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Ted Lasso [TV-series 2020-...] - As Sweet as Apple+ Pie


Veltigar

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17 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I initially thought this was the season finale and I was nonplussed bu the lack of narrative resolution, but thankfully that’s not the case.

I have to admit it: I’m really disappointed with the writers’ choices to frame Rebecca.  First she’s a bitter divorcee whose position of authority is unearned and derived solely from the divorce, who then goes on to be incompetent in her role primarily from emotional, selfish self-sabotage to lash out at her ex-husband, despite the pain it will cause to many others (employees, fans, etc).  This looks like a particularly regressive trope.  And then they have her indulge in an exploitative sexual relationship with a junior employee because it makes her feel good.  It would have been so easy to write a different background that fulfills the character and narrative arc without needing so much selfishness that clashes with her fundamentally decent, self-aware and competent persona.  For example, she could have been a career football exec through her own competence, who decides to sabotage the club (hire Ted) in the short term in order to force out an irresponsible owner so that she can then lead a consortium to buy the club and lead them into the future.  Then she could have a relationship with anyone with a conflict of interest — in the media, at another club, a player’s agent, etc — without turning into Harvey Weinstein.  Do better, writers.

@Mlle. Zabzie I’m glad I’m not the only one who picked up on the Cat’s In The Cradle samples throughout this episode.  The Rick Roll was front & center, but the emotional drama for both Ted and Rebecca was very Cat’s In The Cradle, and I found myself humming that after the episode.  I like their use of music in general in the show, although my wife doesn’t recognize most of the songs as I do.

Sassy and Rupert are criminally under-used.

Overall I think this show is more likable than funny.  It’s a ray of unquestioning positivity and suspension of disbelief at a time when that’s appreciated, but I doubt it will ever be remembered as good comedy.  Even this retcon of personal tragedy onto Ted’s Ned Flanders persona feels like a superficial graft.  Daddy issues (Jamie, Rebecca, Ted) and insecure need for external validation (Keeley, Nate, Rebecca, Ted, even Roy to some extent) drive most of the characters, and the resolution is to always wrap them in a cozy blanket of compassion.  It’s good humanity but poor comedy.

Please don't compare consensual relationships between adults (whatever the age difference) to Weinstein raping or trying to rape people by force and/or blackmail, thank you, and ruining their careers if they turned him down. It's not like he just happened to fall for someone who was his employee and who felt the same and the other person was the one pursuing the relationship. 

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18 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

I second this. We don't even actually know if they have a chance for promotion this season. Probably would be strange, provided 8 draws at the beginning, though getting to play-offs should be doable I guess.

It's true we have no idea how the team is actually performing.

Obviously there's no way this guy would still be in a job in the real English football world but we accept his continual employment as part of the show's feelgood factor.

However if Richmond are not in with a shout of promotion from the first division then the show is really testing our ability to suspend disbelief and accept Ted Lasso  would still be employed.

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2 hours ago, Darryk said:

It's true we have no idea how the team is actually performing.

Obviously there's no way this guy would still be in a job in the real English football world but we accept his continual employment as part of the show's feelgood factor.

However if Richmond are not in with a shout of promotion from the first division then the show is really testing our ability to suspend disbelief and accept Ted Lasso  would still be employed.

We know they were doing well since Roy joined the coaching team (aside from their bad FA Cup loss - but that's a whole different thing as it was against ManCity - literally and figuratively out of their league); and we haven't heard anything different since, so I assume they are doing well and close to promotion.

 

 

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On 9/26/2021 at 6:46 PM, 3CityApache said:

I second this. We don't even actually know if they have a chance for promotion this season. Probably would be strange, provided 8 draws at the beginning, though getting to play-offs should be doable I guess.

They do have a chance of making the promotion playoffs. It was shown at one point that they had a record of 4 wins, 4 losses and 14 draws - so 26 points from 22 games. They then went on a 4 game winning run when Roy joined before the FA Cup game against Spurs - so 38 points from 26 games. Automatic promotion is very unlikely since that usually requires 88+ points to finish in the top 2 but 6th place is possible as 75-78 points is usually enough so they would need another 37-40 points from 20 games.

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Well they explicitly have a chance for promotion.  I find it interesting that it turns out “the turd in the punch bowl” (to use coach Beard’s terminology) isn’t  Jamie. It appears to be Nate.  

Even the way he came at the players in Season 1 was aggressively negative.  Very different from Ted.

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1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Well they explicitly have a chance for promotion.  I find it interesting that it turns out “the turd in the punch bowl” (to use coach Beard’s terminology) isn’t  Jamie. It appears to be Nate.  

Even the way he came at the players in Season 1 was aggressively negative.  Very different from Ted.

That has been obvious throughout season 2. Nate's dark side has been coming out progressively throughout this season.

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They'd better not fucking break up Keeley and Roy. Hopefully that look was 'how the fuck we gonna deal with Jamie now' not 'fuck you/I should have said straight away trust issues now'.

 

Great journalistic ethics by Trent immediately giving up his anonymous source in a manner likely to blow up his career immediately. 

 


The SamBecca plot is comfortably the worst thing about this season. It sucks donkey balls. 

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2 hours ago, polishgenius said:

They'd better not fucking break up Keeley and Roy. Hopefully that look was 'how the fuck we gonna deal with Jamie now' not 'fuck you/I should have said straight away trust issues now'.

 

Great journalistic ethics by Trent immediately giving up his anonymous source in a manner likely to blow up his career immediately. 

 


The SamBecca plot is comfortably the worst thing about this season. It sucks donkey balls. 

Ted immediately forgave Rebecca when she revealed her efforts to sabotage the team.  Perhaps Trent got wind of that and recognized Ted isn’t the guy who blows up people’s careers?

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I think they were setting up Roy and the teacher as a "it's not so bad, it'll work out for everyone" position if he and Keeley break up and Keeley gets back with Jamie. I think they might be going in that direction but I'm not sure Jamie has earned that redemption arc yet.

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7 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I think they were setting up Roy and the teacher as a "it's not so bad, it'll work out for everyone" position if he and Keeley break up and Keeley gets back with Jamie. I think they might be going in that direction but I'm not sure Jamie has earned that redemption arc yet.

Why would they break up? Why would Keeley get back with Jamie?

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15 minutes ago, Annara Snow said:

Why would they break up? Why would Keeley get back with Jamie?

I'm not sure on the logic, but they seem to be doing a lot of setup for it (unless it's a just setting up a crisis for them to overcome and stay together). A couple of earlier eps seemed to be suggesting that they're just too different, but that's the exact same issue with Keeley and Jamie in Season 1. Jamie may have become less selfish and more committed to becoming a better person, but he's still as dumb as a box of frogs, which was a major reason Keeley went off him, and that's not really been addressed.

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40 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

 Perhaps Trent got wind of that


There's no way Trent would publish that story about Ted's health but not have published a story about the owner actively trying to sabotage the team for a year. But even if he had, it still just isn't what journalists are supposed to do.

In any case fuck Nate. 

 

24 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I think they were setting up Roy and the teacher as a "it's not so bad, it'll work out for everyone" position if he and Keeley break up and Keeley gets back with Jamie. I think they might be going in that direction but I'm not sure Jamie has earned that redemption arc yet.


One thing that makes me think they're probably not ultimately gonna go that way is they've talked before in interviews about how they wanted to give a try to writing a long-term romance without will-they-won't-they for the whole time. Still, given this is the 'Dark Forest' and the Empire Strikes Back season, they might split temporarily and be getting back together next season.


And yeah, was gonna say, Jamie might be a better person but he's done nothing to actually show him and Keeley would work.

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On 10/1/2021 at 11:15 PM, Werthead said:

I'm not sure on the logic, but they seem to be doing a lot of setup for it (unless it's a just setting up a crisis for them to overcome and stay together). A couple of earlier eps seemed to be suggesting that they're just too different, but that's the exact same issue with Keeley and Jamie in Season 1. Jamie may have become less selfish and more committed to becoming a better person, but he's still as dumb as a box of frogs, which was a major reason Keeley went off him, and that's not really been addressed.

I've never seen anything to suggest that Keeley loves Jamie or would prefer to be with him, only the opposite. And the show gave the same weight to Roy admitting he didn't say he was in a relationship to that teacher who seemed to like him. So either you think Roy would also choose to break up with Keeley to be with a woman he just met...or this is just a normal bump in the road in the form of people who are in loving a relationship still liking the fact others find them attractive and also struggling a bit with trust issues.

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On 10/1/2021 at 6:06 PM, Annara Snow said:

I've never seen anything to suggest that Keeley loves Jamie or would prefer to be with him, only the opposite. And the show gave the same weight to Roy admitting he didn't say he was in a relationship to that teacher who seemed to like him. So either you think Roy would also choose to break up with Keeley to be with a woman je just met...or this is just a normal bump in the road in the form of people who are in loving a relationship still liking the fact others find them attractive and also struggling a bit with trust issues.

I’m with you on this.  Roy and Keeley are actually modeling a pretty healthy relationship.  Like, they actually told each other this stuff.  That’s pretty awesome.  I don’t doubt there will be a bump in the road next week, and I’m not sure it is fully resolved by the end of the season, but that’s ok!  

I also don’t like Sambecca. But yeah Nate is the worst.  I think the show has done a nice job though on not making Nate a one note character.  He’s not a cardboard villain.  It’s more complicated than that.  And while I agree that Trent probably shouldn’t have burned his source (and says as much), I wonder whether Nate was too stupid to set it up the right way with him (I.e., fully off the record, no attribution, etc) so that it’s sort of an ethical grey area.  Keeley didn’t help Nate do it, and he’s kind of hopeless at the practical parts of life.  I also think Trent just kinda likes Ted as a person, sort of despite himself. 

Also, I love Dr. Sharon.  Doesn’t the army man mean that she will be back? I hope so.  I adore everything about her character.  It’s so well acted too. I want to see more of her next season in some capacity.

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10 hours ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

I also don’t like Sambecca. But yeah Nate is the worst.


Aye, though I'd say I hate Sambecca for bad reasons whereas I hate Nate for good reasons. The first is bad choices- not necessarily bad writing in and of itself but terrible story choices in the context of living in the world - whereas Nate's plot is excellent writing, mostly. 

You'd think Sharon would be back, wouldn't you. Hard to say though. Ultimately her plot purpose was to get Ted to open up about his father so that we know. If they do bring her back I hope they have something for her to do and not just ramming her in coz she worked well and is popular.  

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7 hours ago, polishgenius said:


Aye, though I'd say I hate Sambecca for bad reasons whereas I hate Nate for good reasons. The first is bad choices- not necessarily bad writing in and of itself but terrible story choices in the context of living in the world - whereas Nate's plot is excellent writing, mostly. 

You'd think Sharon would be back, wouldn't you. Hard to say though. Ultimately her plot purpose was to get Ted to open up about his father so that we know. If they do bring her back I hope they have something for her to do and not just ramming her in coz she worked well and is popular.  

Well, there is more to know about Sharon, right?  They hint she has a bit of an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.  She seems a little lonely (and, why wasn't there someone other than Ted to get her from hospital after her bike accident?).  But she is written very, very successfully as mostly a very intriguing enigma (love the bit when she is riding to work right before the accident).  So I at least, want to know her better.  I contrast this with, say Sassy (whom I ADORE as a character, but who is really one note - there isn't a lot of backstory needed; to be clear, I'm still TEAM SASSY).  There seems like a lot of places where Sharon could contribute (i.e., Jamie! the whole staff after Nate's betrayal! More regular therapy with Ted now that the whole world knows about his panic attacks).

Also, Keeley now gets to show whether she can do crisis management PR.  Will be interested to see how that goes.... 

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I saw some people shipping Ted and Dr. Sharon, which I find a bit bemusing (not because that couldn't work if she wasn't his psychologist, but given that relationship, nope). Ted and Sassy I think is perfectly fine, especially nice given it's a bit of a background, slow-burn thing.

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22 hours ago, Werthead said:

I saw some people shipping Ted and Dr. Sharon, which I find a bit bemusing (not because that couldn't work if she wasn't his psychologist, but given that relationship, nope). Ted and Sassy I think is perfectly fine, especially nice given it's a bit of a background, slow-burn thing.

Yeah - not what I would want to see.  But I like the Ted/Sharon dynamic.  I also want more Sassy.  

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