I’ve completed season 1 of Ted Lasso. Here are my thoughts about the last few episodes and the season as a whole.
Again, spoilers ahead if you are one of the three other Americans who haven’t seen the show:
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I still believe this show was ideal for release during the pandemic. Though I think it would’ve been well received at any time, the spirit of Ted Lasso and the characters around him is joyous, ebullient, and absolutely infectious, which is just what we need these days. The show is absent any real stakes. It represents idyllic, oftentimes hilarious, heartwarming, stress-free viewing.
Yes, Lasso’s team faces relegation as the season progresses, but beyond a soccer team being forced to play the following season in a different league, nothing potentially disastrous ever looms on the horizon for any of these characters.
Ted gets divorced, but the decision is ultimately mutual and absent any real acrimony.
Keeley breaks up with Jamie, but Jamie handles the break-up well, and Keeley moves onto Roy, who is a far better boyfriend overall.
Both break-ups are nearly drama-free.
All of this seems particularly well suited for a world already filled more stakes than we’ve ever seen before. The show premiered on August 14, 2020, at a point in the pandemic when uncertainty still reigned, the delta variant was on the rise, and vaccines were still being developed. It was also the summer of protests following the murder of George Floyd, and Americans were on the cusp of a Presidential election like no other.
It was a difficult, oftentimes frightening time in America. It still is. We didn’t need the next “Breaking Bad” or “Killing Eve” or “Dexter” to debut. Americans needed something to remind us of a world where things work out and people get along. Ted Lasso arrived at exactly the right moment to fulfill those needs.
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The show remains surprisingly free of antagonists. Even Jamie Tartt was redeemed in the final episode when we learn that his father is a rotten human being who demands that he play selfishly. Jamie not a bad man. He’s a man plagued by an overbearing, unkind, apparently volatile father.
The note sent from Lasso to Tartt in the closing moments of the season was an especially beautiful moment. A real Ted Lasso moment.
One could argue that Rebecca’s ex-husband, Rupert, is an antagonist, but he is little more than a thorn in the side of Rebecca. He does nothing to harm Ted Lasso or the team in any way. He’s a jackass, for sure, but not one who needs to be defeated.
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The final moments of the final soccer match of the season, when Richmond scores the goal that ties the game, is not filmed well. The surprise that Jamie Tartt and Manchester City is going to charge back to score the winning goal in the final seconds was spoiled by the way the celebration is filmed, absent any reaction shots of Manchester City players when Richmond scores.
Almost immediately after the Richmond goal was scored, I said to Elysha, “Uh oh.”
I knew that Manchester City was going to score just by the choices made in editing.
Then, as Jamie Tartt sprinted downfield, the choice to keep the shot on Tartt and not show any Richmond opponent as a possible savior, made the goal all but certain.
That surprise could have been much better preserved with better editing.
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Ted’s absence from his six year-old son is still ridiculous. It runs counter to everything that Ted represents. A man who delivers individually boxed biscuits to his boss every day couldn’t possibly allow his son to grow up without him. It’s a flaw in the show. A messy bit that the audience is expected to overlook, but I simply cannot. Even if I’m to accept that Ted traveled across an ocean to give his wife space, their divorce should have freed Ted up to return home rather than agreeing to coach the team the next season.
The UK soccer season runs from August to May, leaving Ted two months free to travel to the United States to be with his boy. It’s just not realistic. It’s sloppy and stupid and annoying. I genuinely love the show and can even see why people have watched it multiple times.
But that doesn’t mean Ted’s absence and continued absence from his son’s life makes any damn sense.
Perhaps season 2 will bring Ted and his son together in some way. Maybe his ex-wife moves to Richmond out of the kindness of her heart. Maybe she’ll get hit by a bus and put into a convenient, longterm, soap opera-like coma. Perhaps she will have her custodial rights revoked after attempting to build a small nuclear reactor in her basement.
I hope so, because if Ted’s absence from his son continues, it undermines the show.
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The theme or message or (in my terminology) thesis statement of the show seems to be this:
Bad people do not exist. Only broken people. And all broken people can be fixed with the right amount of empathy, compassion, and love.
It’s not exactly a realistic view of the world, but it’s a beautiful one, and one that I quite enjoy in 30 minute installments.
I liked Ted Lasso a great deal. It’s not close to my favorite show of all time, but it’s damn good.
I look forward to season 2.
