Ted Lasso recap: The show gets back to focusing on some damn soccer
Unfortunately, Ted Lasso still feels like a clown car carrying one too many storylines
TV Reviews Ted Lasso
This Ted Lasso episode is titled “The Strings That Bind Us,” and I wouldn’t necessarily bring that up in the first sentence of a recap if I didn’t find it so needlessly ironic. For if there is one thing this third season has proven over and over again, it’s that this Emmy-winning series seems content with managing its many disparate storylines with only the most imperceptible strings threading them together. Last week’s foray into Amsterdam may have made that blunt in that we really did have several B/C plots happening all at once in that picturesque European city. But now that we’re back, it’s hard to shake off the feeling that every Ted Lasso episode feels like a clown car, with its hourlong runtime housing one too many plots for my taste.
At least I’ll say this about this episode’s A-plot: This was vintage Ted Lasso. In a way, this was a close-to-perfect season-one episode about Ted coaching the team in an unorthodox way that made its players embrace their own senses of community and humanity (also, it was all about soccer!), But it needlessly had to jockey for attention with Keeley and Jack’s “love bombing” deal, Nate’s protracted date with his favorite hostess, and even with Sam’s Twitter feud with a U.K. politician intent on keeping immigrants out of the country. As with almost every other episode this season, there was little cohesion to these various storylines. Honestly, is there a reason why we’re following Nate around these days? He seems to be existing in an entirely different series and no matter how grounded this bumbling dating scenario felt for dear sweet Nate, I couldn’t shake off the need to want to fast-forward through his bits so I could get back to what was going on at Richmond.
Mostly because that’s where the show excels. Maybe this makes me as much of a dork as Trent Crimm but the idea that “Total Football” (or the “Lasso Way”—could this be Crimm’s book title?) is a years-long practice that’s finally paying off is more interesting to me than seeing what needless sitcom-y setups the writers have cooked up for the show’s ancillary characters. I mean, initially, I was so excited to see Jack and Keeley’s relationship bloom and evolve, but watching Keeley need to navigate how, uh, someone is really into her and overstuffs her with love and attention feels so slight in comparison. Especially when it’s hilariously if unintentionally juxtaposed with a heavy-handed take on British politics that’s as cartoonish as it is convenient.
Compare, for instance, how Colin’s wrestling with his sexuality was carefully laid out and threaded through several episodes with the suddenness with which we were supposed to grapple with Sam’s radicalization (and amateur political Twitter posting: “I’d rather be a mediocre player than a world-class bigot”—not to mention quick response to the all-too-believable blowback he got with his trashed restaurant). I will say, if nothing else, Sam’s father visiting made for the best Rebecca moment of the episode—even if it just made me wish “Sam recognizes how crippling the burden of the model immigrant can be” was given the airtime it deserves.
But back to Richmond.
After Ted’s Amsterdam epiphany, we knew it was going to be an uphill battle to get the team to embrace this new kind of way of playing. And that was before Coach Beard offered a requisite history lesson on said strategy and Ted made the intentional mistake of telling us there’d be four steps to figuring out Total Football in, well, just a few days. After all, they’ve spent the better part of this season relying on one player alone to get them to win. Needing to be nimble and fluid and versatile as Total Football requires them to be would be tough regardless. But that’s an added wrinkle made almost worse by the way Coach Beard and Ted start treating Jamie as the one player exempt from what’s required of everyone else.
It would make sense that it’d be that adorable little shithead who’d finally realize that, if the team is to succeed, they’ll have to stop going to him and start going through him. In true Lasso form, the line feels as pointed whether taken as a sports strategy as much as a life lesson (ergo the way the team ends up helping out Sam at Ola’s at the end of the episode, as Richmond is a team in and outside the field). That’s what Trent so astutely recognizes and clearly what the show has been slowly building out. It’s a pity that, again, such a lovely message couldn’t stand on its own. Sure, there are threads to be traced in these various subplots (most tellingly, there’s the question of how best do we show love—to a partner, to a crush, to a team, to a country…) but they’re so flimsy they feel inadequate.
But maybe I’m just miffed we didn’t find out Rebecca had somehow found a way to fly in her hunky Dutch hookup and his perfectly decorated boat and start on a new exciting romance. There’s still time, though!
Stray observations
- It was refreshing to find this episode so focused on actual soccer. Often (as, say, last week), Ted Lasso seems to forget (ignore? decide to be indifferent toward?) the fact that it’s a show about soccer, so it was surprising and quite welcome to actually watch these players run around the field and see some sports action.
- “Stop going to me and start going through me.”
- So many “Yes, chef!”s at Ola’s made me feel like I was watching The Bear.
- It had been a while since I so adored Keeley’s outfits; no one pulls off pink girlboss fashion quite like Juno Temple. Though kudos to Phil Dunster who made Jamie’s pink tracksuit outfit for almost stealing Keeley’s thunder on that count.
- Speaking of Keeley, I would’ve pegged her more of an Emma fan than a Sense & Sensibility one—and not just because she’d likely be more of a Gwyneth fan than a Winslet/Thompson one. Heck, wouldn’t she love Keira’s Pride & Prejudice best instead?
- It was nice, at least, to see more of Nate’s family (even if I did end up cheering on the car that stomped on his makeshift date box because…well, there’s a corny line I don’t think even Ted Lasso can make me cross).
- “Shut up and dribble.” (Did my mind immediately go to Shut Up And Sing, The Chicks’ documentary from 2006? Of course it did.)
- Roy yelling out “whistle” will never not be funny.
- That said, in between puking gags and “red string in the dick” jokes, I did wonder whether Lasso had gone a tad too blue for my taste. But hey. To each their own.
- “We are two consenting adults. And I’m get-away-with-murder rich.” I can’t believe Jack’s making me get on Barbara’s side because there is a level of murky ethical territory here, no?
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Watching this from the UK, I was wondering how Sam’s plot would track; this is something that might not make it overseas, but currently there’s a huge immigration war going on with the UK Conservative goverment, because like the US, they have very little else left to put forward as their big campaigning tactic for the UK General Election next year; financially we’re absolutely well, not ideal (poor as f**k), and so they’re trying to unite their base in hatred, which sadly works when it comes to the right wing in the UK.
Only recently the main UKTV football pundit, Gary Lineker, (astutely) asserted on twitter that deporting illegal immigrants on a plane to Rwanda was Nazi-like, and the BBC almost fired him; it took a national campaign of support, and the show’s staff to strike to reinstate him and the Director General of the BBC to back down. There was also huge press a couple years ago when Marcus Rashford, a big football star, took on the Government for not feeding kids properly, and really gained the support of the nation, to the point he’s formed a huge charity against Child Hunger and really made a huge difference. There’s also Gary Neville, another pundit who is equally as passionate about UK politics, and does get heavily involved online; the “keep out of politics and stick to sport” rhetoric is an almost direct quote from current MPs tweets to these lads.
I’m not disagreeing that the pace of the plotting wasn’t heavy-handed compared to others, but what I will say is that the storyline is incredibly relevent to UK football stars past & present; an ownership battled by fans, who as Sam states, love them for what they do until they hate them for what they do, in fact it overlaps two huge news stories of the last year or so – hardcore immigration tactics and football / politics intersection.
Holocaust victims weren’t housed in modern, climate-controlled apartments with kitchens and separate bathrooms. There is a huge anti-Semitic element on the left in the U.K. Many Labour politicians, including the former leader express open hatred of Jews. Just this week, Diane Abbott, one of the most senior Labour politicians was sanctioned by the party for anti-Semitism.
To clarify, what Lineker said was that the language (i.e. words like “invasion”) being used by the government to refer to immigrants and asylum seekers is the sort of thing that you might have heard in Germany in the 30s.I don’t believe he ever claimed deporting immigrants to Rwanda was Nazi-like, just that it’s disgusting and cruel (it’s also utterly pointless, given the deal involves us spending millions to swap a handful of our “undesirable” immigrants for a handful of Rwanda’s).
Heh, this is why grades can be funny. I largely agree with the thrust of the review— the show is best when it’s about football, particularly when we see those moments of all the work Ted and the team have done coming together like this, and the other plots can feel slight by comparison. Keeley’s conflict seemed somewhat forced— other than the ethical parts, which weirdly this show never seems to concern itself with in employer/employee relationships; Nate’s is fine but a little slight, although I’m curious if it will tie in to a bigger story later; Sam’s, at least, did tie back together with the team in a very satisfying manner. But I thought the football stuff was so good that just for that I’d have given this at least an A-. It’s so satisfying when the show puts in the effort to slowly build the team and the Lasso Way over time and it pays off like this.I thought the dick-tying was a little too far, though. I don’t think the coaches would really go for such a high risk of their players getting hurt so Roy can have a few laughs.
Also, I don’t understand all these comments that “it’s not about soccer!” One of the big points of the show is that even though Ted doesn’t understand soccer, his methods do slowly and steadily make the people around him better, and make his players better people, which makes them better players, which makes them a better team. The soccer action and the locker-room stuff is a great way to show how this all comes together, and it’s very satisfying when it works.Someone said The Office wasn’t about paper; okay, but Michael Scott was a buffoon of a manager who fancied himself a comedian, not someone who seemed incapable of the job but whose methods slowly and steadily made everyone who worked for him better paper salesmen.
Success at soccer is a vehicle to show all that, and with some flair and exoticism, particularily for an American audience, but they could indeed be successfully pulling together selling paper or playing basketball or what have you—that’s the narrative backdrop to as you say, a show about people becoming better people.At least for me, a soccer fan before Ted Lasso, what’s striking is that the rise of this show has come well into an exponential increase in money and stakes in the game, especially in England, and tactical evolutions, and coverage of the sport that make the a good guy makes them better by being better people even more fantastical.Maybe Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, et al are making their players better people (they actually do seem like nice guys all in all, they are better than the Mourinho mold which is definitely an inspiration for parts of the show), but the soccer world is moneyballing it’s players and tactics and training at higher and higher levels. It’s leaving behind not just people who don’t know about soccer but mean well, it’s leaving behind a lot of older ways of knowing about soccer that used to work.Which is all fine for Ted Lasso, since it’s not actually about soccer.
Right, like, I don’t need the entire show to be about soccer, as in the sense you said it’s more of a backdrop. But since the show is about a soccer team and a soccer coach, the soccer action and locker-room action is often the best way to show the results of how these people are becoming better people and how that translates to more success at what they’re doing.And, also, I just like stories about sports. The teamwork, locker-room camaraderie, and competitive elements can make for really satisfying storytelling when done well.
Agreed. I think anyone who believes that AFC Richmond is actually getting any better at football over the past three seasons hasn’t been paying enough attention. What I do see is the team winning small victories – mostly moral victories, like scoring a goal so that Arsenal didn’t shut them out in their latest game – and being better humans. Hell, the only reason they won anything all season so far was because they had Zava around. Last season, they earned promotion by the skin of their collective teeth based on Nate doing the tactical planning while Ted was suffering from panic attacks. And really – hell – Ted isn’t even the only person who made them better people, given Dr. Sharon’s huge role last season.I think the endgame is that Ted creates a chemistry in the team that allows the players to use their natural skills in a productive and successful way. It’s pretty obvious that when it comes to tactics, Roy and Beard are barely treading water (and Ted is totally lost), so the only way the team is going to win anything (absent Zava, of course) is by engendering a collective belief in each other where their skill is buttressed by trust.And really, that’s a fairly realistic sports context. There have been all-star caliber teams in every sport that, on paper, should have dominated the competition, but didn’t – and there have been underdog teams that get the right coach/motivator at the right time that have gone on to beat those high-talent teams.
Yeah, you said it well. And especially considering where they were at the start of the series— discombobulated, Tartt being just a prima donna bully, Sam and Dani and the rest not really having realized their potential— it’s working for me. Even if the show isn’t always about the deeper workings of soccer, the formula of “underdogs come together and win by trusting one another and by developing as people” is one that always works when it’s done well. (“Hoosiers knew it, Major League knew it… now you know it.”)One of the reasons season 1 worked so well for me was that even though it was a heartbreaking finish that got the team relegated, it was also clear that Ted’s ways were working— the moral victories, as you said, even if one of those ended up being pyrrhic (Jamie Tartt’s extra pass for the game-winning goal to relegate Richmond). But the team went from a team whose owner was purposely trying to tank it, to a team that was actually coming together and starting to become the best version of themselves, and we saw the process of that, how Ted’s slow and steady influence gradually was bringing out the best in everybody. I think that’s when the show is at its best.
I would argue that Michael Scott seemed incapable of his job. I’m referring to the two maybe three quick scenes in the entire series where we actually see him working.
Well, let me clear, then. Michael was incapable of his job as a manager. Ted seems incapable of coaching soccer— and in a certain sense, he is; in the sense of being a motivator who brings out the best in his players an brings them together as a team, though, he’s very good. Michael was not slowly and subtly making everyone around him better; they usually had to work around his incompetence. That’s why I don’t think comparing Ted Lasso to The Office is useful.
Oh yah that did bother me, the employer/employee thing.
Nobody acted like there was anything wrong with it at all with Sam and Rebecca, either. Or even beyond being “wrong,” the head of the team’s PR expresses no reservations whatsoever about the PR scandal that could result if they’re not careful.
I laughed out loud at the dick string jokes. Between that and Beards possible foray into pegging, I worked out my humour brow is pretty low.
I was in tears when the string ripped off of Jamie’s dick. The look on Roy’s face, waiting to see if Jamie’s dick was ripped off too, was priceless!
Dani yelling “His penis is okay!!!” slayed me.
That casual pegging convo kinda blew my mind.
My wife: “What’s pegging?”
Me: (explains with great caution)
You’re a braver man than I was.My wife: “Do I want to know what pegging is?”Me: “You absolutely, positively, without doubt do not want to know.”
Huh, maybe it’s a function of us both growing up reading Savage Love, but my wife and I are pretty comfortable talking about weird sex stuff. (Not that we’ve, er, participated in that particular activity.)
Well, I consider it a victory that I got my wife to watch Ted Lasso at all (Roy Kent is the first person to say “fuck” that has made her laugh instead of blush and turn away), so I figured the pegging discussion was probably nowhere near on the table.
Fair enough!
The dick strings joke was fine, whatever, but watching Roy giggle about it made me fucking guffaw.
Wait, what magazines?
No love for Will dressed as Beard? Him sitting at Beard’s desk reading Beard’s book was my favourite joke of the episode.
The gaffer-tape beard slayed me.
One of the many laugh-out-loud moments in this episode!
“Get the fuck out of my chair!”
I have to agree with the assessment of any plot involving Nate…I’ve just lost the ability to root for this character. I was pleased he didn’t spit on the mirror (which is perhaps part of his character arc) but I sincerely don’t care about his happiness. Everything else about this episode was glorious. Sam’s first foray into politics (accusing the Nigerian government of corruption) had a productive outcome, so it was certainly in his optimistic character for him to expect his most recent tweeting to yield nothing but accolades and positive action. He, like so many other Ted Lasso characters, had to learn a painful lesson. I love that Keeley is still trying to navigate her way through her own identity; spotting the red flags with Jack early in the relationship is growth for her. And yes, the red string coupled with Roy’s genuine laughter had me in hysterical tears.
I once again find myself in stark disagreement with the review-which is fine, but this is absolutely higher than a a C Plus for me. I thought the stories of the characters were fun, in some cases emotional, and well handled while clearly tying into a central theme.-Most of the review is about how this feels like random stuff thrown together in a clown car, and then the last paragraph states explicitly the theme that ties it all together. I get the argument that each thread is too slight, but that kind of feels like the show Ted Lasso has been all along: using different experiences by the characters to tie into a central theme. It wasn’t a problem for me when the show started, and it isn’t a problem for me now that the show has won some Emmys.-From the piece: “It was refreshing to find this episode so focused on actual soccer. Often (as, say, last week), Ted Lasso seems to forget (ignore? decide to be indifferent toward?) the fact that it’s a show about soccer….”. Ted Lasso is absolutely not a show about soccer. That is like saying Star Trek is a show about space. Soccer is just a setting and vehicle to explore other themes. It has been baked into the show’s DNA from day one that it is not going to be focused on soccer, and I continue to be surprised when people think Ted Lasso should or will take a hard sports turn. I have an unhealthy obsession with sports of all kinds, and way more of my life than I am comfortable admitting has been spent playing (poorly) or watching one sport or another. But this show is absolutely not a sports show. -From the piece: ““Shut up and dribble.” (Did my mind immediately go to Shut Up And Sing, The Chicks’ documentary from 2006? Of course it did.)“. This calls to mind The Chicks, but I think it is a more direct reference to when the moron Laura Ingraham told the great and fantastic LeBron James to shut up and dribble when LeBron was talking about issues that urgently need to be discussed and addressed by our society. It was obvious early that the team was going to show up and help with Sam’s restaurant, but it was still great.-I have always had a soft spot for Arsenal, because two decades ago I lived in London for eight months and got to meet their goalie at an event. He was cool-but I was still rooting for Richmond yesterday!I am enjoying the season-it is a fun journey.
Yeah don’t most work place comedies not really focus on the actual work that it is set in?I don’t come to Ted Lasso expecting to see football front and centre. Otherwise I’d have way more quibbles about how a team just up from The Championship could possible be doing anything other than fighting relegation back in the Premier League.This show is about the characters and the various different journeys they take to make themselves ‘BELIEVE’ in Ted’s mantra.
Well said.
You get it. Ted Lasso isn’t a sports show! It’s a workplace comedy, and the workplace just happens to be a soccer team.
There are teams that get promoted that aren’t immediately fighting for relegation.
I really hated The Office because I wanted to see Jim and Dwight out selling paper more often.
YES to this other take
Seaman?!
Yeah, I was part of a student tour group that got to shake hands and chat very briefly with David S back in the late 90s. It was cool.What I really remember is that I got to see him again for another function I was at a few months later-as part of a theater class I was watching a British talent show being taped for TV. As part of the show, a ten year old kiddo won a prize where he got to meet him and get an autographed ball. The kid was so happy and burst into tears, and Mr. Seaman could not have been more gracious to him with the camera on and off, talking to the kid all about soccer and just being really encouraging. I don’t know anything about his personal life, but I have been watching sports and sports figures for a long time, and it was one of the most gracious interactions between fan and athelete I have ever seen.I am sorry I took some time to respond. Me and the family all got COVID the day after I posted this. We are all doing well, but it is a drag.
Yeah I agree with you on all counts. We’re allowed to have different opinions but the AV Club reviewers need to take a media literacy class because it does not feel like we’re watching the same thing.
Yeah I agree with you on all counts. We’re allowed to have different opinions but the AV Club reviewers need to take a media literacy class because it does not feel like we’re watching the same thing.
I want to be very clear about this-I mean no disrespect to AV Club writers. I couldn’t do what they do. No one wants to pay me to write words about Ted Lasso or any other subject. I absolutely could not do better.All that said: I am glad you posted this, because I have been feeling the exact same way about AV Club lately. The site doesn’t review many shows any more. And when it does, I usually feel exactly like you said-that the reviewer and I are watching different shows. I particularly feel that way in the Barry and Ted Lasso reviews lately.It doesn’t mean the reviews are wrong or poorly done. It does mean that I come here less than I used to. Because I really don’t agree with a lot of the perspective on these shows.
“Ted Lasso is absolutely not a show about soccer.”
Amen. How could we be in the third season and have people not realizing this thing that was quite clear from the start? The Office wasn’t about paper, for Christ’s sake.
I felt this was the best episode in a long time and brought back a lot of the humor from the first season that seems to be in short supply lately. Also some of the most heartfelt scenes in the show’s history, particularly Sam’s outburst and the follow-up with his father.
Fully agree. The stuff with Sam was particularly great.
“Ted Lasso is absolutely not a show about soccer.”I am reminded of Roger Ebert on Raging Bull and how it wasn’t actually a movie about boxing.“ then the last paragraph states explicitly the theme that ties it all together”This episode literally ties people together! Connections can’t get any more overt!
I do wonder sometimes what show people think they’re watching. This was perhaps my second favorite episode of the entire show.
Making my first comment on the AVCLUB in close to a decade just to ask: could you legally ask a team you were coaching to tie strings around their dicks? Everyone’s talking about the ethics of Keeley and Jack’s relationship, but asking a subordinate in the workplace to tie a string to their genitalia isn’t crossing a line?
(note: I know this is not a direct response to Westernwolf4’s comment. I wrote this as its own comment over a week ago and it’s been pending approval ever since.)
I get that a reviewer/critic has to really look at the structure of a show/book/movie, etc. But as someone who just wants to be entertained-this weeks Ted Lasso was just a darn fun hour of TV. It pulled on the emotional strings that Lasso is so good at and I enjoyed it immensely. I simply don’t care that there are seemingly disparate threads going on. I presume they will wind up, mostly, in a neat little final arc. But if not, they will wrap up separately and I will have enjoyed every moment of Ted Lasso from the very first episode to the last.
Ted Lasso is not a show about football any more than The Office is a show about paper products. It’s a show about people who happen to be in the football business.Also, “shut up and dribble” is word for word what Laura Ingraham said when LeBron James dared to have a political opinion in 2018.https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/19/587097707/laura-ingraham-told-lebron-james-to-shutup-and-dribble-he-went-to-the-hoop
i would say the office is a much more successful show about the paper industry than lasso is a show about soccer, but to everyone’s point neither of them are ‘about’ that.
It’s hard for me to be invested at all in anything Nate does after last season. And the decision to make him some kind of “wonder coach” who does not have any struggles at all as a first year coach makes me like him even less. I could care less about his redemption arc and I don’t think I’m alone.
For most of last season, I grew less and less interested in Nate because he was turning into a real prick. But over the off-season, I had a chance to think it over, and I realized that his arc is more realistic than I had thought. The arrested development he suffered by having a distant and authoritarian father and a doting mother left him wholly unprepared for the rapidity of his rise from kitman to assistant coach. Unfortunately, I know many people with that kind of personality – they have very little sense of independence and tend to gravitate from authority figure to authority figure because they don’t feel like they can take control of their own situations and yet still need validation. And that’s what Nate did – he fixated first on Ted, and then when he started getting distant from that father figure, he moved to the Internet for his fix. Then Rupert stepped in, and once Nate had his surrogate, he felt he could leave Ted “behind.”I guess it’s because I know people with this type of personality and who have had personal arcs like this that I am paying close attention to Nate and where he’s going this season. I fully get why others might not. But I think the writers really have this arc nailed. It’s not “redemption” so much as it is Nate finally, belatedly realizing who he can be – a mature and independent adult.
We’ve been given a couple of glimpses into Nate’s coaching style but not near enough context to see how he is or isn’t evolving as a coach or how he’s dealing with sudden fame. He did make the birthday party, so he’s not losing touch with his family roots. But it would be nice to see the other facets of his life to see if this budding relationship is one of the few things he’s doing right when the house of cards falls over.
The only redemption I want for Nate is one that he finds while an alligator is eating his balls while they both sink to the bottom of the ocean in a body bag filled with 1,000 pounds of Skittles.
If they were going to do the redemption arc for him, it would make more sense if it was through him struggling to get his tactics across at West Ham and gradually coming to the realisation that it’s because he lacks Ted’s people skills.I don’t know why we’re supposed to be invested in him and the waitress. I don’t even know why she’s taken the slightest interest in him. That he really likes the food they serve? She’s very invested in her job if that’s all it takes.
“I don’t even know why she’s taken the slightest interest in him”She’s been in a position to observe his interactions with many different people without really being noticed herself. He is a jerk when pandered to, but that’s not his natural state.
Comment from my wife after last night’s episode: “Who knew that an episode that kicked off with a pegging reference and continued on to footballers with red string around their gentlemen’s regions would be so great?”After reading a few of your reviews, it’s clear that you and I, Manuel, are looking for different things from Ted Lasso. For me, last night’s episode was just all-around fantastic. The writers seem to know every button they can push in my brain to make me love the proceedings (as soon as I heard the music from Victory in Coach Beard’s “Total Football” presentation, I knew that they had me for keeps).The A-story was great, and while Jamie’s slow ascension to becoming the “heart” of AFC Richmond has been teased all season, the way they finally had him matter-of-factly deliver his epiphany was so much better than the rousing locker room speech a lesser show would have resorted to. Also, Will-as-Beard was hilarious and spot-on, but it was Dani’s absolutely nailed impression of Isaac that had me in literal tears of laughter.I liked Nate’s B-story tonight too, because I’ve always liked Nate, and I’m enjoying seeing him mature. Because that’s what his heel turn was last season – not a true villain moment, but a fit of adolescent pique from someone suffering from arrested development. When he went into the “Taste of Athens” men’s room and then didn’t psyche himself up by spitting in the mirror at himself, I let out a small cheer. If people have a problem with Jade being a convenient mechanism for Nate’s “redemption,” I get that – but sometimes love can actually help people become better versions of themselves. And pairing Nate with someone who can see straight through the immature artifice he had built up around himself when he became Rupert’s protege was immensely satisfying – as was the symbolic crushing of a bit of that immaturity when the car ran over his cutesy date box. It’s good to see the “real” Nate coming back, and I hope he gets some great moments in the last couple of episodes.Sam’s B-story might seem heavy-handed to someone who isn’t Black, but I found it to be all too real and disturbing. I do think it deserved an episode of its own, but we don’t have enough inventory left in the season to give it the focus it merited. Toheeb Jimoh really sold it, abbreviated as it was. Sam’s locker-room meltdown was affecting, and having his dad there made for a nice backdoor juxtaposition with last season’s confrontation between Jamie and his father in similar circumstances. And Ola’s interaction with Rebecca… just absolute cringe perfection!I continue to be very much a Barbara about Keeley and Jack. I’m still not sure where it’s going to go. Rebecca trying to impart her experience with Rupert met with some rather naive pushback from a Keeley who seems determined to believe that things between her and Jack will be different. All I see in that relationship are red flags, and Keeley’s relentless attempts to push on because some of the love bombing was “fucking hot” make me frustrated. I don’t think Season 1 Keeley would shout down her instincts like that. But maybe in the last episodes there will be something that will help me retroactively appreciate this arc more.All I know is that once again I was left wishing the episode were half-again as long as it was. I laughed a lot, and I cried when Sam and Ola embraced in the locker room, and honestly, that kind of emotional payoff puts this in the “A” category for me.
Also cheered when Nate went into the bathroom and didn’t spit. Knew he was going home to make a box. Somehow knew the magazines in question were about pegging. Fake Coach Beard was amazing. Roy’s “I hate what you’ve done to me” was perfection.
Nate didn’t have a heel-turn. He was a prick from day one. Even moreso than Jamie because at least Jamie is kind of daft and his meanness comes from his selfishness, not an innate cruelty towards others that Nate exhibits. When he got promoted in season one, and they were messing with him by causing confusion about the new kitman, he immediately started yelling at Rebecca and called her a “shrew”. He got way too into bad-mouthing all of the players, especially Colin, and never once treated Wil as a human. To make himself feel more powerful he spit on the mirror in public bathrooms, expecting someone else to clean it up. He’s a piece of shit, and has been from day 1. I’m always surprised by people saying he had a “heel-turn” when he was always the worst person on the show (save for Jamie’s dad and friends, but they were very minor characters).
Well, one person’s “piece of shit” is another person’s emotionally-challenged human, I suppose. There are good people in the world who, through the circumstances of their upbringing, have defense mechanisms that make them lash out at people. It’s not innate cruelty, but innate insecurity and the weight of a massive persecution complex. Calling Rebecca a shrew was a heat-of-the-moment reaction to what he believed was the shattering of his grandest dream. Bad-mouthing the players was Nate’s first-ever foray into locker room banter after years of being picked on by Jamie, Colin, and Isaac, and yeah, he definitely got way too into it, but like almost every other interpersonal encounter he had in S1, he was trying to adapt on the fly to situations he was completely unprepared for. As for how he treated Will – he treated him like shit, but only (I believe) because it was the first time in his life that Nate had ever felt like he was above someone on the pecking order, and when he needed an outlet to vent his shame and frustration about the “wonderkid” thing, he knew that Will – unlike the press, the players, the coaches, his family, and virtually everyone else in his world – would not or could not respond in a confrontational way.You can read this as blatant Nate apologia, and it probably is – part of the reason I like Nate as a character is that he had a very similar upbringing to mine, and now at 50+ (I won’t say how plus) I can look back and see how many pitfalls I had, how many false starts, bad choices, and ruined relationships marred my developmental path as I aged. Maturity was hard-won for me, and I think it was (or will be) hard-won for Nate. Part of what Nate has been going through this season, IMO, is trying to reconcile his innate goodness (or what he considers his innate goodness) with hitching a ride on Rupert’s train – Rupert, who stepped into the vacuum that Ted left when Nate felt he was betrayed and forgotten.Anyway, that’s why I’m invested in the storyline. If you aren’t, that’s completely fine – there’s nothing that says everyone has to approach a story the same way.
Those are some very valid points that explain his behavior, but don’t excuse it. And honestly the thing that irritated me more than anything else was his spitting on the mirrors. I understand lashing out, and we’ve all had bad days where we’ve done that, but he did it constantly.I’m interested to see if they can bring him around as a character, but they don’t have enough time left to make me like him. It’s somewhat similar to Veronica Mars if you’ve seen that. I hated Logan from day one, all through season 3. The movie made him a bit better, but they finally got around to redeeming him in season 4. There was almost 15 years between season 3 and season 4 so he had a lot of time to become better. They’re not giving Nate nearly enough time. Not spitting in the mirror was a good start, but he still snubbed Ted on the handshake at the end of that game, so one tiny act of not being a dick is nowhere near enough to start a real redemption arc.
I actually don’t think Nate realized that he snubbed Ted on the handshake until he saw Ted walking away, but that’s a minor point. And yeah, explanations are not excuses – bad behavior is bad behavior, no matter its genesis.I also hated the mirror-spitting stuff, but I also found it highly symbolic. Nate had been – or felt he had been – spit upon all his life, especially by his dad. So some part of his brain told him that the only way to be assertive is to ape that behavior. Him not spitting, therefore, feels to me like a much bigger step than it might appear to most others.I’m hoping the final episodes flesh this subplot out more. Nate still has Rupert to deal with, after all. I’m anxious to see what happens.
Hard to peg what’s going on with Keely and Jack. I kinda thought it would actually be cool to see a love triangle happen between Roy/Jack/Keely and possibly Jamie. Just because in life (I’m male) I’ve been in a situation where I’ve competed for the attention of a bi-sexual woman against a hot bi-curious female and I’ve genuinely never seen that dynamic on TV but I feel like we’re still in the realm of “we can’t have queer relationships on TV be toxic” or whatever. It just feels like a missed opportunity because I fear the show might be too proud of itself for the queer representation to drive a wedge between Keely and Jack. I think it would be a mature thing to see on TV but I guess that’s territory for the future era when nobody bats an eye at queer couples on TV. I was almost proud of the show until that moment when someone in the office congratulated the women on their relationship. Yes Jack cut them off but they still mentioned it and therefore felt like the show is patting themselves on the back for it.
The best I’ve seen on TV is still Captain Holt. His sexuality was so normalized/not his entire personality on that show. Holt was a chef’s kiss for queer representation.
Ray Holt and Kevin Cosner were perfection. I loved every bit of their relationship. And just thinking of it makes me want to binge Nine Nine again.
Much like last week, it’s seems I liked this episode way more than the reviewer. Sure there are multiple plots spinning, but I think it’s great that more characters are getting stuff to do, rather than just be background faces reacting to whatever Ted, Roy, Rebecca, Jamie and maybe Beard are doing each week.Sam’s Twitter beef with (not)Priti Patel was basically a nod to Marcus Rashford’s campaign to get free school dinners maintained during the pandemic and when Lebron got told to “shut up and dribble”.
Keeley and Nate’s stuff may be more removed from the general Richmond team, but their respective stories still worked for me.
i thought it was (not) Suella Braverman that Sam was beefing with, but then her and priti patel are basically the same person
I’m just basing my comparison to when the episode was likely written, as Pritti was the Home Office Minister around that time.Like you say though, they’re basically the same person.
…is more interesting to me than seeing what needless sitcom-y setups the writers have cooked up for the show’s ancillary characters.Yes, we get it. You hate sitcoms yet inexplicably choose to review them for a living.
If you have an iphone, I suggest you ask Siri “How can you tell if a girl really likes you or is just being nice to you?”.That Apple-related easter egg made me laugh.
Ok, enough with the complaints about the episode run time. The reviewer starting to sound like the person who reviewed Venture Bros and would bitch about how five people voiced the majority of the characters (something that show did from the start). Lasso has broken out of that traditional constraint and is doing well with the extra time it has been given. This show has a big cast and is laying the groundwork for payoffs down the line. If you are such a slave to the 22-minute, A/B story form, go review a network sitcom like Abbot Elementary or Night Court.
Abbott Elementary is the best 22 minute sitcom in years.
I don’t watch but I have heard good things. I can however guarantee that as long as it’s on ABC it will stick to the traditional run time.
It’s kinda perfect in that format. And Quinta Brunson is just…perfection.
Where’s the discussion of Jamie’s speech in the locker room and overall character development? His transition from showboat to team player is one of the highlights of the series. Watching him give the assist rather than trying to score the goal himself was one of the top moments of the episode. Roy’s promise to make Jamie “better than Zava” is coming to fruition.
“But it needlessly had to jockey for attention with Keeley and Jack’s “love bombing” deal, Nate’s protracted date with his favorite hostess, and even with Sam’s Twitter feud with a U.K. politician intent on keeping immigrants out of the country.”lol sounds freaking awesome and hilarious!!
this episode reminded me how funny this show can be. it’s always kind of amusing, but they really went for jokes in this one and I appreciated it. the opening Total Football meeting with the comedic reveal of the hat immediately clued me in that this was gonna be a fun one. sometimes the tonal shifts don’t quite work but i thought this ep threaded that needle pretty well. it was good to see Ted be a good coach again too. 2 solid eps in a row!
It is good when this show gets back to sport. Granted, this show is very much rooted in the relationships, but it’s nice to have it tie back into what is in essence the theme of the show, which is sport.Depressing to see that the same shit being done by American Republicans is likely being done by UK Republicans. Sam’s story was handled really well, and the emotion Toheeb Jimoh brought when finally breaking down in his father’s arms after the frustration of everything happening in his life definitely should get some love from the Emmys. I will say, I think this is the first time we heard Sam’s father’s name, and it was a bit telegraphed towards the end that it was Ola, but still heartwarming.Two small things that bugged me about this episode. First, are Sam’s parents together? I really hope the show doesn’t try to force Rebecca and Ola if they aren’t. Second, the more I see of the Keeley and Jack storyline, the less I like it. Jack is a bit of a control freak, and Keeley is, to borrow a metaphor, dipping her pen way too much in the company ink and it’s likely to blow up her PR firm at some point.There was a few things in this episode that were decidedly un-Lasso (the dick ropes being the biggest thing) but none of it felt out of place. And while Richmond lost to a clearly superior Arsenal, I’m getting the sense that we are going to see a revival in form in the upcoming episodes (if nothing else then that’s just scriptwriting in these sorts of things).
So many good points made there.The immigration thing hit home in a way that the S1 Dubai Air thing didn’t; it just felt more real, perhaps because it was more specifically something that’s happening right now.Keeley not thinking of Jack as her boss really jumped out at me. I know they kinda sorta addressed it with the announcement when they got back into the office, but it feels very much like they’re telegraphing an unhappy ending there; like, maybe it starts to get toxic and Keeley has to choose between her dream and getting out of what would doubtless be a very harmful relationship. Or maybe it’s not sinister/toxic and Jack is like me and sometimes has trouble expressing herself and uses things to convey her feelings.
The best part of ted lasso for me is how much the characters feel real and not made up sitcom people.Yes even ted.Keely was a model who dated a football player. She wont become a naive love is all that matters kind of girl. Of course expensive gifts and socialite life will always be important to her. Just like rebecca. She was a social climber who got a porsche out of her second date. Of course all her philosophy is “take the money and the gifts but be careful”. These are not naive lovey dovey girls. They are predators. Smart and capable and deep. But predators, attracted to wealth, power and fame. Nice meeting you poor boat man. See you never.This episode was peak ted lasso in the all the subtle and not subtle ways it shows the real effect of the lasso way.Hhighlights of comedy was the way the team and roy changed to embrace all the little weird lassoisms ted has always had and that he dialed back a little.“You dont have to do the voices” ohhhh“Ok you can do the voices” yeahhhThe way the 3 fans get invited to see the practice and gradually more and more people go each time.Roy totally into the red string thing to the point he becomes all about it cause its too fun for him.Trent crimm, being a good sport journalist, recognizing that the lasso way is really going to work, even if ted himself cannot see it.
“ how much the characters feel real and not made up sitcom people”Many of these are based on real people.In particular, Keely is based on Keeley Hazell who plays Bex and is a writer this season (she’s credited as co-writer for next week’s episode).
In that case, I guess it makes sense that the character Keeley has gone from rather bimbo-ish in the first season to owning her own business and hob-nobbing with the wealthy and educated. The writer wanted to make her show equivalent look good. I like the character, but her arc seems unrealistic to me.
I guess I’m not hip or edgy enough. I’m enjoying this season. But is it really a show about soccer, or is soccer simply the vehicle the show uses to tell stories about people? Someone cooler than me will probably have to answer that.
It became hip to hate this show when Olivia Wilde said Jason Sudekis was mad about getting cheated on.
It’s clearly the latter. It is not a sports show, it’s using the setting to tell stories about how humans are better off working together and trying to improve themselves individually and with the help of community and relations.
The review is correct in the sense that this was structurally a very unsound episode. Nate and Keeley’s plots were so slight they could have been cut without losing anything worthwhile. Sam’s plot was topical and emotionally nice, but the politics were clunky and so heavy-handed in their suddenness and exposition.
Luckily for me, the entire episode was redeemed by its use of the one key component that can make any sitcom great: dudes getting their dicks tied together and Roy laughing at them about it. His planning for the next stage of the dick-tying training was probably my favorite punchline of the season.
I liked Roy making Lasso-like jokes and immediately despising himself for it.
“I hate what you’ve made me” cracked me up
I’m not a tv critic but I have watched a ton of tv. But a lot of sitcoms will have episodes that have 3-4 storylines, some that don’t move the plot or characters along (people used to do this in 22 minutes before everything went to streaming). Sitcoms are at their best when they are character driven, opposed to plot driven. I don’t think the problem is that there are too many plots, I think that the issue that some are bumping up against is that no one storyline feels like the main storyline but is this a bad thing, this is an ensemble show with a cast that should be highlighted? I like that that this episode and some of the others are like a series of short stories all on the same theme. I have faith that the writers will tie all the plots together in the end. If they don’t, I will still like the fun/interesting detours that season 3 took.
Came here right after watching the episode, with a grin on my face. It’s a bittersweet season that’s building up on everything we’ve been watching for three seasons. “You’ve done this over three seasons (…). By slowly but surely building a club-wide culture of trust and support through thousands of imperceptible moments, all leading to their inevitable conclusion.” I don’t know… this season IS total football. Also, because Robert Frost was mentioned by Ted, “The only way out is through”. Through pain and doubts, through countless puns, through homesickness, and conflicts, and heartbreaks, and doubts. And togetherness. And of course, through Jamie (and his priceless look of pride while realizing that all his teammates and his coaches are paying serious attention to what he’s saying).
The main gripe I had is that a man that grew up idolizing the 80-90’s Bulls never knew about the triangle offense or how it worked. But all the talk and analysis was almost unavoidable back then if you were a NBA fan. I get the epiphany to adapt it to soccer.
No it’s not about football. Football is the vessel within which the characters connect. I can’t take any life lessons from the show ethical or otherwise because I find it completely detached from reality; it exists in that uncanny valley, like the stadium crowds, where the people seem real but don’t behave real. It’s quite unnerving.There’s factual information; the teams and stadiums exist (AFC Richmond apart) but that’s about it. It’s funny you mention the muppets, there are similarities to their movies which existed in the real world interacting with real people but in incredibly exaggerated contrivances, all of which could be neatly tidied at the end. Ted Lasso is going this way unfortunately. Once they stopped using the mystic for cheap laughs and based serious drama potential on her crazy predictions it lost some of its credibility as a drama. I think Friends and the Simpsons did the same; slowly the drama and characterisation gets replaced by farce and caricature, relying on catchphrase and soap.
It seems Manuel and I want completely different things from this show. This was probably my favorite episode of the season. Meanwhile, early episodes that were lauded here struck me as some of the worst in the series. This really is a “to each their own” kind of show, isn’t it?
Making my first comment on the AVCLUB in close to a decade just to ask: could you legally ask a team you were coaching to tie strings around their dicks? Everyone’s talking about the ethics of Keeley and Jack’s relationship, but asking a subordinate in the workplace to tie a string to their genitalia isn’t crossing a line?
Dang, does this reviewer just hate Ted Lasso?
I’m currently nursing a hernia, waiting an unreasonable wait before my surgery is scheduled, and I spend all of my time these days focused on protecting my groin. That red string scene caused me so much psychic pain…
This review doesn’t even make internal sense, but other commenters have made that point better than I could. Instead:— So many dick and butt jokes! I’m into the new sexual frankness of this show. Another way to exhibit the central idea that adults can be playful.— Because Jack is so over the top, I think it’s easy to miss the subtler point that Keeley isn’t used to being with someone who is as romantic as she is. She’s used to dating footballers, after all.I don’t think Jack & Keeley are going to last — they’re a little too similar — but they’re a great example of how we ping-pong between extremes in romantic partners.— I know a lot of people have written Nate off, but I’m glad to see he’s getting some positive attention. His self-esteem is usually set to either 0% or 100% (as happens to many people with abusive parents), so it’s good that he’s learning to dial it into something more mid-range.— Jamie is the anti-Zava! His character arc has been really fun to watch.— I find Sam’s storyline in this episode all too easy to believe, sadly. Thank goodness he had his father there with him. And what a beautiful display of men supporting one another, both from his father and from his teammates.
Man, the word “romantic” is doing a lot of heavy lifting with regards to Jack, dontcha think? For me, there’s no romance at all in what she’s doing. By her own admission, she’s “get-away-with-murder-rich” and it really looks like she’s doing whatever she can to acquire another asset. Rebecca seems to feel the same way since she experienced Rupert doing the same to her.I dunno, maybe I’m just fundamentally against the whole thing because (a) I wholly shipped Roy and Keeley, (b) I fell in love with S1 Keeley, and (c) the power dynamics of a boss/investor seducing an employee really skeeve me out…
Yeah, I totally get what you’re saying. But there are different ways of acquiring assets. You could neg someone and have them eating out of your hand, for example. Instead, Jack is giving gifts and making grand gestures that prove she’s listening to Keeley’s tastes and desires. Even if the objective is just to acquire Keeley as her next big conquest, she’s doing it through the language of romance.As for whether Jack is simply acquiring Keeley or overcompensating in some way or doing some other third thing, I don’t think we have enough evidence yet. We know nearly nothing about Jack’s inner life. In fact, the show has been very intent on not letting us into her head at all, which is unusual for Ted Lasso. Maybe she’s just as bad as Rupert, or maybe she’s just insecure for some reason. We’ll have to find out.I personally think this is all set-up for Keeley to get back together with Roy, but what do I know?
Yeah, I can’t figure out if Jack is doing all this through overcompensation or artifice either. Because I like Jodi Balfour, I want to believe the latter, but my loyalty to S1 Keeley has me thinking otherwise. It’s a common tactic for social climbers and the uber-successful to make note of details and then use that knowledge to exploit people, and I fear that that’s what Jack is doing.It definitely has me coming back for more for the final episodes, though (as if I wouldn’t have been otherwise… hah!).
If you think “grand gestures” is the “language of romance” boy do I have some news for you.
I may have missed something hinted at in the show, but didn’t Keeley make the first move?
She kissed Jack first, yes… but only after Jack had gotten her quite drunk.
The first few minutes of this week’s episode are a London version of the opening scenes of You’ve Got Mail. There’s also a scene on the pitch scored to John Fogerty’s Centerfield that’s a call back to Bull Durham. For those of you following the rom com references.
I appear to be in the minority agreeing with the reviewer. It wasn’t a bad episode but they’ve got too many balls in the air. Did we even know Nate has a sister? Do we even care? Why do we keep tabs on Nate? I’m afraid that’s because they’re going to give him the unnecessary redemption arc and he’s going to take over Richmond when Ted inevitably goes back to Kansas to be near his son. Immigration issues handled as a C (D?) plot sewn up in one episode while also introducing us to Sam’s father?There’s E & F plots out there (Colin’s inevitable coming out, Rebecca’s psychic predictions all coming true) that we know are just waiting in the wings to overstuff next week’s episode.
I’m still weirded out by Jack and Keely’s relationship. Between this and Sam/Rebecca last season, this show really doesn’t have calling out potentially power-trippy relationships between bosses or people in power, and the people they’re trying to date. It doesn’t really matter that the people in power are successful, confident, beautiful women, they still remind me of slimeball CEOs hitting on their newly hired interns. Maybe don’t fuck the people who are signing your paychecks?Sam’s character seems to be being pushing into politics, but good lord those tweets were dumb. People who have used the internet before know that sending mild twitter burns and putting away his phone with a smile on his face like he just fixed the problem mean that he just got into a pointless flame war with a race baiting moron. Tying strings around the dicks of your players was the stupidest thing I’ve seen on this show in a while, but it may have been worth it to see Roy’s uproarious laughter, probably the first time we’ve seen him laugh on the series. I’ll say this every week if I need to: stop trying to normalize Nate. I get that the series is about connecting with other people through mutual understanding, but the show hasn’t given us significant evidence that his character deserves redemption. I kept wanting Jade to cut his heart out of his chest, but she keeps behaving like his creepiness is endearing.
I’m a little surprised there was no mention of the direct reference to You’ve Got Mail with the opening of all the shops set to “Dreams” by The Cranberries. This is a show that has proven its love for romantic comedies again and again.Also, Sam isn’t “suddenly radicalized.” It’s not sudden because he showed he had a conscience by foregoing a sponsorship with Dubai Air. And it’s not radical that he’s upset by racism and pollution of his home country.Others have pointed out the obvious Ingraham/Lebron source of “shut up and dribble,” so I won’t pile on.
I just wanna see Richmond win a game. I feel like we see them lose a lot. The only wins I can think of this season are Zava related.
One of my favourite things about Atlanta is that we never saw Paperboi rap. The show wasn’t about that. Also, I’m not sure if Brian Tyree Henry can rap but I’m glad he knew that he didn’t need to try because it was never about his rap ability. I’m gonna totally call out “And Just Like That…” here. Having Paperbois rap career offscreen is what they should have done with Che and her stand up comedian thing. I’m really glad we didn’t have to sit threw the creators taking a stab at creating actual music for paperboi. Woof.
Nonso Anozie as Sam’s dad was wonderful & a nice surprise! I loved him on CBS’s Zoo. He is perfect for this show, with his imposing but warm presence. I feel exactly like Rebecca seems to about Keeley & Jack. Jack is nothing but red flags
I think my lone complaint to this episode is that the Keely/Jack Lovebombing plot as unnecessary to the show as it is poorly presented anyway. It comes off with a far too simple presentation of a kind of manipulative behavior while also badgering to the audience like an old after school special. As this season has gone on, the more I dislike the show’s willingness to follow Keely anywhere. She’s more a portal for distraction at this point.
“Speaking of Keeley, I would’ve pegged her more of an Emma fan than a Sense & Sensibility one” Sense and Sensibility is referenced because Keely is Marianne and Rebecca is Elinor.
Great point. Makes me wonder if Jack a Willoughby, too good to be true/has secrets.
The second I realized Nate wasn’t going to spit on the mirror, I almost cheered.
I’m baffled by how this show has *two* boss/employee relationships and that does not seem to be the central conflict for either? Ted deciding he was cool with Sam/Rebecca last session was especially baffling, but Rebecca warning Keeley about the love bombing but not the potential catastrophe of breaking up was odd too.
Pretty Little Liars had a teacher dating one of his underage high school students. I had to point out to my daughter and her friends that this was not only creepy but criminal.
“…we didn’t find out Rebecca had somehow found a way to fly in her hunky Dutch hookup and his perfectly decorated boat and start on a new exciting romance. There’s still time, though!”
Umm…you know she’s pregnant with his child, right? So, be patient. And pay more attention to the show. We knew she’d get pregnant (on TV, psychics always trump fertility tests) and we know they had sex. Do the math. 😉
I feel as though I watched a different show than the reviewer. I enjoyed all the plot lines, thought they were well served, and each one left me wanting a little more–which is what a good comedy does. In general it’s felt as though this season is more sure of the story it wants to tell and of a more consistent quality than last season. Also, just wondering when the showrunners of Ted Lasso announced that the show was “about football”? I must have missed that.