From the mid-season of Ted Lasso, we see the titular character go through panic attacks every now and then. He starts seeing Dr. Sharon, the team counselor, but finds it quite hard to open up. Episode 10 shows Ted having yet another panic attack as he gets ready for Rebecca’s father’s funeral, but we have all the answers this time.
One of the most significant arcs of season 2 has been Ted’s problems. The happy-go-lucky coach who’s got a solution to everything seems to harbor some dark secrets of the past that he is not ready to let out.
The trope of taking the most pumped character and depicting their low sides is common, but Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso makes it utterly convincing with his performance. I was invested in his problems right from the beginning, and after a considerable amount of build-up, the pay-off or the reveal had to be big enough for it all to be worth it. And guess what? It indeed was! So, what is the reason for Ted’s panic attacks?
Ted Lasso’s father killed himself when he was 16 years old. As a result, Ted always blamed his father for not being there for him and his mom and for giving up on his family. Due to these unresolved issues, Ted faced panic attacks and had one when he had to go to Rebecca’s father’s funeral.
What could’ve Triggered the Panic Attacks?
From Season 1 till the middle of Season 2, Ted Lasso seemed like the only character who hadn’t faced many conflicts. Of course, thsere was his divorce, but it wasn’t messy at all. Or so we thought.
In Season 2, with Dr. Sharon’s debut into the team as their counselor and therapist, things started to change a bit. She mentioned that Ted should meet her sometimes as coaching and leading an entire team must be a huge responsibility, and it would be more tiring than it looks.
This was the first hint for the audience. Later on, Ted has his first panic attack just as Richmond AFC is winning a match, and I think it was long overdue. Not the panic attack but an internal conflict for the most seemingly sorted character of the show, Ted Lasso.
We see Ted feeling a little lonely after his divorce and having no family in London. The Christmas episode gave us a glimpse of that. Perhaps this could be one of his triggers for the panic attack. Right from Season 1, Ted doesn’t want to give up on his family. He wants to be there as a husband, be with his child, and wants to work it all out.
The divorce could’ve been a trigger where he probably felt disappointed with himself and even made him think that he was inevitably becoming his father. Of course, the circumstances were pretty different. While Ted’s wife fell out of love with him, Ted’s father committed suicide for reasons we don’t know yet.
Despite this stark difference to Ted, it seems the same, and he now blames his father for not being there for him and his mother. In a way, a part of Ted is still stuck at that moment when he was a kid.
Ted Opens up to Dr. Sharon about His Father’s Death
When Ted’s getting ready for Rebecca’s father’s funeral, he starts having a panic attack and decides to call Dr. Sharon up. This time, he talks about everything because he can’t hold it inside anymore.
He relayed the events of September 13, 1991. The day that changed Ted Lasso forever. Ted was 16 when one day he came home and heard this loud gunshot. When he entered his father’s room, he saw his father lying dead. He called mom home, called 911, and that was it.
Ted never even attended his dad’s funeral, which is why he couldn’t attend Rebecca’s father’s funeral.
What Will Happen to Ted Next?
I think now that it’s out in the open and he has had the strength to admit it all; Ted will be on his way to recovery. In fact, now that Ted isn’t carrying the huge burden anymore, his contribution to the team might become even better.
Furthermore, there’s a chance that Ted’s relationship with Sassy might take a new turn since now he’s aware of his issues and won’t fall into the same patterns again.
I really hope all this happens since there’s nothing else that will make Ted happy. I guess we’ll have to wait and find out if it does.
About Ted Lasso
Ted Lasso is an American sports-comedy streaming TV series developed by Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Joe Kelly, and Brendan Hunt. It’s based on a character of the same name that Sudeikis first portrayed in a series of promos for NBC Sports’ coverage of the Premier League.
It follows the life of Ted Lasso, a coach of college-level American football who is unexpectedly recruited to coach an English Premier League team, AFC Richmond, despite having no experience at all in association football.
It stars Sudeikis as the titular character, Ted Lasso, joined by Hannah Waddingham, Jeremy Swift, Phil Dunster, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, Nick Mohammed, Juno Temple, and Sarah Niles among many others.
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