Ted Lasso recap: This show cannot seem to get out of its own way
This season, the series has yet to meet a thorny plot it can't neatly solve within an episode’s time
TV Reviews Ted Lasso
I promise I’ll stop ragging on Ted Lasso and its self-indulgent hour-long episodes soon—likely by season’s end. But I cannot stress enough how much that episode length has hurt what was once one of the sunniest, funniest comedies around. Indeed, if you were to just tune in for a specific violin-scored scene in “International Break,” you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a heart-rending after-school special about the beauty of soccer (and, perhaps, also about the joy of seeing immigrant fathers coming around to unabashedly supporting their kids’ interests). Yes, so contrived did I find that scene that, no matter how much I enjoy Hannah Waddingham as Rebecca, her voiceover (with lines like “Football isn’t just a game” and “Just because we own these teams doesn’t mean they belong to us”) had me rolling my eyes, the latest example in Ted Lasso’s ability to lose its way in wanting to tell heartwarming stories and stumbling, instead, into didactic PSAs that ring hollow not in spite but because of their gleeful earnestness.
This is a criticism I’ve been making of the season as a whole, which is why I’m feeling less and less inclined to repeat it. There’s a good (nay, a great!) show here buried somewhere. But with cloying speeches, maudlin reunions, and key plot points that are introduced only to then be immediately resolved (hello Super League! ditto Keeley’s agency folding!), this Emmy-winning series cannot seem to get out of its own way.
Part of it is that with its ballooned runtime, each episode feels like a clown car of B-plots all vying for our attention. “International Break” alone has us follow Rebecca as she finally moves on from wanting to beat Rupert (huzzah!), Nate as he stands by his principles after quitting West Ham (hoorah?), and Keeley as she struggles with the imminent demise of her business (yikes!)—all while also giving us time to check in with a Dani/Van Damme riff, a Roy/Phoebe reunion, and a Sam/Akufo rematch. It’s a lot.
Of those various storylines, the one true highlight was seeing Roy’s niece Phoebe back as she celebrated Uncle Day with everyone’s favorite cantankerous coach—who, as it turns out, may finally be mellowing enough to wear a colorful tie-dye shirt no matter how ridiculous he may feel. It’s in that scene, where Roy gets a tad annoyed for rightfully being told he and Jamie are now basically BFFs, that we get one of the episode’s most tightly constructed jokes, all around Phoebe’s swear jar and a soccer jersey where Roy’s last name has had its E changed into a U (classic Jamie!). Phoebe has long been a bright spot in the show and in Roy’s life so it makes sense her return would be highlight—and a nudge toward seeing Roy make further inroads into softening enough to finally reach out to Keeley, setting up their eventual make-up hook up, which wryly gets the Rebecca seal of approval. Oh, and gives us a shot of Roy in another one of Keeley’s frilly robes, which: A-plus.
Sadly, much of the episode is taken up by two twinned narratives about hitting rock bottom and getting back up again. (This is oppressively positive, remember?) Nate and Keeley, he after quitting West Ham, she after losing funding for her PR firm, are at a loss as to how to move on. Both had clearly been on a golden path toward success on the heels of what they’d learned about themselves while at Richmond and under the banner of Ted and Rebecca, respectively. Could they find a way forward now that everything they’d worked toward had, well, vanished?
The question is obviously rhetorical as Ted Lasso has yet to meet a thorny plot it cannot neatly solve within an episode’s time. And so, yes, Nate does eventually get out of bed at his parents’ place, and Keeley, swallowing her pride, allows Rebecca to help her out, and both seem, by episode’s end, to have found their footing once again. Their crises of confidence are shown to be mere speed bumps that maybe (finally?) will get them folded back into the fabric of the show with more finesse than we’ve seen this entire season.
Similarly, Rebecca’s stand off against Rupert and Akufo (which ends, inexplicably, in a food fight-esque climax we don’t get to see) has the hallmarks of a season-three Ted Lasso storyline in that it feels reverse engineered to have taught us (and Rebecca) a lesson in standing up for yourself. Put aside the reasoning behind why Rupert’s fellow team owners would ever listen to Rebecca in forgoing their wish to make more profits from their football teams and you’re left with a plot merely designed to get our fearless AFC Richmond owner to, well, own both the old white men who’ve long underestimated her and the Nigerian billionaire who’s made a sport of humiliating Sam. It’s all too neat, as ever, with the comedy taking a backseat to moments that are supposed to make us cheer with tears at how far our characters have come.
We’re only a few episodes away from what seems to be the end of Ted Lasso and so it makes sense some of these series long threads (about Rupert/Rebecca, Roy/Keeley) are now being neatly tied up. (She refuses his kiss! She has him sleep over!) But there’s very little here that makes me root for them, especially in episodes so listlessly presented as “International Break.” Can Ted Lasso turn it around in its upcoming final installments? Color me curious but skeptical.
Stray observations
- Really? An old man can’t tell whether to push or pull on a door as an extended bit? In 2023? In this economy?
- Okay, when I asked for more depth for Dani Rojas, I didn’t expect the Ted Lasso writers to turn him abruptly into a ruthless nose-breaking player for the duration of his stint as a Mexico player. Better than letting him be friendly and sunny all the time, I guess?
- Roy’s “ROY/Red Yellow Orange” shirt may have gotten the spotlight (and prompted a welcome shirtless Goldstein moment), but I’m going to need the show to acknowledge Trent Crimm’s A-plus tee game at some point. His Dolly one this week? Chef’s kiss.
- “Any day that annoyed Roy is a holiday to me!” God I missed Roy/Phoebe quality family time!
- Funny: the photo of Rebecca that Keeley has on her phone. Not funny: the fact that Rebecca has Rupert as “The Devil” on her phone (and the subsequent “joke” that followed that visual gag wherein we got Lasso Tedsplaining said gag.)
- If nothing else, I’m glad Sam Richardson got to showcase his great accent work, even if I remain unconvinced we needed another visit from his Edwin Afuko, who apparently is a cartoonish villain whose sole purpose is to ruin Sam’s life and, in true supervillain mode, has decided he wants to make football unaffordable and profitable in equal measure. (The greatest fiction of Ted Lasso is that such a character would be defeated with a mere rousing speech; you know he’d fit right in at Succession, no?)
- Ted saying “He’s a talented little boy” about Hockney serves as a reminder that only intermittently are we getting folksy Ted as of late.
- Honestly, I’m so happy we get more of Barbara because deadpan lines like “I like clothes that tell the truth” (ABOUT HER JUICY SWEATPANTS!) are one of the few bright spots this season has offered us.
323 Comments
Okay, I started writing this about halfway through the first paragraph of your article, when one of the ads crashed the page and reloaded, and I still haven’t changed what I was going to say after reading the whole thing:I legitimately think you have been watching a different show than I have, because I have not seen a change in the way plots play out, nor how the hearts have been on sleeves, nor there being extended conflicts. I’ve seen more thought-out criticism on Reddit, discussing how Keeley’s whole KJPR arc has mainly been tied to her sex life, something she’d Fuck this, the KitchenAid ad just took up the remaining usable space on my phone screen. I’m out.
nah, i think Manuel Betancourt is right. This show has gone to shit. the hourlong running times have killed this show. Sam Richardson is a good actor in other stuff, but in this show, his scenes are a embarrassment to comedy. We will always have season 1!
So why haunt comment sections of reviews, just stop watching and leave it to the folks who still enjoy it…I just never understand the whole ‘good shows can never change or their awful’ philosophy. We somehow live in a world where nothing is ever allowed to change…not our opinions, not our minds, not our favorite shows. This is my new favorite episode of the season and it’s ok if a lot of other people don’t like it…I do, so I’ll keep watching.
Counterpoint: No.
Sorry but you’re smoking crack. Switching to hour long has allowed them to focus on the rest of the cast instead of just focus on the three main characters of the past 2 seasons.
Hi Manuel’s mom
It is utterly baffling to me how strident defenders of this now awful show are. You’re right, there’s no way we can be watching the same thing if you think this season compares favorably at all to season 1.
It’s interesting how defenders of Ted Lasso, what’s supposed to be the most heartwarming show on television, can be so vile in their criticisms of those who have the audacity to think that the show isn’t good anymore.
That’s what you get for commenting from your phone, like some sort of savage.
Sigh, I deserve everything I get.
Starting to think people who hate this show just hate joy. The hourlong episodes have been the best thing that ever happened to this show. If something’s good, and you enjoy seeing it be good, why wouldn’t you want there to be more of it?
Sorry, but the hourlong episodes have been the worse thing to happen to this show, Nate playing Arvo Pärt on the violin, a close second. The longer episodes enables the narrative to overcook and fizzle out. For an hour long episode, they really should have found screentime to have a scene where Nate apologises in person to Will, rather than a pathectic card.The show should have kept the episodes to under 30mins. they would have had twice the number of episodes this season too.“If something’s good, and you enjoy seeing it be good, why wouldn’t you want there to be more of it?” —- as the famous quote goes “too much of a good thing…”.
Nah, the longer episodes have been necessary for the plot so far—barring the outlier of “We’ll Never Have Paris”, which was just misguided from the start. The narrative is tighter than ever, the jokes are wittier and punchier, and the emotional beats still land as well as they’ve ever had. Not a single minute wasted. This is a show that knows what it wants to be and is superbly efficient about it.
The narrative is tighter than everWait, what? Are you sure you’re watching Ted Lasso? Even if you still think it works, you can’t possibly really think that the narrative has been tightened up this season…
“For an hour long episode, they really should have found screentime to have a scene where Nate apologises in person to Will, rather than a pathectic card.”
A card he *still* signs “Wonder Kid,” which totally undercut the moment for me.
It’s owning that he didn’t say “wunderkind” or know what it means. I think he was still trying to “correct” people on it earlier this season so it’s growth for him.
Yes, particularly because it was Will’s idea for the team to give Nate a jersey that said Wonder Kid, and Nate later yelled at Will because Nate was SO embarrassed he flubbed “wunderkind,” if I remember correctly. Among other reasons he yelled at Will. Anyway, Nate signing the card “Wonder Kid” also showed appreciation for that jersey, I think, and was a way of apologizing for how horribly he treated Will after the team gave him that gift.
He previously went after Will because he thought he was making fun of him for arranging for the team to give Nate a “Wonder Kid” jersey last season. Perhaps the idea that he signed it as that because he is sorry and he is acknowledging that he realizes it wasn’t meant as a prank.
That’s exactly what I thought. It wasn’t Nate being pretentious, it was a dig at himself. The look on Will’s face (BTW – a show about Will is a spinoff I’d consider watching – everything that guy does is pure gold) showed that he got it.
💯 %.
You clearly missed that Nate did Will’s job not just leave a card.
But that isn’t Nate. Nate is into gestures (like the date box he made for Jade)…doing his kit work IS the apology…not the card.
Good point. i’m too stupid to think of that x
I don’t think that’s a fair way of looking at it. That season 1 was incredibly tightly plotted; everything flowed steadily and logically and made sense. Like Ted himself, its winning nature was in its steadiness and consistency.Being longer doesn’t make it more of a good thing; it’s often meant that the show is more slack in its plotting and takes needless detours and indulgences. “More of a good thing” only works if the thing maintains its quality while growing in quantity, and I think Ted Lasso has been much spottier its last two seasons than it was in season 1— still capable of episodes and moments that reach those levels, but less frequently and consistently, and the show’s floor is a lot lower than it was in season 1.(That said, I liked this one well enough. I’ll have more to say about that.)
I think they’ve managed to make the hourlong episode tight enough that they still work great. Being longer and maintaining quality is a good thing. It means they’re not being longer just to add dead air, they were deemed necessary for the plot.Many detractors keep saying the longer episodes are bad but they could never really explain why, just throwing jargons around.
The longer shows didn’t really work last season but they’re better this season.
I’m here for this take.I still preferred the 30 minute tighter plotting of season 1 but I haven’t seen anyone note that this years longer episodes are more coherent than last years last few, 40/45 minute length episodes.
Maybe it’s because I binged the first 2 seasons and started on season 3 when it was already like 5 episodes in. If I had to break between seasons 2 and 3 I might not have noticed. It’s like they finally figured out what to do with the extra 15-20 minutes.
Ah yes, all those critics who loved the show now disliking the show’s plots must hate joy. Such an original response to criticism of something you like.
Listen to this week’s Chapo Trap House about why Ted Lasso sucks an egg.
lol, is that still a thing?
These aren’t hour-long episodes, they are three 22-minute episodes of three different shows all scrambled together. Ironically, we got almost no actual Ted Lasso this week! But we got the Coach Nate and Keeley show episodes.
All of these other shows feel superfluous outside of the aspect of “It’s nice just to spend time with these characters.” And the shrugworthiness of all these plotlines this season are doubly superfluous. Nate’s season two supervillain trajectory was completely abandoned for a bland, nice redemption arc, that makes you have to struggle to recall all the dark path Nate was on. It just went…. poof! This show has become terrified of letting ANY of its characters be remotely mean or controversial. I get it and appreciate that this show is all about positivity and being nice instead of mean, but taking away all of the edges of these characters just leaves BLAND storytelling. But that’s what this show is now.
This show has become terrified of letting ANY of its characters be remotely mean or controversial. I get it and appreciate that this show is all about positivity and being nice instead of mean, but taking away all of the edges of these characters just leaves BLAND storytelling. But that’s what this show is now. This should be the sign for you to watch and complain about something else then?
This is the lazy reply to anyone who feels a once-great show has started to slip or even completely fallen off the rails. “Wah wah… I still love the show and will always love it no matter what sorts of questionable storytelling choices it makes, or no matter how much the quality has been abandoned, and if you don’t like it, wah wah, just go somewhere else.”
Well, duh. Of course if it continues down this trajectory, I won’t be back for future seasons or spin-offs. I’m invested in the show for the remainder of this season, and am praying that it somehow turns it all around in the last two episodes to somehow mitigate the damage done by the first ten episodes. The joy of commenting on reviews is that I’m allowed to have an opinion, just like you are. I can agree with the main reviewer or vehemently disagree. I can agree or disagree with individual comments. It’s all good. It’s all fun. But it’s just silly and lazy to grumpily whine “Well, just go somewhere else.” The reality is that every review and every comment is a valuable data point. No idea if the decision-makers read reviews and comment threads, but they should, because they’ll get an endless supply of great data points. An important takeaway from season 3 of Ted Lasso is that while this show started out as a balm from all the horrors of 2020 (in my case, it came in the midst of my Louisiana town getting decimated from TWO direct hits from hurricanes), audiences have become bored and unsatisfied with the show seeming to be happy to spin in place. This is especially sad because season 2 continued that season 1 positivity, but seemed willing to sprinkle in a healthy amount of darkness and the uncertainties of life. It all seemed to point to a season 3 that would fully embrace the darkness and difficulties of life, but show how that can be overcome by the Ted Lasso brand of positivity. Nate was fully set up and foreshadowed to go through a Dark Night of the Soul arc. Instead… I guess that happened offscreen and we got gentle, sympathetic Nate back almost from the beginning of the season, and he’s only just gotten nicer. For future showrunners and executives perusing these comment threads, count this as a blinking data point that as much as we might like a certain aspect of a show, the relentless positivity in this case, if you just stay there and seem terrified to stray from what you think the audience wants, then you become just another sitcom, just another TV show. The show this season looks like what I’d expect it to look like in season nine, after the original creators have left the show and some new people have come in with the mandate to return it to what people loved about it in the beginning, which never works. And it didn’t work in this case. This is now a bland, toothless show that is terrified to do even the tiniest negative thing to its characters.
Tl;dr, find something better to watch and do with your time instead ranting about a fictional TV show no one is forcing you to watch to strangers on the internet all day. This is really not that difficult dude. Not every show has to cater to your specific tastes and needs.
It was a good and thoughtful comment. If you don’t like criticism of your favorite show, why read articles and comment sections like this in the first place?
For a guy who makes comments of “i’m of good moral standing” and “Someone else’s opinions about TV don’t affect my enjoyment of it” you’re being quite the beligerent trolly dickhead about other people’s opinons about this TV show.Might you also take the same advice as far as finding something better to do with your life and time than fighting strangers on the internet for a TV show that you don’t like? Who is forcing you to watch this show? Let alone, argue with people about it? This show isn’t obviously for you. Find something else to watch and do.
Nah. This is a dishonest response from you. I’ve given plenty of thoughtful analysis on what I think the show has done right and what it’s done wrong. I’ve also had great and thoughtful discussions with the people here who are similarly doing detailed analysis of what the show could be doing better.You on the other hand, are going around angrily calling everyone names if they don’t like the show as much as you. Anyone expressing an opinion contrary to yours is a “trolly dickhead.” You are looking to pick fights here. I am not; I simply think it’s unhealthy to react like this and to have such an emotional attachment to a TV show that you repeatedly call people assholes and dickheads and whatever else for not sharing your opinion. However much it amuses me that people are reacting like this to a TV show, I think the world is a better place with more well-adjusted people in it, and I think the discussion is better when people can behave appropriately and talk reasonably.
Good luck with dealing with whatever in your life has made you react like this over and over to opinions of a television show. I wish you the best.
Tl:dr, find some other comments to read and respond to with your time instead of ranting about one person’s opinion about a fictional TV show no one is forcing you to read, written by strangers you don’t know. This is really not that difficult dude. Not every opinion needs to cater to your specific tastes and needs.
(Seriously, though, I find it ironically hypocritical that you are spending so much time ranting about a single person’s opinion about a TV show, in a comment thread that’s otherwise filled with similar singular opinions about a TV show that is clearly losing its way. I mean, don’t you have better things to do? I’m clearly one million percent disinterested in your responses to my perfectly valid and accurate opinion of this show. Go make your own opinion of the show and then be quiet about it, like you expect others to do. Your opinion is perfectly valid and unassailable. Say it loud and proud. I’ll probably disagree with it fully, but I’m not going to be a whiny baby and complain that you should go somewhere else to have an opinion. Be an adult! Learn to have opinions and accept that others will have different opinions and it’ll be.. OKAY. Disagree with other opinions all you want. That’s what makes debate fun and valuable. “Find something better to do…” is the saddest, lamest take to have on anything like this. But I’m rooting for you to learn to engage in debates in constructive ways! I’m rooting for you!)
Good luck!
You and your fellow troll friend Captain Tragedy really need to get a room and sort of separate from us normal folks. You two deserve each other and can share your mental anguish together getting this mental with strangers on the internet over a show you hate that you are forcing yourselves to watch.
lol. LOL. Dude!! This is hilarious! YOU got mental over my comment! I had nothing to do with you until you started whining about my comment. I don’t know you from Adam, dude. I couldn’t care less about how you feel about my opinion, and if you consider sharing an actual thought-out and laid-out criticism of a TV show “trolling” then that’s on you. That’s your inability to hear criticism about a TV show you just watch. You aren’t even a creator of this show! You are just someone who sits at home like the rest of us and just watches it, lol! You have no investment in the show. You just have an opinion like the rest of us. As stated many times, your opinion is just as valid as any of our opinions. And even though you are invading MY comments and trolling here, I don’t deny your right to share your opinion. But… you haven’t shared an actual opinion or given any reasoned defense of the show. You’ve just attacked me and anyone else who has legitimate criticisms of this show that we used to love and still wish the best for. Instead of just crying like a baby and telling us to leave, how about actually addressing our criticisms and explain why we’re wrong (beyond just saying “you’re wrong.”) We’re giving direct storytelling examples of why this show has gone off the rails. I’ve yet to see a well-reasoned defense of the show’s storytelling choices. Come on, dude! I know you can do it! Make a defense of the show without having to use insults or “you should leave if you don’t like it” as examples.
If you don’t care about my opinion, why you do you keep replying with these long winded, poor to read, rambling rants? You could just stop replying ya know?It’s just funny how you and your fellow troll friend Captain, devote so much time and typing for a show you don’t like and for opinions you supposedly don’t care about.
Debate and discussion is fun! When I say I don’t care about your opinion of MY opinion, I mean that nothing you say makes me feel less joyful in sharing my thoughts or that I shouldn’t post them. The only person ranting here is you, meaning that you never have anything to add to the discussion except more complaints. The only troll here is you because all to do is attack others who don’t match whatever silly troll-hill you’ve chosen to plant falag on that day. It’s LOVE to hear your opinion.. if you ever decide to have one.
““Wah wah… I still love the show and will always love it no matter what sorts of questionable storytelling choices it makes, or no matter how much the quality has been abandoned, and if you don’t like it, wah wah, just go somewhere else.”
You post and pass childish, trolly, condescending garbage like this as “debate and discussion.” lol! Troll harder and seriously watch something else.
Well… You ARE a whiny baby about other people’s opinions. As you so helpfully quoted me, I was making fun of how how you feel so threatened about other people’s opinions. Just HAVE an opinion of your own. You’re so close! I know you can do it!
Wow. How old are you? 12? If an adult, that would even be worse.
Wow… you’re really reeling now. You’ve got nothing left than then “How old are you?” gambit, lol. It was nice playing with you. You’ve got to go back and hit the gym and work on better stuff. I’d start by actually watching the show you’re trolling other people about. It’s been fun following you and noticing how you never ever make one comment or specific reference about the comment you’re trolling about. It’s because you don’t watch any of it. And that’s okay. You do whatever helps you get through your day. I guess your schtick works on some people? Good for you! But again, I encourage you to actually watch the stuff you’re commenting on and actually develop some sort of actual opinion you’re brave enough to share. I’ll be first in line to hear what you have to say! Take care, my friend.
Let’s look at your comments:I left off several I couldn’t get to because they were flagged, but they’re in much the same vein.I really hope you have someone in your life you can check with to see if this behavior is “normal.”Meanwhile, though, just leave us alone, dude.
What town? I’m from a place around there that has seen its share of hurricane devastation (although I no longer live anywhere near there).Great comment, BTW. I think it’s undeniable the show hasn’t been as solidly plotted or written as it was in season 1, and while it still delivers in moments and in the performances, it’s just not as good a show and I can’t pretend not to notice the problems in the storytelling.
You dismiss my comments, I dismiss yours. Fuck off, you beligerent dishonest dickhead and watch something else.
You need therapy more than Ted Lasso does.
Lake Charles. We got directly hit by both Laura and Delta, six weeks apart. My house only had a few shingles of damage, so I was blessed. But nearly three years later, the city is still struggling to return to normal. The first episode of Ted Lasso I watched was while I was evacuated to Houston, and I remember being so uplifted by the show.
Hey, that’s exactly where I’m from! I moved to Houston pretty much the day I turned 18, and I live off in the mountains now, but my parents and some of my family are still there. I know my sister ended up living in Lafayette for like a year after Laura while her house was being repaired. (And I probably don’t need to tell you how bad Rita was— but that time a tree went through the house next door to my mother’s home.)
That’s pretty wild! Who would have guessed that a bunch of the reasonable-sounding people in this comment thread are from the same town! I wish there was a way to send a direct message to see if we know any of the same people.
Yeah, me too. Feels like it’s impossible not to in a place like that, eh? Unfortunately, I know no ways to do that (nor ways to block other commenters, alas). And I don’t use this name on other social media, so you can’t really find me there. I’d post a way for you to contact me there, but, you know, given who else is on this comment board, I don’t really want them to have it. Ah, well. Maybe we can find an older article nobody is reading anymore to post on and get in touch.(I’m 41, if that gives you a framework for the people I might know. Of course, being from a large Catholic family, I know people across a pretty wide age range, whether that’s my mom’s friends or my older siblings’ friends* or my niece’s friends or what have you. And I did standup for a few years in Houston, so while I don’t know anyone in the Lake Charles scene, I do know some people from Houston who do shows there on occasion.)(* – speaking of, Jen Kober was one of my older sister’s friends growing up, so I always make a point to see her shows if she’s playing wherever I am, and I especially look out for her in TV roles— she’s had some small parts in some of my favorite shows, like The Righteous Gemstones and Black Monday.)
starting to think?? Every week I’ve been in here, complaining about how the joy in this show conflicts with my staunch anti-joy sensibilities!
Longer episodes can stretch out the plot and can take away from pace, which is a big part of what makes shows enjoyable. The Office used to have a few hourlong episodes in its heyday and they were usually a bit of a drag compared to the regular episodes.I agree with the reviewer on Ted Lasso – I think the show has gotten overstuffed and become a bit of a chore to watch.
I have loved this season and the last two episodes especially. I guess we’re back to where people just rag on the show to make themselves feel cool that they hate something everyone else loves. Fuck ‘em. They aren’t changing minds, if we love a show we love it and no one can change our minds.. Esp a bunch of online “reviewers” or forum commenters, who I will hazard a guess wouldn’t know how to create an award winning tv show if their lives depended on it.
Lasso’s Creek* is still better than most, next seasons Nate vs Roy coach competition could be a good opportunity to get back to form.*Ted’s Anatomy” just didn‘t read right
“Folks and Socceration”?
Damn, I swung too hard on trying to get this one as a comparison to Parks and Recreation’s later seasons where all the main characters just got whatever they wanted without working for it as a reward for being so special and wonderful.
Roy and teacher have great chemistry.
The Rebecca speech was cringe. I found the scene with Nate and his dad quite touching though, and Nate is a character I came to hate last season. And why the hell does Roy show no interest in the hot Irish teacher?? It’s just not realistic!
I’ve never watched this show but it’s always seemed like the dumbest thing in the Universe
Universe should have been left uncapitalized. Your post should have ended with a punctuation mark.
k
– The A.V. Club
I won’t spoil too much, except to say: It’s not
I’ve never read your comments before, but I’m pretty sure they’re the dumbest at the AV Club.
The big disappointment of the season for me is the under-utilisation of the magnificent Katy Wix.
I admittedly didn’t know who she was until I watched Stath Lets Flats a few months ago. Great there, too.
May I recommend BBC’s comedy Not Going Out, which she was in for the first few series (or seasons if you’re American 😀)
A personal favourite is the ‘Pointless’ episode.
You may! I may not get to it for a while, though, as a ton of my favorite shows (or at least shows I make a point to watch) are coming back this summer, so my slate is gonna be pretty full. (I Think You Should Leave and The Righteous Gemstones at the top of the list, but also It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Futurama, Justified: City Primeval, What We Do in the Shadows, Only Murders in the Building… and I haven’t even started the new season of The Great yet…)
Twas the fennel of course!One of my favorite lines ever.
One of my all-time favorite Taskmaster moments, she’s brilliant.
I love her “stressful teapot” from the first episode.
She’s great! When Barbara showed up, I was like, she looks familiar (we had just finished watching Ghosts a couple weeks prior). Barbara is obviously a straight-man kind of character compared to Mary, but she’s still delightful.
Crap, I never put two & two together and realized she was Mary. Damn, that makes so much sense.
Well to be fair, Mary’s costume does disguise her fairly well.
As critical as I’ve been of the show, I liked this one well enough. I think there may be a perspective problem here with your criticisms of Nate and Keeley’s stories. I don’t see them as one-episode conflicts that are resolved neatly, so much as the payoff to what’s been going on all season.For whatever bullshit Jack tried to feed Keeley, I’m sure she was not doing much to stop the VCs from pulling funding. Between how little we’ve actually seen Keeley work and her whole relationship with Jack, this did not feel surprising at all, but a culmination of everything that’s happened with her and her company this season. (Maybe there’s a lesson there in not fucking your boss? Probably not, with this show.) Rebecca gives her an easy out, but one I expected— I at least thought we’d get something like “We might have to run this a little more bare-bones, but we can make it work.” And so the resolution might be a little pat, and I might like to have seen Keeley reflect on some of her decisions (Shandy and Jack, most notably), but this still felt like something building for a long time to me, rather than a one-episode problem that is then neatly solved.And this isn’t really a one-episode journey for Nate, whether or not it feels inauthentic how much of his change has been motivated by Jade. What it is is the culmination of his journey after his lashing out at Ted at the end of season 2— taking the opportunity he gets at West Ham; attaching himself to the latest male authority around; slowly and gradually realizing what a petty and selfish man Rupert is; deciding he doesn’t want to be around that anymore; then reconciling with his original male role model, the one that originally set his insecurities and resentment in place and on the path they set him. As I said last week, Nate’s decision not to join Rupert was him for once making a decision about what he wants and who he wants to be, instead of just following the lead of others and expecting them to make the decisions for him. Reconciling with his father was another step on that journey. (Even Nate sneaking into the clubhouse with the help of “sewer guy” (whose name I forget) was nicely set up by reminding us of that guy when he got Rupert into the building.)So, while I’ve had problems with the way the show can bring up and then resolve an issue in an episode, I don’t see that as the case for either of these stories (or Roy’s, but I’ll get into that in a bit).As far as Edwin Akufo: On the one hand, Rebecca’s speech did seem a little easy (I almost expected the room to laugh at her), but I think the unseen element is how Edwin reacted to the whole thing. We saw the giant temper tantrum he threw last season when Sam declined to play for him; I assume he had another such tantrum, hence the food on everybody. And that’s one of the things about business— you want to make money, but who you’re in business with is pretty important. And I gather the others concluded that Edwin Akufo is not the kind of person they want to be doing business with. I would’ve liked to see Rebecca put her foot down with Edwin over his crusade to ruin Sam’s life— she has to know about that, right?— but, on the other hand, at least we are seeing the kind of stories I want to see with Rebecca, how she conducts herself as a powerful woman in a man’s world, instead of focusing so heavily on her personal life. (The part of that scene that didn’t work for me was sending away the Russian guy. Not only did it seem like a really obvious and shallow attempt at some kind of commentary, but also, why did you invite him in the first place then?)The Roy stuff was probably the best this episode, as it delivered a combination of the long-term dramatic forward movement and character movement the show does well, with the humor it does well. Roy and Jamie are a great comedy duo.Nice touch in Jamie wearing Sam’s number, a far cry from how he treated him at the start of the series. Another nice touch— Roy and Rebecca’s salutes call back to the end of S1E7, when Roy walks Keeley back to the hotel after the team’s night out after beating Everton. I did find it a little funny that Dani turns into a complete lunatic when it comes to the national team; actually breaking Zorreaux / Van Damme’s nose, less so.Interesting detail I’m thinking about: Higgins, I think, mentions a rumor of workplace misconduct at West Ham, and we start to think that maybe Rupert is spreading a rumor that that’s why Nate departed so abruptly… but then we learn Miss Kakes is gone, too. Maybe it’s Rupert’s workplace misconduct that will come to light in the next couple of episodes.
I think you’re right about the boardroom scene. Rebecca didn’t need to change everyone’s mind there, she only needed to change Ruperts. She had already seen how Edwin reacted to rejection when Sam turned him down, so getting one other person to say “No” would have been enough to get him to lose his rag, which in turn would make the other people at the table think twice about going into business with him. It’s not that Rebecca is a magical orator capable of changing the minds of everyone at the table, it’s that she’s the only grown up at the table, and she knows how to make them act like spoilt brats.
Yeah, while I usually prefer when a show gives its audience more credit for figuring things out, I feel like this could have used a little more connection in the actual script.
Watched it a second time, and it was Trent Crimm the independent who mentions the workplace misconduct, not Higgins.
“I might like to have seen Keeley reflect on some of her decisions (Shandy and Jack, most notably)“
THAT PART
Yeah, everyone is complaining about Nate’s departure from West Ham happening offscreen, but I think it’s pretty clear the writers are doing that because there’s something they’re withholding about his resignation. And I think it has something to do with Rupert’s workplace misconduct.There’s also a pretty obvious parallel between his story and Keeley’s. Both have been exploited by people in positions of power over them. Nobody trusts this show with boss/employee dynamics because of the Rebecca & Sam stuff, but I think they took that criticism on board and so they’re deliberately confronting that stuff this season.
I hope you’re right about taking that criticism, because so far I feel like we’ve seen zero real indicator that any characters on the show understand that employer-employee relationships have inherent ethical problems. To say nothing of Dr. Jacob and Michelle. And then you add Beard and Jane into the equation, and I start to wonder if anyone on the writing staff actually knows what a healthy relationship looks like.
Nailed it on the whole Akufo luncheon. They all knew Akufo is a spoiled rich kid. The only reason they were in the room was because he has lots of money. He assumed they’d jump at the chance to make more for themselves.Inviting the Russian (who I assume was the Lasso-verse analog for Roman Abramovich), and then callously dismissing him was a power play. Akufo was trying to establish that he was going to be the boss in this new super league. The message they received was that he’d be willing to do the same to the rest of them.You’re right, who you do business with matters. Also, Sam Richardson deserves a basket of guest star awards. Watching him vigorously chew the scenery is a joy.
I don’t think Sam shared what Akufo did with anyone. It doesn’t seem to be his style. Though to be honest, it is more than a little bit of a humble brag to let people know it cost $20 mil to have him kept of the Nigerian national team.
I don’t think it’s his style either. But Rebecca is pretty powerful and connected, and I’d be surprised if the rumor mill about Edwin hadn’t worked its way back around to her.
“I would’ve liked to see Rebecca put her foot down with Edwin over his crusade to ruin Sam’s life”Note how Rebecca during her speech pretty much ignores Edwin. That’s because you can’t tell someone like Edwin a damn thing. A man willing to pay a $20million bribe to spite someone who turned him down isn’t going to be either reasoned with or shamed. All you can do is cut off his oxygen: deprive him of people willing to do corrupt business with him.
Fair point. I just thought it could be satisfying even if she said something like “Why would I go into business with someone who is actively trying to ruin the life of one of my best and most promising players?”
Sometimes I feel like Daisy from Spaced
Replace TPM with “this week’s episode of Ted Lasso” and you’ve got my view.Will try to post more later, annoyingly busy at work today.
i love S P A C E D
I think you just don’t get the show.
I think the reviewer does get the show. They are correctly pointing out that the quality of the writing has gone down the toilet.
Brother you don’t need to respond to EVERY comment.
You can get off of the reviewers junk. The show is still highly enjoyable, funny, and heartfelt. Commenting on every disagreeing viewpoint will not make either of you less of an asshole.
You know what would make you less off an asshole? Not angrily responding to criticism with things like “You can get off of the reviewers junk.”
The writing is EXACTLY on par with the first two seasons.
You getting tired of the show is not the show getting worse.
as are we when it comes to these reviews specifically, and the site more generally. Not even just this site, its really across most G/O sites.
You’re spazzing out in all of the comments flailing at as many people as you can. It’s fucking weird. You’re weird.
Is calling someone a “spaz” your idea of normal?
Commenting and attacking people on every comment every day this week. You REALLY need to seek help!
You really believe you’re the one who comes off reasonable and level-headed in this discussion, huh? Because it gets you so mad when someone says “stop being an asshole over a TV show” that you’ve been following me around for days replying to different comments of mine? Given the way you’ve been acting, I guess I can see why you think “stop being an asshole over a TV show” is an “attack.”I don’t know why you keep responding to me. You already know I don’t give a damn what you have to say and I’m certainly not going to stop posting what I want no matter how much you foam like a rabid dog at me. Go read your own comments again and ask yourself if you’re behaving reasonably and thoughtfully. Ask a friend or family member if you don’t think you can be objective about it. The results might surprise you! In any case, leave me alone.
Go read your own comments again and ask yourself if you’re behaving reasonably and thoughtfullyLOL! You spent 24 hours and every day this week replying to every comment on this article criticizing this show. I wasn’t even directly speaking to you and speaking to someone else and you jumped in. In a comment you made to YVAS and Vic Digitial you specifically mention me. You are screen shooting my comments! It’s nice that your life is so miserable and pathetic you’re spending an entire week, all day and all night, obsessively attacking and trolling a stranger on the internet over Ted Lasso.
Because you can’t help yourself, you will reply and then dismiss this with more insults and attacks. Love the lack of self-awareness and troll harder!
Do you think screenshots are hard to take? I’m not gonna feel bad for having more computer literacy than you.Again, nothing you say to me matters, because you’ve been raging with insults like an angry toddler and you cannot even take a moment to self-reflect on that. If you don’t want me to reply to a comment to someone else, don’t mention my name in it. And you continue to do so to people who have asked you repeatedly to leave them alone.And, let’s keep in mind, you’re doing this because you’re angry that I told people not to be assholes just because someone is critical of a TV show, and I asked you why you read criticism if criticism makes you this angry. Your response was to get angrier and angrier and more foamingly vitriolic. Please go outside. Or don’t, but again, leave me alone.
Love the deflection, denial, and straight up lies. If nothing I say to you matters, why do you keep replying? Why attack or talk to me when I wasn’t even talking to you in the first place? The second time you did that to me in two weeks? Why are you attacking literally everyone in this article with a different opinion than you for 24 hours a day for four days straight? Which, looking at your commenting history seems to be your MO. Why are you taking screenshots of my posts and putting them in your conversations with other people?
You obviously have a real mental problem. To spend entire days, all day, attacking and commenting on every post with a differening opinion on a single article about a fictional TV show is just mental and insane. Especially when they were not talking to you.
You will keep replying and replying and replying and bringing my name up in your other conversations while you continue to lie and bullshit because of your sociopathy. Why don’t you take your own bullshit advice and stop and fuck off already? But you won’t. Because you’re that really messed up in the head.So carry on replying and trolling. And take more screenshots to show off to people as part of your petty bitter fight with an stranger on the internet. You can only be more pathetic.
I keep replying to tell you to stop replying to me, because I want you to stop replying to me, because I’m tired of getting your notifications and seeing your rage problem, and there’s no option to block you.Again, if you think “stop being an asshole about a TV show” is an “attack,” that’s a you problem. And again, if you think your continued screeds against me are an indication you’re behaving in a normal, well-adjusted manner, that’s a you problem. Now leave me alone.
You can stop replying and dismiss this at any time. But you won’t, because you’ve got an obvious and major MAJOR problem, besides the fact that you’re an obvious troll.After all, you’re the one who chose to pick a fight and harass and obsess over me like you did to everyone else here in this article over a TV show.
You’re just describing yourself.I just asked you why you get so mad at critical opinions of a TV show, and you got madder. As Vic said, you haven’t even offered a defense of or rebuttal to those criticisms; you just keep yelling at people to shut up, and then yelling at them more that they have mental and emotional problems.The only other comments I made were in response to people who called someone a “spaz” and who said “get off Manuel’s dick,” because I find those ableist and homophobic respectively. You got mad at those too.So, all I really know about you is that you have extreme anger problems, you’re pro-ableism and pro-homophobia, and you have nothing better to do than continue replying to me. Prove me wrong; leave me alone.
And you’re still replying. lol!All you had to do was ignore my comments but noooooo. You just had to pick that fight. And keep fighting days later with screenshots and mentioning me in conversations with other people.
You can’t just stop and dismiss this whole thing and take your screenshots? You did before.You can keep BS’ing yourself and playing the victim here, but I will keep reminding you that you were and are the asshole here by making things worse than you had to.
And keep fighting days later with screenshots and mentioning me in conversations with other people.Yeah, I collected evidence you were (and are) acting like an unhinged lunatic, because you were (and are) acting like an unhinged lunatic. I showed them to some of my friends to see what they thought, and they all agreed. Again, everything you think you’re saying to me applies to you, and I wish your bigoted, angry self would just stay away from me.
Wait? You’re actually showing your fight with a stranger on AV Club to people offline?!? LOOOOOOOOOLLLLIf that’s true (it probably isn’t but whatever), you’re even worse than I thought. And why would you think you telling me this would matter in the slightest?Please keep replying. This is turning into comedy now! I’m a “bigot” now because I called you out on acting like a prick on the internet about Ted Lasso!
No, my friends aren’t “strangers.” Maybe “friend” is an odd concept to you.Again, I’m not sure how you can write things like you do and think you’re acting healthy, reasonable, or well-adjusted. This all started because you flipped out and went on a tirade over criticism of the show, and because you flipped out that I called people out for bigoted language. And you keep looking for more comments of mine to reply to. At least when I pick a fight, it’s to tell people to stop being assholes or bigots. You, on the other hand, have spent the last three days trying to bully someone because they offered thoughtful criticism of your special little TV show. You cannot emotionally handle that people have criticisms of a television show called Ted Lasso. You think you can bully me into shutting up, but you can’t. You simply refuse to stop or even consider for one second whether your reaction is appropriate, reasonable, or well-adjusted. You keep begging for attention from someone who has repeatedly told you to stop.
And again, all this because someone criticized a TV show. Does that strike you as a healthy relationship to have to a TV show?
What I find an odd concept is you insisting on getting the last word in, while attacking and insulting, while pretending to be some kind of innocent victim, while asking me to leave you alone.
You are very odd indeed. Keep replying. Tell me more about your friends.
No matter what you say, you have been going on a tirade at two people for three straight days for criticizing a TV show. All those two people are doing are defending themselves.You obviously won’t acknowledge that to me, but it’s more important that you acknowledge it to yourself anyway.
That’s the delusion you keep telling yourself. Anyone reading this and our commenting history will see that you attacked first. And took screenshots. And smacked talked me in conversations you had with other people. And spent every day, all day since this article was published, going on the offensive, agreeing with commenters who derisively sneered at “superfans.” And accused me of bigotry without any proof.
Pretty sure you aren’t mentioning that part to your friends. Keep replying and bullshitting. It aint gonna help you solve your obvious problem.
Anyone reading this and our commenting history will see that you attacked first. Funny you should say that. I found where it did all start:Here’s a direct link, since you seem to hate screenshots so much:https://www.avclub.com/1850448083That comment wasn’t directed at you. You just attacked someone unprompted for criticizing a TV show. And then you continued on a tirade at that person, calling him a troll and unhinged and all other sorts of names, but never actually addressing those criticisms. And then you went on a tirade at me because I said his criticism was good and thoughtful. That’s where this all started.Tell yourself whatever you want. Make another crack about screenshots. The facts are the facts: You berated someone for criticizing a TV show, you berated someone else for defending that criticism, and then you spent three days berating them even more when they stood up for themselves and their opinions.
Funny thing about that post. Was I talking to you directly? No.Was that any of your business? No. You just decided to jump in and attack for no apparent reason like you have for every comment in this entire article for an opinion contrary to your own.
You really can’t just accept that this is all your fault can you. That if you had just ignored that post and moved on with your life, and followed your own advice and ya know, left me alone, you wouldn’t be here wouldn’t. I thought you have friends? Shouldn’t you be hanging out with them instead of starting fights on the internet all week?
Keep deluding and BS’ing yourself all you want. It’s not helping your case and your obvious mental issues.
Keep replying. I’m being very entertained here watching you meltdown for a week now. You really can’t just stop can you?
No dispute that you picked a fight and have been harassing me for four days over it, huh? But somehow it’s not your fault.You apparently can’t tell the difference between criticizing a TV show / asking questions about that TV show and a personal attack, and it leads you to act like this. That’s just not a healthy way to live.
Fart!
You’ve been harassing and berating someone for four straight days for criticizing a TV show, because you can’t tell the difference between criticism of a TV show and an attack on you personally.Seek help.
Yup. Gonna cry about it?
Being an asshole about someone’s opinion of a TV show and using ableist language to do it is certainly a choice. Doubling down on that is certainly a choice, too.
Keep flailing at me.
It was a fun light show when it started but all the characters have gotten deeper, funnier and everything is playing at a higher level. A “C” is bananas.
He’s just been a fan since their first album. Not one of those new fans who only know the new songs. If you know what I mean.
I promise I’ll stop ragging on Ted Lasso and its self-indulgent hour-long episodes soon—likely by season’s end.
You’re not going to change your opinion when Ted Lasso comes up in conversation after the finale.
Keep on yucking other people’s yum.
I don’t understand the complaint that plots wrapped up too quickly. Who wants multi episode arcs about Nate staying in bed? That sounds like riveting tv. Or Keeley moping about losing funding. Yes let’s see that for two more episodes before her soccer team owning friend just gives her the laughably small amount.
The show really fumbled the set up. First was the pregame exposition show to tell the audience Nate was fired and it was international week. Surprised they didn’t launch into Keeleys backstory of dating her boss at the PR firm just because. Followed by Ted’s rousing post-game pep talk repeating what the pregame show said because the players needed it explained. Then Coach Beard reading out the subplots as if they were assignments of that day’s camp duties.
“Surprised they didn’t launch into Keeleys backstory of dating her boss at the PR firm just because.” that would have been super-lol.
“because the players needed it explained”You need the “As You Know Bob” scene because a) much of the audience wouldn’t know, and b) Ted would plausibly be talking about the thing he is learning as if everyone else was learning.
Nate quitting West Ham off-screen is absolutely fucking unforgivable. I cannot believe how bad his arc has been this season compared to how fantastic it was in s2. Generally I agree with you on this season’s downturn in all respects (I did like last week’s tho) but this one is especially galling to me because of how well-done his villainous turn was last season.
He joined West Ham off-screen, so it’s a fine bookend to that.
Right? I thought I skipped an episode between Nate seemingly quitting his dream job just because Rupert kind of disapproves of him not joining in on boning models, and Roy somehow realizing breaking up with Keeley was a bad choice because a teacher might have flirted with him months prior.
You must’ve been skipping a lot of episodes. It wasn’t just that reason why Nate quit. There have been many other reasons that have been building up for a while. Him and Jade dating has made him revert back to his old nicer self and not the bitter version we saw last season.
Ok, but what were those reasons and were they explicitly stated? Sure, we see him having trouble meshing with his co-workers, and his disapproval of Rupert’s indiscretions, but quitting is a pretty drastic response to what we’ve been shown. Where is the conflict? What exactly forced him into bed for days? The show took quite a leap and its jarring. If you expand the episode time, you have time to show us this stuff.
Again, this is the part where you should’ve watched those episodes and been paying attention because that was the conflict.Nate came to the conclusion over the course of the season that a: Rupert is not his friend and is just using him to win games. b: that he doesn’t like and is not compatible with Rupert’s fast cars, dating and sleeping with models, luxbro, lifestyle. And in light of that, he’s come to miss and appreciate Ted. Especially since Ted continues to be nice to him and bear no hard feelings. Rupert snubbing Jade and trying to get Nate to cheat on her was the straw that broke the camels back. There is no leap. Nate realizes he made a mistake leaving Richmond like that and regrets. Rupert took advantage of his anger and frustration with Ted and exploited it to his advantage and Nate is starting to realizes. He also seems to want to have a future with Jade and that ain’t happening with Rupert trying to wreck that for his own selfish aims.
Sorry, it seemed out of the blue. Absolutely, things built up, but we never saw the dam break, just the flood afterwards. I suppose Rupert’s assistant being gone signals the inappropriate workplace rumors floating about, but again, it’s all aftermath. This show hides an awful lot of conflict. I still love it, but this season is disappointing compared to the others.
Saying again, the dam break was him asking out and dating Jade, because it made Nate realize that the type of world and personality Rupert lives in and is pushing on him is not the one he wants. As many of us have been saying here, this isn’t that kind of show where it’s in your face and hyper dramatic and pointed in that way. It doesn’t hide conflict; it just isn’t about conflict that in that way. If you’re looking for something like Succession, this ain’t it, and you should maybe consider something else.
Last week Nate realized that Rupert was actively trying to be a bad influence, and that was the impetus for him quitting. He realized he has a good thing with Jade and that was more important to him than his dream job.
This is more like real life. You don’t always get what you want, right? We don’t see Nate swear fealty to Rupert; why should we see him quit? It’s more subtle this way.
There were also hints laid down within the episode, they just haven’t been fully paid off yet. Leslie saying that according to his sewing circle it had something to do with inappropriate office conduct. Rupert had replaced his assistant/smokeshow mistress for a less sophisticated, less competent, attractive assistant — saying the circumstances behind the separation were dramatic (which hints that Bex may have found out about the affair and chosen his new assistant for him). Nate confirming he quit and was not let go. These threads are related and will likely be resolved before the season ends.
I did like the line “corporate pixie dream girl” about the former assistant.
“Ok, but what were those reasons and were they explicitly stated?”Ah, the tried-and-true television writing maxim: “Tell, don’t show.”
I agree, but they did neither.
I agree that it seemed totally out of the blue. Nate seems like a responsible person, not someone who would quit a job without another lined up unless it was an absolute last resort. He’s old enough to have grey hair, so he seems past the age where one would not think about financial stability.
The conflict is that he could turn into the man Rupert wants him to be, and Jade’s calm love showed him he didn’t have to be that. (Plus the lightbulb joke was awesome.) He was either going to quit or be fired this episode (like of course that’s what would happen to new/old Nate once he knew he couldn’t be Rupert/Nate), and be left to stew in what kind of man he’s supposed to be when he flatly refused the one person who ever believed in him for real… and then finding out more people believe in him than he though… and yeah, I got that talk from my father AND my mother years later so the scene with his father actually was like it was made singularly for me.
Exactly. Rupert very much saw Nate as his protege. The most important lesson Nate learned from his mentor was that he didn’t want to be like him.
That’s not that unbelievable. Losing faith in someone’s ethos or character happens all the time and when it happens why wouldn’t you want to get out?
We don’t need Nate, we’ve got Super David Moyes, and we’re going to a European Final.
Louder for the people in back (ie: the people who are on here saying there hasn’t been a drop off in the quality of plotting or character development in Ted Lasso). How do you expand episodes up to an hour but leave a crucial piece of both plot and characterization unsaid? Maybe they’ll give us his quitting in flashback, but the damage is already done. We actually stopped the episode to go check that we didn’t skip one. That’s how jarring it was. There is a huge gap in Nate’s arc this season. Huge. He goes from bad and broken to fixed without the viewer seeing tangible growth. He just gets a girlfriend and is fixed. His redemption is out of proportion with the work that was done to make him the villain. It’s not working.
You clearly need the bad writing style of tell and not show where you have exposition explaining every little detail because the better quality storytelling is show not tell, which is exactly what they did with Nate’s story.
It is ironic to me that you use Nate’s storyline as an example of your point here, because the last episode literally engaged in the most egregious telling rather than showing of the whole series. The writers just let Nate make the biggest character shift off camera and told the audience about it rather than showing it. The show literally opens with sportcasters telling us what he’s done, rather than viewers getting to see what transpired and what led up to it.
“Show, don’t tell” is literally an adage about narration. It’s about how you write characters. You let their actions do the talking rather than a narrator. Have we seen that with Nate this season? Not effectively. There are huge gaps where his development is concerned. They haven’t shown Nate’s change, they’ve asked the viewer to fill in the blanks in a really ineffective way.
The only thing they did off camera is him deciding to ultimately leave they showed the reasons why he left throughout the season. You want to be spoon fed the story instead of experiencing it, which is why you missed all the the tells of what was going on.
Nah, I didn’t miss the tells—they were insufficient in scale and scope for the arc of the character. There is a sense of proportion that is out of whack with Nate and his redemption arc. Season 2 set him up to be the Big Bad. He went very dark. And then Season 3 gives you whiplash with how quickly it pivots from Nate being that person to Nate having a redemption that is almost completely unearned (or worse, a redemption that is brought about entirely by getting a girlfriend). If you go back and watch season 2, does season 3 Nate feel like he did the work to figure out what his issues are and why he behaves the way he does? That’s what Ted does in season 2; He puts in work and we see it on camera, so his growth feels authentic. The show has not done the narrative work to make Nate’s development and rehabilitation feel authentic. It takes too many shortcuts. It skips things. And when we do get Nate’s actions, they feel disproportionate to the offenses he’s committed. He writes a one sentence note to Will rather than apologizing face to face, for example. Will suffered a season’s worth of abuse at Nate’s hands, and Nate can’t be big enough to apologize in person. So it kind of feels like while Nate is apologizing, he doesn’t necessarily “get it” yet. It’s not about spoon feeding your audience. It’s about respecting your audience enough to not skip key character beats and assume they’ll fill in the blanks. Lots of shows leave things off camera, but it works because they give the reader what matters to make sense of the characters.* Ted Lasso mostly did this through two seasons and has abandoned it in the third. Another example where the show doesn’t give the viewer the necessary context is Roy’s breakup with Keeley. It happens between seasons, and we’re told about it rather than seeing it. Why does that matter? Because we’re told all season that it was because Roy got insecure, and we’re told that that is seeping into his professional life, too. But that’s not how the Roy we’ve seen in previous seasons deals with his relationship problems. For two seasons he and Keeley had a mutually supportive relationship where they talked through their issues in a way that was refreshingly adult. And then in the last two episodes of S2, the writers make Roy all insecure in a way we’ve not seen before and that doesn’t feel real for the character. And then they have him break up with Keeley off camera and we’re just supposed to assume that Roy has behaved in this way that is so out of character with the Roy the audience knows. So when Roy apologizes to Keeley in the most recent episode, we don’t actually know what he was apologizing for. We didn’t see the relationship’s path to implosion or Roy’s actions within that path. So we don’t know whether the apology is appropriate for the offense. And while we’re we’re told in episode 9 that Roy’s insecurities are stopping him from being good at his job, that’s not what we’re shown about his professional life throughout season 3. We see, across multiple episodes, him taking on a more significant coaching/mentorship role with Jamie and we see him leading the team as an assistant would do (in places like the weight room). So again there’s a disconnect between what the show has shown us and what they’re telling us, and much of that disconnect can be traced back to the fact that the viewer doesn’t get to see the precipitating event—the downfall of the relationship/breakup for Roy, or the come-to-Jesus moment for Nate. Putting them off screen disadvantages the audience and makes it impossible to gauge if the character has grown. But what do I know? I only use my PhD in literary studies to teach narrative writing. Clearly I just don’t understand and need everything spoon-fed to me. *A semi-recent example of a show that withholds something from its audience while still effectively developing characters might be Fleabag. As the series goes on, viewers get less and less of Fleabag’s interiority, but without sacrificing our understanding of her character and motivations. Because the show has done the work to build the character, so we understand how and why she behaves in the situations she’s put in. They don’t have to tell the viewer why she does what she does, because the show has constructed her in a fully realized and authentic way.
Season 2 felt like they didn’t know where they wanted to take the show because turning Nate into the “Big Bad” made no sense and came out of nowhere, also what big offense are you talking about? All he ever did was shit talk Ted, that’s it. Season 3 was the reset that was needed and has felt a lot like season 1.Yes Nate grew enough in this season to warrant the change and getting a girlfriend just gave him some confidence in himself and woke him up to his surroundings, Richard hitting on his girlfriend in front of him and noticing that Richard was trying to groom him to be like him was the final straw to smarten up. He still has his emotional issues they didn’t magically disappear.Roy’s epiphany moment could have used another pass over with the writing to make things clearer but it was all logical. Roy being insecure about being attracted to another woman while being in a relationship is very real, what are you talking about? The insecurities being a problem for his job was just a excuse for his niece you’re not supposed to take it literally. He was apologizing for breaking up with her period, we don’t need to know exactly why because our interpretations do the job for them. All your examples really tell me is that you don’t understand introverts.So what if you have a PHD that doesn’t stop you from making mistakes you’re only human.
The Roy observation is great and well-articulated on why his story has felt so weird. Even while I find myself enjoying some of those original moments, I agree when you look in context that the problems Roy is supposed to be having don’t really make sense or match what we’ve seen on screen. And I fully agree on how they just seemed to change him out of nowhere to invent artificial conflict with Keeley at the end of season 2, rather than developing that conflict from something that had been set up before/during the season to that point.
I think Roy’s issues are related to the huge loss he’s felt, which we saw in season 2, since he had to retire. Remember how much he cried during his retirement speech, and how that show of emotion from him was rare and valuable enough that Keeley watched it like porn? Meanwhile, at the end of season 2, Keeley’s career is taking off. His picture isn’t included in the magazine feature about her, and she didn’t have time to go on the trip he booked for them – his first vacation in decades – even though he planned it specifically so she could do work during the trip. I wasn’t too surprised to hear he broke up with her, and I don’t think it was about conflict between them. We saw him struggling with his identity and self-worth once he couldn’t play anymore, and it seems realistic to me that Keeley’s great successes, as much as he totally supported her, could have become more than he could cope with. Spending 6 weeks on vacation, alone with his thoughts, while she focused on starting her business probably didn’t help. Identity and self-worth shouldn’t be issues a character can conquer in a linear manner, or in one episode, especially since his identity and self-worth were based on his football skills since he was 10 years old or something like that. I could be wrong, but these factors for Roy make sense to me.
The short version is, I don’t disagree with your assessment of the factors of why Roy might be down, or feeling stuck, or anything anyone has described him as this season. What the problem is is that the season isn’t playing out through his actions like he feels that way; it isn’t showing us that he feels that way. Like the original comment said: And then they have him break up with Keeley off camera and we’re just supposed to assume that Roy has behaved in this way that is so out of character with the Roy the audience knows. So when Roy apologizes to Keeley in the most recent episode, we don’t actually know what he was apologizing for. We didn’t see the relationship’s path to implosion or Roy’s actions within that path. So we don’t know whether the apology is appropriate for the offense. And while we’re we’re told in episode 9 that Roy’s insecurities are stopping him from being good at his job, that’s not what we’re shown about his professional life throughout season 3. We see, across multiple episodes, him taking on a more significant coaching/mentorship role with Jamie and we see him leading the team as an assistant would do (in places like the weight room). So again there’s a disconnect between what the show has shown us and what they’re telling us, and much of that disconnect can be traced back to the fact that the viewer doesn’t get to see the precipitating event—the downfall of the relationship/breakup for Roy[…]
Really? An old man can’t tell whether to push or pull on a door as an extended bit? In 2023? In this economy?Manuel U 92? Because you seem pretty dense. It’s a play off of him being a Russian drunk.
And being a rich old white dude oligarch who is used to having doors opened for him. It demonstrates how out of touch with real life the bulk of the people in that room were.
That doesn’t mean it was funny
We’re supposed to assume every Russian is drunk 24/7? If that was the intent of the writers, that’s pretty stupid.
Every Russian oligarch at least.
To my fellow fans: Do you really want to spend your last few weeks of this show arguing with this fucknut? Walk away. Let the AV Club ad break itself to death
– Keely asking Mae if her name is short for anything and her replying “Maybe” and Keely calling her Maybe was hilarious- Higgins explaining that the children of Willy Wonka being dead got a big laugh out of me
Loved those bits though the funniest thing in this episode hands down was Jade asking Nate if he wanted to help her Polish family screw in lightbulbs & then asking straightfaced why he thought that was funny.
It’s been years and years since I heard a Polish joke. I lived in a heavily Polish-American area as a kid and they were nonstop. In hindsight, the jokes were mostly told by Polish kids.
As was so often the case, the Simpsons introduced me to the concept of a Polish joke. “Well, they sent a rocket to the sun once, at night…”
My personal favorite was the Polish target pistol.
After Jade’s “It’s short for Jaded” line last week, I can’t imagine she really didn’t know why it’s funny and was messing with Nate.
It actually made Nate look like an idiot for not getting the obvious fact that she was messing with him, but I guess the point was just more that he is scared of her
I think I need closed captioning for this show, because I didn’t hear either of those lines (or the accents messed with my understanding).
I really liked Higgins’ heartfelt warning to Rebecca as she left for the meeting. It really felt like an indication for how much their relationship has grown.
I loved that Leslie Nielsen tribute joke.
Interview from earlie this week: talks about how Ted Lasso is an aspirational show that’s not trying to present the real world but the world they’d rather see.Reviewer same week: this show doesn’t handle things like the real world, so bad.Ted Lasso S3 reviews in a nutshell. Ted Lasso got people through Covid because it’s comfortable. Now that Covid has died down enough to rescind emergency measures, people want their shows to go back to being less wholesome.
With your last correct point in mind. It’s interesting to think about how this show would’ve been received if the pandemic hadn’t happened.
If Ted Lasso doesn’t come out exactly when it did, middle of pandemic weeks before the 2020 election, it’s a critically acclaimed one and done.
i don’t even think it gets critical acclaim. the critics were in just as insane a place as the general public.
Eh, the first season is legitimately great. I think it has more to do with not understanding that it was great because of the care in its storytelling, not because it’s a show about nice people that makes you feel nice for watching.
Uh, wut? Season two is at 98% on RT.
Maybe people were too busy voting down SheHulk.
If Apple wants my money they’ll put out a gritty reboot of Ted Lasso.
I don’t know, I get why Rebecca’s speech would strike some as cheesy, but the thing is…it’s very fitting with the spirit of the show? I don’t totally get using it as an example of the show becoming overly didactic and turning into a “PSA,” because I don’t think it’s any more on the nose than some speeches Ted made all the way back in Season 1. And it worked for me as a sign of how far Rebecca has grown, that she’s now passionately defending the sport she used to despise. Maybe her speech convincing the rest of the owners to not join was a little too easy, but otherwise the story worked for me. I also don’t really agree that this episode introduced thorny plots and resolved them neatly? Aside from the Super League, which I think is the exact type of plot that SHOULD be only one episode and done (Sam Richardson is hilarious, but Akufo is the exact type of character that should only be a drop-in for rare episodes), and even that was more of a vehicle for Rebecca to finally get closure and move on from Rupert. Nate and Keeley’s stories were the culmination of both their arcs this season; I’ve been mixed on the execution of both, but criticizing them for being plots introduced in one episode doesn’t fully make sense to me. And I think the fact that Akufo doesn’t get some wild comeuppance that lets Sam get a spot on the Nigerian team is a nice bit of bittersweetness to his storyline; he’s still hopeful he can make it one day, but he still has barriers standing in his way. A ton of episodes this season have felt disjointed with subplots, it’s been a messy season and I won’t argue with that. But this episode hung together well for me because I think thematically all the stories were playing around with similar ideas of imposter syndrome and figuring out next steps after your life gets blown apart: Nate and Keeley most obviously, but even Rebecca’s was about her fully coming into her own as an owner, after she only took control of the club due to her divorce from Rupert. I think it’s a good setup episode for the final two episodes, with most characters coming to a turning point before the one-two punch of the Man City and West Ham matches that are going to close the series out.
She didn’t need to convince them all not to join. She only needed to convince Rupert not to join, then Edwin’s childish tantrums at that would be enough to convince the others.
“I promise I’ll stop ragging on Ted Lasso and its self-indulgent hour-long episodes soon—likely by season’s end.”
Oh good, you’re actively trolling now. Fantastic!
Like, we get it, you don’t GET the show, but this is getting embarrassing at this point dude. I take it you don’t actually read the comments or else you would know how out of touch you are here.
Our reviewer is too cool to read comments, and too awesome and above it all to like things.
I wouldn’t read the comments either if they were full of people telling me I’m an asshole, I hate joy, or I have other psychological problems because I didn’t give their favorite TV show as good a grade as they wanted.
Can you imagine what he must be like in real life? Awful!
lol, the reviewer is certainly not out of touch. This show went downhill from season 2.
Thanks, Edwin!
We get it, Manuel’s burner account, you agree with yourself.
While I personally agree that the show “went downhill from Season 2″, given Season 1 was set up far more as a sitcom with tight plotting and a much higher joke hit-rate and season 2 was a “middle ground” between that and the current season. I do also think it’s fair to say that many of the criticisms that Manuel is repeating ad infinitum this season, were things which the show was lauded for back in its “best season/30 min sitcom”-phase. Naturally there will always be frustration when a show as “loved” as Ted Lasso gets this level of repetitive criticism and some of that is contrarianism from those who appreciate the show despite its flaws, I think if Manuel articulated his criticism better then it would reduce some of that contrarianism somewhat. “This show isn’t as good as it was” is not a sustainable method of review, and should instead at some point become “here are the things that are working and not working” in an episode because as bad as some of the creative choices have been this series, especially in comparison to season 1, much of the charm is still there and character work on many of the key-players remains subtle and deft and for every “Quickly force Nate to quit West Ham as the redemption arc needs a shot in the arm” there are still many, much more subtle and well-played moments, like Roy and Jamie’s friendship naturally getting to where it is this season, played beautifully by both actors and Higgins gradually growing in confidence with each passing episode while still keeping the core of that “put upon assistant” from Season 1, feeling like a totally natural example of Ted’s influence on Rebecca and Leslie leading to their relationship becoming, as with this episode, naturally evolved.Mostly though, I just cannot understand the creative choice of opening his review of this episode with “I promise I’ll stop ragging on Ted Lasso and its self-indulgent hour-long episodes soon—likely by season’s end.”. A statement which reveals so much about Manuel’s thought process going into each episode this season before he’s even got to anything remotely constructive (which has been lacking in much of his criticism). Announcing “I am already unhappy with the episode before it’s started” is just poor critic-etiquette and if (to a much higher quality scale) every review of Mad Men after “The Suitcase” was “omg, this show just cannot capture character work of Season 4s best episode”, would have got pretty tiresome pretty quick.
He did not know what nationality Edwin Akufo was.
dude if you’re posting comments on a website in 2023 you are not the one in touch, and i direct that at myself as much as everyone else!
This is hardly the only place I’ve seen season 3 criticised.
Vulture and The Atlantic both have published very critical pieces on the show as a whole.
I predicted it in these very comments a few weeks ago, and I was correct in my assumption that Jack (excuse me, the “board of directors”) would pull the funding for KJPR. Of course, I did not have the foresight to predict Keeley would get the funding from Rebecca, but I’m still gonna chalk this up as a W.I’ll admit, Sam Richardson helps make Edwin Akufo a bit more enjoyable in my eyes. His charm and personality makes Edwin’s childish antics a lot more enjoyable. I also was enjoyed/annoyed at Sam for falling into Francis’ whole handshake.That being said, this week’s Edwin Akufo plotline also made zero sense when it comes to the business of soccer. Presumably, the European clubs in that room are the biggest in the world, and even with the money Akufo has likely put into Raja Casablanca during his ownership, the odds of these owners leaving European football to join a super league with an African club are slim to none. Heck, it’s real life counterpart didn’t go outside the big nations (England, Spain, Italy). Raja Casablanca would be a non-starter, and this was Akufo trying to force his way in, in what was frankly a non-sensical part of the plot.I will say, I absolutely loved Dani’s attitude this whole episode. The killer instinct he shows towards Van Damme because it’s an international game was so fun, and a side of his personality we don’t get to see very often, as he’s portrayed more as a loveable puppy dog. Hopefully we see more of it.Finally, while I’m glad Nate left that toxic relationship at West Ham, can we really avoid his return to Richmond? It’s not necessary at this point, and maybe he needs to find something for himself first. I’m guessing we won’t be so lucky, but who knows what these last two weeks will have in store.
I’ve seen a lot of people predict Nate taking over at Richmond, and Ted going home to his son for weeks. After this episode, I’d be shocked if that didn’t happen. That seems to be what the whole season is building up to.
I guarantee you that’s been in place for three years.
I’m guessing that will be the case, but it would be nice to see it go to Roy or Beard. One of those two getting out of their comfort zone would be good for them.
I think Roy should definitely take over, he actually cares about the players’ growth individually and of the team as a whole whereas Nate from what we have actually seen just thinks about new plays.
“whereas Nate from what we have actually seen just thinks about new plays.”
I’ve often considered starting to watch a show in its third season, but then I feel like I might miss the entirety of a character by doing that, so I usually start with the beginning of the series.
“I’m guessing that will be the case, but it would be nice to see it go to Roy or Beard.”
I’m pretty sure Beard’s not going to stay in England when Ted goes home.
I think Nate’s a fine tactician but yeah, Roy would be the best successor for Ted. Frankly, Roy as the head coach and Nate in the Beard role would be an interesting spinoff idea (assuming they decide to do a Ted Lasso spinoff, it would give some odd couple vibes).
They have very complementary skill sets as coaches, but yeah, Roy is probably the better choice for head coach because as much as anything that role requires managing people and commanding the respect of the locker room. I’m… skeptical about Nate’s ability to do either of those things.
Beard will follow Ted, and Nate, who realizes he hated being the coach and the center of attention, will be an assistant for Roy.
“I predicted it in these very comments a few weeks ago, and I was correct in my assumption that Jack (excuse me, the “board of directors”) would pull the funding for KJPR.”
Out of curiosity, was this before or after you predicted that water would be wet?
“I also was enjoyed/annoyed at Sam for falling into Francis’ whole handshake.”I think it was more that Sam knew Francis wouldn’t leave until he was through with his bit, so he’s begrudgingly participating to just get it over with.
Yup, Sam knew exactly what was going to happen to the point he even told Francis not to actually do it. He also knew it was the only way to get Francis out.
That being said, this week’s Edwin Akufo plotline also made zero sense when it comes to the business of soccer. Presumably, the European clubs in that room are the biggest in the world, and even with the money Akufo has likely put into Raja Casablanca during his ownership, the odds of these owners leaving European football to join a super league with an African club are slim to none. Heck, it’s real life counterpart didn’t go outside the big nations (England, Spain, Italy). Raja Casablanca would be a non-starter, and this was Akufo trying to force his way in, in what was frankly a non-sensical part of the plot.So, I don’t disagree with your analysis, but I don’t find it nonsensical in terms of storytelling. Because I do think Akufo is the kind of guy who would think he can just use his money to force his way into being on equal footing with the world’s biggest clubs. And I think it makes sense that the other owners would at least hear him out. And from there, I definitely think that, having seen him flip out at not getting his way once before already, he would flip out and throw a temper tantrum as soon as anyone expresses any doubts, which would confirm for the rest of the owners that he’s not someone they want to be in business with.
They didn’t go outside of Europe because the money wasn’t there. If there was a mega club like Casablanca anywhere in the world, they certainly would have tried to get them to join.
Manuel, you need to stop reviewing a show you clearly hate. It’s one thing to give a scathing review of Season 1 of a TV show you don’t like. Or review a show you’ve used to like but has taken a notable downturn.But like… this is the show. It’s always been the show. It hasn’t changed for the worse in a notable way.You just don’t like it.
How laughable! So reviewers should only review shows they like? You clearly don’t understand what a review is.
I literally say: “It’s one thing to give a scathing review of Season 1 of a TV show you don’t like. Or review a show you’ve used to like but has taken a notable downturn.”
But if you’re reviewing each episode on an episode by episode basis of a show you don’t like and never have, I have to question… why?
Akufo is Ghanaian, not Nigerian. That’s part of his rivalry with Sam. And you spelled his name wrong in “Stray Observations.”
Criticizing an ensemble show for having multiple plots is like criticizing ice cream for being cold.
Yahtzee!
the comments from the weirdos who watch this show (seriously who hurt you?) are incredible. your hero would not appreciate this negativity!
I have generally not minded the longer episode running times this season, but I thought this one dragged and at the mid point I was not enjoying *any* of the storylines. I did like how things resolved though, especially with Rebecca and Keeley’s stories, and to a lesser extent with Nate’s. This episode pretty much confirmed that Jack was as awful as I suspected she was, or maybe a little worse. Roy and Jamie being best friends now is likewise even more of a payoff than I expected from that storyline. There wasn’t much Ted in this episode & I was fine with that.
I’ve honestly enjoyed the last two episodes more that most of the season, and I think Manuel has been “over it” for a while.
I do think the plot has been all over the place, the show doesn’t seem to care about soccer, which is sort of OK, but I’m not a fan of these time jumps or skipping over important story developments. This season definitely isn’t as cohesive, and I guess speaks to Bill Lawrence’s talents.
I think there are still some good jokes to be had, but they’re mostly coming from Phil Dunster.
Last week’s exchange between him and Sam over the Captain’s band/sash was probably the highlight of this season.
I did get a huge kick out of Jamie turning to Roy with that shit-eating smirk when Phoebe said Roy talks about him every day.
He’s been doing a lot of great face acting this season.
I’d say the most striking difference between this season and the previous two is that the dramatic emotional moments have been a little more “after-school special”-ish this season. Ted’s panic attacks, the Roy-Keeley-Jaime love triangle, Rebecca-Rupert, Nate’s turn to the darkside, and others all felt a little more real and high-stakes in seasons one and two. Bill Lawrence has always been able to mix in some pretty intense drama into otherwise silly light-hearted shows (ie. Scrubs). This season, the drama just doesn’t carry much weight. Still enjoying my Tuesday evenings with these lovable characters though.
The show is stellar and the last 5 episodes have been amongst the best television in the past decade. Maybe we’re watching different shows, but my wife and I have been absolutely LOVING our Tuesdays recently.
Maybe go watch Gray’s?
“the last 5 episodes have been amongst the best television in the past decade. ”lol, now that’s the funniest comment in the past decade.
I thought “We’ll Never Have Paris” was flat-out the worst episode this show has done, myself.
It’s nice that you keep jumping into the comments to defend your son’s garbage reviews.
super-lol. I’m sure manuel can take care of himself. If he was my offspring, i would be so proud of him.
It’s really nice how the Ted Lasso superfans seem incapable of responding to criticism of the show without personally attacking the people making those criticisms.
I was going to type out a long review and list of the things I liked and didn’t like I’ve been doing all season, but I just don’t feel like it right now because I just want to bask in the afterglow of this episode.Best episode of the season. Best Keeley since S2… maybe even S1. Best Roy in a while. Yes, it was unapologetically Ted Lasso schmaltz. I am a satisfied customer of said schmaltz, so I loved it.Wish it had been longer, really.
Saw a Facebook ad the other day from long-running goth-industrial band Pig that contained a picture of Trent Crimm wearing a Pig t-shirt and a link to their merch shop. (It was some dancing skeletons a few weeks back.)
That’s so obscure that I didn’t spot it, and I’m the kind of guy who gets targeted advertising from Pig.
Honestly I just continue to disagree with, like, most of your issues with the show. I’m honestly not sure why I keep coming back to read the recaps other than pure habit. You clearly are looking for the show to be something it is not, and never has been. It’s been exactly this from the jump, so to be so confused by the decisions and the way storylines get wrapped up quickly and neatly, etc, and irked by things not reflecting reality with people behaving and reacting better than most people would in a real life scenario… well, that would be like finding fault with Schitt’s Creek for being too nice and kind-hearted with its characters being accepting and better and nicer than most people really would be in similar situations. That’s just what the show is. It’s what the show always has been.
Exactomundo. I also don’t understand the complaints that there’s not enough football.Huh?Football is the backdrop, there really isn’t a requirement for the viewers to understand the game. The fact that Ted doesn’t understand it gives us permission to watch in blissful ignorance as well. It could be about a baseball manager coaching a cricket team and it would still work because it’s not about the game, it’s about the people.
The show is fine. STOP!
I find myself not disagreeing with the recap as much this week.Lots of convenience this week, most of it smarmy, with specific plot points to just allow characters to move on or make amends. All of it being a bit contrived.I enjoyed the episode, but all felt it bit clichéd.
For anyone who watches a lot of North American international soccer, seeing Dani go full CONCACAF the minute the international window opens is so on point.
At this point it feels like you’re trolling because it’s fairly universally shared sentiment that you suck.
wow. would you talk like that in front of ted lasso?
Sam Richardson as Edwin Akufo is one of my favorite things about Ted Lasso. He’s the perfect embodiment of the “spoiled rich brat” type that abounds in the series (see also: Rupert, Jack). Obviously, it wasn’t a “food fight” that occurred in the Super League meeting; it was a “food tantrum” on the part of Mr. Akufo. Also, other characters should try harder to spell and pronounce his name correctly. That drives me crazy.Overall, I think this season is about watching our friends spin out from Richmond until they’re pulled back in by its emotional gravity. I love that they’re (mostly) back together and in good shape to end the series. I can’t wait to see Nate and Ted’s reconcile.There is something more slight about the past few episodes, but I think that’s natural given that we’re experiencing the resolution of long-standing issues. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want issues to resolve in this show. It’s such a touching example of how the world could work if we stopped trying to defend ourselves and just started living our lives.
I guess what I’m looking for in this show is just completely different than what you are looking for in this show, which I suppose is fair game. I do agree that some of these plot points are a bit too neatly resolved, but I still get what I want out of this show. It leaves me feeling good at the end of an episode, which is way more than I can say for most other things on TV these days. And yeah, nothing about this show is realistic, and they’re clearly aiming for this to end with Nate taking over Ted’s job because he decides to go home to the States (at least it feels very telegraphed to end up at this place), but it’s still OK. It’s nice when a show cares about its characters and lets them have actual good moments and doesn’t revel in how absolutely ungodly horrible they are or how much misery they have to suffer through. Hence, I still get a ton of pleasure out of each episode.
Ok, now what did people who actually like this show think?
I am sorry that you are dead inside and cannot enjoy one single moment in life. That is my only explanation for your puerile, empty, specious reviews which show you don’t get much of anything about…anything.
lmao
I loved the first season especially, but I agree with a lot of what is being said about this one. It’s just all too preachy and trying to tackle one big societal problem after another like it’s part after school special. It’s turned into more of a soap opera than a comedy about a football club. It’s a different show this season and personally I don’t like it as much.
Wow, you’re an asshole.
lmao ted lasso would not approve of this hostility. have you learned nothing?
Is your comment the height of your clever repartee and intellectual discourse? I’m sure it is.
It’s really something how frequently Ted Lasso fans run across someone who has criticisms of the show and can only respond by implying they have mental, emotional, or psychological problems.
It’s frustrating, because on the one hand you have reviewers like Betancourt, whose critiques quite often miss the mark and who generally refuse to evaluate the show on its own terms—“why is this sitcom written like a sitcom when sitcoms are objectively bad?”—but on the other hand you have commenters coming in hot with “IF YOU DON’T LIKE TED LASSO THEN YOU MUST HATE JOY.”
Yeah, I’ve been mixed on Manuel’s reviews— sometimes I agree with them, sometimes I agree with specific observations but have a higher opinion of how well they worked for the show, sometimes I think he missed the mark. But I don’t act like a foaming lunatic when the latter happens. How does some other guy having a different opinion on a TV show affect me in any way? I’m an adult. A bunch of people say they look up to Ted but then act like Edwin Akufo when the show gets a bad review.It’s always especially amusing to me how often I see this response on the shows that people say are supposed to teach you How To Be Nice. I feel like the biggest uncritical fans of those shows are the ones who could use the lessons the most yet learn the least.
I enjoyed this episode for the most part. Rebecca’s speech was a bit cringe and I know for damn sure it would never work in a million years in the real world, but I still appreciated the sentiment behind it. I was worried for a brief moment that she’d let herself get pulled back into Rupert’s orbit, and I’m honestly still kind of worried after seeing her playfully chide Keeley for hopping right back into the sack with Roy after going on about falling back into the arms of exes, but I guess we’ll see.And speaking of Roy and Keeley, them getting back together was probably the one big thing I didn’t like about this episode. Don’t get me wrong, I think Keeley’s great and Roy has been my favorite character since season 1, I just don’t think them getting back together after he writes her one nice letter makes a whole lot of sense. I was hoping Roy would explore whatever was going on between him and Phoebe’s teacher, especially after he picked up on how she was flirting with him, but nope, I guess the show’s writers realized they don’t have much time left to just get Roy and Keeley back together since I assume that’s what they think the show’s fans want to happen.Lastly, as much as I hated Nate and didn’t think he deserved a redemption arc, I’ll admit I’ve slowly come around. Especially after he quite West Ham on his own prerogative (when the episode started I just assumed Rupert found some excuse to fire him) and that touching violin scene with his dad (again, a scenario which I sadly assume is based more in fantasy than reality when it comes to stern parenting tactics). I still think Nate needs to do a lot more to get fully back into our good graces (cleaning the club room and leaving Will an apology card was a good start), but he’s getting there.
RE: Rebecca’s speech – while it was unseen I think she swayed Rupert with the reminders of his past sneaking in Nelson Road to see matches and he then helped to sway the other owners into turning down Akufo. The European Super League failed to materialize in real life because of how it would price out the regular fans and possibly render promotion/relegation obsolete.
What principle was Nate standing up for when he quit? Did Rupert say he had to cheat on his girlfriend as a condition of his employment?This was a lot like the Roy/Keeley breakup plotline in that it was all tell, no show. They was never showed an actual reason presented for why Roy and Keeley had to break up, they just said they did. And now Nate has to quit his dream job that he’s been excelling at because…Rupert gave him a disappointed scowl? His coaching staff are nice but not as colorful as Ted’s? Stuff just happens.
I think the reason why responses to this season are so divided and contentious is this: While individual episodes (or parts of the episodes) can be enjoyable, there are over-arching issues of plotting and characterization that keep the show from being cohesive over the course of an entire season. I don’t think I’ve had a bad time watching any episode so far, but when I step back from them, some larger problems really come into focus for me. If you look at the first two seasons of Ted Lasso, each has a sense of narrative purpose and thematic unity. You know what each season is doing. Season 1 is a fish out of water story about how an outsider can affect change on a personal and organizational level. The narrative drive is to see Ted and the team succeed against the odds (and Rebecca’s opposition). Season 2, while it had some problems, did not lack an arc or a theme. It was all about battling demons—Ted coming to terms with the root of his relentless positivity and the team battling back up to the Premier League. But season 3…what is it’s theme? It’s narrative arc? To me, season 3 feels very fragmented. Yes, characters have nice arcs within episodes, but one episode doesn’t always make changes or growth feel earned to the viewer. And some of the episodic arcs are inconsistent with the previous seasons’ characterization. So many instances of this stand out: In this week’s episode, Nate’s dad tells him “Be successful, don’t be successful, I never cared about any of that.” But his dad DID very clearly care about that. It’s pretty much all he’s cared about according to what the viewer has seen. That’s an unforced error on the writers—all they had to do was change the line to “I don’t care about that now.” Instead, they retcon the character in ways the viewer finds unbelievable. One thing that stood out to me this episode was that it did actually introduce things that could have been fruitful arcs to develop across a season, and instead they got shoehorned into one episode. The biggest one, to me, is the Akufo League. A far more interesting path for Rebecca this season would have been to see her try to navigate the politics of these potential shifts in the league alignments. Making this part of the arc of the season—will Richmond stay or go—could also have tied in some of Sam’s activism storylines that have been raised and then summarily dropped. And you could have had Keeley’s firm win a PR contract with the league to try to convince other owners to stay. So Rebecca and Keeley could have worked together on that, which is when both characters are at their best. If you do these things, Rebecca has an arc that is worthy of her, and not this psychic/baby/romance BS we’ve gotten. And Keeley gets to learn to run her firm while doing work that keeps her in the orbit of the team. And everybody has a goal—win the premier league and in doing so, convince the other teams to stay, too—and an opponent: Akufo (and possibly Rupert, too). Ted has become a problem, too. His wacky tangents and Americanisms seem more forced and less impactful. But the bigger problem is that there’s no growth for Ted across 10 episodes so far. What is his journey this season? I think everybody knows that he’s headed back to the states. But the show hasn’t developed that. They telegraph it in episode one, but they haven’t really shown Ted inching toward that decision. Dropping Dr. Sharon was a huge loss. Talking to her could have allowed viewers to see him process his situation so we see him gradually realize where he needs to be, and then grapple with what it might mean to leave a job undone in the UK so that he can go do the more important job of raising his kid. Instead, Ted is largely absent except to make big (and increasingly weird) speeches. Then we’ll have one Ted-centric episode drop where he’s borderline stalking his ex—which is out of character from the Ted of season 2—and the viewer is left wondering WTF the writers are working toward. So yeah, individual episodes get laughs and can be enjoyable. But the overall assessment of the season isn’t as clear cut. Season 1 of Ted Lasso is brisk with tight plotting. Each successive season has gotten more bloated and less focused, until we get to where we’re at now: A season where so many characters seem to have lost their way (or seem to be being written by entirely new teams of writers) and where the plot hasn’t really developed any momentum.
Great post. You know, I did think season 2 had some areas where it just ignored or skipped important steps in the plotting, or just didn’t deal with obvious consequences or fallout from certain situations, but I agree, there was at least a throughline. I’m not sure what the throughline is for this season, especially with Ted, like you said. And the whole story with him, Michelle, and Dr. Jacob is incredibly weird, especially for the whole “massive violation of professional ethics” Dr. Jacob is committing that no one seems to be aware of. And it seems like there are a lot of missed opportunities to tell actual stories of Keeley and Rebecca working and running businesses— which at least thankfully we got Rebecca doing some of that the last couple of episodes— instead focusing on their personal lives. I feel like Keeley in particular was largely mistreated as a character this season and only the last couple of episodes have we seen even shades of who she was– particularly disappointing as she may have been my favorite character in season 1.
There is a case to be made that, as enlightened as Ted Lasso is about masculinity, it is still in many ways quite limited in its feminism. I’ve harped on this on other articles, so I won’t go into my full dissertation here (at the very least it’s a journal article!). But if you look at the women in the world of Ted Lasso—Rebecca, Keeley, Bex, Michelle, Jack, Shandy, Jade, and perhaps most notably Jane—it’s not a list of terribly richly-written women. Rebecca and Keeley started out that way but have regressed in seasons 2 and 3 as their arcs turned away from their mutually supportive friendship and business acumen to focus almost exclusively on romantic relationships. The show even undermines Dr. Sharon’s supreme competence by suggesting she’s an alcoholic but then not carrying that any farther. As a woman watching the show, it’s frustrating to feel like the writers can’t figure out how to give women rich interior lives that don’t revolve around relationships. It makes many of the women caricatures who exist only to serve the needs of the male characters. That Rebecca and Keeley have remained such endearing characters is a credit to Hannah Waddingham and Juno Temple. They’ve kept the ship afloat despite some truly mediocre material to work with.
This is the last season as the people behind it looked at the story arc they wanted to do, and decided this is where it should end. I respect that.
But this season, I am wondering if they misjudged… maybe they had 2 shorter seasons left to give the story room to be told, like a total of 16 or 18 eps instead of 12. Or, as they knew they were wrapping it up, a lot of the people who had some idea of “I wanted to tell this story about this character” are just jamming them in before the end.
I think your vision could have allowed some of the hasty storylines of this season to develop more fully. Remember Zava? We hardly knew ye, dude. But what would Ted Lasso have looked like if there were a short, 8 episode (40 minute max) season where the team struggles to incorporate him into the fold. You could have developed a better “Wrinkle in Time” storyline for Jamie to realize he can and should be the leader of the team. And the team could have united to tell Zava that they were going to play their style of ball, and it was on him to fit into that system. Basically, Zava was your chance for the team to take ownership of their own culture, which is exactly what a coach like Ted should want. Instead, Zava was a 3 episode distraction and we’ve been shown the team owning their culture in pretty preachy ways (the Awankening and Colin’s coming out). Having the team deal with Zava could have been the thing that galvanized them. Instead the writers used to to galvanize just Jamie, and that’s OK I guess, but I could see a situation where it played out differently and let the writers incorporate more of the team, as they have clearly been trying to do this season. So a short season where the team embraces its new culture followed by another short season where they navigate the threat of the Akufo league might have worked really well. Short Season 3 could have let Ted experience success, then Short Season 4 could have shown him grappling with the “what next” and ultimately realizing his work was done.
Great post xI’m still cringing that the writer of the episode, Jane Becker, typed “Nate starts playing Arvo Pärt on the violin” into the script. lol
You, uh, really seem to have issues with Arvo Pärt.
In the latest episode of “The Person in the Comments Section That Thinks People Will Be Impressed with Their Obscure Knowledge”…
Apparently Nick Mohammed actually does play violin.
This season is the natural conclusion of Season 2’s arc, which is moving on from their problems. To me reading the comments for this episode the dividing line of what’s the problem for this season is that one group needs exposition to tell them what’s going on and the other group are people who payed attention to the subtleties and got the story without the exposition.
Spot on. I really liked this episode and I think it’s one of the funniest in recent memory, but this season is a mess. I think the theme for this season is supposed to be “everyone takes the lessons they learned from Ted to grow and move on”—hence in this episode Rebecca drawing confidence and inspiration from Ted’s army man, Sam putting up with Akufo’s childish bullshit in a very gracious and Lassovian manner, Nate finding the courage to live his life on his own terms without latching onto various father figures, etc. But this season does very little to explicitly remind us what those lessons are, because as you note Ted himself is so peripheral and checked out. Obviously the endgame is Ted leaving Richmond having improved the lives around him. Metatextually, I think the writers are trying (and struggling) to establish a proof of concept of what a Ted Lasso-less Ted Lasso would even look like moving forward, so Ted fading into the background is probably by design. But in order to demonstrate how the other characters are inspired by Ted you still need to have the character doing some inspirational shit instead of occasionally dropping by freak out about his ex-wife or make fun of David Hockney.
Ok. This is a comedy. The point is for the individual episodes to get laughs and be enjoyables. The reaction to the first season was not because it hit a transcendent level for 30 minute sitcoms. It satisfied a craving many people had for something relentlessly positive at the moment. As mentioned above, it was a fish out of the water story. Same as it was in the NBC Sports five minute promo for their soccer coverage. They assembled a great cast and built a nice little world around it. It’s still at its roots a 5-minute short. If there’s a problem with this season, it’s knowing there has to be an ending and Ted has to go home at some point and let someone who knows what they’re doing run the club. In fairness to the people who think that the show should be judged next to the Sopranos, the Sopranos never coped for over 3 seasons with the eminent destruction of the Tony’s glorified crew in Jersey once he crossed New York. The episodes have been fun. Some of them have been very good. The hour length doesn’t feel like an hour so why complain about spending a bit more time with people who enjoy. I’m sure they teach about sitcoms in criticism school. They’re places were you go spend time with people. Lasso offers that and still finds some time to touch on being human and cultural challenges that made the show so unique snd needed in 2020.
I liked the episode, but now I can’t unthink about what you’ve proposed for some of these plots. Especially the Akufo League thing being a season storyline for Rebecca. That would have been. So. Good.
Right?! The series would have laid the groundwork for it in season 2, with Rebecca teaching Nate her power stance before she goes into the meetings. Then we could have seen her in a series of owners’ meetings before coming into her own in the final one with Akufo. It makes SO MUCH SENSE! It lets Rebecca be a boss.I liked her scene with the owners in this episode, but because the viewer has never seen her interact with them before, it’s not as fully realized as it could have been.
The overarching theme of the season is what ripples out from the Ted of season one and two… I would actually have been surprised if the final arc *wasn’t* that.
This show is just a sappy romcom now with black & white good and bad characters having zero nuance, and where every scene has to be soundtracked by the most cloying music known to mankind.
That’s what I like about it.
The fanboy types have pretty much wrecked any discourse on the structure and production of TV shows on this forum. It’s down to personal attacks on anyone who writes any criticism of their favorite show or imaginary character friends. Anyone writing anything critical (in the classical sense of criticism) about the quality and formatting of the writing, acting, or the directorial techniques and other production elements, just gets bitched at to “go watch something else”, or “you’re an asshole” level BS.
Yeah, I don’t get it. Someone else’s opinions about TV don’t affect my enjoyment of it. Ted Lasso is certainly in no danger of getting canceled because of Manuel Betancourt’s reviews. These reactions suggest a really unhealthy relationship with fiction and need to have their opinions and feelings validated.And personally, I see those reactions far more often on a show that the people who act like this talk about loving it because it’s supposedly so nice and warm and good. Maybe some of that niceness and goodness should’ve rubbed off on them by now.
LOL…. very good point about their cognitive dissonance on the niceness and goodness stuff
Yeah, just look at some of the comments here! Robot_Jox in particular. I mean, I think some of the comments written here are really good in terms of analyzing the show and what it could be doing better– what it used to do better. And some people are just boiling with criminal levels of rage toward anyone who makes those criticisms.
Lol! Look at you. Spending all day, every day an entire week after this review was posted, viciously ranting at and attacking anyone with a slightly different opinion than yours. I wasn’t even directy talking to you and you decided to jump in and went on the offensive. Is it really that hard for you to stop watching something you obviously aren’t satisfied with? Does every stranger on the AVClub need to know how much you don’t like this show anymore? Get a fucking grip you headcase.Of course you miss the entire point of this show about being a better and nicer person by wishing it was as angry and mental as you are.
Dude, this is the most projection I’ve seen in a comment in a long time. You’re the one who keeps viciously insulting people and calling them names, and getting more unhinged. Do you read your comments before you post them? Everything you just wrote applies to you!
I accept most of the points that have been brought up. The show does have a tendency to be a bit too sweet and tie up things a bit too fast and too neatly. But I really think there is an issue with the perception that this is not the show it was in season 1 because I clearly remember taking issue with how they didn’t really go into the complexities when the team dropped a major sponsor in the second half of the first season, due to Obisanya being uncomfortable with them. (I might be mistaken on some details because it was years ago and I haven’t rewatched it.) It was the same writing, the characters doing the right thing and no consequences are suffered. Yet it was forgiven. Maybe we were more lenient, more desperate for positive outlooks back then in the middle of the pandemic. So maybe it isn’t the show that’s changed, maybe it’s us.I would like as well if the show went a bit more in depth when bringing up societal issues, a bit less naive and childlike in its outlook on life, but I did accept it a while ago that this is not that show and I am expecting these aspects from it in vain. It has always been like that and it is not likely to change in the middle of its last season.
The show hasn’t lost anything except the author of this review. I think he’s the one that should get out of the way and allow someone who understands the show and can discuss it for what it is rather than that he wants it to be. They could make the show two hours and I’d be happy, more Ted Lasso is a good thing. Especially since this is all we’re going to be getting, no more seasons after this one.
This show works. It works because while their personalities may stay more or less the same, the results of what they have learned changes them. AS IT SHOULD. Cannot tell you how almost all sitcoms, dramas, etc… suffer from stagnation because THE CHARACTERS DONT GROW. So I look at this simple review you posted and thought, how well and good of you to hop on the bandwagon of “losing its way” when you should be challenged to tell us why this makes sense in the “Lasso Universe”. This show has characters and scenarios that grow, make mistakes, and finally own them.You did not do a review justice here. And this is not a fanboy speaking, this is a person who understands the concept of narrative and what makes this show better than 99% of the crap out there.
This review is genuinely mystifying.
i had to watch the roy kent interview again recently cause it was good and then heard the bit at the end where he called on the goblin king. i can only imagine he was calling on the woman in the front with the tall blonde hair.
So the show “neatly [solves issues] within an episode’s time,” yet it’s also a problem that the runtime has “ballooned.”
Ok, can someone please explain to me what the hell is wrong with the Super League? What does it mean “it makes football unaffordable and profitable”? I mean, it’s still football, isn’t it? What matters what teams play? Just because the one that’s closest to where you live or were born isn’t playing? So what?
Because it ups the prices for fans and penalizes the smaller teams who can’t compete at the same level as the big-boy (read: big-money) teams. It’s yet another league of games fans have to pay for, beyond the traditional leagues. Many football fans are blue-collar, so tickets are a major indulgence.Rebecca’s point was that it was just a cash grab to squeeze more money out of fans. There was no real reason to have a Super League except to gouge ticket prices and force fans to spend more.
More profitable for the owners of the few teams that get invited; more more unaffordable for the fans of those teams. (And it could possibly crush the revenues and professional fortunes of the teams that don’t get invited, which would further make football inaccessible to the average fan if the non-Super League teams go out of business.)
Starting to think the people who think you don’t “get” the show or “hate joy” just because you disagree with choices in the writing this season simply don’t “get” what good writing is and just like when silly jokes and cute moments are strung together incoherently for an hour straight. I am someone who has loved this show since it started, really enjoyed season 2, and have generally still adored a lot of individual moments/jokes/plot-lines/character interactions this season, but I can still acknowledge that the writing for a show of this caliber which started off so strongly has degraded to the point of being almost unwatchable in parts. What the hell has Keeley’s entire plot been this season and why the hell has it had nothing to do with the team or any of the other characters? Why does Ted Lasso show up for all of 3 minutes in an hour long episode of the show called “Ted Lasso”? How could the writers have possibly thought that a bunch of sports commentators TELLING the audience that Nate quit would be better than the drama wrung from an actual scene in which he does so? What is the point of this entire season other than to continue to just show the random daily happenings of the characters’ lives? The only part of this season that consistently works for me is the evolution of Roy and Jamie’s friendship (Trent Crimm is also a consistent delight). But man has everything else been a let down. I’m all for “joy” and “feeling nice”, I’m legit the type of person who actively avoids acclaimed shows like Succession because I hate watching bad people succeed at being bad and always found Ted Lasso to be a welcome change of pace (akin to something like Steven Universe), but attempting to make the audience feel warm and fuzzy every three minutes is not enough to excuse a show that just throws whatever random disjointed shit at the wall that it wants and calls it “storytelling”. Here’s to doubting but still hoping that it pulls together in the end
Well this is awkward… This was my favorite episode of the season ¯\_(ツ)_/¯I hear the criticisms. I really do. I have a few myself. But for reasons I myself don’t even understand, the heart of it is winning me over. When Keeley gives Barbara that snow globe? I mean come on. (And then her needing the receipt- this how to cut in a joke without undermining the situation, Marvel) Jaime wearing Sam’s 24. The Phoebe of it all. That kid is too precious. I still wish the episodes were shorter, but overall, I don’t want Ted Lasso to be over yet. One thing I was bothered by was what transpired between Rojas and Van Damme. It was funny to see Dani turn into a ruthless competitor, (the doritos, lol) but then he did bust the guy’s face, and didn’t seem to have any remorse once he was back to normal. That rubbed me the wrong way. It was just a mindset he went into, right, not a dissassociative identity?
Sometimes I read these reviews and think the reviewer must have been watching a different show.The episode didn’t seem to last an hour to me. It progressed smoothly through the various stories and all of them hit the mark for me.- Nate’s reason for walking out of the bar on Rupert last week wasn’t just because he had a girlfriend, it was because he realized he was happier before he went to work for him and he didn’t want to be there anymore. The scene with his father explained a lot about why Nate is the way he is.- “Similarly, Rebecca’s stand off against Rupert and Akufo (which ends, inexplicably, in a food fight-esque climax we don’t get to see…” Personally, I didn’t need to see the scene to know what happened. Edwin Akufo (once again played to the hilt by Sam Richardson) threw a hissy fit and threw the Ghanian spread he’d had laid out for them in their faces when they told him “no.” – I think the reviewer missed the real joke about Ted saying he thought Rebecca was getting a call from “The Devil.” Jason Sudeikis regularly played The Devil on Weekend Update.Also, I was waiting for Jamie to start prepaying on Phoebe’s swear jar.
Did I miss Nate quitting this episode or the last? Or did they offscreen that?
*Beard voice* Offscreen, bay-BEH!
Lol, so they make every episode an hour long but can’t even dramatize that big moment when Nate quit? Like wtf? “Oh hey boss, just here to tell you I’m not going to hang out with you and those two ladies, see you at work” is the last we see of them interacting? What an utterly bizarre choice, similar to Jack being “Poochied” out of the show.
I agree! For some reason this show has chosen to have a lot of the important plot or character moments just happen off-screen this season. (As I was joking with someone else yesterday, “Prestige TV is like jazz: The plot points are in the scenes you *don’t* see.”)
The theme of this episode is rich people are out to screw you! Keeley’s funding being withdrawn, I thought she had a successful business but now it looks like a vanity project funded by rich friends. Nate leaving West Ham because Rupert was trying to make him cheat on his girlfriend. The whole billionaires super league. The show is both too much and too little at the same time.
I didn’t really like this episode (too much Nate) but I totally buy that Rebecca could convince those guys not to go in on Afuko’s super League. Because the top teams leaving would I think destroy the Premier League. And even with his forecasts there is no guarantee the super League would make money. And the biggest part is, going into business with a guy who is crazy enough to have his assistant pelt you with food if you disagree with him would be a huge risk.
Yep. I don’t think Rebecca’s initial speech completely swayed the ownership group, but I think it was enough to sow a little bit of doubt (most likely in Rupert), and as soon as that happened, Akufo’s typical response to being told “no” of throwing a massive temper tantrum would’ve been enough to turn off the rest of the owners.
Was Ted even in this episode?
Briefly. But since it was International week why would he be in the office all that much? The remaining team probably had a couple of conditioning sessions and pretty much took the week off. They all came in to watch the Mexico/Canada match because their teammates were in it.
“In this economy?”Honestly, the best joke of the episode.
If they did one heartfelt episode like this I think it would be good and have a lot of impact. But nearly every episode this season has been like this. It’s been such a let down. Particularly because they set themselves up to have such a strong narrative throughline for the season:
A) Win the championshipsB) Defeat Nate who has betrayed them. Nate overcomes his feelings of inferiority and reconciles with Ted.C) Ted learns that his “everything is great” is a shield and he has to commitD) Zava seems like he’s great for the team but is actually badE) Jaime and Roy become friends and Jaime becomes the best player in the league with Roy’s help
I mean that’s it, that’s 6 hours of great TV right there. No need to introduce a superfluous side pilot about a new PR agency run by Keely. If you want to give her lines, work it into the Jaime and Roy story, or have Nate try to stay in touch with her. I just don’t understand how they could have fumbled it so badly this year.
Yeah, and that’s part of what annoys me about all the people who complain about the show’s critics and personally attack them. It’s not hard to see how the stories the show wanted to tell could have worked with a little more effort and care. I’ve seen several great suggestions just in the comments on this recap. And in season 1 the show did put that kind of care and effort into the plotting. Lately it hasn’t, and it shows, and the show suffers for it.
Totally agree, I posted a reply just above that.
It’s fascinating watching/reading the comments by people who just love this show for what it is, regardless of how it does it. I respect that, and honestly, envy their ability to just watch a movie or TV show and otherwise not care about the construction of it. But that’s not me, or you, or clearly a lot of people watching this show.The problem, as you alluded to, is that the show DID set up very clear, very interesting, very dynamic storylines that were perfect for a third act. Nate’s story especially seems like it was just abandoned at the last minute. His story arc was so compelling. A nice guy who had been deceived (by himself mostly) to go down a dark path. It was all there, a whole season’s worth of descent into the heart of madness, hitting bottom, and then rising back up. Darth Nate wasn’t something we people who “just don’t get the show” dreamed up. The show stepped up to the plate and pointed to the exact set of seats it was going to aim for. When the show completely drops that entire story after not even one episode, that’s a major storytelling error. And even the resolution of this part of the story (such as it is) happened OFF-SCREEN! How do you not even show Nate cutting ties with Rupert? How do you not show Rupert’s final attempts to seduce Nate fully to the Dark Side and Nate’s resisting it???? I can only think that Jason Sudekis and the rest of the team just chickened out about showing these characters in any sort of bad light, or making them have to do anything that would necessitate meanness, even when necessary. A final confrontation between Nate and Rupert would have, and should have had a few fireworks. But that’s seen as not nice enough now, I guess. Same with an actual breakup between Jack and Keeley. Or the REUNION of Roy and Keeley! How do you not SHOW that on screen????? How do you not let these actors have the opportunity to really emote and dig into the hard parts of their relationship and breakup? How do you not let Keeley show her profound disappointment in what Roy did? On and on.When this should should have been hitting home run after home run (or I guess bicycle kick goal after bicycle kick goal), all the scoring is happening between innings and we just get to find out about it after the fact.For all you people who whine that we “just don’t get how TV works”, we DO. The way TV works is that a show (or movie) starts off by making a promise as to what the viewer is in for. It gives you a primer on how you are supposed to watch the show and what makes it different from other shows. CBS procedurals are perfect examples of this. The promise is that a mystery is going to be introduced in the first couple of minutes of the episode, our heroes will be assigned the case. There will be pointless banter as they uncover early evidence. All signs will point one direction, but then the twist that it’s not that way at all. The main characters of the show will always be pleasant and will operate within the narrow slice of character we’ve come to know them. There will be almost no deviation. You’ll be able to watch any episode from season 1 to season 10 and you won’t be confused, because nothing ever happens to the main characters. That’s the promise you’re given. Ted Lasso made the promise that it wasn’t afraid to put the characters through the wringer. That it would let people go down dark paths before bringing them back into the light. That it would showcase the dramatic events and turning points in these characters lives. And then, in season three, it completely abandoned all of those promises.
I mean this is Chekhov’s gun right here. The very end of the last episode of season one. In 25 seconds it lays out Season 2 and 3, right there. And what’s brilliant and REALLY important about it, is for a second, it shows the Ted actually gives a shit about winning. Look at Rebecca’s reaction. That is not a mistake! That showed a glimpse of a guy that isn’t just a great mentor, but a great coach. One of the central issues with Ted that Season 1 and partially season 2 set up was that Ted hid behind being a great mentor instead of caring about delivering. Having Ted find the right balance was a one of the core arcs I was looking forward to watching in the show.
I was joking with another friend today about a different show that similarly skipped over what could’ve been some of its best and most satisfying moments that “Prestige TV is like jazz: The plot beats are in the scenes you *don’t* see.” Your comment makes me think it could apply to this season of this show as well.
To be fair, Welcome To Wrexham, which is basically real life Ted Lasso, also has a fair bit of saccharine speeches about how Football is Life and is the lifeblood of Wrexham. It certainly seems to be a passion project for Rob and Ryan and not just about making money.
I wish I could be as positive as some of these commenters, because I honestly thought this was the worst episode to date. Sam Richardson’s character is too much of a cartoon even for an already broad sitcom. Ted feels almost totally irrelevant to the series now. We didn’t get to see Nate triumphantly quit or make amends with Will, but we did get to see him play a violin solo (has there been any mention of this before?). Once again, Keeley’s plot feels disconnected from everything and all her problems are solved in a tidy 60 minutes. I found the Danny Rojas story weird and unpleasant. And then we had to sit through possibly the longest rousing speech from Rebecca ever, which didn’t do anything for me. The only stuff that’s working for me is Roy and Jamie, who remain a great odd couple. Otherwise, moving to an hour was the death of this show IMO. Every episode feels overstuffed, nothing seems to matter, and there’s little of the show I adored in Season 1. I find myself not caring about anything that happens anymore, and the fact they have spent so long on Nate without him ever really earning redemption (he became evil, reverted back to a bumbling loser, got a nice girlfriend, and that’s it?) is killing my interest in the show.
Huh, I just caught something while I was going back through the older episodes: In season 2’s “Man City,” the show cuts from Dr. Sharon at the hospital (with Ted there and a doctor attending to her) to Roy at school with Phoebe talking about how his sister works in the ER, so she can’t drop everything for meetings at school. I remember thinking they were implying the attending doctor was Roy’s sister, but never stated it… but this episode confirms it’s her, as the same actress (Sofia Barclay) plays Roy’s sister in this episode. (And, at least on IMDB, is credited in both episodes as “Dr. O’Sullivan.”)
Other neat details from the two season-2 episodes I watched:-Trent Crimm pops into the Crown and Anchor to get a quote from Ted, and he shows up with another man he asks to wait outside while he’ll just be a second. It’s not obvious or evident, but knowing now Trent is gay, he was probably on a date. (I mean, I’m not sure, but the other guy’s Freddie Mercury mustache seemed to speak for itself.)-Jamie’s dad is in his phone as “Dad”, with the quotation marks. That says a lot about their relationship— a lot that we’ll later find out is spot-on, of course. That’s not really relevant per se, but next week’s episode is titled “Mom City,” and from what I gather the team is going to play at Man City again, so Jamie will probably be prominently featured in the episode.
I was wondering if we had ever seen Roy’s sister before; I had totally forgotten the actress had played that doctor.
I forgot as well— it wasn’t until I was watching season 2 again that I even remembered they implied that. I also know they didn’t confirm who she was that episode and she doesn’t appear for long, so it was a pretty sneaky appearance.
I always have time for Arvo Part even in a cheap signalling sitcom. I still like Ted Lasso very much but where’s Ted? Keeley & Roy? Haven’t we done this? Do we need pores and all close ups in UHD of Rebecca? Would Barbara really quit Jack for Keeley? None of it really matters as long as it’s good. Sadly this week I got a bit uncomfortable being lectured about the exercise of business practice by way of the Super League; clearly hijacking a real life story and wringing every ounce of sentiment out of it. Truly a dark day in football but given the current state of greenwashing in European Football, petrostate tournament sponsorship and hosting, it’s patronising and hypocritical to be chastised about greed from AppleTV and its Premier League sponsored puff-soap-sitcom. Hilarious but not in the intended way.The idea that rich people grow consciences, even if their mum tells them off, is pure fantasy. Oh and I totally prefer FuckWitch to Keeley. But what happened to crazy golf girl? I would watch a show with her reading a dictionary.
Full of holes, your arguments are.
Edwin Akufo is Ghanaian, not Nigerian. He wants to make Sam’s life hell because SAM is Nigerian. (“Ghanaian bites?” Did you not hear that part?)
The Super League crashed in reality pretty much the same way it did on this show: The owners were shown to be money-grubbing little boys, and were shamed in the public square because of the piss-poor stage management of the whole enterprise. And it would have made no sense to make it a season-long arc because Richmond were just back in the Prem and would not have been invited to the party yet. Now that they’re unstoppable it makes more sense.
We have an idea why Nate quit, but we don’t know for certain.
You don’t know what’s going to happen. And people who have been jumping on the hatewagon just as this show is coming to its end are pinning asses’ ears on themselves, like Hal Holbrook near the end of Wall Street.
‘so contrived did I find that scene ‘Except, it worked. That’s how you convice people who have that much money not to use it just to make more money.‘Roy’s “ROY/Red Yellow Orange” shirt’It’s Red Orange Yellow. As in RedOrangeYellow‘Edwin Afuko, who apparently is a cartoonish villain’Have you seem any superrich people that don’t look cartoonishly villainous lately?
Super pedantic, but Edwin Akufo is not Nigerian. He is Ghanaian.
The thing about the Super League is that…that’s basically what happened in real life. The idea was floated, there was immense popular backlash (more than the backers expected, it appears), and very quickly even the original folks involved were distancing themselves from the idea. Unlikely it occurred from a single speech at a single meeting, but it essentially was a group of people foregoing the possibility of making more money because of popular backlash.
The Dani Rojas bit would have made more sense if we’d ever seen him be that ruthless with the regular opponents they play. Totally out of the blue and against the character just for a ‘laugh’ (that never comes.)
My beef with Keeley’s business has been the VC angle. Why would VC firms prop up a PR company? VC is interested in scaling. You invest. You go huge. You get an exit. A boutique PR firm makes no sense in the VC world.PR doesn’t follow that sort of model. Keeley would start getting her own clients, then hire help when there was too much work for her to do on her own, then continue to amass clients, continue to grow, etc. – You know, starting and building a business.Moreover, VC money goes to seed a business, then it is the business’ to do with as it pleases. If Keeley blew all the money on a luxury trip and essentially defrauded the VC group, they could sue. But the point of VC is you take a risk because you believe in the organization and the product, knowing full well you might not make a return on that investment. The entire way the VC plot us set up drives me nuts. I have no idea why Ted Lasso writers decided to set up Keeley’s business this way other than to get to the Jack drama.