Ted Lasso (new seasons… new reasons)(spoilers)

[Corvinus85]

4 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

But college teams have “out of conference” games all the time. A “conference” isn’t a “league”.

I know. But there is FBS, FCS, so on. Those are leagues. (Well they call them divisions, but same thing)

I was making of fun how a conference's name doesn't make sense given reality. And on the subject of conferences, why do universities keep getting to leave one conference for another, making the makeup of a conference all weird? Why are some conferences called 'power conferences'? Up until recently teams from those 'power conferences' were given their due over other teams when it comes to ranking.

(I really don't want to hijack this thread to discuss American college football). 

[Ferocious Veldt Roarer]

On 5/12/2023 at 8:44 PM, dbunting said:

I think they handled the issue pretty well, as well as you can I guess. We all know that there will be a few, or more than a few, teammates who aren't ok with it and who would leak it to the media immediately. 

Pretty sure we saw Roy get his ass chewed and called out for his BS issues and then ultimately do the press conference for a reason.

Officially and emphatically hairless, how neglectful of you not to mention that.

[dbunting]

Pretty good episode. I think those of us who speculated that Wonder boy will wind up back where he started are still feeling it. Him and Roy as the coaching duo makes sense.

Didn't want Keely and Roy back together but am ok with it. When Roy was at the school and the teacher showed up I thought for sure they were going to go out. Or he was going to find out his niece didn't really make that shirt and was playing a joke on him with it.

Very little Ted and Coach Beard this episode and it still worked pretty well.

[Heartofice]

Yeah I enjoyed this episode for the most part, the humour worked, there was some level of drama that didn’t feel manufactured and a lot of it was centred around football.

Also I fucking love Sam Richardson from I think you should leave, so him playing Akufo was brilliant. I wish he was in it every week. 
 

The super league plot was pretty on the nose, it didn’t look very super though. Where were the Middle Eastern monarchs, Asian dictators and American venture capitalists who actually own big clubs? A bunch of stuffy old white English guys is about 40 years out of date as an idea.

Plus Richmond and West Ham would never even be allowed past security!

[Datepalm]

I thought that was really weak, tbh. The Dannny-Zorreaux thing made no sense and mostly wasn't funny (so Danny is what, a sociopath? Contrary to every bit of characterization of him to date? Except it was nice to have team members get a bit more airtime.) Ted's whole patter and asides also feel really random and are just material, mostly not very good, but nothing to do with the character, the moment or the situation (remember the sit in sitcom?) I could take or leave Roy and Keeley, but Rebecca swooping in to save Keeley's business is just easy and absurd. Firstly, that's a good way to ruin a friendship and a business, but also is just bad writing and shows how low stakes and uninteresting the whole Keeley's agency plot is. Also Roy's Shirt was not funny. Also, that kid is too old for that kind of tweeness. Jaime paying up for swearing and eyeing Roy's sister was the only funny, in-character bit. The superleague thing was dated, as noted, and Rebecca's speech was too on the nose. Nate's departure from West Ham being off screen was weak, just like Roy and Keeley's reconciliation actually being off screen - sometimes eliding a big moment can work, steeping it in surprise or inevitability, but in this case there's a sense they just couldn't be bothered to write the actual dramatic scenes, or couldn't figure out how to make them work, probably because by and large, they don't. Also I still don't quite get the appeal of Jade - she was all but mean to Nate for two seasons. Now it seems like the opacity/blankness is a bit of a character trait rather than an overt defense, but she's still not exactly interesting in any way.

The only part that unabashedly rang some bell was Rupert making a move and being genuinely shattered for a moment there (ye olde acting from all involved) when Rebecca all but laughs at him.

[Heartofice]

3 minutes ago, Datepalm said:

I thought that was really weak, tbh. The Dannny-Zorreaux thing made no sense and mostly wasn't funny (so Danny is what, a sociopath? Contrary to every bit of characterization of him to date? Except it was nice to have team members get a bit more airtime.) Ted's whole patter and asides also feel really random and are just material, mostly not very good, but nothing to do with the character, the moment or the situation (remember the sit in sitcom?) I could take or leave Roy and Keeley, but Rebecca swooping in to save Keeley's business is just easy and absurd. Firstly, that's a good way to ruin a friendship and a business, but also is just bad writing and shows how low stakes and uninteresting the whole Keeley's agency plot is. Also Roy's Shirt was not funny. Also, that kid is too old for that kind of tweeness. Jaime paying up for swearing and eyeing Roy's sister was the only funny, in-character bit. The superleague thing was dated, as noted, and Rebecca's speech was too on the nose. Nate's departure from West Ham being off screen was weak, just like Roy and Keeley's reconciliation actually being off screen - sometimes eliding a big moment can work, steeping it in surprise or inevitability, but in this case there's a sense they just couldn't be bothered to write the actual dramatic scenes, or couldn't figure out how to make them work, probably because by and large, they don't. Also I still don't quite get the appeal of Jade - she was all but mean to Nate for two seasons. Now it seems like the opacity/blankness is a bit of a character trait rather than an overt defense, but she's still not exactly interesting in any way.

The only part that unabashedly rang some bell was Rupert making a move and being genuinely shattered for a moment there (ye olde acting from all involved) when Rebecca all but laughs at him.

I don't totally disagree with you. I'd say in comparison to the turds we've been served recently I thought this was a higher level but still it's hardly quality tv. 

On the Danny Rojas thing, my take was that he takes on a whole new personality when representing his country, and becomes an almost different person, mentality able to separate out his loyalty to each team. I quite liked it, Danny is one of the few amusing characters on the team.

I also agree that Rubert getting knocked back was one of the very few moments of moral complexity from a character on the show. We are meant to hate him, but clearly there are reasons to be sympathetic to him. 

I also wondered whether Anthony Head is suffering some sort of ill health? He looks terribly thin, and it's not just old age, and he was barely able to walk in that episode.

[sifth]

I reserve my judgment until I see the final two episodes, but dam has this season been all over the place. Certain characters and plotline's feel like filler and basically go nowhere.

All that being said, I really liked this most recent episode. Nate's finally starting to redeem himself, I just worry they waited a little too long, to finally do it.

[dbunting]

2 hours ago, sifth said:

I reserve my judgment until I see the final two episodes, but dam has this season been all over the place. Certain characters and plotline's feel like filler and basically go nowhere.

All that being said, I really liked this most recent episode. Nate's finally starting to redeem himself, I just worry they waited a little too long, to finally do it.

I have to wonder if the writing team is kind of lost. Sudekis isn't coming back for another season but there are rumors of the show continuing or spin offs being created. I wonder if that is causing the writers to write for certain characters differently, in case some move into a spin off? Ted has definitely taken a back seat this season and I assume it's intentional, to let other characters breathe and see if any could carry a show.

[Veltigar]

Just now, Veltigar said:

I had to backtrack to Ted Lasso when I discovered I had accidentally skipped the episode where they tie pieces of strings to each other's 

  Reveal hidden contents

genitalia

as a way to train themselves in a new football philosophy. 

This was probably the worst episode of the entire series. It's really sad how this show is mismanaged in its final season. The core workplace comedy parts about the football team still work exceedingly well, but all the ancillary stuff is terrible (and there is just so much of it ).

As an addition to my comment in the Watched thread, I would just like to say that worst offender on that front is the Keely storyline. At this point, I would have preferred her to be fridged in season 2 to motivate the male characters. You can imagine how dreadful her parts are if even something as lazy as fridging is preferable to it. 

I fucking hated that Jack defaced a priceless first edition of Sense & Sensibility to give Keely a present. I actually said to myself 'fuck this show' and had to pause the episode.

[Heartofice]

5 hours ago, dbunting said:

I have to wonder if the writing team is kind of lost. Sudekis isn't coming back for another season but there are rumors of the show continuing or spin offs being created. I wonder if that is causing the writers to write for certain characters differently, in case some move into a spin off? Ted has definitely taken a back seat this season and I assume it's intentional, to let other characters breathe and see if any could carry a show.

Seems a really bad idea to screw over your second season because the 3rd season might not have the lead character in it. I'm sure it would be possible to create spin offs of the show without having to spend half of this season writing about complete sideshow characters. 

What they should have learnt by now is that any 'Keely' sitcoms where she opens her own media agency are a no go and should be binned.

 

[dbunting]

18 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Seems a really bad idea to screw over your second season because the 3rd season might not have the lead character in it. I'm sure it would be possible to create spin offs of the show without having to spend half of this season writing about complete sideshow characters. 

What they should have learnt by now is that any 'Keely' sitcoms where she opens her own media agency are a no go and should be binned.

 

I agree but what other reasons can there be for a show called Ted Lasso, to have him involved so little? He was the heart of the show and that's what it's currently missing. 

I imagine we will get good ol Ted in a heavy dose next episode as I am sure it will be the one where Nate comes back home to them. Ted will be the one to welcome him with open arms. 

[Veltigar]

14 hours ago, dbunting said:

I agree but what other reasons can there be for a show called Ted Lasso, to have him involved so little? He was the heart of the show and that's what it's currently missing. 

I imagine we will get good ol Ted in a heavy dose next episode as I am sure it will be the one where Nate comes back home to them. Ted will be the one to welcome him with open arms. 

My take is there are two reasons why this season has been rather poor:

1. Delusions of grandeur: As detailed in the article @Heartofice shared, I think the writers just started to believe their own hype and tried to turn the show in something that it just isn't.
2. Churning out possibilities for ye old spin-off machine:  I think you're quite on the money here. Alas, they suck at it. At this point I'm not even sure whether I'd follow a spin-off about the core football team (which is the only almost consistently part of the season imo)

[kairparavel]

I'm on the third episode of season 1 and I really want to like it but Ted Lasso himself is just...a lot. It was a fun character when NBC started broadcasting EPL and he was part of the promotion. But I just can't get with the perpetual optimism and hokiness (which is clearly a me problem). 

Edited May 21, 2023 by kairparavel

[Spockydog]

I am totally here for:

The Trent Crimm Spinoff.

The Coach Beard Spinoff.

The Keeley, Roy, and Jamie In A Throuple Spinoff.

That is all.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Spockydog

[Veltigar]

8 hours ago, kairparavel said:

I'm on the third episode of season 1 and I really want to like it but Ted Lasso himself is just...a lot. It was a fun character when NBC started broadcasting EPL and he was part of the promotion. But I just can't get with the perpetual optimism and hokiness (which is clearly a me problem). 

You know, I get it. I watched it during CoVID's worst excesses, so it was such a relief to see the optimism in this show. I can imagine people being turned off by it in more normal times. I'd still encourage you to try and power through it. It does get more complex as it goes along.

[kairparavel]

6 hours ago, Veltigar said:

You know, I get it. I watched it during CoVID's worst excesses, so it was such a relief to see the optimism in this show. I can imagine people being turned off by it in more normal times. I'd still encourage you to try and power through it. It does get more complex as it goes along.

I binged through the first season and am an episode onto season 2. It absolutely did get more complex and my enjoyment outweighs my initial annoyance. He's still a lot but less so given other characters and their stories. 

[Heartofice]

I think Teds character and the culture clash of him coming to the UK and the prem is the charm of season one and pretty much the main reason it works so well. There was a dynamic there that was interesting and even if Ted was cloying and irritating, that was almost the point.

Half the problem I’ve found in this season is there is no contrast between the characters now. They are all ‘cute’ and ‘lovable’.. so there is no tension. There is nothing to bounce Ted off because everyone is as nice as him 

[Datepalm]

I actually stuck the first episode on - it is not all cloying sunshine at all, the start of the show is a lot more angry and vulgar than it becomes, with Ted not just an absurd fish out of water in the UK/in football, but also a clearly oddball optimist in an otherwise harsher-edged world, rather than the overall pile of goop it's become now (Rebecca notes she would like Rupert to feel "like he's being fucked in the arse with a splintered cricket bat, over and over, in a constant loop, like a gif." It's awful and funny and I can't image a line like that in Season 3.)

[Heartofice]

18 hours ago, Datepalm said:

I actually stuck the first episode on - it is not all cloying sunshine at all, the start of the show is a lot more angry and vulgar than it becomes, with Ted not just an absurd fish out of water in the UK/in football, but also a clearly oddball optimist in an otherwise harsher-edged world, rather than the overall pile of goop it's become now (Rebecca notes she would like Rupert to feel "like he's being fucked in the arse with a splintered cricket bat, over and over, in a constant loop, like a gif." It's awful and funny and I can't image a line like that in Season 3.)

Rebecca is maybe one of the biggest flaws of the show actually, the way they have changed out her character, or at least the elements they have focused on. That initial few episodes where she was determined to act through sheer spite even if it destroyed everything, that at least was a plot point to hang your hat on. 
 

What is the overall plot now… she wants Richmond to do a bit better than West Ham? Meh.

Mostly they’ve just turned her into some giggling rom com cliche and sidekick to Keely, and therefore removed basically any tension the show had dramatically 

[dbunting]

On 5/20/2023 at 8:59 PM, Spockydog said:

I am totally here for:

The Trent Crimm Spinoff.

The Coach Beard Spinoff.

The Keeley, Roy, and Jamie In A Throuple Spinoff.

That is all.

How about Coach Beard and Roy move to the US and take over a MLS team and it's Roy who is a bit of a fish out of water culture wise.  Ted can pop in for a cameo. Roy in the US right now would be cancelled and sent home after one outburst!