We wish we believed in Ted Lasso‘s new ‘ship as much as Ted Lasso does
A dramatic showdown with "Man City" humbles Richmond and brings Ted to a breakthrough
TV Reviews Ted Lasso
“Man City” is the eighth and final episode of Ted Lasso’s second season that was made available to critics ahead of the premiere, which means that it’s been nearly two months since I first experienced it. As I’ve noted before, I wrote my reviews one-by-one as I went through the screeners, stopping to settle my thoughts so that there was no point where my review was out of sync with you as readers. And outside of making some small adjustments to reflect conversation that’s happened in the comments, I’ve left those reviews as they were written, even though in editing them I’ve known where stories were headed.
I offer this preamble because I’ve thrown out much of the introduction to this review as it was originally written, as I wrote it from a place of anxiety that criticizing the nicest show on television would make me public enemy number one. I had no way of knowing at the time I wrote it that the internet would have exhausted itself hashing out the backlash to the backlash, and that we would have come out the other side in an environment where it feels safe to criticize Ted Lasso so long as you’re not doing so in absolutist, preemptive ways. And so rather than spending three paragraphs implicitly asking you not to yell at me, I feel we’ve reached a point of maturity in the Ted Lasso discourse that I can spend some time detailing how frustrated I am with Sam and Rebecca’s storyline in “Man City” without derailing the great conversations we’ve been having so far this season. Because while the episode overall does some good work to transition the show—and Ted especially—into the season’s third act, the resolution of the bantr storyline just didn’t work for me on any level.
To start with, let’s get it out of the way: Toheeb Jimoh and Hannah Waddingham are charismatic and skilled performers, and I understand the show’s argument that two hot adults who have forged an emotional connection on an anonymous dating app that apparently featured no filters regarding age should just go ahead and shag already. I also realized rewatching the first season over the summer that the seed of this is when Sam invited Rebecca to the burning ritual in “Two Aces,” and I’m not saying there’s not a pleasant energy to their interaction there. Additionally, while I may not necessarily be able to personally grapple with the idea of a 25-year age gap, I don’t think that Rebecca is a “pedophile” as she suggests, or that she was “grooming him” as she worries. And to be honest, while the show highlights the age gap—with Sam having to correct her that he’s actually 21, to put an exclamation point on it—that isn’t really as much of an issue for me as the messy workplace dynamics that the show briefly mentions but mostly ignores, although even there I think the show could make a decent argument for this.
But they haven’t, as I don’t have a clear grasp on what this story is trying to accomplish, or how it serves either characters. In particular, I struggle with how much Rebecca’s story arc this season has been reduced to her romantic life, outside of her “boss ass bitch” moment when dealing with Sam’s protest. Although Ted Lasso is ostensibly a workplace comedy, Rebecca has had almost no role whatsoever in the actual operations of this football club, which has robbed the character of the depth Waddingham spent last season developing. When she and Keeley were mentoring Nate in “Rainbow,” she talked about the stress of being the only woman at league ownership events, and it underlined how little her actual job has been a part of the season thus far. Whereas we’ve seen nearly every other character exhibiting a degree of work/life balance, Rebecca is regularly in her office but rarely doing any work, and this restricts the character’s goals and motivations to finding true love rather than intersecting those goals with her day-to-day involvement with the team. I realize that part of her story arc in the first season was learning to demand something more from a relationship after Rupert’s garbage, but this season this has been her entire story arc, and it serves neither her character nor the show well.
Additionally, I don’t really understand how it’s serving Sam, either. Although the Dubai Air protest elevated him out of the ensemble, the show has never fully anchored us in Sam’s perspective, and that becomes an issue as they rush forward into this story. The show positions his confidence with Rebecca as a consequence of the news his protest of Cerithium Oil led to their departure from Nigeria (which confirms that there were somehow only positive consequences from his actions), and admittedly an Isaac haircut does seem like it would be transformational in this respect. However, I struggle to reconcile a player who has always seemed very careful not to ruffle feathers with someone who is in no way freaked out by the idea he has matched with the team’s owner on a dating app. “Man City” acts as though it’s paying off an arc of growth for Sam, but that arc wasn’t a legible part of the season, and his sudden transformation into a romance novel character who’s on Rebecca’s doorstep when she decides to go see him feels forced.
In other words, I don’t necessarily think that the idea of Sam and Rebecca in a relationship is an inherently bad one, but the show has failed to put the pieces into place for it to work, and in the case of Rebecca the show didn’t do enough to integrate such a story into the workplace dynamics that define the rest of the show. Even if I account for the fact I am probably on average 30% more resistant to relationship storylines in sitcoms than an average person on account of my base cynicism levels, the dots aren’t connecting here. Jimoh and Waddingham do their level best to sell it, but I’m struggling with how these two anonymously connecting over a dating app plays out as an earnest love story about how Rebecca owes it to herself to try dating her employee.
Now, as always, I can’t speak in absolutes: perhaps something in the next four episodes will convince me that this storyline works better than it is right now. But at this moment, it simultaneously distracted from the work being done in this episode and highlighted some ongoing concerns about the show’s character arcs, which feels like a pretty significant misstep. Whereas my past concerns around Sam’s protest or how the show has handled Nate’s heel turn felt somewhat insulated from the rest of the show, this is a more foundational concern, even if I acknowledge that I would be even more confounded if they had paired Rebecca and Ted as some predicted (and hoped for).
Despite these reservations hanging over the proceedings, the rest of “Man City” fares better, albeit within the very well-tread theme of “Daddy Issues.” Higgins—who I was admonished for not highlighting last week, but is always a highlight—jokes about how they should write songs about fathers and sons, but you could tell the same joke about TV shows, which regularly use the kind of conflict Jamie has with his father as a shorthand for any character’s insecurities. The elder James Tartt is a right git, to be clear: we saw that at the end of last season and it lingered in our minds much as it has in Ted’s, given he thought about it right before his most recent panic attack. Jamie admitted to Ted it was the reason he abandoned Man City to film a reality show, but the show bypassed the story during its Christmas episode (the most logical time Jamie would have been with his family), and for the most part the show has suggested Jamie was adjusting well in his return to Richmond. But this changes when his Dad starts bugging him about tickets to the team’s FA Cup Semi-Final against his former club, and it comes to a head in the locker room after Richmond’s embarrassing defeat. Based on his jeering in the stands during the game, it’s not shocking that Jamie’s father is horrible to him, or that Jamie decks him, but it’s alarming to see it happen in such a public fashion, and it clearly impacts those in the locker room whose own relationships with fatherhood are currently front of mind.
One of these men is Roy Kent, who uncharacteristically moves forward to embrace Jamie in the wake of the altercation, and allows his former nemesis to cry into his shoulder. Coming off of a failure to communicate with Keeley, Roy is still very much someone who prefers not to express his feelings, as we see when he and Beard express their mutual appreciation that they don’t even need to speak to reject Keeley’s endorsement opportunity. But when he’s called away to Phoebe’s school and learns his swearing is rubbing off on her, he is faced with the fact that he is her father figure. Her father might be alive—”a living piece of shit,” specifically—but he isn’t part of Phoebe’s life, and throughout the season we’ve seen how much Roy has been taking on the responsibility of not just being her uncle, but rather stepping in as a full-time parent when her mother is busy at work. The image of Roy Kent in a child’s chair is a purposefully comic one, but it reinforces that it’s a space where he is uncomfortable, and yet he has never once hesitated doing what was necessary to support Phoebe. It’s echoed in the way he steps in with Jamie, as he’s channeling his evolving understanding of that relationship into his coaching. He’s not going to suddenly try to be a father figure to Jamie, but he knows enough to realize what he needs in that moment, and it’s a reminder that for all his consternation he is very willing and able to modulate his emotions when a moment truly requires it.
The other person who reacts to this moment is, of course, Ted himself, and it leads to the therapy breakthrough Dr. Fieldstone was waiting for. This episode technically begins with Dr. Fieldstone, but it doesn’t really become a character study for her: we hear her teletherapy session with her own therapist, and learn how she uses her intelligence to deflect much as Ted uses humor, but her cycling accident is mostly an excuse for the relationship between therapist and patient to break down enough for Ted to be comfortable opening up to her when he was ready to do so. What glimpses we get of Dr. Fieldstone’s life are mostly there for Ted’s benefit, as her vulnerability regarding her accident gives him the space he needs to realize someone needs to understand the fear lying at the heart of his mental health struggles. And so after Jamie’s altercation with his father, Ted heads outside Wembley Stadium to call Sharon and tell her that while he’s not sure if it might explain what he’s going through, she should know that his father died by suicide when he was 16.
It’s a devastating revelation—albeit one that many of you predicted in the comments over the course of the season, forcing me to bite my tongue—that both lines up with Ted’s ongoing struggles and adds new layers to some of the show’s most pivotal moments. We knew Ted had lost his father when he was 16 because he talks about it in his “Darts” speech in season one, which now carries much more weight when you realize how the circumstances of his father’s death reshape their father-son rituals. Rewatching that scene knowing what we know now is heartbreaking, as he’s tapping into so much pain in the interest of helping a friend, hiding the truth of his memories as part of an ongoing effort to survive. His concerns over abandoning his son also take on a different meaning, and his belief that “bottling things up” could be healthy now seems especially self-destructive given what he knows his own father went through. We still don’t have all the details of his father’s death, and it’s possible that we won’t get them, but it speaks to the show’s skill at portraying Ted’s demons that this doesn’t read as a “shocking reveal”: it rather gives specific meaning to things we’ve already understood, and which Sudeikis has portrayed so expertly.
The FA Cup semi-final in “Man City” isn’t the moment of triumph that AFC Richmond wanted it to be: they lose badly, and in the process lose momentum as they go back to their regular season to try to get promoted back to the Premier League. And unfortunately, when it comes to Sam and Rebecca, I struggled to accept “Man City” as the triumphant romcom moment that the writers imagined it to be, either. However, while it may not have sold me on that development, the episode nonetheless reinforced that the season continues to find purpose in a nuanced exploration of what lies underneath Ted’s positivity, and I can only hope that the strengths in those areas of the season will either rub off on the romance I don’t buy or else continue to offset it as it (mostly) does here.
Stray observations
- Curious how people are feeling about these extra-long episodes: this is basically an hour-long episode of television by any standards, and while it mostly works, rewatching it before this review did feel like it dragged a touch for me.
- The show made good use of having access to Wembley Stadium during the most recent FA Cup, although the best thing to come out of that filming experience was still definitely this news reporter who thought the actors from the show were regular people and that Dani Rojas was in fact an actual footballer.
- I was distressed to find Nate facing no consequences for his actions at the end of last week’s episode, and even getting endorsement opportunities, but I have trust that the show will get there eventually. It was notable that despite the fact he just threatened Will, his “disclosure” after Ted opens up about his panic attacks to the coaching staff is just about how he pretends to think up ideas on the fly, which is hardly on the same level as what the other coaches share. But then you have Roy congratulating him for getting a yellow card for lashing out at the ref, so it’s real mixed signals and does need to be addressed before too long.
- I know why the show skipped over so many games in the season, but I wish they’d release sideline footage of Beard on mushrooms as a bonus episode.
- In this week’s “Adventures in Music Licensing with Apple $$,” the show paid for like 30 seconds of “Don’t Look Back in Anger” to transition into Rebecca and Sam’s final scene, before then shelling out for “Somewhere Only We Know” for the scene itself. The sheer excess of their music licensing remains a wonder.
- It’s possible this will be more clear in the released version of the episode, but when Sharon asks how Ted knew she was in the hospital, the suggestion is that Voice Notes are somehow responsible? Is the argument that the medical staff found her phone, and noticed she was recording voice notes about Ted, and so they called him? I didn’t follow that logic, as much as I appreciated Sarah Niles’ take on “Tonight.”
- I wasn’t sure what to take away from the fact Sharon is a rage cyclist who, after yelling at someone to mind their dog, insulted their sweater. Struck me as a bit aggro.
- It feels a little suspect that Sam would be caught off guard by his father’s news about Cerithium Oil. I wish they had done more to thread that ongoing story into the season so it would be clear that Sam only missed the news because he was busy with training, and not—as it risks seeming—that he wasn’t paying much attention between now and when the story happened.
- Between his Santa suit and his haircutting outfit, Isaac’s fits are really shining this season.
- “So we all just stand here?”—Jan, continuing to get good mileage out of “Dutch people are unfailingly honest” as a sole character trait. I know some of you in the comments have disagreed, but I think they’ve used him effectively.
- Dani Rojas isn’t using his Isaac haircut until he gets married, or when he gets circumcised.
- I won’t pretend I didn’t learn something about Wembley Stadium’s pitch from Ted learning about its history. Sometimes I don’t relate to his befuddlement, but the idea pitches are different sizes really is wacky as all heck.
- “You’re all fancy now, drinking tea?”—it’s telling that despite the mushrooms, this was the part of Beard’s story that hurt Ted the most.
- The announcers made a big deal about how the loss must be most devastating for Jamie, but it was strange that we saw so little of him during the game, such that I didn’t really feel that narrative registered. That said, I saw this episode with the semi-final in a very early state without finished visual effects—and a Wembley Stadium scoreboard that said 4-0 before the match even started, which sort of spoiled it—so maybe the finished version registers that better.
188 Comments
You say that you aren’t sure how the Rebecca/Sam storyline serves either character, but it seems to me like we’re building to a point where Rebecca has to choose between Sam and Cerithium Oil. The actor on the other end of the phone at CO is a known quantity given his work on Fleabag, so I’m certain he’ll appear again, but more importantly it was precisely the firing of CO that introduced Bantr into the series. CO is literally the spark behind Sam and Rebecca’s relationship, so if finances start to get tight (following a 5-nil loss to Man City, perhaps) then Rebecca might have to return to that well.I do think that Rebecca’s apparent lack of business action on-screen is deliberate – she’s become swept up in the possibility of romance, and the reality of managing a struggling football club is going to come back and crush her late in the game. All the pieces are there, they just haven’t come together yet.
This is a solid theory, and I’ll be happy if it comes back to it. I’m definitely in disagreement with Myles that the overarching football stakes are super-important, but having it come back to haunt a specific character relationship would justify it.
Okay, so we’re now at the point where I can speculate with y’all, unlike before where I always knew whether or not I was right about something (like when people were like “why are you so focused on Nate being a jerk, I don’t see it?”).As always, it’s POSSIBLE the story comes full circle, but I don’t know how the show would justify it given what we know. The fact that they didn’t even bother to resolve the original crisis onscreen means that reintroducing it seems narratively impossible, as there hasn’t even been a sniff of any management challenges in the following five episodes.In some ways, my confidence that the show has no desire to return to that story is in some ways a compliment to the show, because I feel like they would have been more purposeful at creating meaningful runway for that story if it was one they intended to tell. If they suddenly reintroduce Cerithium Oil as a deus ex machina at the end of the season, that would be inconsistent with how the show has tended to tell stories, and not in a good way.
The financial drama adds some stakes to the promotion battle – if Rebecca tells C. Oil to take a hike, they may really, really need that 200M pound promotion payment.I assume that the promotion battle will have the Greyhounds winning a nailbiter to get the #6 spot, and then winning the playoff.
But she already told them to take a hike, and it has had seemingly no impact on the bottom line?As I say, I feel like the show is the type that would be laying breadcrumbs—Higgins getting consistently anxious over finances, signs Rebecca’s own finances are a struggle, talk of lower ticket sales, etc.—if this was a story they desired to tell. The fact is that they chose not to tell this story the second they swept the change in sponsors under the rug between episodes (Lawrence explained it to me on Twitter as “Keeley worked her magic” which again shifts the story away from the grounded reality we’re implying here).
Why oh why are you sooo focused on the CO sponsorship of the team? Sponsors come and go.
did you long for an episode that showed Sam Malone doing the books at Cheers? (although Norm probably did them) Or watching Monica actually bake and cater a party? Or Chandler do some “number transponding” Or what Barney really did on HIMYM?
its a sitcom and mundane details are not important until they become needed for a bit of plot drama.
and it’s already been stated that the Christmas episode was an addition after the season had been shot, so any hiccups in character thrulines are more than excused.
Sorry, rant over. except that it seems that the OP is more hung up that the show isn’t doing what they want rather than talking about what they actually are doing.
Yeah, this continual obsession with the details of the sponsorship structure for the team is totally baffling.
did you long for an episode that showed Sam Malone doing the books at Cheers? (although Norm probably did them)Season 2 Episode 14
Fair. In real life, they’d be getting a big parachute payment from the Premier League for the first year anyway. I think “Championship revenues and Premier payroll” being a problem – having been introduced once already, could be re-visited as they approach season end. They could mention that losing the sponsor made it tighter than expected.
“C. Oil to take a hike, they may really, really need that 200M pound promotion payment.”
Cerithrium Oil is not affiliated with AFC Richmond anymore. Have you not noticed the new logo on the font of the fucking kits?
The fact that they didn’t even bother to resolve the original crisis onscreen means that reintroducing it seems narratively impossible, as there hasn’t even been a sniff of any management challenges in the following five episodes.That may be part of the plan? Considering how Ted was super positive, alway peppy from the start, only developing cracks and starting to fall apart as we went, it fits thematically.Rebecca comes around to caring about the team and players, over business. She sides with the players over the protest. Everyone moves forward as if it doesn’t matter and is treated as such by not being part of the narrative. My guess would be, these things start to come to a head.Consider the high probability that the guy responsible for the Dubai Air/CO protest (Sam) was very likely photographed kissing the owner of the team he plays for in the open doorway of her flat. The same owner that backed his protest and it makes for huge repercussions. It would make sense that the tabloids were following Sam either at the behest of Dubai Air or just in general due to being the Richmond face of the protest.
I’m with you – I feel like, even if the show attempts to circle back and say, “Oh, no wait, here are the consequences,” it’s going to feel like an afterthought. We’ve already seen them immediately pick up a new sponsor and Cerithium Oil get kicked out of Nigeria (both of which are “blink and you miss it” moments). So to make that become the central conflict rather than the boss-employee dynamic would be a bit strange at this point.
I think that Higgins will eventually step in and take everyone down a notch with some reality. He’s been the only one to really react and show understanding of the financial situation they are in, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out the running joke about his “office” was somehow related to the financial situation. I think a payoff is coming, and Rebecca will be called to task for taking her eyes off the ball. So she’ll really have to be a boss ass bitch and let some of these folks go, including Sam. And Nate as well, who I’m sure will demand some sort of raise/promotion and will then be shown the door. I’m probably wrong about the details, but I think the financial situation and Rebecca’s rom-com storyline are going to be addressed together. And I have faith that the payoff will be great.
I guess to me it would be so easy to show us Higgins’ growing anxiety: we know he gets hiccups when he’s in a compromised position, and the show even went through the ceremony here of having him reveal something compromising during the coaches meeting before the game. But he talked about the transfer window, not anything else, and so it feels like if this was a recurring issue we would have heard SOMETHING of it other than that brief conversation in the third episode.
That they brought up the CO conflict in the same episode that Sam and Rebecca find out that they’re each other’s very hot soulmates does make me think that they’re specifically tying the two plot points together. CO pulling out of Nigeria seems like a “too good to be true” fairytale ending, even for Ted Lasso, which is what makes me think that the shoe is going to drop soon. Rebecca having to choose between Sam’s integrity (which she is now getting an up close and personal look at) and the bottom line would be an interesting conundrum. (That said, I’d be surprised if TL didn’t want to keep Timoh around for the third season; he’s one of the best parts of the show.)
like a “too good to be true” fairytale endingThings move surprisingly in the real world as well. This was over a month ago:
100 percent this.
Heh see.No football club in the Championship would predict finances based on winning the FA Cup semi against the Premier League champions.It might make sense in Rebecca ignoring the finances of the club but I’ve never sensed she’s actually incompetent.Love blinds, right?
I think Rebecca’s lack of business action is typical of sitcoms where characters are at work, but barely actually work. I don’t expect any of that to be some key plot thread in the future.
I
do think that Rebecca’s apparent lack of business action on-screen is
deliberate – she’s become swept up in the possibility of romance, and
the reality of managing a struggling football club is going to come back
and crush her late in the game. All the pieces are there, they just
haven’t come together yet.I really doubt this. The sponsorship protest happened before Christmas, which means it happened before the winter transfer window. Transfers are an incredibly normal part of soccer and the main way clubs trim their budgets, and it would’ve been incredibly easy to have Rebecca have to sell a player in January because of the revenue loss even if she didn’t want it to be Sam.Flash forward, and we’re at the FA semi-finals, which happen in mid-April. Richmond will only have ~4 matches left in the season and it’s unlikely that their table position will change much. With 4 episodes left in the season and the playoffs meaning two more potential matches than finishing 1-2 and >=7, they’ll have to jump from Richmond finally having more wins than losses to being at/near the top of the table with nobody having mentioned it, or be out of reach, at which point the club would be looking at its next years’ budget including reduced parachute payments and needing to reduce the wage bill no matter what happens with sponsorship, and players would start running for the exits, because players who are good enough to play in the Prem (and get Prem wages) do not generally want to play lower-division football for lower-division wages.A newly relegated club is a fundamentally unstable scenario, and while it’s possible the show will start to acknowledge that, the fact that we’ve gotten this far into the season without more than offhand mention at the ownership level suggests otherwise.
If I had to guess, I’d say Sam will transfer to another team and will be dating Rebecca without the employer/employee conflict of interest, and Richmond will get its wealthy sponsor back.
Not only this, but might it look bad for Rebecca to be romantically involved with the guy who sparked the protest against Cerithium?
“Rebecca has to choose between Sam and Cerithium Oil.”
Did you miss every episode since Sam made his protest?
I mean, fucking hell, do ANY of you motherfuckers WATCH THE GOD DAMN SHOW?
I was a-ok with the length, because it gave us a ton of space to move almost all the storylines forward, which I’ve felt have advanced more piecemeal than last season (which at this point is my only major gripe with S2.) I especially like that we finally got stuff from Sharon that allowed the actress to show some range to the character, and offered a plausible way to get Ted to where he needed to go. Having his father die by suicide seemed a little unnecessarily dramatic to me (the darts scene works totally fine with understanding Ted lost his father young, and that alone can explain his outlook, you don’t need to layer on the additional tragedy for the character to make sense.) The length also allowed for a lot of team moments that breathe and make the swift and brutal loss hit much harder. I saw Colin getting choked by the hilariously-light bench press a second time from a mile away, but the show did such a good job at it I still laughed, and I loved that they had the new kitman participating in and being accepted in the barber ritual. It was nice to have Roy realize that his constant swearing does actually have an impact, while also immediately shooting down his own insecurities that he’s poisoning Phoebe. Basically the only plotline that didn’t get much push was Nate, but I’m hopeful the lingering reaction shot on him during Tart’s dad confrontation means he’s inspired to rethink his own relationship with his father.Also, there are people who are upset that this show, ostensibly about football, doesn’t feature much football, so are you happy now? 😛 This was actually the first episode I found the licensed music distracting, considering they go through so much of it and there were one or two points I thought a more subtle and bespoke score would have worked better than a needle drop. I really like Marcus Mumford’s music for the series, let him put in the work!I don’t think Rebecca and Sam’s relationship is a good idea at all (while I think much of the current concern about power dynamics in relationships is well-meaning overcompensation, “don’t date your underlings/your boss” seems to be a pretty solid line to not cross) but I also don’t have an issue with how they’ve sold it in terms of the characters. Best case scenario is they end it amicably after a short period, I think. No matter how much an old soul Sam clearly is, being more than twice as old as your partner (assuming Rebecca is 47 like Waddingham is) is I think a gap that really doesn’t work out long term.Final thought: Jamie should use his one haircut from Macadoo to get rid of whatever the hell is going on with his head. Every damn time the character is on screen I can’t figure out what that trainwreck is supposed to be.
I think that Jamie’s hair is modeled on what’s going on with Jack Grealish. It’s a dumb hairstyle.
I kind of wish the Jamie and Roy hug scene had not had music.
It was a George Harrison song, though.
He’s always wearing a headband when he plays / is in uniform, which I don’t think helps his hairstyle.
You should know that season 1 ran 10 episodes long, and that season 2 will run 12.
Was wondering just the other day if we were gonna see Jamie’s dad at the game since Man City seems to be his team. Well, I take no pleasure in being right about that.
Props to the guy who plays Mr. Tartt I guess, because I felt sick to my stomach the moment he entered the locker room. It only goes to show that however nice Higgins’ advice about forgiving and accepting his father’s shortcomings sounds, it absolutely does not apply to Jamie. That punch (and the heartbreaking reaction after it) was a painful release that has been waiting to happen for a good while probably. Still a shock, at least to me (but hey, I’m a sexy, lil emotional baby, so…)
That scene, the hug and then Ted calling Sharon was such a back to back punch in the gut I have no idea how the next episode is gonna react to any of it. These moments are also what would lift the episode into A territory for me personally, but it may also be because I am relatively indifferent about Sam and Rebecca. Not the characters (I love them both) but the storyline itself.
The next episode follows Beard on his night out while shaking off the Man City defeat. I think it will be a stand alone episode like the Christmas episode.
oh, that sounds cool! well, then the episode after that.
I had a scary thought that Tartt Sr. and his crew were going to jump him. They’re exactly the hooligans to try something like that, especially after Beard tossed him out. Whenever a character “goes off on their own” like that, gah, I get a bad feeling. This description makes me feel better, though. I love Coach Beard.
Nah, I think the next episode will be us watching Beard on mushrooms, having his Alice in Wonderland moment. I’m guessing this is the second of the episodes they had to put in after getting the 12-ep order.
I thought you were joking/spitballing until I saw that, yep, that’s exactly what the next episode is. I’m slightly worried about that one, because Beard has always felt like a character that works so well because we get him in small doses. I worry it would be like what would have happened if The Office had done an episode centered on Creed.
This is definitely something that Brendan Hunt seems to understand about the character based on what he has said in interviews, so I feel pretty confident that they won’t give away too much of his story and destroy the mystery that is part of what makes him such an appealing character. But at the same time he is such a cypher that we need some more details so that he seems less like a collection of weird tics assembled into the body of an assistant coach.
Yeah, I think it will be OK, too. The show is rightly recognizing that there needs to be a little work done in the Beard department to get to where it’s going. There is an inevitable Beard and Ted moment that has to happen in the upcoming episodes, and I think we need this next episode focused on Beard to get to it. In season 1, there was that great scene where Beard finally snaps and yells at Ted because it is about winning. There was an incomplete resolution to that, and while the show isn’t a “sports show,” there is still a tension between the kind of leader Ted envisions himself to be and the results of that leadership. Ted is now in conflict with the other 3 members of his coaching staff, even if he doesn’t know it, and he hasn’t been managing his staff well. Roy, Nate, and Beard all know the game better and take it more seriously than Ted, and that isn’t sustainable. That intervention has to come from Beard, and for it to be successful, I think the audience needs a bit more of Beard to understand his loyalty to Ted and what makes him work.
I don’t think it’s coincidental that Ted’s repeated response throughout the game was “That’s OK!,” which stood in contrast to the other coaches’ reaction. And while it’s cute for American audiences, I can see Beard becoming frustrated that Ted hasn’t shown much interest in wanting to master the rules.
I don’t think it’s coincidental that Ted’s repeated response throughout the game was “That’s OK!,” which stood in contrast to the other coaches’ reaction. And while it’s cute for American audiences, I can see Beard becoming frustrated that Ted hasn’t shown much interest in wanting to master the rules.
I don’t think it’s coincidental that Ted’s repeated response throughout the game was “That’s OK!,” which stood in contrast to the other coaches’ reaction. And while it’s cute for American audiences, I can see Beard becoming frustrated that Ted hasn’t shown much interest in wanting to master the rules.
Well, if you would like a sneak peek (spoilers): https://www.reddit.com/r/TedLasso/comments/po8key/sneak_peak_of_s02e09_spoilers_courtesy_of_apple/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
It will be Coach Beard hooligining (word?) his way across London.
Kieran O’Brien is a terrific actor and I think he really nails the shitty/abusive dad vibe without going full caricature.I can’t tell if the makeup crew is working overtime to make him extra grizzled but he looks like he’s aged 50 years in the 20 years since Band of Brothers.
After the brief glimpse we got in S1, I assumed we were just gonna’ get raging asshole Tart dad, but the reality is much more plausible and much, much worse at the same time. His deliberate provocations immediately followed by the “it’s a prank, bro” defense is such a smarmy and inspired move for the character. Really does sell Jamie’s estimation that he’s a dick at anything it’s possible to be a dick at.
I have to say, I spent most of that locker-room scene wondering why everyone was allowing it to happen. I guess (we now know in more detail) Ted’s got his father-issues stuff, but I would expect Beard to tell Tartt Sr. “time for you to go” much, much earlier.
I read it as they were ready to step in but also trying to respect Jamie and give him his own space to handle it.
I think I’d be willing to get on board with the Rebecca/Sam thing and ignore the giant issues with the pairing (I don’t care that much about age gaps generally but 21 is extremely young) if the actors had really exceptional chemistry, because that helps to smooth over writing issues all the time, but imo they just don’t. They’re both very charming separately, but their scenes together just didn’t work for me at all.
Some of the usual issues with big age gaps are addressed by how they get together – “how can they really relate/talk to each other/etc with such different backgrounds” is answered by “they’ve been talking for months, so that must work.” But, there’s still power imbalance, and as you say, the actors still need to sell it.
The thing that I can’t stop thinking about is how this Sam/Rebecca thing reads more like some writer wanted to subvert the whole “Cary Grant Romance” cliche by having an older woman and a much younger man get together.Plus, you do get a lot of Mary Kay Letourneau vibes when Sam admits he’s only 21. Even as a guy, I’m only older than Hannah Waddingham by a couple of years and the idea of even considering trying to date a 21 year old (assuming a different multiverse where I’m not married with kids) gives me the screaming heebie jeebies.
My wife (51) was completely squicked out by the age gap which surprised me a bit. The employment aspect is a much bigger concern for me.
It’s not helped by the fact that Sam’s entire Season 1 arc was that he’s a very young kid away from home for the first time. We see his 21st birthday celebration. We see his homesickness. Like you, I think that better chemistry would help things and I love both actors separately. But together it’s not working for me (but I admit to being particularly reactive to boss/employee pairings that are clearly fraught). I don’t know how I would rather have had their meetup/realization play out, but it wasn’t what I saw last night. I have to trust that the writers have something more complex and nuanced in store for the backstretch of the season. I really, really hope they do. I also really did like Myles explanation of what is so disappointing about the overall Sam/Rebecca storyline. It’s not that I don’t like Sam, it’s that this arc has dominated Rebecca’s season in a disappointing way. The series does a great job of exploring masculinity, but it hasn’t done a similarly good job of exploring what it’s like to be a woman in a male-dominated field. I really wanted to see Rebecca navigating ownership and taking her duties seriously this season after last season’s sabotage. We haven’t gotten that, and as a result Rebecca has felt frustratingly one-note to me. The only focus for her character has been on finding love, and that is so so so tired.
Idk if you live in the UK or not, but here bike lanes are sacred. And pedestrians who don’t respect them get an Oi! So the moment Sharon screams at the guy and his dog looked accurate (and normal) to me.And Jan character’s dry and direct approach are really genuine, but that’s expected as Brendan Hunt lived in Amsterdam for some time 🙂
I wonder sometimes what the writers are thinking when they decide the outcomes of the matches. What was the point of Richmond suffering a 5-0 thrashing? Why not a 3-2 squeaker loss?
I pretty much think they are playing the long game with the 3-season arc they’ve set up from the beginning and Ted laid out in the s1 finale. Man City is their Goliath – they lost to them to get relegated and now the FA Cup semi-final and in S3 when they are in the Premiere League, they’re finally going to beat Man City to become champions. Man City’s own history is what’s probably inspiring AFC Richmond – they got relegated several times, even made it down to the third league and now they’re champions (though in their case, they do need that sweet sweet oil money to get there…).
Is the next series going to cover multiple seasons in that case? Because it’s pretty much impossible for them to get promoted this season if their current form continues (and even if they started winning, to be honest), and the idea of a newly promoted team winning the Premiership in their first season back is pretty much unheard of (Leicester not withstanding).
I think the logical storyline goes they enter the promotion playoffs but fall short and end up fourth this yr and then win the championship title next season. So same as Leeds
Maybe the Brazilian player Higgins failed to sign is like Messi or Ronaldo in an undiscovered potential and gets them to the form they desperately need, who knows. As much as the realistic chances of them indeed winning the whole fucking thing are slim to none, per rom-communism guidelines, they’re in their dark forest now and good things will happen one way or another… So let’s see (maybe they were Juventus all along, getting relegated then coming to winning the whole thing after a huge scandal)
I mean given how Man City has played under Pep Guardiola that scoreline is 100% true to life.
The simple answer is that, dramatically, the cliche outcome would be a squeaker loss. Having them go out and just get worked seemed to me to be a bit more realistic and more welcome, but YMMV.
And they already did it with Manchester City last year (of course even with home field advantage it seems kind of ridiculous a Richmond with “two aces” loses far worse than they did against the same team last year, but I get the dramatic point.)
I feel like it’s easier to have Jamie’s dad come into the locker room talking smack after a drubbing, rather than a nail biter. And the fact of the matter is, in all likelihood, a side like Man City probably WOULD crush a relegated team like Richmond more often than not.
The 5-0 thrashing was the most realistic football featured on the show so far, given the way Lasso coaches. His ignorance of the game is hilarious, but also, these should be the results of that.
Yup. I think the point was to show us the limits of Lasso’s “I don’t care so much about wins and losses” coaching style.
I think the arc of the series is Ted realizing he has to change to become a better coach, that his approach has its limits and he needs to evolve it to serve his team. Giving him and the team a humiliating loss is making him face the truth.
An (at best) mid-table Championship team should expect to get thrashed by the defending Premiership champions. Shit, City just beat Chelsea 4-0 last month in the 3rd round (at home, and Chelsea aren’t great this year, but still).They were punching way above their weight.
As much as I enjoy Scrubs, it had a tendency to get bogged down in go-nowhere relationship drama that accomplished little more than padding out the storylines. “Can Elliot get over herself enough to date a male nurse?…Yes, but a couple of weeks later she’ll dump him because Ricky Schroder’s guest spot* was only supposed to be for five episodes and also his character is too controlling or something.” This is hardly uncommon in sitcoms, but it feels especially egregious with Scrubs because the relationship drama—when it’s not tiredly rehashing the JD/Elliot will they/won’t they—always feels like it exists solely to give the characters something to do outside of the hospital. Heck, even the Janitor gets a romantic subplot (and married! in the Bahamas!) at the end there.Which is all to say that, as another Bill Lawrence sitcom, I hope Ted Lasso doesn’t fall into the same pattern. Is the relationship with Sam meant to reveal something new about Rebecca’s character, or is it, as Myles implies, just meant to give Rebecca something to do this season because the writers are stymied by her after her season one “face”-“turn”? And it’s not is if it’s hard to imagine her having something else to do. Rebecca is still the owner of the team, and there’s a lot of potential (well-intentioned) conflict there regarding relegation and the team’s finances, but the show seems uninterested in Rebecca even coming close to playing the “bad” guy again. *Maybe a bad example because Rick Schroder is an asshole and I was happy to see him go.
Not sure if it’s been mentioned but I assume the voice notes are on WhatsApp where people can send voice recordings to each other instead of typing them out. On the topic of Sam and Rebecca, it seems the age difference might be playing off societal expectations that an older man younger woman pairing is acceptable if cliched (Rupert and becks) but the vice versa is not. Agreed that I don’t think they laid the ground work for it but it doesn’t seem like it’ll be a long term thing. Lastly as a football fan I do often get frustrated with everything from some of the commentary (a La « ties »), to the camera work showing everything on the pitch as either spectacular or horrendous, to even the underlying story line of sinking an EPL club instead of just selling to a wealthy foreign backer BUT props to the team on the Wembley scenes. To convey the majesty and the sense of occasion around playing at Wembley in FA cup was well handled. Now if they can only build in some urgency around getting promoted since they’re probably bleeding cash even with the parachute payments.
The scene of them on the Wembley pitch was such a good way to impress on non-football fans just what that stadium means.
That was well done. And, as they trotted out, I completely called Ted trying to do the Hoosiers speech, and the immediate rejoinders.
It’s certainly a special place that holds a lot of fond memories! 😉
I just wish someone involved with the show would point out that you wouldn’t have two teams on the pitch in blue shirts and white shorts. That’s twice now over the two seasons.
No mention of Dr. Fieldstone’s implied drinking problem, or did I misread that moment?
I don’t think you did, as I thought the same thing.
Ted clocks it. But then again, he’s also regularly seen with a drink in his hand.
Other than the couple of times he’s been at a low point and is drinking alone at home, it just seems like Ted (and Coach Beard) have acclimatised quickly to British pub culture. There was a reddit post doing the rounds the other day where an American was confused that drinking was portrayed as such a large part of life in British media, but pubs really are social hubs in the UK so Ted’s behaviour tracks for me. We’ve never seen Ted absolutely hammered after a night in the pub, he just seems to have a couple with dinner a few nights a week while socialising with his work colleagues, he might have an alcohol problem in the sense that he abuses it when going through a rough time but I don’t get the impression that he is a (functioning) alcoholic at all.
Yeah, I had the same thought. Also occurs to me that they’re calling attention to her super-solitary lifestyle, that she hasn’t had any motivation to move the empties off the counter, however long they’ve been sitting there
I read that too, and I’m not totally sure it’s meant to imply a drinking problem. Maybe I just get annoyed by the way the presence of a bottle of liquor is supposed to imply a drinking problem sometimes, but I think her moving it can also be read as just fear of projecting anything other than an infallible image. Similarly I think its presence can be read as telling the viewer she’s a real person, not a robot.Separately, I don’t know what to make of Ted’s drinking. I know many speculate that the show’s setting up Ted as having a drinking problem, but his drinking has always read a bit more natural to me. We’ve seen him drinking alone as a sign he’s incredibly stressed or lonely (i.e., Everton, Christmas), but otherwise just having a beer in his hand at the pub. Could go either way.
I’m with you on Ted, yeah. Re: Fieldstone, I’d have to go back and rewatch, but I thought it was *several* empty bottles, not just one (plus, as another commenter noted above, the way Ted reacted to it without trying to SEEM like he was reacting to it lest he embarrass her).
I agree with you here. It felt like an anvil drop.
Yeah, I thought we learned a lot about Doc in those few brief moments in her house. She may not have a drinking problem (though four empty bottles on the counter would suggest she does . . . unless she also makes those wine bottle lights in her spare time) but considering we see her with a drink while she knows she has a concussion, I’m leaning to yes. And I think it’s due more to her being solitary than anything else (although maybe she’s also got some deep-seated pain that she’s self-medicating) – I know when I used to live alone (blissfully, wonderfully alone) it was so easy to have a glass of wine while I was cooking dinner, and then another glass of wine while I was eating dinner, and then another glass of wine while I was watching tv . . .
Last year I felt like Ted Lasso was the show we needed in that moment. Its escapist fantasy and humor gave us a dose of heartwarming reassurance that the world was actually full of good natured people that could support each other. It allowed us to ignore the trauma that we were all facing and provide us a sense of relief. This year, I feel even more so that Ted Lasso is the exact show that we need now. Ted is showing us us that even though we can ignore, or adjust or overcompensate for the trauma and pain we have felt, it will always come back us, and will affect those around us. Our collective trauma, while still ongoing, is something that we collectively, and individually need to talk about and deal with – and I feel for the most part – we haven’t, and frankly we might not be able to for a generation. I feel the same about Rebecca and Sam’s relationship. There is this honeymoon period where everything seems perfect and escapist – reminiscent of last season. I imagine that in the four final episodes though, we will see a choice to be made on Rebecca’s part – and I am assuming that it will have to do with choosing between Sam and Cerithium Oil. She will have to make a choice between living in this idealized bubble and living in the real world. I think this is a choice that we are face with at this moment. We can find ourselves surrounding ourselves with friends, family and lighthearted tv that gives us this sense of security and needed escapism to the world around us that gives us a certain romance about life. The reality is that the world is slowly eroding, and there is so much complication and fear around us that we all need to deal with. I think it’s an apt metaphor for what each and everyone of us will and are facing: the fantasy or the reality – and ultimately the reality will always win, as much as we dont want it to.I think we see the same in Jamie. He reckons with his anger and fear and he ends up feeling scared and alone, wanting and needing to be held. The rest of the team looks on not sure how to react, while one individual holds him. We all long for that – and we have a small support system to help us work through things – big and little – while foor the most part none of us really know what to do or how to help each other to make our current reality any better.We briefly see this with Coach Beard. We see him come out of the locker room in slight distress and he subtly reaches out to to Ted in a time of need. Ted dealing with own fears of abandonment and his potential abandonment of his son, may not realize Beard needs his support – or is unable to give it – and Beard walks off alone. Today, we are all trying to figure things out, and it’s scary and alienating, and we don’t know how we will get through it. Finally, maybe we even see this is in Dr. Sharon. She can’t always be this strong, stoic person to get through to everyone, she needs to let her guard down to reach Ted – but even she faces her own demons in this time of uncertainty, that she’s dealing with the. She is perhaps the rock of this show – being there for Ted, but as evidenced by the alcohol and the solitary loneliness of her sterile apartment, she doesn’t have the answers and she seems to be trying her best – but she is dealing with own demons too. While I didn’t love every piece of dialog, or some of Ted’s grating deflections, I feel that this episode was actually brilliant. It gently extended the Lasso world from the fantasy into our present day reality, and I am grateful to see someone tackling the world we live in today with a subtlety that not banging it over our head – but there for us if we listen.
This is an amazing comment. Thanks.
Rebecca’s storyline has been one of my biggest issues with the season. It’s the typical “Well we’ve soften our female character so now what? OH LOVE!”…Given Rebecca started the show not caring about Richmond, the great follow up of season 2 would be Rebecca really getting into the nitty gritty of the job and dealing with all of that, showing us snappy, cutthroat Rebecca as well as the new softer Rebecca.So yeah, it’s pretty disappointing and I hope it’s remedied in season 3.
There were so many things that worked here that I’m willing to overlook the two that don’t. To me, those problem parts are:1) the public locker room display by Jamie’s dad felt kinda contrived. Some random guy walks into a pro team locker room after a game and starts berating his son while the whole team watches? It lead to a great moment but it didn’t feel remotely real.2) Sam is just far too suave, urbane and well read for a 21 yr old. I’m not loving the Rebecca/ Sam thing. (In Cheers they gave the Rebecca/ Sam thing shot but they just wound up good friends) The problems it would cause, however, could be a major conflict for season 3.But on the flip side:1) the funny bits: Jan during the haircut, Colin with the barbells, Higgins in the closet, Beard on mushrooms, “you treat them in the woods and then no one pays you?”, Ted screwing up his inspirational speech which I think he cribbed from Hoosiers. I laughed A LOT in this episode.2) Loved the way the show subverts typical sports movie expectations. Everything from the editing to the music choices to the dialogue made me think this was gonna be an inspirational triumphant moment. Then they just got …thumped. It is something that Ted Lasso does right that another favorite of mine, Friday Night Lights, could never get right. Not every game is an instant classic.3) Setting up Man City as the final roadblock of the series. Unless Apple tv forces a 4th season, the arc has been pretty clear. Make it back to Premier in season 2, then “win the whole damn thing” in season 3. Prediction: next year they lose to Man City again in the Premier League early season but then face them again in the series finale for the title. 4) I really love the Fieldstone character and the added depth they give her. 5) Any progress in the Roy/Jamie relationship is a win.FINAL THOUGHT: originally I got worried when Coach Beard walked out to tell Ted, “I need to shake this off.” I felt like maybe Beard was gonna abandon the team. There are times when Beard seems fed up that Ted isn’t more upset about losing (the moment right before Beard falls over the signboard). But in retrospect, I think he was just added into the scene last minute to set up what is the second “Standalone episode” with Beard alone in the city.
Winning the top division immediately after getting promoted would make Ted a legendary manager remembered through the ages. It’s only happened twice as far as I know, Nottingham Forest in 1978 and Ipswich Town in 1962, when none other than Brian Clough and Sir Alf Ramsey were in charge, respectively.
Granted… but Leicester just won the Premier League in their 2nd season after promotion – and their first season was a relegation battle.
Totally agree about Jamie’s dad in the locker room. I assumed that confrontation would have taken place in, like, the hallway or something. What kind of moron walks into a room of 20 professional athletes and talks smack to them? I get he’s a loudmouth prick and was probably drunk, but yeah. Felt super contrived.
Tartt senior was SUPER coked up.
That “it’s just banter it’s banter” thing he was doing just about sold it. Dunno if it’s more an english trait but i’ve definitely come across people a bit like that, as if stating that it doesn’t matter absolves them of responsibility for their words and actions
The thing about this scene that rang a bit false was none of the other players taking a shot– given how prevelant it is in sports the chances that not a single other player had an overbearing if not physically abusive parent who clearly lived vicariously through them seemed slim–admittedly seeing say McAdoo or even Roy deck 50+ year old man would have changed the tone quite a bit
They should have swapped the ages of Jamie and Sam. Make Sam 24/25, and have Jamie be 21. Makes a lot more sense for both characters.
My brother and his wife are having a baby (their first), and I’ve been getting serious “uncle goal” vibes from the Roy/Phoebe relationship. Like most of the rest of this show it’s sweet without being cloying, and it’s become one of my favorite aspects of Ted Lasso.Super fun side note: while I was watching the episode last night I got a text that my sister-in-law went into labor, because this show is magic and sometimes the universe is a good place actually. I get to meet my niece today (or maybe tomorrow, the kid is 2 weeks early and clearly doesn’t give a shit about anybody’s schedule).
I’m also looking forward to finding out Phoebe’s dad is one of the Gallagher brothers (it doesn’t matter which one).
Appropriate as they used “Don’t Look Back In Anger” in the episode. Maybe they were foreshadowing…
While I am not looking at this with a critical eye, I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. While I can’t say for sure the Sam/Rebecca storyline will end well, the fact both seem happy in the current moment is a good signWith regards to the Tartt talk during the semifinal, the likely storyline (portrayed in the English media) was Jamie going up against his former club, and the chance to knock them out of a major domestic tournament. While Jamie seemed like a non-factor during the match, the idea the media would focus on him is not shocking.That one-two beat of the literal punch by Jamie of his father, followed by the emotional punch of hearing Ted’s father killed himself was something (maybe I’m not paying enough attention but I always figured it was more sickness or car accident). That vulnerability by Ted to Dr. Sharon was a key moment I feel like, and I am excited to see that explored more. Also, the fact that Roy Kent is the one to comfort Jamie hopefully leads to something more than that moment. I don’t foresee Roy becoming a father figure to Jamie, but hopefully he opens up more.Finally, I think next week has the potential to be an “extra episode” (like the Christmas one). It depends on how much growth they feature in the cast outside of Beard.
I mean the episode worked well for me (I’ll admit Rebecca/Sam mostly works just because I’m more than happy to ‘ship just about anyone). If you’d told me 3 months ago that I’d actually like Jamie Tartt, I’d call you a liar…and yet here I am just wanting to give him a hug.I do find the use of an Oasis song in this episode just a smidge funny because both Gallagher brothers are huge Man City fans (it’s like the one thing that they can agree on) with “Wonderwall” frequently playing at the end of matches. Plus, there was a video earlier this year of Pep Guardiola, City’s manager, belting out “Don’t Look Back in Anger”…
I noticed when rewatching Season One that Sam sings “Wonderwall” at karaoke
They should just send Phil Dunster all of the best supporting actor awards for next year based on the 30 seconds between when Jamie punches his dad and when he breaks down in Roy’s arms. He acted the hell out of that scene without hardly moving a muscle. It is incredible.
His dad punching him for doing the right thing to relegate Richmond (make the extra pass) at the end of Season 1 made me a lot more open to a redemption arc– it kind of made everything click into place in terms of his shithead behavior up to that point (and afterwards).
I like the Sam & Rebecca relationship. I don’t care about the lack of setup. To me, it just feels like something naturally happening, even though it’s unlikely.And after the punch, I really thought that Jamie was just going to walk out of the locker room by himself, and I’m glad that’s not how it went.
Curious how people are feeling about these extra-long episodes I didn’t mind the length, although it was noticeable. This was the longest episode so far.I like that streaming shows don’t necessarily have to conform to ‘normal’ episode lengths, episodes can be as long as they need to be. I was distressed to find Nate facing no consequences for his actions at the end of last week’s episode I really hope that gets resolved this season and not put off until the third. I wasn’t sure what to take away from the fact Sharon is a rage cyclist who, after yelling at someone to mind their dog, insulted their sweater. Sharon says the dog doesn’t like wearing the sweater, she wasn’t insulting what the dog walker was wearing. She was saying pay attention, you dog hates that. The subtitles make that clear. Between his Santa suit and his haircutting outfit, Isaac’s fits are really shining this season. I love his thinking face, too. When Sam asks him for the haircut, that pose that Isaac strikes is perfect. Jan, continuing to get good mileage out of “Dutch people are unfailingly honest” as a sole character trait. I know some of you in the comments have disagreed, but I think they’ve used him effectively. This was the only time I thought it actually worked.
Please find a single, 40-something woman and ask her how she feels about Rebecca and Sam.
Rebecca knows it is a bad idea. But she is also a strong, confident woman who has had her ego knocked to the ground in the past few years.
Sam comes with no baggage and no expectations.
This is not a lifelong commitment that she sees in Sam. It is, however, what both of them need for right now. And that is OK.Rebecca also knows how hypocritical it is to date Sam, particularly after Rupert/young Rebecca.
I need to go back into reviews, but did anyone ewwww and Becks and Rupert the way they are about Rebecca and Sam?
I did, but I think the viewer was supposed to get skeeved by a 70-something guy dating – and then impregnating – a 20-something girl out of principle, but also because it was an indication of what a terrible person Rupert is. It’s somewhat uncomfortable to me that the Sam/Rebecca thing, while not being quite as drastic an age gap as Rupert/Bex, is still played as something not just plausible, but sweet and appealing.Then again, I felt the same way about the For All Mankind subplot where Karen Baldwin sleeps with her dead son’s best friend in the second season, so maybe I’m conflating the two.
Maybe I’ll be wrong, but it seems like the show is trying to get us to understand how such an odd couple could be an optimistic endearing thing before bringing us back to why this wouldn’t work out.
Did anyone NOT have a problem with Rupert and Becks!?I think with Sam/Rebecca, the age thing only compounds the power dynamic problem: Rebecca is Sam’s boss. A naive young employee being targeted by a much older, richer, more experienced employer is kind of a problem. I thought we’d been over that, as a culture. It wasn’t just a problem because the boss was male and overweight and ugly, or because the employee was white and beautiful. It’s still a problem when the employee is black and hot and the employer is beautiful and lonely and deserves some fun.And no, “the employer knows it’s not a serious, long-term thing, just a bit of fun, even if the employee doesn’t know that” does not make it better, it makes it worse.Add in that Sam is alone in a foreign country with (presumably) a limited social circle outside of the company. And then add in that a brilliant young 21-year-old football star will generally have the mental and social age of about 14 (being stripped of all your friends and being given sycophantic fans and unimaginable wealth at a very young age does not encourage maturity), and it gets really icky, I think.
I actually far prefer the Sam/Rebecca pairing over Rupert/Becks because it seems like it’s based on genuine personality compatibility and she seems highly aware of how the age gap could impact things. With Rupert, it just seemed like he wanted some much younger woman for the unequal power differential.
The age difference is of no concern. She is his boss; that’s the problem. I took your advice and asked a woman friend (single, in her 50’s, vice president at a software company, gorgeous – if that matters to you) and she is horrified by Sam and Rebecca as it reinforces a common stereotype of women in leadership positions: they are focused only on their own needs and are not “team players” because women commonly did not play team sports in their youth. Also the show portrays Rupert as a vindictive, controlling, asshole who is blinded by his outsized yet fragile ego. The young, unsophisticated girlfriend reinforces this (stereotypical) picture.
Hello. Single 40yo woman, here, and if I looked like Rebecca I’d be enjoying the hell out of dating a hot young footballer. I am mildly creeped out by the fact that he is her employee, but he is just so damn charming. That smile! That blue suit with the sweater! That haircut! I can see why even with her reservations Rebecca is still drawn to him especially after their lengthy exchanges on bantr
As a 40 year old hetero dude, I fully support the overall thing as well… and like you, the only thing that weirds me out is the power dynamic. But Sam is super charming and sweet and has a million dollar smile. Go off, Rebecca. Get yours. Just don’t make it weird by, like, loaning him to another club instead of breaking things off.
Sending him to another club instead of breaking things off actually sounds like an interesting conclusion. Would make for some great conflict
It also strikes me that aside from their love of football, Sam is basically Rupert’s exact opposite. Yes there is the obvious that he is young and black, but he is also incredibly kind and thoughtful.
Totally agree with everything except for the fact that Rebecca is Sam’s boss. That is a huge problem.
I don’t have a problem with Sam/Rebecca in theory, I just think the execution has been a tad flawed. The age thing doesn’t skeev me out as much as the power dynamics at play. And if some commenters are correct in predictions that a club financial crisis causes Rebecca to have to choose between Sam & CO, I’m worried it’ll inadvertently telegraph as Rebecca ignoring her business acumen because she’s in love.We know she’s an established, competent owner and I don’t like that they’ve focused so heavily on her personal life at the expense of her professional one.
criticism of Ted Lasso would probably be better received if it didn’t seem like suddenly everyone was working extra hard to find something wrong with it, and making that approach from some position of superiority. like everything else good, eventually some group will come along that is determined to be as cynical as possible about things, and think of the good thing as beneath them. it’s high school all over again, where some people are so determined to seem like the coolest and edgiest that they suck the enjoyment out of everything.
“Sometimes I don’t relate to his befuddlement, but the idea pitches are different sizes really is wacky as all heck.”this would never happen in an american sport!
I don’t know… Sure I can see this season’s flaws but I think I’ll think about them later. I liked this episode very much. It was light at first, very funny (Colin and the bench press, that crazy haircut scene, the mushrooms revelation…), then unexpectedly brutal and then unexpectedly calm. The way all the players looked at Jamie after the gut-punch of a scene with his father, like they saw him more clearly. A little bit more at least, even if it doesn’t resolve everything. The way Roy went straight for the hug, knowing exactly that it was needed, the gentleness of his embrace. And Ted’s urgent revelation about his father. It felt like a relief for them, the kind you feel after a long time of being tense and anxious and all tangled up in your own thoughts. I even liked the song choice at the end. Which is really weird because Somewhere only we know has been used soooo much on tv and films and I thought I would hate hearing it again on a show and I can believe it keeps being played over romantic scenes.
I think they picked Somewhere Only We Know because of Ted’s Grey’s Anatomy reference early in the episode. That song is classic Grey’s season 1.
It seems like you’re waiting for some comeuppance for Nate that may not arrive. What if they actually had the stones to just let him get away with it? It would certainly be accurate to real life, if not necessarily dramatically satisfying.
the show bypassed the story during its Christmas episode (the most logical time Jamie would have been with his family),Given his relationship with his father it is more likely that his father only calls on him for football matches. I doubt Jaime sees his father for any holidays.
Definitely— I’ve been going back through the first couple of seasons recently and I noticed Jamie has him in his phone as “Dad”, with the quotation marks. And I think Jamie mentioned at some point in season 1— maybe in “Two Aces” when the team has the sacrificial bonfire— that his dad wasn’t around as a kid and only started showing up again when he became a successful footballer.
I know we’ll see it eventually (hopefully anyway), but I was disappointed we didn’t get a scene of Rebecca debriefing Keeley on the whole Sam situation.
The whole team is also interested on Sam’s behalf, IDK how either of them will be able to explain it in a way that would be accepted.
Agree to disagree on the Rebecca/Sam front. They’re great together, and while it may not be the most exciting or inspired direction to take Rebecca, it’s a logical extension from her post-divorce spiral last season, and particularly how her self-defense mechanism is pushing others away. She put away her ex-husband. She made friends. This is her chance to let someone else make her happy.And that vulnerability dovetails nicely into this fucking knockout of an episode about fighting the need to express oneself. It’s in Dr. Fieldstone, and in Ted, and in Jamie, and even in Roy struggling with his language. It’s maybe not the most elegant transition or parallel storytelling, but I like it a lot.
The talk about the size of the pitch harkens back to the scene in Hoosiers when Coach Dale (Gene Hackman) talks to the team about how the court in the State Finals is the same size as theirs back in Hickory. Obviously, that tack went terribly wrong. The pitch was different, the stadium was different, the game was different. The moment of being able to convince the team that they could possibly win was lost.
So, lot’s going on this episode; It did feel long but I also liked how certain characters were around but not given a lot of focus because they just didn’t need to have that in this episode (Keely definitely had a smaller role this week).I’m not sure how to feel about the Sam-Rebecca pairing at this point. The reveal at the bar was fucking hilarious, Waddingham’s delivery of “Oh shit!” was pitch perfect. My first thought when they went for it was about all the hate an interracial pairing with an older woman is going to get online, but I tend to ignore that kind of toxic discourse so right now I’m excited to see where it goes. One thing that felt kind of shoe-horned in was the Roy-Phoebe stuff. Not to say that stuff isn’t always excellent because, without fail, every scene from Roy’s first scene with Phoebe where he swears at Ted and Trent and then storms off but holds out his hand for her has been consistently amazing. But it just kind of feels that this particular plot got put into this episode because they realized they needed to confirm that Phoebe’s dad is a piece of shit who is out of the picture in order to make Roy’s moment with Jamie feel a little less out of character. Like, now we know for sure that Roy’s large role in Phoebe’s life comes from her dad being out of the picture and so his reaction to giving Jamie some much needed comfort after the confrontation with his dad feels a little more connected to his relationship with her. All that having been said, the Roy-Jamie scene was so amazingly heartbreaking that I’m willing to forgive the episode for spending a bit too much time on Roy and Phoebe earlier. The Ted’s dad reveal is obviously one that a lot of people saw coming, but I think it still works as a story beat. I feel like a lot of shows are super concerned with making every plot twist unpredictable, but that’s just stupid. If you were smart enough to guess that’s where they were going with Ted’s dad then good for you for being smart, but also good for the show because it means the road to getting there made sense within the world and characters the show created. That having been said, did the episode really need that much time devoted to Dr. Fieldstone? The little reveal about the music she listens t0 was funny as was Ted in the hospital and the voice memos bit, but did there need to be a whole subplot about her accident in order for her to open up to Ted when her therapist had already told her to do that?
I think they might be setting something up between Roy and the teacher. There was a vibe between them and the camera lingered on her in a way that suggests this isn’t a one-off character.
She has been featured on the show a few times back when Roy was coaching Phoebe’s team.
When I was 21 I “dated” a woman in her mid 40s. It was fun. Lots of great sex, without the stress of long term expectations.
It’s not the final episode. 9 is coming on September 17th.
You have to read the whole sentence.
So now we know why Ted will never quit anything.
The Dad stuff might have hit close to home but I thought overall this was a great episode (ok, minus the romance). I didn’t mind the blind date angle and think most of the storylines don’t get enough attention due to a short season.The scene where the Diamond Dogs open up is a nice step towards showing men it’s ok to open up. Toxic masculinity is no joke.I thought the barber scene was a lot of fun and really well shot so you didn’t actually see him doing that much hair cutting but made him look like an artist.
As someone who speculated early on about the potential suicide of Ted’s dad, this episode wrecked me just as much as I feared. Combined with the scene of Roy hugging Jamie and an obviously rattled Coach Beard after the locker room confrontation, it was a lot. I’m not used to feeling so much emotional concern for characters on an ostensible comedy.I am also surprised by how much I am actually into the pairing of Rebecca and Sam. Initially the idea squicked me out but it has grown on me especially after reading some of the comments and I think they have really great chemistry. Plus how could anyone not be utterly charmed by Sam in that suit and then his amazing coat when he shows up at Rebecca’s? I do however hope that we get to see more of the implications on the club as an organization. I wonder if the inattention to the business side of things (on the part of the writers and possibly by Rebecca herself?) is intentional and we’ll be seeing more of that focus in the last few episodes. The episode really stressed me out, but it’s still not as much stress as Nate is putting on that suit jacket button, which I have to think is an intentional detail. The relative insignificance of his “confession” given what we know about how he’s been treating Will makes me think that these details are building to bigger confrontation. It might be too much of a heel turn, but I could easily see the staff calling out Nate’s treatment of Will and it turning into a meltdown where he splits that tiny suit. Given how poorly he handles embarrassment I could see Nate taking things further and dropping hints of Ted’s panic attacks to a reporter (Trent Crimm, The Independent, was certainly still very curious when he ran into Ted in the pub). I hope I’m totally wrong here but it feels like something Really Not Great is brewing with Nate.On a much lighter note, I really appreciated the use of “Somewhere Only We Know” over the credits in an episode where Ted talked about how much time he spent watching Grey’s Anatomy.
the owner of a sports team not being shown doing enough work is a unique criticism I had not heard previously
This episode was a solid A for me.
the idea pitches are different sizes really is wacky as all heck.Baseball fields in the US are all different sizes so it isn’t really that crazy of a concept.
Holy hell, that’s a lot of words. And holy hell some of these comments are long. Is it possible we’re all asking too much of a sitcom where a former SNL also-ran talks like a cartoon rooster?
I didn’t know that about the pitch sizes so that was news to me too. I’d watch games and sometimes fields did look bigger or smaller, but I thought that would be crazy, and I’m just imagining things. Weird camera angles or something. That’s wild to me.Really nice episode. Long, but a good long. Didn’t have an opinion on the Sam/Rebecca thing, (besides wishing Waddingham had more to do this season besides giggle over her phone) but as I watched it play out, I really got into it. I’m probably more adverse to sitcom shipping than most people (wasn’t hot about Monica and Chandler on Friends, barely even liked Jim and Pam on The Office), but this was a case where I wouldn’t even really call it shipping, so maybe that’s why it’s so interesting to me? I don’t think this is for the audience, I think this is for Rebecca. If there is concern about how it serves her character, I think it’s notable that she made all the key moves. She went in for the kiss, she texted and reached out at the end, and while there is a sense they wrote it this way so that Sam doesn’t come off as too forward or ‘problematic,’ I think there’s also an interesting question being served up about Rebecca’s headspace. What she needs right now emotionally, versus how wise it is to do what she’s doing. I’m less concerned about whatever peices weren’t set up properly, than I am about what this means going forward. I like the age gap, I like the power dynamic, I like the taboo. Does it make us uncomfortable? Good! Maybe these are supposed to bad decisions. Or maybe Ted Lasso is making us rethink ageism in dating. Who knows?! But they’ve got me attention… probably because it has to end in disaster, right?
As a divorced Boss Ass Bitch in her late forties, I’m disappointed with the Rebecca and Sam storyline and, I think, the overall neediness of the romance and love plotlines in Season Two. It’s disappointing because the realities of divorce were so well-handled in Season One.
Why can’t Rebecca be happy without ‘trying to find a good match’ right from S2, E1? I love a sex-positive Rebecca and I don’t mind the age difference with Sam (in theory). But then on the flip side, the show writers give the singles, like Ted and Sharon, stories of being sad or recluse or (borderline? tbd) alcoholics.
Look around and check it out— there is a whole movement of successful older people, especially women, who are choosing to be single and building a joyful life. It might seem like there’s no drama in that sort of storyline but I disagree, in fact, there is ‘mucho, mucho joy’ — and more than that, as you say, a fascinating story of a strong woman in a ‘boys’ club’.
I don’t think it’s that extreme. Rebecca signed up for the app as a lark to humor Keeley (and then, more likely, to keep the new sponsor happy). She was having a grand old time on the other app with casual… dating. But it just happened that she connected with someone on bantr she found charming. The thing about Rebecca is that we know how much of her life she lost when she was in Rupert’s orbit. I imagine that dating now for her is a bit like reconnecting with a part of herself she’d forgotten. She’s running the club (though again there are legitimate gripes about how little of that is being shown) but her personal life is getting the same treatment that the other main characters get.
I may be in the minority on this, BUT as much as I know this isn’t a show about football and I don’t have any great love for sports, I was incredibly bummed at how they glossed over the Manchester City game. And it’s not the first time they’ve just gone, “Anyway, they lost or whatever.” I think you can get powerful drama from events in the games, too (“Friday Night Lights” being the shining example). They’re sort of inadvertently losing a very important angle – this is a team we’re supposed to be rooting for.
Probably because this ISN’T a sports show, which is why so many non-sports fans love it.
Yeah, and the characters and comedy style are definitely what drew me in. I don’t watch or have much interest in soccer, so I don’t mean for it to go full “focus on the game.” But without that central “here’s what the goal is,” I think we’re missing a vital part of the overall storytelling. Think about season 1, the main crux at the finale is Ted saying, “We’re going to do this. We’re going to win our way back from relegation.” But that no longer seems to be that important, despite several barely-in-the-background statements about why relegation is killing the team, including the fact they’re paying for Premiership players but have a Championship budget. I’d like to see them make that matter instead of just mentioning it offhand.
Soccer pitches being different sizes isn’t that unusual in sports; while the NFL, NBA, and NHL all mandate the dimensions in the rules, MLB fields are different sizes too. In fact, no two MLB outfields are alike!
https://thedataface.com/2019/04/sports/baseballs-irregular-outfields
I think the distinction here is that we can TELL when a baseball field is different: they’re all very distinctive, and some in particular are iconic (see: Fenway).Whereas by comparison, all soccer pitches LOOK identical, and so the idea they would be different sizes is wacky. (Although it has precedent in a sport like hockey, where Olympic ice is larger than NHL ice).
College hockey rinks can also have different dimensions. That’s always an interesting dynamic when the playoffs begin because the skills suited to a bigger sheet are different from those for a smaller sheet.
“I think the distinction here is that we can TELL when a baseball field is different”
And you can’t tell the difference between a rectangle and a bigger one? Jesus fucking Christ…
I think this was more about the allusion to the movie Hoosiers. Ted is giving a similar speech to the one Gene Hackman gives before the big game in that movie. But the joke is Ted’s speech can’t be calming or inspirational because Wimbley’s pitch is actually bigger. Where in Hoosiers the seating area is bigger but the court is exactly the same size as their high school court. This show then makes a similar joke when Ted talks about the stadium’s history with Queen but again is thwarted because this is a new stadium.
I’m sure you’re right, I’m just saying that Ted almost certainly knows more about MLB than e.g. me, so despite Myles asserting that “we” can tell when a baseball field is different but not so much a soccer pitch (I sure can’t! I see them both primarily on television) it seems a little unlikely that Ted, who has a long history with professional sports, would be thrown by the whole concept as he seems to be in that scene. It’s just not the same joke as “how many countries are in this country?”, a cultural difference specific to the UK that an average US citizen wouldn’t necessarily be clear on. It’s making him not just parochial but actually dumb in service of the “Ted blew the Hoosiers speech” joke.
Adjusting to a notably bigger pitch is a not inconsiderable part of game strategy, so yeah, it’s implausible that this hasn’t come up before at any point in his two seasons. Wembley is the same length and only 1 yard wider than Man City’s Etihad, for example. (Actually, Selhurst Park where they film is slightly wider (half-yard) than Wembley, though 4.5 shorter).
NHL rinks used to be different sizes. The old Chicago Stadium and Boston Garden were smaller. The league mandated a specific size for new buildings as they were built so they are all now 200′ x 85′ but there are still some differences, like in how “lively” the boards are and things like that.Also, rinks for international competition are a little bigger at 100′ wide and European leagues measure the ice in Metric (of course) so the size is slightly different.
In Finland they are sort of between NHL and IIHF sizes. KHL rinks are pretty much NHL size now.
MLB has the advantage (?) in that the infields diamonds ARE identical, distance between bases, home to pitching mount, etc., so at first blush there doesn’t seem to be a difference from park to park. And even then, while distinctly different or unusual outfields may be noticeable, most are similar enough that it’s easy not to notice.
I forget if it’s the Astros or the Rangers that have the awkward hump in the outfield behind second. I always expect the away team to trip over it when backing up for a catch.
That’s true for outfields and amount of playable foul territory, but all other dimensions are uniform.
It’s possible this will be more clear in the released version of the episode, but when Sharon asks how Ted knew she was in the hospital, the suggestion is that Voice Notes are somehow responsible? Is the argument that the medical staff found her phone, and noticed she was recording voice notes about Ted, and so they called him? Small note, and I don’t think I saw this theory in the comments — my take was, it’s an oblique iMessaging plug: instead of typing a text, you tap the mic icon and record a voice message which is then fired off to the recipient. It then self-destructs after it’s heard, unless (I guess?) the listener saves it.Overall, I’m really liking the season’s themes, but as I think many here are getting at, the pacing/balance seems at times uneven. Yes, some of that may be due to the expanded season, but seemingly clever bits – like introducing Bantr in a B plot, then losing CithOil, then Bantr wordlessly appearing on the jerseys the next week – are seeming a little less graceful the more often they occur, and the more often threads are dropped from week to week.I am, however, all in on “Coach Beard as Griffin Dunne in After Hours: London” next week.
Thank you for the “After Hours: London” shoutout! One of my favorite movies from that weird patch of the 80s. In the fantasy arthouse cinema I program in my head, it always plays in a double feature with “Something Wild”. But I’m certainly hoping Coach Beard runs into a Rosanna Arquette or Melanie Griffith, and not Ray Liotta!
It was definitely clearly iMessage voice messages. I guess they just used voice notes as the delivery mechanism when shot before it was VFXd in post, seeing as how the screeners were clearly unfinished.
“Man City” is the eighth and final episode of Ted Lasso’s second season that was made available to critics ahead of the premiereTo quote Sterling Archer……phrasing.
To each his/her own but this was actually one of my favorite episodes of the season. The reveal of Ted’s father committing suicide (which some had already been speculating and which explains so much about Ted), the further development of trust between Ted and Sharon, the confrontation of Jamie and his dad (I felt tense in my entire body throughout that whole scene) and the aftermath of Roy hugging Jamie as he cried while George Harrison’s beautiful “Beware of Darkness” played (so amazing!). And then of course: Rebecca and Sam. I loved how they did the reveal of them figuring out their true identities on Bantr and honestly, I’m here for ANY show or film that will promote an older woman/younger man relationship in a positive light. So sick of seeing the opposite (both on screen and in real life) and I think we need to see more of this age dynamic on screen. Perhaps I’m projecting as a 40+ woman who prefers younger men but this needs to be “normalized” for lack of a better word. While it’s not as common as older men/younger women, it does happen more than the media portrays it to be true. I don’t know if this will be a long-term relationship and that’s OK. I think this is merely showing two people who have an amazing connection and chemistry taking a chance on each other to see where it goes. Plus these characters/actors are so damn lovely (both apart and together) I can’t help but root for them.
Maybe I’m biased but for me, “Ted Lasso” can do no wrong. Like “Fleabag” that limited its seasons, I’ll be sad for this to end after only three because I enjoy it so much, but I’ll respect that decision all the same.
Here’s the fundamental issue I’m having with this season: why is Ted Lasso still coaching this football team? He clearly doesn’t understand the game. Roy, Ned and even Beard are all smarter football minds than him. They got relegated last year. Rebecca’s not still trying to get back at her ex. I realize the real answer to this question is “because there wouldn’t be a show if he wasn’t,” but still, I would have hoped they would at least try to make it seem like he still has a place coaching the team, either because of his motivational skills or whatever. The story in season 1 justified it, but season 2 hasn’t really tried.
I know the show was always written with a three-season plan, but I wonder if Rebecca suffers from having most of her arc wrapped up in the first season. She was hurt, lashed out, then found redemption and healing. It’s much more difficult to write past those moments, especially since the show doesn’t seem that interested in focusing on her as owner or being involved with the team.They have the same struggles with Ted in how fully they already explored his team dynamics in season 1, but his personal traumas have still been left to go over.That Roy Kent still has rich professional dynamics and a compelling personal life is probably why he seems to be the most popular character at this point – that and the show seems to love writing for him. Jamie also has a fascinating story arc – I just hope they will keep all the sides of the character so compelling.
I love the Roy+Jamie hug so much.
Seeing Sam and Rebecca’s admittedly common names together, I can’t stop thinking of Cheers.
What are the chances that Sam and Rebecca break up when a billionaire named Robin Colcord sweeps Rebecca off her feet?
Haha, just reading these again while I’m rewatching some of the old episodes, and I just connected that a few episodes after this one, a billionaire attempts to sweep Sam off his feet.
Honestly, I thought this was the best episode of the season. Many characters finally faced the real emotional consequences of their behaviour and I think Ted is finally waking up to the limits of his approach, as a coach and a person. I’m interested in where the Sam and Rebecca relationship goes. The British Tabloids are going to go apeshit if it’s discovered, that’s for sure.
This review (which was well written as always) is very focused on the Rebecca-Sam storyline-which is fine, everyone has their own focus when they watch something. But I think this episode did some really transformational things for the characters on the show (by thinking about father-son dynamics) that weighed much more heavily for me than that storyline, and it was all in character and very well done.-Jamie’s issues with his father did not start this season, but were referenced numerous times last season as the driving force behind his selfish actions. Him standing up to his father was powerful and a big step forward for him-especially after watching him crumpled and being screamed at by his Dad during the last moments of Season 1.-Similarly, Roy continues to grow into the mentor role that he started after reading a Wrinkle in Time. Stepping up for his niece into a more official Dad role and finally understanding that Jamie needs to be fully included in his circle is big growth for him.-And of course, Ted and Sharon are learning the value of honest connection, with the reason for Ted’s panic about being apart from his son becoming readily apparent. Both actors did a fantastic job in the episode. -I have to say that I also think the Rebecca storyline is appropriate given the events of Season 1. Her toxic marriage damaged her so badly that she left loved ones in the dust and hatched a scheme to run a professional sports team into the ground along with everyone associated with it. I think it would have been starnge if a good part of this season had not been about her overcoming that toxicity and realizing that she is entitled to so much more in her life and in a partner. I agree that this talented actress should be used for more things, but given that the events of the show kicked off because of her catastrophic marriage, I think her personal journey to find a fulfilling match is valid territory to explore.My concern about the relationship comes down to employer/employee issues, but we will have to see where it goes. In the meantime, I thought the episode was doing so many great things to pay off ongoing storylines for the characters that I wasn’t super focused on the relationship. A episode for me.
I just re-watched the Trent Krimm episode from season one and a line jumped out, when Ted was explaining his philosophy: “It’s about helping these young fellas become the best versions of themselves on and off the field. And it ain’t always easy, Trent. But neither is growing up without someone believing in you.”Knowing what we know about Ted’s dad committing suicide… geez. They really were planting those seeds early.
In particular, I struggle with how much Rebecca’s story arc this season
has been reduced to her romantic life, outside of her “boss ass bitch”
moment when dealing with Sam’s protest.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the two of them were linked in that story beat and this one. There’s probably going to be consequences for the Dubai Air decision and they’ll be complicated by “and do you know that they’re a couple?”
I predict Rupert tries to use the situation to regain control of the club.
I think you bring up some really good points about the Sam/Rebecca plotline. It really has been under developed and to have it also serve as Rebecca’s only major plotline this season is sort of disappointing, wish they’d kept her goddaughter around. There are things I like about it, for one thing I am very relieved that the bantr match wasn’t between Rebecca and Ted. I would have been so disappointed. I enjoy their friendship so much and feel like we don’t get enough male/female friendships where there is no pressure for them to hook up, so I’d like to hold onto that, I hope they don’t succumb to the temptation to do it later. The other point in favor of Rebeccam (little football humor there) is that I am excited to see a romantic age difference where the older party is a woman. Too often we see romances where the man is 20 or 30 yeas older than his love interest, so I am interested in seeing how that dynamic played out. Rebecca is very aware of the power differential and I think she is a good enough person that it will remain on her mind even as she goes against her better judgment which is more than I can say for a lot of the men who are the December in May-December romances in plenty of major movies and shows, who don’t even have the decency to feel conflicted about it. Maybe we’ll get some Leonardo DiCaprio jokes once this plot really gets cooking. The hug between Roy and Jamie made me mist up. Of course I cry more at sitcoms than I do just about any genre or medium (besides Guns N Roses songs), but it really was a lovely moment. I also am sort of impressed at all the little arcs the writers executed very deftly, considering how many they tried to fit in one episode (no wonder the runtime was so long, I was in danger of not finishing it during my lunch break). Roy goes from worrying about whether he is a good influence on Phoebe to seeing just how damaging a bad influence can be when he sees how devastated Jamie was by what transpired. And for Roy to step up in that moment to comfort someone, to maybe see Jamie as a person for the first time, was really powerful. Jamie’s story this ep and Roy’s were not two storylines I would have envisioned colliding in this episode, but they came together beautifully. It was only later I really thought about the parallel. The parallels in Sharon and Ted’s storylines were more blatant but no less well done. I thought Ted’s breakthrough and the way it was facilitated was amazing. I also love that before Ted opened up to Sharon he went to the Diamond Dogs (plus Roy) and told them about the panic attacks. He had to do what he and Rebecca had discussed in the previous episode but been unable to actually pull off——opening up to a friend—before he could then progress to opening up to a therapist. Two huge steps for Ted this week and I couldn’t love him more. Sharon taking her therapist’s advice and the way that rippled throughout this episode felt really organic and earned. There was so much emotional honesty and vulnerability in this episode, no wonder it made me want to cry.
The entire show is a product placement for Apple, so I wonder why they would let Sharon be distracted wearing Apple Airpods and get hit by a car.I think the Sam and Rebecca arc is a nice counterpoint to the way her dirtbag husband romanced twenty-somethings. It with be great to see that mirror arc when this become pubic.
I am never going to watch this show but how is this different from a NBC show?
Sam is about to smash his boss? I suppose this could be a jump-the-shark moment for any other show, but here at Ted Lasso, its all good. Way to go, kid! 😋
That’s certainly an interesting read on the power dynamic at play here…
In this week’s “Adventures in Music Licensing with Apple $$,” the show paid for like 30 seconds of “Don’t Look Back in Anger” to transition into Rebecca and Sam’s final scene, before then shelling out for “Somewhere Only We Know” for the scene itself. The sheer excess of their music licensing remains a wonder.I write for a Dutch TV-show and we use licensed music all the time. It’s either not very expensive or we never ask for permission in hopes nobody will notice us.
Assuming that next week’s Beard centered episode does not advance the plot much, they then have 3 episodes remaining to 1) establish that they are climbing up the standings 2) get them in the playoff 3) play, what? 2 playoff games? 4) address all plot threads.This show ALWAYS ties in the personal conflicts with whatever is happening in the game. And I can’t imagine that Richmond is going to remain in the Championship next season. So it seems like the last 3 episodes are gonna be jam packed.
A great, great episode. My prediction (might be somewhere in the comments already): at some point, in a press conference – Nate tells everyone about Ted’s panic attack.
If you ever forget that every stupid blog under the G/O Media banner is a joke, just pull up any Ted Lasso review. Like a Kindergartner sitting in on a molecular biology class.
Ah, see, I disagree that we didn’t get a lot of insight into Doc Sharon in this ep. I saw a ton of details that shaded her in as a character – she’s actually kind of mean to strangers, Ted is bothering her much more than she’s let on, she drinks too much and she seems kind of lonely. She had no one to come pick her up at the hospital after she got hit by a car! I like all of this – it shows, clearly, that she has her own demons that she’s been battling, and I think the glimpse of her private life is exactly why Ted later opened up, rather than that they have specifically bonded. He sees a person broken on the inside but putting up a great front on the outside – exactly the type of person he is (although they perhaps choose different methods). He now realizes that when Sharon says she knows how he feels, she actually does mean it. If we get any more of their therapy sessions (which I hope that we do), it’ll be interesting to watch Ted talking out his problems while we now know that Sharon has her own that she’s perhaps not addressing.As for why Ted got called – he was calling as she got in the accident, so it’s very likely that the hospital tried him first as it’s clear from her phone history that they are known to each other. Not sure when she got the chance to record all the voicemails but it may have been that the nurse kept trying Ted and letting Sharon leave concussed voicemails.I am really really interested to see Beard’s reaction next episode (I assume that’s where we’re going). He seems to have hit the end of his rope with Ted. There he and Nate and Roy are, trying to think up plays to at least get one goal and Ted’s going on with his happy-happy-joy-joy “good effort” bullshit coaching. (Ted’s idea of game day coaching is great for anyone in middle school, high school or college – where it is actually Just A Game and they should be having fun – but it doesn’t work in the pros.)I’m kind of okay on the Sam/Rebecca romance? At least in Sam’s court, it seems to have elevated him to more of an adult (that blue suit, GODDAMN). Even if this romance falls flat, Toheeb Jimoh should be cast for all the romcoms, immediately. Cause that guy has The Lean (tm Angela Chase) down pat. And I’m all for Rebecca getting some, but I don’t want this romance to take over the storyline. And, as you said Myles, I don’t love that her whole storyline is Find True Love this season. It’s as if they’re struggling with her characterization now that she’s no longer the secret villain.Isaac’s barber skills being iconic is a very cute little moment.Jamie’s parents are separated, I believe (at least that’s the idea I got from his speech in The Curse episode), so I imagine he spent Christmas with his mother, who he seems close to. James Tartt, Sr – YIKES. What a dickhead. I was kind of surprised that no one else in the room stood up for Jamie in that moment, given that he has made a lot of strides this season to be a better teammate. And that it was Roy who ended up comforting him was a bit weird, but maybe he was imagining Phoebe in that moment as you’ve mentioned. I have a (step)niece who’s bio father is also a living piece of shit and it breaks my heart to see her get so excited for him to come pick her up, only for her to be let down, AGAIN, because he’s too busy getting high to remember that he has a child.
I think this review does a good job of outlining how it is kind of amazing this show is as good as it is when it has (and seems to seek out) so many problems. Roy Kent is really the only part of the show that flat out works in terms of marrying the humor of the show with the plot. Reviewer really nails how Rebecca has been sidelined into a lovehungry cougar, not to mention that Juno Temple’s character has very little to do now: she used to have a thriving personal business as an influencer but now she appears to be only a soccer team employee and co-cupid. They’ve made quite a few poor decisions, yet the show is still incredibly enjoyable to watch…I hope the two sides merge somehow.
I think the show is just trying to do too much at this point. Still enjoying it for what it is but a bit disappointed that the focus has been so all over the place that the path for Richmond to become promoted has almost become an afterthought.
“Rebecca has had almost no role whatsoever in the actual operations of this football club”
Every week I wonder why they choose a brand-new reviewer who apparently isn’t at all acquainted with the show.
PSA on drugs: its tempting to think seeing Coach Beard on mushrooms during a game would be funny based on how drugs are portrayed in TV and movies, but in reality, he probably wouldn’t seem very different. If he took a microdose, you wouldn’t know. Roy could guess which game, so presumably he took something closer to a full dose. He’d most likely retreat to a rich inner world. So he’d seem pretty much the same as he always does, which is just quiet. That he still went to the game and didn’t say anything to anyone preemptively tells me that he’s done mushrooms before.
His concerns over abandoning his son also take on a different meaning, and his belief that “bottling things up” could be healthy now seems especially self-destructive given what he knows his own father went through. I need to get over this, but it bothers me that there is a consensus that Ted Lasso bottles everything up, because I see ample evidence that he doesn’t. He references in conversation with the Diamond Dogs right after they got back from Liverpool that he had a mental breakdown and slept with Sassy and got divorced in one night, and they don’t blink, so clearly he told them about the panic attack already. That’s within 12 hours of it. That whole conversation is him workshopping his feelings with his friends, which is not bottling things up. Most of what we know about his personal history and emotional life is from us watching him tell other people, like Rebecca, his wife/ex, and the Diamond Dogs, about marriage counseling, his wife’s biggest gripe about him, his divorce, being worried about being too far from his son, etc. That’s not bottling things up!I think he’s more candid and open than a lot of people, and the vast majority of men. And has a larger support network than most men and plenty of women. And he just moved to another country and brought only one friend and look at that support network he built! That’s so healthy! Does he reach out to people in the moment he is in crisis? No. And that is hard to watch and something he would do well to work on. He needs to feel worthy of people’s support in the moment. As comfortable with asking for support when he needs it most as he is offering support to others. There is intense asymmetry there for him. He reaches out only when he has a grip on himself again, not when he is afraid he might fall apart. That isn’t bottling things up but it is something he’d be better off learning to do.
Man City have had two 5-0 victories in the past month, so well done for that bit of verisimilitude.
Although to be honest, I think the atmosphere would be more celebratory if this were a real match. A cup semi-final is a huge achievement for a championship side and there’s no real expectation of progression, especially if they’re playing one of the top sides.
I really enjoyed this episode and the moment between Jamie and Roy was enough to almost make me tear up. I’m not sure how I feel about Sam and Rebecca but I readily admit I’m one of those people who was shipping for possibly Ted and Rebecca by season 3 or 4.
What I find interesting about this show is when it chooses to lean into conflict. You could easily tell a story about Trent Crimm from the Independent doing an expose – panic attacks! Owner/player fraternization! Assault in the locker room! – But everything feels too positive for that to happen. Yet instead we have deep personal conflict which, while it feels more rewarding and significant, I’d also like to see the team have to rally together to overcome some adversity beyond getting beat.
One thing that I was thinking yesterday was how many times can Ted avoid shouldering any blame for the teams losses. The other coaches are doing the real work while Ted seems to be there only for inspiration and, to quote Sharon, make references “very specific to a 40-year-old white man from middle America”. How long can he continue to not get the rules before it bites him in the ass? It was especially annoying to see him just repeatedly saying something like “c’mon boys, we got this” instead of actually stepping up and coaching as his coaching staff was given the boot. I get this is likely a baby steps situation and he was doing all he good to keep his panic attacks at bay but I really hope those baby steps turn into at least a toddler learning to run.
Just getting caught up on back episodes. I noticed all season long that Rebecca sure doesn’t seem to work much at all. Of course, Keely doesn’t, either. They seem to spend most of their working day sitting in Rebecca’s office sprawled out on the couch talking about men and relationships, which is quite boring. I’m still not sure why Keely actually has a job there, but at least she is bringing in endorsements. Which no one wants to be a part of.As for the Rebecca/Sam plotline, it feels very rushed despite it sprawled out over several episodes. I think it would have served both characters far better had they had the conversation in the restaurant to not pursue a relationship, as that would be the expected professional way to handle it. Have them pine for each other in secret for a few episodes, or at least spend a little more time before he is knocking on her door.
Sadly I am now paying for Apple+, and I am eager to finish the season off so I can cancel. Despite my minor affection for this show, it’s just not worth maintaining yet another streaming service for one show. (And let’s face it, Apple+ is no A+ in the content department.)
I’m coming to this very late in the day, but want to take a moment to recognise the performance of real-life referee Mike Dean in this episode. He’s certainly one of football’s more theatrical referees (routinely dispensing “no look” yellow and red cards) but I wasn’t expecting such a smooth line reading from him.