayal of why people watch it. I’m again not alone in this opinion. My friends and I were furious.Hey, I get it that “Them” is going to have a dog get murdered. That’s the kind of show it is.But “Ted Lasso?” Inexcusable.
There were no dogs in the Season 1 opener.
UUUUUUUUUGGGHHHHHHH
For the record, Bill Lawrence has been telling people on Twitter that they understand this response, but felt like the speech Ted gives afterwards was important enough to be worth it:
I know it’s a trigger for a lot of people, and that they maybe didn’t fully grasp that when they made the call, but that’s their position.
Finally the regular coverage I’ve been asking for! Thank you!
I’d tell you to thank The Powers That Be, but honestly my incessant emailing probably played SOME kind of role here, so you’re welcome.
I’m still laughing at the New York Jets joke.
I get that they’re setting up Dr. Fieldstone to be a bit of an antagonist to Ted (for all the eloquent reasons Myles said). But I thought she came across as too much of an asshole to Ted here. Specifially the “I’m twice as good a therapist as you are a coach” line (paraphrasing) and then not acknowledging him at all when she was looking at the field seemed to be really antagonizing. I’m certainly not against ramping up conflict, but those scenes were just a bit off tonally I thought.
Yeah, I commented on the Sarah Niles’ interview that I’m pretty curious where this story is heading. Something about those shots of Ted reacting to her lack of a response felt almost ominous in a weird way; my guess is that there’s something about Ted’s approach that they’ll need to discuss and she’s trying to figure him out.
I guess the best way I would respond to this—admittedly from the perspective of someone who has seen most of the season—is that Sharon is not yet aware what kind of environment she’s entering into. WE are very used to the radical positivity of AFC Richmond, but she would have no reason to think this was any different than another team, and so she come in on the offensive to assert her capacity and professionalism. I agree that she comes off a little cold for the reasons of exaggerating the antagonism, but I’d argue there’s good reason for her to do so in any other context, and she wouldn’t realize that it isn’t as necessary here (or at least isn’t necessary for the same reasons).But let’s discuss more over the next couple of weeks.
Thanks for the response Myles. Only just seeing this now. But your argument does make sense. Not to overthink it, but I’m sure as a middle aged black woman working with young male athletes, Dr. Sharon often does need to be assertive when dealing with potentially toxic locker rooms who might dismiss her. But as you said obviously that’s not Richmond.
I’ve stayed away from this show, because of how people online talk about it. I thought, “No show could be that cheesy, be good, and still works.” I watched the trailers. I was so convinced that I wouldn’t buy into its charms, because what I saw didn’t work for me at all.Then Sony offered 6 months of TV+ for PS5 owners, and the show’s right there on the home page inside the app. Almost like it was mocking me, challenging me.My total 180 towards this show was so sudden and instant, like a brick to the face. Now I’m so obsessed. Between this and Mythic Quest, Apple is already winning me over with their “quality > quantity” approach. For All Mankind’s first episode looks interesting, too, and I’ve heard good things about See(Aquaman!) and Servant(RON WEASLEY!).Also, it took me awhile to realize Hannah Waddingham was in Game of Thrones as Cersei’s tormenter. Stunning lady, amazing actor.
I don’t blame people who are resistant when the discourse is so overwhelming, but I always feel like there’s so little harm in trying it: half-hour episodes, 10 episode season, and if you’re not charmed I would hope the show’s fans would understand Ted’s philosophy well enough not to judge them for it.
Finally got around to watching this last night and have been trying to figure out if there is any significance to the number 1236. Not only was that the amount Roy currently owes his niece for swearing, it was the “record” for Ted & Coach Beard’s paperball (?) game that Nate told Dr. Fieldstone.Does anyone know why? That is too random a number to come up twice in the same episode for unrelated reasons.
I imagine it’s most likely a personal significance that we’ll never know to someone in the production, but alternatively: 6 is a perfect number that is the sum of 1+2+3 and the product of 1*2*3.
Can we talk about the massive nod to Magnolia? Both when they talk about Tom Cruise in a ponytail and the breakup scene, which is clearly inspired by a similar scene in the movie with the same (excellent!) Aimee Mann song.
What exactly happened after the dog died?
usually when there’s interference during a penalty kick the referee orders a do-over.
even if something awefully tragic happens which means the match can’t be resumed (let’s face it, a dog dying probably wouldn’t count as such), the match would probably be rescheduled to continue at a later date and not just end in the middle with the same score.
Great start
Cristo Fernandez reminds me of Abbi Jacobson. It’s the smile.
I totally understand the sports yips. I suddenly found I could not jam a basketball. I went to a sports psychologist and he told me it wasn’t a disruptive fear of embarrassment, or even a fear of falling, but rather I was 5′-6″.