The Ted Lasso Christmas episode is a gift
With ongoing tensions put aside (for now), Ted Lasso and the holiday season go together like the holly and the ivy
TV Reviews Ted Lasso
Given that the previous episode ended with a massive controversy that felt like it would have significant reverberations in AFC Richmond’s operations, it’s a bit jarring to find the team weeks in the future with seemingly no consequences: on the eve of their Boxing Day match, Richmond sits at 4 wins and 4 losses, hopeful that they’ll finally pull ahead in the wins column and get their season—which is roughly at the halfway point, from what I gather—back on track. I understood why Ted Lasso would focus on the positivity of Sam Obisanya’s moment of activism in the moment, but I also thought the show was clearly signaling that such an optimistic worldview might be unrealistic under the circumstances.
However, I can’t really say for certain whether the absence of fallout from the team’s protest is part of the show’s long term storytelling, or whether it just speaks to the show’s philosophical approach to its Christmas episode. I was thrilled at the prospect of “Carol Of The Bells” when co-creator Bill Lawrence posted a photo featuring Sudeikis in a Santa hat, as it sounds absolutely perfect on paper. Ted Lasso is already a warm hug of a television show, and Christmas episodes are often designed to be a warm hug even in shows that aren’t historically that warm, and so it was easy to imagine how the joys of the show’s first season would translate into a rare case of a Christmas episode for a streaming show (which lacks the September-May schedule that often lead to Christmas episodes being seasonally appropriate).
That said, there isn’t just one way to do a Christmas episode. Any holiday—Halloween is the other major one that U.S. sitcoms typically do—can be used in two basic ways. One is to take a break from the ongoing conflicts among the show’s characters to focus on how a day of celebration directs our attention to core truths about the cast and their dynamic with one another. The other is to use the holiday as a catalyst for those conflicts, with the break from the day-to-day bringing things to the surface. And while there are elements of the show—like Nate’s mean streak, for example—that theoretically could have been used on the latter front, “Carol Of The Bells” very much chooses the path of the former, mostly putting the drama of the previous episodes on pause to celebrate the season and the “family” dynamic developing among the staff and players of AFC Richmond.
And so, the key sources of conflict in the first three episodes—Dr. Fieldstone, Jamie, and Sam’s protest—are mostly sidestepped here. Dr. Fieldstone is entirely absent, while Jamie misunderstood the assignment for Secret Santa but is saved by the front office and spends Christmas away from the rest of the team. And although Higgins’ second-eldest son brings up Sam’s protest positively when the latter is the first guest to arrive at the Christmas party, the show doesn’t unpack the moment, or give us any clear indication of what (if any) fallout has occurred in the month(s?) since it happened. You could have easily integrated these conflicts into a Christmas episode if you wanted to: Jamie, for example, presumably spent the holiday with his father, but Joe Kelly’s script is consciously steering clear of those daddy issues and any other characters’ insecurities. Christmas is a time for celebrating, or for conflicts that can be comfortably resolved with a surfboard-turned-dining table, a Love Actually riff, or Hannah Waddingham slaying “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on the street amidst much revelry.
In doing so, the episode becomes more self-contained, a “Christmas Special” in the British tradition that could be watched independent of the season it’s in without much difficulty following the plot. If you were to put this on an internet list of “Christmas Episodes” this upcoming holiday season, and someone who had never seen Ted Lasso were to watch it, they’d basically be able to follow along. This is particularly true in the dismantling of Roy and Keeley’s “Sexy Christmas,” which introduces a new problem (Phoebe’s bad breath), presents a whimsical solution (Roy knocking on every door in his neighborhood in search of a dentist), and concludes in a seasonally appropriate fashion (the aforementioned riff on the odious cue card scene in Love, Actually). With Roy now settling into his broadcasting role, and Kelley’s comfortably part of the AFC Richmond team, this Christmas story isn’t unearthing any conflict in their relationship, and there’s no reason to think anything from the story will be carrying forward. It’s just a story of how football legend Roy Kent spent Christmas going door-to-door to cure his niece’s bad breath, which the dentist and her family—which includes the obnoxious dude from the plane in the show’s pilot—will tell for years to come as they drag out the photo they take in front of the tree.
This is not a criticism: part of the joy of a Christmas special is stories that feel like they wouldn’t happen at any other time, infused with the spirit of the season. That same sensibility is present in Higgins’ family party, which is just an earnest gathering from top to bottom if you bypass Higgins’ second-youngest son spending the affair ogling Richard’s date. It’s a collection of vignettes—Sam convincing the youngest that Santa is real, the youngest bringing extra firepower to a Nerf war, Jan bringing up the Helter Skelter murders—that is mostly there to remind us how charming this world and its characters are. But when Higgins gets up to give his speech at the end, we’re reminded that this family dynamic is a byproduct of the work Ted has done since arriving, and Higgins’ work in facilitating it. This isn’t the show “forcing” a warm Christmas gathering onto the team, but rather a natural extension of how much they’ve come together, as we see when Higgins lists off all the players’ hometowns without hesitation. Even if their good cheer is hiding some potential consequences to Sam’s protest, that’s the very nature of the Christmas season, and as one of the millions who spent the holidays away from family this past year I can’t begrudge them some conflict-free holiday cheer.
The closest “Carol of the Bells” gets to real conflict is the internal struggle of Ted, whose attempt to put a positive spin on Facetime Christmas is sniffed out by Rebecca straight away. As I noted earlier in the season, Rebecca is really the only one who has seen Ted break down, and in this case she’s also the only one who specifically understands the first Christmas after you’re divorced. Ted and Rebecca’s friendship is probably the first season’s greatest accomplishment, and so it was nice to be able to let the two characters riff a bit as she pulls him from his whiskey and It’s A Wonderful Life to help deliver Christmas presents to the less fortunate. And while Waddingham’s aforementioned take on the Darlene Love classic is the story’s highlight, its most telling moment is when Rebecca gives Ted the greatest gift of all: a setup to make up an elaborate story of what happened to kids’ presents such that they weren’t under the tree on Christmas morning, which he relishes. Rebecca’s plan doesn’t solve Ted’s depression, or make his separation from his son any less painful, but it keeps him occupied on a day that could have spiralled, which is both the spirit of the season and the spirit of Ted Lasso.
Bolstered by a Christmas remix of the show’s theme song that made me cheer aloud, a Rankin Bass claymation version of the title sequence that wasn’t on the initial screener I watched but delighted me anew upon its release, the show’s “Apple Money” music licensing budget, and the joyous image of Higgins racing out of his house with an upright bass as Christmas dinner turns into a street party, “Carol Of The Bells” is undoubtedly crowd-pleasing, if not necessarily an instant Christmas classic. I certainly will never turn down an opportunity to spend quality time with these characters just hanging out, but I left this welcome respite for the holidays a bit anxious to see how the second half of the team’s season—and the remaining eight episodes of the show’s season—will take the building blocks from the first few episodes and expand on them.
Stray observations
- This was an “A-” initially (I wrote a thread about my resistance to giving As last week), but that was before they added the Rankin Bass title sequence, and I can’t pretend that isn’t worth a half-letter grade.
- For the record, the only streaming shows that I could find that have had Christmas episodes were Netflix sitcoms Fuller House and The Big Show Show, and—as a technicality—The Mindy Project’s fifth season that was released on Hulu on a regular broadcast schedule so it doesn’t really count. If anyone knows of any others, let me know—our Managing Editor Erik Adams pointed out that MST3K did “The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t” in its first Netflix season, for example.
- The chalkboard puts AFC Richmond with a record of 4-4-14, which means the Boxing Day game will be the halfway point of the 46-game EFL Championship league season.
- The somewhat muddled passage of time between episodes can be a bit frustrating—as it is here with the lack of clarity on what fallout there was from the Dubai Air protest—but I do enjoy how the show uses Coach Beard’s on-again off-again romance with Jane as a way of signifying that time has passed. They’re broken up right now, but they still went to Stonehenge for a pagan ritual since they had bought the tickets before the breakup.
- Can we all agree to celebrate Sexy December 28th from now on?
- I don’t know if Rebecca hobnobbing with Elton John and raving about Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz’s puppet show totally tracks with her inability to get someone on the phone to replace Robbie Williams during last season’s charity auction episode, but her horniness about the idea of watching the latter two have sex was worth the inconsistency.
- Director Declan Lowney—who also directed at least one U.K. Christmas Special on Father Ted in the ‘90s, and who I actually randomly met once—gets to have some fun with the doorbell montage that gives the episode its title, as well as that great tracking shot down the dinner table at Higgins’.
- Speaking of that scene, the glimpse of the Higgins family opening gifts is mostly there to set up the surfboard being part of the extended table, but I liked getting a brief glimpse of their wholesome Christmas before the chaos set in.
- “God bless me, everyone”—still think it’s a missed opportunity not to show a bit of Jamie’s Christmas with his father, but that kicker into the credits was perfect.
- Isaac’s velvet Santa suit was a look.
- “Did one of the Paw Patrol dogs die?”—Roy, trying to imagine what Phoebe could possibly be this upset about.
- The discussion about the different Christmas rituals in the players’ countries made me wonder how it works for an American TV show to be imagining a British Christmas. For example, while “Fairytale of New York”—which we hear briefly as score—is a much bigger deal in the U.K. than in America, part of me wonders whether “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” has the same cultural footprint as Darlene Love’s Letterman performances have given it in the U.S.? This isn’t a criticism, but just something I was thinking about.
- I was a bit surprised that the buskers didn’t include the guy who appeared at the auction in season one, but I suppose with COVID there might have been some limitations on what they could do in terms of bringing back recurring players (which here also included the “Guy Who Calls Ted A Wanker”).
- Presuming that Roy just called a pharmacist to fill Phoebe’s prescription, why didn’t he do call a dentist before knocking on random doors for seemingly long enough for it to start out as daytime and become night? (I know, I know, it would be a shorter, less magical story that way).
- Yes, I listened to Christmas music while writing and editing this, and I’m sure my Spotify is very concerned about me.
155 Comments
How much time does it take to run an article through a spellchecker? Just asking for a friend named Pheobe.
Don’t you mean “Feebee?”
Okay, how
cute was Colin being delighted by his new scarf? And Isaac as Santa!You know, I
didn’t know how to feel about Jan at first but the last two episodes he really had
some of my favourite lines.Minor
observation- Nate mentioning his father hating everything and finally being
able to buy him something nice surely factors into his larger story this
season, right? And on that note, do we really think Jamie spend Christmas with
his dad off-screen? Voluntarily? I don’t know about that, doesn’t he have a mom
(who may or may not be alive, I’m not so sure)?
Yeah, I assumed that Jamie was spending Christmas with his mom, who is apparently a much nicer person. She and his dad split up when he was “a sexy little baby.”
Question about the secret santas: When we saw Jamie come into the office and they sent him out with a bottle of booze was that meant to imply that everyone else who gave booze had also skipped out on gift buying (the wrapping job in particular was pretty smooth, like it was their 20th time) and that the scarf was maybe the only actual gift?
I thought that the booze was just a more expansive version of getting your dad socks for Christmas (and the coaches thankfully had some leftovers) but I actually like your idea better!
With a 4-4-14 record they’re going to have to have a heck of a second half to the season to make the playoffs, because if they end up doubling those figures that’s relegation form. That would put them on the same points total as Birmingham City in this season’s Championship, who finished 18th, and only 10 points off Sheffield Wednesday at the bottom.
Based on this being a show that showed Santa’s sleigh streaking though the sky, I suspect Richmond will go on a miracle run in the final third of the season, culminating in a play-off spot.
What makes very little sense there is that they had 8 draws, I think, before they broke the streak with a loss. So after the streak they’ve gone 4-4-6, which is still an insane number of draws.And SINCE YOU ASKED, don’t forget Bojack Horseman’s Christmas Special, although that’s (mostly?) a show-within-a-show thing.
Someone brought up the BoJack special on Twitter, but that’s distinct given it was a one-off and actually was released on Christmas, as opposed to just being a Christmas episode of the show itself released as part of the initial episode drop.
Possibly Sabrina counts? It was released as a christmas special, by itself… but it was released between the first and second halves of the season, so it’s not that different from some US network show schedules (i.e. random episodes with unfathomable gaps placed between them).
Incidentally, the reason UK shows have christmas episodes that are mostly standalone is mostly because, with shorter TV seasons, it’s unusual for Christmas to fall in the middle of a series’ season (other than for soaps, obviously). So a high-profile series will tend to have a spring or autumn season, and then a Christmas special placed ambiguously between them – so it can’t be part of the plot of either the preceding season (people will have forgotten the plot by then) or the following one (people will have forgotten the special by then). Plus, there’s a tradition of bringing back popular series for one-off (yeah right) Christmas specials after the show itself has been cancelled. Eg Only Fools and Horses did eight more christmas specials after the show ended.
Yeah, part of me feels like a “Christmas Episode” and a “Christmas Special” are two different things. In many ways, what I’m thinking of is a streaming equivalent of the yearly Christmas episodes that sitcoms like The Office or 30 Rock might do, as opposed to the British tradition of Christmas specials. But if Sabrina’s was in continuity, and they just randomly saved Episode 11 for Christmas, it’s kind of an amalgamation of the two.
That show has it’s flaws to be sure, but I love it to pieces.
The record number of draws is 23, so they’ll handsomely break that record if they replicate the first half’s form.
There’s a scene in the season 2 trailer where Ted asks if a team like theirs has ever won the “whole chimichanga”. Higgins says not for 40 years. I don’t know if that scene has been in an episode to date. At the time I thought maybe the go on a run in the FA cup. Checking now, 1980 was the last time a team not in the top level won the FA Cup.
I find the club’s performance a bit confusing, because they ended the previous season by almost fighting Manchester to a draw, but now they’re apparently really struggling in what should be less challenging competition and with Jamie back?
It’s not that unrealistic – there’s a big difference between putting in a good performance in a single big game (against a team that is less motivated to get a result, if my memory is correct that Man City had already secured the title) and sustaining good form across 38 or 46 games in a year, especially after a demoralizing relegation.
That happens. The Championship is a tough league.
Using PPG, they are more on pace for 59 points, which puts them in 15th (28 points accumulated divided by 22 games played times 46 total games). Still, this club needs to go on a tear if they have a shot at promotion, as they have had some unfortunate bad luck (RIP Earl but that was a costly two points lost).
Re: the dentist search, you can’t order a prescription filled until someone writes the script. I assume it is illegal in the UK as it is in the US, for one, and for two, neither he nor Keeley knew what was wrong with Phoebe’s breath and thus would have no idea what to order at a pharmacy even if they could. They needed the dentist to realize it was the antihistamine drying her out, to know what med could help with that, AND to prescribe it.
Oh, I understand why they couldn’t just call a pharmacist. But why couldn’t they just call a dentist?
What dentist would be open & in the office on Christmas? Pharmacies are usually open on holidays.Even if the episode doesn’t take place on Christmas Day, closing for straight two weeks over Christmas & New Year’s isn’t unusual, either.
In this internet age, surely finding a dentist’s home phone number is within the grasp of Roy Fuckin’ Kent. (It’s possible there are U.K. laws that would make this less possible than it would be in the U.S.)
“In this internet age, surely finding a dentist’s home phone number is within the grasp of Roy Fuckin’ Kent.”
Yes, and what a whimsical resolution would that have been to the story, eh?
Emergency dentists are available in the UK every day of the year, however bad breath isn’t going to cut it as an emergency.I also don’t know of any dentists who would list their home phone numbers publicly.
Because the dentist generally can’t (or shouldn’t) diagnose an issue over the phone, and because getting in to see a dentist – particularly on a holiday – is not the easiest thing to do on short notice. Finding a neighbor who was a dentist and having her take a quick look at Phoebe also circumvented the whole process of filling out insurance forms, new patient records, and – importantly – the billing process.- signed, son of a dentistP.S.: The whole “find a dentist” search turned into a nice day out for Roy, Keeley, and Phoebe, which I think may have been part of the point for Roy – instead of carting his niece to a sterile dentist’s office for a few hours on Christmas, he turned it into a little quest. That’s how I choose to look at it, anyway.
I mean, there’s nothing whimsical about cross-referencing a Google search for local dentists with property records, but it would have been the more efficient option, is all I’m saying.
More efficient, sure…. The Roy Kent way? He really is a ring the bell, ask if you’re a dentist and walk away in disgust when you say no, kind of guy.
Absolutely this! Plus, it allowed them to sneak in another “Love Actually” reference, the PM having to go down the whole street, at the dodgy end, to find Natalie. Which is why the first kid asked if they were going to sing.
And I loved them revamping the creepy ‘Cue Cards’ scene! That never felt right.
No, the first kid asked if they were going to sing because they assumed they were carollers. Because who goes around knocking on strangers’ doors on Christmas Day, if not for the purposes of wassailing and mummery?
Thank you – as I read this, I was like, those cue cards are not the only Love, Actually reference.
I mean, there’s nothing whimsical about cross-referencing a Google search for local dentists with property records
That’s creepy as hell.
Oh I misunderstood what you meant. Sorry!
Cuz Roy Fucking Kent is a pro active dude and isn’t into wringing his hands while calling people on the phone….I guess. Also, he can’t physically intimidate them to do his bidding if he ain’t in front of them.
I’ll give the show credit and assume that the plotline was partially built with knowledge of Chris Rock’s white dentist bit. Roy even says something like “I’m sure we can find a dentist in my stupid posh neighborhood.”
I could be too far out on a limb here, though.
Is there a rule in England that children have to answer the door?
If the adults don’t want to get up off the sofa, yes.
Especially on Christmas, after a few too many nogs, or whatever.
This might be the thing that makes me want to have kids
I can’t speak for every English person, but I only know that Darlene Love song because of the episode of New Girl where Nick arranges for her to sing it for Jess (in a scene very similar to the one in this episode).And the Father Ted episode you mentioned is my personal favourite Christmas Special. I’ve watched it every Xmas since it came out, it’s hilarious.
I give you permission to speak for every English person in these comment sections, use your powers wisely.
Probably grey’d, but as far as streaming Christmas episodes go, BoJack Horseman has its “Horsin’ Around” themed Christmas episode between seasons, and Sense8 also has its Christmas special. There’s an upcoming Solar Opposites one as well!
I was dismared by all the “Merry Christmas” when Harry Potter taught me they say “Happy Christmas” and that just feels more English to me
Yep, having spent the holidays in London a few times I kinda flinched each time they didn’t say “Happy Christmas.” They’re usually so good on language on this show I don’t know how they let this pretty big thing slip through.
I always assumed it was an Americanism!
In particular, in England ‘Merry Christmas’ tends to be paired with ‘and a Happy New Year’, and turning the former into ‘Happy Christmas’ messes that up!
I’m assuming you haven’t seen Gremlins or somehow missed Tesco Christmas adverts from 2-3 years ago, where that song is used?Anyhoo I recommend buying the Christmas album that features the song, alongside some other standards sung by various different R&B stars of the 60’s. That’s if you are okay with the whole ‘Phil Spector of it all’.
The first time I (an American) heard that song was in Love Actually, actually.
I mean, I just assumed every British/Irish person thinks it’s a U2 song.
Speaking of songs, it was a bold move just going and crushing everyone’s Whamaggedon in August like that.
As everyone knows, only the original track counts for Whamageddon, remixes, bootlegs, covers and mashups are all fair game.
As another English person, albeit one not deeply invested in pop music: I have no conscious memory that song either; it’s certainly not part of the usual Christmas repertoire. Although it did feel very vaguely familiar – perhaps, as wrightstuff suggests, I may once have heard it in passing in an advert for Tescos some years ago.
I think the Darlene Love song is a lot more popular now in the USA than like 20 years ago. A lot of that because it was rediscovered for soundtracks and commercials. So even in the USA most of us might know if from The New Girl or some other entertainment product in recent memory instead of it being something we grew up with. Christmas songs are kind of weird and can take decades to become ubiquitous, like for example I don’t think George Michael’s “Last Christmas” was ever as popular as it is now.
I can’t speak for every English person, but my dad would always play phil spector’s christmas album every december for a whole month. great album, but let’s just forget about phil.my favourite christmas episode is probably The Simpsons pilot or from a UK sitcom called The Royle Family.
As regards christmas episodes in general, you have to admire the boldness of Buffy: a ‘Christmas Episode’ about the heroine’s boyfriend, a reformed serial killer, contemplating suicide and reliving his unspeakable crimes. There’s even a ‘Christmas Miracle’!
It’s a real shame they didn’t have this filmed and ready for release back in December. What a good “depths of COVID” gift that would have been. And, as you said, it sits enough out of continuity that it easily could have released before the rest of the season (with a couple edits here and there).
As you may be aware, some parts of the world are still very much in the depths of COVID still.
I laughed really hard at this exchange:Higgins: So Sam, back home, what does Christmas make you think of?Sam: ColonizationHiggins: Of course…..
It was the line reading of “Colonization” that did me in
That kinda took me out of it a little bit. Christianity is pretty popular in Nigeria and Christmas pretty typically celebrated so it seemed like the sort of thing a contemporary writer would put in and not what Sam would say.
Paused to see the team recordW’s 4L’s 4D’s (nutz) 14
when ted joined in sounding nothing like Ted I assume both parts were not them singing, just lip sync.
I’m pretty sure that was just Sudeikis doing a funny voice, but that was 100% Waddingham singing, much as it was in the karaoke scene back in Season 1. She has said she’s not sure there’s any logic to a football club owner having the voice of a West End star, but the writers insisted.
My jaw hit the floor
No mere funny voice, but a nifty Elvis impersonation
Waddingham in Spamalot:
Damn. I assume there’ll be no more talk of her lip syncing. Thanks for that.
I’ve seen her twice on the West End (Spamalot & Kiss me Kate) and it was so fun getting to see her do her thing in the last season (especially the growing realisiation in the kareoke scene that they were definitely gonna let her character have the actor’s voice)
In shows with a tonne of talent she still outshone on stage. It’s exciting to see her talent get more recognition through this
*sigh*
Waddingham has appeared in several musicals, most notably she was the Lady of the Lake in both the London and Broadway productions of Spamalot. She definitely has the pipes.
The obvious plot device of Rebecca showing up right as Ted was watching Clarence jump into the river to save George Bailey from his suicidal ideation was so on the nose, and yet so perfect.This show has a way of making me happy even when I can see things coming a mile away.
I got verklempt at the “Hi, Ted!” sign.
Phoebe’s offscreen parents sure do get to outsource a lot of their work to her uncle and his girlfriend.
is there a second parent? I think Roy only mentioned his sister getting called into surgery here, and I’ve always assumed he was so involved because she’s a single parent.
And although Higgins’ second-eldest son brings up Sam’s protest positively when the latter is the first guest to arrive at the Christmas party, the show doesn’t unpack the moment, or give us any clear indication of what (if any) fallout has occurred in the month(s?) since it happened.Higgins did have a “Keeley-esque” look when his son jumped on the side of protest, indicating that there may have bene some consequences that Higgins has had to deal with.
I read that scene as the whole cover for the “it’s Christmas, we’re not going to move those plot threads forward, but they’re there” theme that this review brings up. Higgins doesn’t strike me as someone who’s going to berate their kid’s admiration for their sports heroes because of his background knowledge of how precarious it’s making the club’s finances. He’s also not a smooth operator so being briefly awkward makes sense.
I also think Higgins respects it and Sam’s integrity. But he’s also keenly aware of how fragile things are. He seems like the kind of guy who’d WANT his son to admire Sam.
His son also swore, and in the presence of a stranger. That would presumably not be de rigeur in Higgins’ household, so some social awkwardness would be expected anyway.
One thing that’s come out AFTER the episode in an interview was that this episode actually wasn’t part of the initial break of the season, but rather came after they added two episodes to the 10-episode order. So in this case, the “we’re not going to move plot threads forward” was also “We already wrote the season and this has to fit between these two episodes.”
“Given that the previous episode ended with a massive controversy that felt like it would have significant reverberations in AFC Richmond’s operations…” I’m not sure how closely this will mirror “real life”, but in English soccer January is the “transfer window” month, meaning the month when players’ contracts are purchased by wealthier teams that need reinforcements. So, the next episode, immediately following Christmas, could be where we see the reverberations in the team selling player contracts to lower payroll, to correspond with the reduced revenue and sponsorship money.
“The Mindy Project’s fifth season that was released on Hulu on a regular broadcast schedule so it doesn’t really count.”
If The Mindy Project “doesn’t count” because it had a regular schedule then Ted Lasso doesn’t count as a streaming show either since it has a regular broadcast schedule.
“Presuming that Roy just called a pharmacist to fill Phoebe’s prescription, why didn’t he do call a dentist before knocking on random doors for seemingly long enough for it to start out as daytime and become night?”
The dentist wrote the scrip and arranged for the pharmacy to open up so they could get it filled.
Did you…did you really not grasp that?
Lovely episode, that (as Myles notes) will make it into my rotation of Christmas episodes I play around the season. My favorite tidbit was probably Higgins’ surprise at having more than the usual 2 guests. Reminds us that these people have history before the pilot, and also that Higgins’ own improvement and commitment to the team lead to this.
Bojack Horseman had an Xmas special, too. As of now, my modern Xmas sitcom playlist goes: Always Sunny Xmas, Bojack Xmas, and now we will finish with Lasso Xmas. This was perfect.
Too syrupy and contrived for me, especially after the masterpiece of authentic feel goodery that was Dave season 2 finale
That ending on Dave was perfect. In retrospect I should have seen it coming, but it blindsided me and tears were LITERALLY [using the word purposefully and correctly] jerked.
Dave is SO GOOD
Ehhh… I’m starting to feel like this was strictly a pandemic treat. I watched the first season through twice (and loved it), but I’m starting to find it pretty mawkish and barely even funny. The England of the show feels like Richard Curtis at his worst. The world is totally untethered to reality when it comes to football, business, coaching.. I mean, pretty much reality in general. Ringing doorbells on Christmas Day instead of calling an emergency dentist? Even little things that didn’t bother me at all in S1 like Roy’s ridiculous sounding ‘hardman voice’ have got me cringing now.
I agree that the show is only barely a comedy. I also think that the absolute positivity of the show, a thing I really enjoy right now, is a taste that every viewer will tire of in their own time. At this point, I watch the episode and really dig it, then ask myself what the hell is wrong with me after it’s over. I wonder whether I should walk away early, before the idea becomes threadbare. This show is really in it’s own category.
To quote the Love Theme to MST3K: “Then repeat to yourself, It’s just a showI should really just relax”
I haven’t seen Love, Actually since it first came out, and have never given the movie a second thought, so I didn’t even clock the reference, but that scene with Phoebe and her bully really got to me. He felt bad.. she forgave him.. *sniff* If that’s how that movie works on people, I now understand
My wife and I have this weird relationship with Love Actually where we either hate that we love it or love that we hate it, I never know which. So we hate-watch it, but very nostalgically and affectionately…while ritually pointing out and mocking everything wrong about that stupid movie.
That describes 2/3 of all Christmas stuff.
Before the world ended I would go to a special showing of Love, Actually at the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn every year with my best friend, which was always sold out, and the entire audience always seemed to share your frame of mind on the film, myself included. While Alamo usually bans talking during screenings audience participation was encouraged and everyone was instructed to hiss when Alan Rickman’s secretary showed up or wave the Union Jack (props were provided) when Hugh Grant stood up to Billy Bob Thornton. It’s a holiday tradition I look forward to getting back to this year.
having never seen Love, Actually, I don’t think I would’ve recognized it but for SNL/memes
Man, would Hannah Waddingham just hurry up and marry me already!
“I think you might be dying…” was the line delivery of the year. I can honestly say I’ve never seen anyone portray one’s soul leaving their body as well as Brett Goldstein did there.
The reaction was priceless and perfectly character-driven. I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.
Syrup-y sweet. Almost too sweet. But that’s okay on Christmas. Or Christmas in August, anyway. If you can’t get away with that level of earnestness and sincerity, when can you? Instant classic for me, even with that one kid hallucinating Santa’s sleigh.“Oh, fuck!”(So, they’re definitely telegraphing that Ted’s dad may have killed himself, right? And Ted himself maaaay be a “functional alcoholic?”)
This was kind of the quintessential Ted Lasso episode.Christmas episodes are lazy filler. The show itself is sappy in the extreme and stupidly, stubbornly, optimistic. My cynical, Grinch heart should hate it with a passion. And yet…it was fantastic and I loved every second of it.I don’t know how they do it.
I watched it and it felt like a warm hug, and I’m as cynical a bastard as they come. I honestly watched the entire episode on the verge of tears. Then I looked across the room and both of my parents (including stoic dad) were misty-eyed. I swear I’m going to watch it again tonight before I go to bed.
I watched it twice, and I cried even more the second time.
I’m the same way, I usually hate schmaltz and as cynical as the day is long, but Ted Lasso has me… er, lassoed. Perhaps because the feel good elements are balanced by some funny dialogue and great characters? It’s still not Hallmark channel goo.
Ted’s drunken reaction to It’s a Wonderful Life is not super reassuring about the potentially traumatic family history in his backstory that was floated a few weeks agoI would really appreciate if this show proves me wrong and does not emotionally wreck me but I know by now that I need to accept my fate
Don’t they say “Happy Christmas” in England? Everyone in this episode was saying “Merry Christmas”.
We say both, in my experience.
It depends on if you’re Catholic or Protestant, of course.
Those Protestants, up to no good as usual!
I really can’t believe there has been no mention at all of Ted’s comment after Rebecca dumps that wad of cash into the buskers’ case. “That’s what happens when you tinkle next to John Holmes” was one of the most bizarre pop culture references Ted has made that also reveals a little bit of his his background. I’m also not sure how to read Rebecca’s reaction to it, or if she really would know who he is.
And yes, the pun is intentional.
I have never ever seen a John Holmes film. Still I know about John Holmes. In fact, in the film business, there is a camera riser known colloquially as the John Holmes(or it used to be -we have sensitivity training now)Seen another way, it could be a small shot at his Rebecca. She pulled a “bigger dick” move there.
I’m fairly comfortable stating that you are not a posh, upper-middle to upper-class British woman. I don’t believe Mr. Holmes has the cache or notoriety in the UK that he has here in the states.Also, I believe the very stoned woman sitting behind (a not as stoned) me at the midnight showing of the John Holmes 3D classic Hard Candy still hasn’t recovered from that image. I have never heard an “Oh……My……God…..” as drawn out or as serious as the one I heard that night.(Edit to add I never noticed the Writer/Producer/Director’s name before)
Re: streaming shows with Christmas episodes — does Letterkenny count as a streaming show? It has a really cute Christmas episode in season 5.
A quick Google confirms that that Christmas special debuted separately from the rest of the season and timed to the holidays, so the answer is no.
Does the BoJack Christmas episode count?
All of those holiday eps from Letterkenny are sort of their own thing. The Christmas one was a great episode, though. But Letterkenny is just a great show.
Re: the whiteboardDs
(NUTZ)
My assumption was that Roy had run into a pharmacist in the nine previous houses he’d tried before finding the dentist.
Yeah. I figured he just repeated the process to find a pharmacist, who appeared to be wearing pajama pants. Either way.
This was a truly great episode. The first time, I was a little resistant. The show is just relentlessly upbeat, and yet visually interesting. If this show was the Matrix, it’d be the first one that everybody rejected. Still terrific. I have less hate for the cute cad thing than some.One thing I noticed the 2nd time around that I didn’t the first was the A Christmas Story leg lamp. Is that a thing in Britain, that movie?
No, A Christmas Story isn’t a thing, so I assume that was for the benefit of the Americans in the audience. We watch Love Actually, every existing version of A Christmas Carol and The Great Escape (for some reason)
One does not need a legitimate reason to watch the Great Escape. It’s that good. But as a Christmas movie, that is weird. I don’t think there’s even a Christmas scene in the movie.
I think it’s very important to talk about how this season as absolutely no meaningful story threads or character conflicts. Everyone is just having a pleasant, relaxed time.And, no, the team being on a tie-streak isn’t really a meaningful story, at least as it’s been told so far and even the Sam/Dubai Air story, even if it continues and takes a serious turn, will only be a partial solution.Ted Lasso is a “warm hug” of a show, but it’s in danger of becoming completely weightless.
I hope we can continue this conversation as the season goes on, as without spoiling anything I’ll simply say that it seems valuable to think about whether we’re meant to be entirely comfortable when the show enters hangout mode and elides what conflict may exist. In this case, for a Christmas episode? I think the absence of conflict is very much the point, and we’re meant to embrace that.But that may not be the same in the future, depending on how things play out, so the tension vis-a-vis a lack of tension you point to is going to be a definite thing to discuss moving forward.
I mean, I can only imagine that things will change and that the writers of this show are smart enough to realize this can’t go on for the entire season. Surely SOMETHING’s gotta give at some point.But they’ve also already squandered 40% of the season’s runtime on treacly wheel-spinning.Enough is enough already. Let’s get going.
They haven’t been wheel-spinning. They’ve been setting up story threads.
No, there are zero active story threads except possibly the sponsorship issue and no significant character conflicts.
Not true. We also have Dr. Fieldstone’s involvement (very obviously a story thread relating to Ted) and the return of Jamie. Both of these being things the Christmas episode consciously pivoted around.
so?
Agreed. No tension. No trouble. Without conflict we are left with treacle.
They’ve clearly set the story threads up for the season IMO. Richmond needs to get promoted, teams have a tough enough time with relegation normally but now Sam has driven away their main sponsor. And Ted clearly needs help from the team psychiatrist to help him navigate the interpersonal issues the team has but doesn’t trust her because of his own marital issues. These haven’t been hammered across but to me, it’s not an issue that these plots are not dominating the show. The appeal of the show is how warm-hearted it is. It’s fine for the show to lean into what makes it unique.
Not everything needs to have “stakes” or a dramatic plot. I am quite happy for this to be a low key hangout show with characters you care about. The three plot prongs have all been set up: Ted’s tension with the therapists, Jamie’s return to the team, and the financial fallout from the Dubai Air boycott (compounded by relegation).
Nate’s burgeoning dickheadery too.There’s some small threads too (Rebecca’s love life, potentially gay player, Roy Kent’s inability to be around his old team) that may develop into bigger plots too.The last season kinda did this too with story threads starting to build until Rebecca’s singing frozen and Ted’s having a panic attack (and then Rebecca’s helping of him) all of which was some excellent developments from where those character’s started
And let’s not forget the various daddy issues they are setting up, between the potential suicide of Ted’s father juxtaposed as well as Sam and Jaime’s dads.
Man, you and I must be watching different shows.There’s a metric shit-ton of foreboding lurking underneath everyone’s pleasant smiles and bonhomie. The team is struggling financially because of the relegation, and their players just completely shat all over their main sponsor. They’re not playing well enough to be promoted back up to the Premier League – and after their latest feel-good affirmation, they lost another game. Dr. Fieldstone and Ted are headed for a showdown – however genteel Ted will try to make it.And I don’t know about you, but I don’t need all of my entertainment to be dark and harsh and conflicted to find meaning. It’s actually a plot point in Ted Lasso that conflict doesn’t have to be a killer, that you can experience the crushing and disappointing with some hope and positivity. You might find it “weightless,” but there’s enough goddamn weight in the real world that I can give this absolute delight of a television program a pass for lifting a bit of it off of me.
I’m perfectly fine with a weightless warm hug.
You need to remember that the minds behind this show were also behind Scrubs and Cougartown. Character based comedies that were never “stakes” heavy. JD and Turk never worried if the hospital was making ends meet financially (although Kelso did) and Jules seemingly went from one job to another without showing how she could afford her lifestyle.
They were about the relationships of the characters and how treating people nicely is it’s own reward.
Also, they were funny. That’s still my main criteria in a comedy and Ted Lasso is funny. Great weight and import are way down on the list of things I look for in a show like this.
“Orange is the New Black” ended its first season with a nice violent xmas attack by PennsylTucky…that should count, right?
but that’s not a xmas special….im confused
We’re really dealing with three different things here:
1) An episode of a show that happens to be set in and around Christmas (the OITNB example)
2) An episode centered around Christmas that airs out of season as a Christmas special
3) A regular, in-season episode of a show that is centered on Christmas
I’m glad we could all come together to develop this arbitrary taxonomy. What fun we’ve had.
This is a Christmas episode in the tradition of British sitcoms, a few of my favorites are ones from Only Fools and Horses, Miranda, Vicar of Dibley, but there are too many to count. The ongoing plot is usually tangential to the episode, and may be made reference to in passing but the primary focus is typically the holiday(s). It’s not a Christmas Special, in that this episode takes place as part of the ongoing season, but this episode, as far as all of that goes, was spot on.
Hearing Andrea Anders say the name “Ted” just makes me wish for more episodes of “Better Off Ted”. Petition to change the name of Ted Lasso to Better off Ted because I think we’d all be better off if the there more people like TL
100% on board with more people remembering Better Off Ted existed and pushing Andrea Anders into more spots on my TV.
Not the same, Leverage: Redemption recently had a Halloween episode that felt quite weird due to the entire half-season dropping in mid-summer. Might make sense to just expand to any streaming show that has a holiday-themed episode released nowhere near that holiday.
This reads like you want to be mad about a show you like. Or think you’re supposed to be mad, for reasons. And what’s with the fixation on the surfboard/table extender? This week I wanted to take a short break from … everything … for a few minutes, and got a nice treat in the form of this show.
An odd thing that made this episode hit me really hard emotionally was the use of silence and empty spaces. The way that Christmas days are almost always eerily quiet, with the streets largely deserted, is so integral to my memories of Christmas — especially the sad ones or years when I was alone. When you’re outside on Christmas morning, seeing the empty streets and houses full of families that (in your imagination) are happy and celebrating the holiday, it painfully magnifies whatever loneliness is lurking within your heart. I thought this episode picked up on that and emphasized the lack of sound and crowds/traffic in a way that, for me, made every scene intensely melancholic, even when nothing especially poignant was happening. I found myself on the verge of tears throughout the episode, often for no particular reason at all, and I think the way the show perfectly evoked the sad undercurrent of the holiday had a lot to do with it.
It’s funny, because in the current moment I am conditioned to see a lack of extras as a consequence of COVID protocols and not as a conscious choice or a reflection of reality, but you’re not wrong in this case. Thanks for sharing this.
It gets dark pretty early on Christmas day in London. It gets dark by 4pm, as Kelley worked a half day that morning then it is late afternoon by the time they started the quest. Kelley said it was the 10th house so not that long.
“before knocking on random doors for seemingly long enough for it to start out as daytime and become night?”That was probably all of about two hours in real-person time. It gets dead dark in the UK by about 4:30 in the winter, so it didn’t seem unrealistic to me that knocking on doors for an hour or so would beat trying to find a dentist on call on Christmas Day.That the dentist was the mother/aunt/neighbor/family friend to the Ussie guy was an excellent little joke. We knew he was rich enough to afford a haircut at Jamie’s stylist; apparently he (his parents) are Roy Kent-level rich.If I’ve done my math correctly, that means that Richmond has 22 points leading into the half of the season. This would put them easily in play for at least the 3rd place tournament. (We are an Arsenal household, and amusingly – for me, anyway, not as much for my husband – is that earlier on Friday Arsenal suffered a pretty ridiculous loss to a team which had just come up from relegation. There’s hope yet for Richmond!)Hannah Waddingham SLEIGHED (see what I did there?) “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” What a set of pipes she has. Higgins coming out with the upright bass just made it perfect.I totally cried during Higgins’ speech and all the players showing up to his house. Also Sam was so excited about the goat meat!Have we seen Richard’s girlfriend before? She looked vaguely familiar to me but I don’t particularly remember having seen her before.Edit: apparently 22 points ISN’T good enough for half season but I like to think everyone else in Champions League is struggling too.
14 Ds (Nuts)
Derek had a Christmas episode too. Ricky Gervais seems to always include a Christmas episode in his series. Extras, The Office, Derek. I’m not sure about After Life because I haven’t seen it completely. Odd for an atheist. But I like Christmas too even though I don’t believe the origin story.
BoJack Horseman had a Christmas episode that was just him and Todd watching a Christmas episode of Horsin’ Around.
My birthday is December 28th, so I am definitely down to celebrate Sexy Christmas on the 28th! Haha!
My birthday is December 28th, so I am all for celebrating Sexy Christmas on the 28th! Haha!
Do I no longer trust my beloved AV Club? This was possibly the worst episode of any show ever. It was so terrible it seemed like the result of a writer’s room bet. I liked the show enough to get this far but this episode was a deal breaker for TL and Apple TV. Please tell me I don’t need to ditch AV Club too.
Oh man, body odor stories. Those visceral memories stick. (On topic but off -topic..) ….In our final primary year of Catholic school eight grade, us boys had to wear coats and ties in and un-air conditioned school. It could be absolutely sweltering and downright nasty with boys whose sweat glands were kicking in to overdrive. A kid who sat in front of me already had legendarily bad hygiene but it was now getting REALLY noticeable. Nice kid, but his family was poor and just didn’t teach, provide, or enforce (whatever) basic hygiene – both for his teeth and bathing in general. He also had to wear the same few dress he owned clothes over and over again. We came in from recess on a hot day and his BO gagged me out. With a great amount of fear I had to discreetly beg our bi-polar violent nun to intervene or I and (maybe others) were literally going to vomit at our desks. It was THAT bad – like Roy bad, but from a few feet away. He was such a nice guy too, and his older brother had been the school asshole bully, so his life probably sucked and you didn’t want him embarrassed any more than his condition was already doing, but some things cannot be physically ignored. To her credit she seemed to pull it off though. I think she asked him to “help her” with something because he was the biggest kid in the class and took him somewhere to clean him up somehow. Kudos to her.
Eight or so years later that all came flashing back at work when I was suddenly hit with the same rancid smell BUT WORSE. I was working in a department store and an even worse god-awful, literal vomit-inducing smell hit my counter area. I looked up and out in the main aisle a good twenty feet away was a 60-ish looking dirty, disheveled woman walking down the aisle with (her daughter?) and this woman was clearing the fucking store. You could she people just recoiling from the stench from all over. She paused to browse my department and I thought I was going to die. I closed myself behind my stockroom door so they couldn’t approach me. How her daughter could survive walking with her, or worse, riding in a car with her, was beyond me. It was the classmate situation on steroids.
Final one… my poor mother-in-law. This one really pissed me off. Sweet sweet lady, always hated “bothering” anyone for anything. She was suffering from a degenerative spine condition and was having a rough spell – but my father-in-law was supposedly handling her care. One night we get called to come over because she’s having a real problem. Turns out she’s been completely bed-ridden for a few days by then and nobody told anyone else. He’s been drinking the days away as his crisis response, so she hadn’t been bathed in days and was soiling her clothes and bed sheets and just laying in it all. She was so bad at that point she needed 9-11 and hospitalization, but the house was laid out with stairs such that you couldn’t get a gurney in and out of it, so I had to help the medics get her out of the house on a “Cleopatra”-like medic chair. Through all of her excruciating pain she was further mortified because she smelled so bad and people just couldn’t hide their reactions for that long when you had to be right on top of her. Absolutely mortifying and undeserved. Pops got a family come-to-Jesus meeting after that episode.
So the gag reflex is a real thing. I don’t know if it’s a natural defense mechanism to make us flee potentially dangerous conditions, but sometimes you just can’t stifle it. I felt terrible for his niece.