Everyone’s favorite sports comedy Ted Lasso has made a comeback with its third season after a long wait. According to Jason Sudeikis, this will be the final season.
The show has seen both success and setbacks, including immense fame during pandemic, multiple Emmy wins, and even an ice cream flavor named after it, as well as plenty of online discussions, drama involving Sudeikis, and production delays. Nevertheless, Ted Lasso is back on Apple TV with a new season full of its old charm.
At the end of season 2, Nate betrays Ted and leaves Richmond to join a rival Premier League club, West Ham United. The season 3 premiere, aptly titled “Smells Like Mean Spirit”, continues with the storyline, moving towards setting Nate up as a major villain.
Moreover, the episode also establishes that Ted is taking therapy for his struggles and is still trying to conceal it all with his happy-go-lucky spirit.
In the opening scene of the episode, we see Ted Lasso saying goodbye to his son Henry as he departs for the United States. Ted is visibly upset, as expected. In a conversation with his therapist Sharon over the phone, Ted shares his personal challenges.
While he knows why he took on the role of coaching Richmond AFC, he is unable to understand the reasons behind his decision to remain in the position.
The premiere also sets up Nate’s evil arc which indicates that this season will be all about the Ted VS Nate saga, as both try hard to bag the coveted Premier League trophy. (Let’s hope Manchester City doesn’t bag it in the meantime, like they might in reality)
We see Nate being downright rude towards his colleagues and subordinates in his new job. During a press conference, he engages in a verbal face-off with Ted, where he openly disrespects him in front of a live audience.
As expected, his actions are rewarded by his new manager Rupert with a new car. In contrast, Ted chooses to take the high road during his own press conference, and his actions are praised by the media.
It seems highly likely that at some point during this season, Ted will intervene and attempt to reason with Nate. This is metaphorically depicted in the scene where Ted is seen moving a Lego figurine of Nate back to the home team on his homemade Richmond AFC Lego set.
This places Nate alongside Ted, Roy, and Coach Beard, which hints at the overarching goal of this season – to bring Nate back to the fold of Team Lasso.
The premiere is full of some extremely miserable people. If Rebecca and Ted were not enough, we’ve the fan-favorite couple, Roy and Keeley, who have broken up. Naturally, this comes as a big shock though one could sense that this was supposed to happen sooner or later.
In the previous season, the couple had found themselves entangled in a love triangle with Keeley’s ex, the arrogant footballer Jamie Tartt.
However, in this season, Jamie appears to have moved on from the situation and is now offering his support to Roy during his time of heartbreak, which is an unexpected development for his character. He attributes this to his own experience of breaking up with Keeley, and although Roy is hesitant, he eventually accepts his help.
What’s more ridiculous is that Roy and Keeley’s relationship ended due to both of them being “busy.” It appears that Roy may require guidance on how to provide proper support to his partner. It’s really not the best decision to abandon your partner during a significant life change, in fact, that’s when they require your support the most.
All the struggles and challenges faced by the characters in the series appear to be setups for Ted to step in and coach them out.
If you’re a fan of Ted’s speeches like me, then you’re in for a delightful treat. However, if you’re not a fan, Season 3 may not be your cup of tea.
One hopes that the upcoming bursts of positivity won’t be as heavy-handed as the season premiere, where Ted takes his team down to the sewers to prove that even in the depths, there’s an abundance of history and context to learn from – albeit in a rather unpleasant setting.
All in all, the season 3 premiere of Ted Lasso is full of melancholy and some serious worries, including Richmond’s worries about relegation, Roy’s post-break up phase, Ted’s own struggles and Keeley’s hard work not paying off.
Having said that, the latest episode of Ted Lasso’s third season had its highlights – Cristo Fernández’s performance as Dani Rojas is always a joy, and Hannah Waddingham’s reactions as Rebecca to Ted’s signature biscuits are priceless.
However, the show has taken a noticeable turn towards drama, and its signature charm was slightly diminished in this return. Nevertheless, the more wistful tone might be a refreshing change for Ted Lasso.
Only time will tell if this shift pays off in the long run, as we await the rest of Season 3. Although the season premiere was somewhat uneventful, I’ll try to remain optimistic – we’re all learning from Ted’s Ted talks!
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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