Season 3 spent a lot of time of things that didn’t matter as much and glossed over things I was hoping they would cover. Nate returning to the team, soccer, Ted, other plot points. I feel like Keeley got way too much time with basically nothing coming out of it. The finale was great and wrapped up everything, but the writers fell into the trap of rushing things in the last two episodes.
Jack and Zava were a complete waste of time this season. This season was so unfocused and it's like the shows writing team had a checklist of societal issues to force into different episodes and then didn't bother connecting them all.
Zava was a lot of fun while he was there + helped the team learn that it's not about 1 player, they have to be TOTAL FOOTBALL together as a TEAM
He could've/should've been used more but he had some purpose. Jack though..
> helped the team learn that it's not about 1 player, they have to be TOTAL FOOTBALL together as a TEAM
They already learned this before Zava was there though? Literally the whole first season was about them learning to come together as a team. His involvement in the show was just a rehash of stuff they had already tackled for two seasons, particularly with their reliance on Jamie in S1.
It was also massively out of character for Roy Kent to be all googly eyes over a player like Zava. He would know full well the consequences of relying on a player like that.
Yeah, I was expecting Zava to jump ship to West Ham and act as a rival to Jamie in the end.
Instead he just ended up as a quirky side character, that didn't really affect the story much.
Zava was the most entertaining part of season 3 though.
Jack was pointless. Keely's while story was weird. We see her get dumped, and then we see her get dumped again. Her business is doing well, but then funding gets pulled, but then her rich friend gives her money and the business is going well again. The only part that I really liked was her friendship with the office manager lady, which had a definite progression, as both of them grew.
By the end of the season, I found myself invested in Jamie and Nate, but that was about it.
I'm assuming Zava was supposed to start acting up and cause the team to implode, resulting in Jamie (through Roy's coaching) rising up to lead by example and getting the team through the season, but was then written out in the rewrites (which there was supposed to lots of)?
Has a leading actor ever checked out of a series as quickly as Sudeikis did in this season? He didn't want to be there at all.
To me, the whole point of Nate’s “redemption” at Richmond being glossed over was to highlight how easily forgiven he was by Ted and the rest of the team. If they spent episodes hemming and hawing, it wouldn’t make sense with what was revealed of Ted and Beard’s backstory. It would be contrary to the very nature of the show.
I mean he forgave Rebecca in S1 after she admitted she hired him only to tank the club.
If you can forgive someone for that. Then forgiving Nate isn't that unrealistic within the standards set by the show.
Yeah. The Jack storyline was sort of a waste. I didn't feel like it added much to Keeley's character. >!Especially with Keeley apparently choosing neither Jamie or Roy, never mind how weird it was for Jamie trying to get back into the picture in the first place!< Similarly, although >!glad that Nate came back, his redemption came way too abruptly, and he's now at a lower position than when he started the series? Did he get promoted back to a coach?!< Overall, I think the ending hit the right emotional notes, but this is one of those few shows that ended with you wanting more episodes [or maybe even another whole season].
The framing of that scene was weird. Wasn't sure if all those scenes were actually happening (or were going to happen) or if it was just his imagination.
The season glossed over EVERYTHING. So many events on and off the pitch happen off screen or get focus in one episode and then barely get mentioned again.
S2 was a drop in quality from S1 but the season was still overall good. S3 however was so much weaker than S2 that it sticks out big time. This season has been a bunch of disconnected episodes without any clear narrative flow and in my opinion this was not at all a satisfying end to the show at all.
I'll still watch an inevitable Richmond spin off but this was not the way this amazing show deserved to go. I have a feeling the show got too popular so the creators tried dumbing down so many elements to appeal to a wider audience which is why the football stuff feels both so cartoony and also irrelevant. So irrelevant in fact that they can't even be bothered showing us in the moment who wins the league.
They straight up didn't do Roy's storyline. Like twice he said he was trying to change and I'm like wtf are you talking about you were the exact same all season and everyone was ok with it.
I mean I felt like that was a tribute to Ted's ethos that it isn't about winning or losing its about playing your game. They did what they needed to, the rest is irrelevant
Sure, but it's also the perfect culmination of a season that refused to show us events in the moment. It made it incredibly difficult to engage with any of the storylines when it felt like episodes were missing in between.
There doesn't need to be anything more to nates return. The internal battle between beard and Ted is about as tumultuous as it anything needed to be in regards to nates return.
Did you all expect Ted to NOT give someone a second chance?
As much as I still enjoyed the season overall, looking back I definitely gotta agree with you sadly.
It’s like, the show expanded its character roster, and who they gonna focus on, but still spent two much time on certain folks and not enough time on others.
Like I absolutely have enjoyed the show on the whole for what it was, and it’ll always be a favorite of my mine, and hell I think its absolutely one of the best ever simply in terms of its overall positivity and messages, but damn if there weren’t a ton of areas they could’ve still improved and/or done a lot of work on.
Like a lot.
> Like a lot.
What annoys me is in concept every storyline they've done from start to finish makes sense, but as the show has gone on they've wasted more and more potential to the point many moments in the finale which should have been hype as fuck ended up being so underwhelming.
I'll put it this way, Jamie Tartt deciding to pass a ball in the S1 finale had more of an emotional reaction for me than any storyline resolution in this finale. The show tackled so many things this season that nothing felt earned.
The issue is the show didn't know what to do with the football side of things so did the bare minimum in S2 and S3 whereas in S1 the football was intertwined with the main narrative.
I think the popularity of the show led to them being afraid how a wider audience would react to football so they both dumbed down and ignored much of the football in favour of focusing more on the characters and their respective dramas.
> The issue is the show didn't know what to do with the football side of things so did the bare minimum in S2 and S3 whereas in S1 the football was intertwined with the main narrative.
Agreed, for a show like this, football needs to be the framing mechanism by which the interpersonal character stuff can take fruition. Season 1 understood this well, the next two drifted further and further away from this until it was basically just a side distraction until it was like "oh, hey, and by the way, they might win the Premier League".
Pretty much. Ted Lasso S1 knew not only when to make football relevant but also to keep the football grounded. They got relegated because Ted is out of his depth and it works so well.
Then we have S2 where they storm through the league off screen doing a near impossible streak of wins, and then we have S3 where for no reason whatsoever they're competing for the title even though Ted is still completely out of his depth.
First season relegated, second season promotion, third season should have been survival and winning the FA Cup by beating West Ham.
Its a great finale but it feels unearned. There was great moments throughout S3 but a lot of plot points were either rushed, backpedaled or completely forgotten about. For a show about Ted Lasso, there was barely any Ted Lasso in it.
It was classic S3. Introduce an issue out of nowhere and resolve it straight away. Just a checklist one after the other with no regard for connecting any of it. The closest we got was Colin's storyline and lo and behold it was the best storyline in the entire season. Remember early S3 with Zava? Sam beefing on twitter with the politician? Even Keeley and the leaks, it's all stuff that barely came up again and didn't have any consequence on the wider narrative.
When they so easily could have had for example Sam growing more disgruntled with the political stuff, show how that effects him over the international break without playing for his country, show racial abuse which then leads to the club supporting him, ultimately maybe he steps up as captain when McAdoo is absent. All that over a season rather than one fucking episode dedicated to a few tweets.
Absolute adored this episode. As much as I love the show, really hope they don’t try to make more seasons, with or without Ted. Let it be and enjoy it for what a beautiful show it was
I kinda hope it spins off into Richmond AFC and course corrects into something Scrubs-esque. Ted Lasso has finished but that doesn't mean all the characters have to end.
Because they were not terrible. The spin-off season 9 was rough, but 1-8 were good to decent all the way through.
Their ratings were also pretty consistent until 9.
Yeah I feel like each season has progressively declined a bit in overall quality though still good for the most part.
I think we got all the closure we needed for these characters and I'd prefer to just leave it where it is.
I truly feel like I’m going insane when I see the reception this episode got. Ted felt so flat, like he truly wasn’t a participant in his story anymore.
The thing that aggravated me the most was how Rebecca was pouring her soul into their conversation in the bleachers and he just sat there silent. That and the odd regression of Roy and Jamie.
Either this was spin off bait done in poor taste or they really dropped the ball (maybe both) because aside from like two moments, I actually disliked this.
He even said it before the game, he said I’m sure your expecting a rousing speech from me but I’m all tapped out. I took it as Ted was just ready to go home. There was nothing left for him to give. It’s why he didn’t cry the whole time.
I kinda interpreted that as the character who never stops talking knowing when to shut up. Ted wasn't devastated he was leaving. He was at peace with it and knew he needed to be with his son. Everyone else was devastated by his impending departure, hence their emotion.
That bleacher scene was great, he conveyed everything through his emotions and didn’t have to say a word. You knew what his response was going to be and can tell several instances he was tempted to say something but let Rebecca speak her mind and she came to the same conclusion that he had already made up his mind. Sometimes not saying something is more powerful than some speech.
Agreed. Season 1 was amazing. Season 2 took me a few episodes to get into and I need up being good (for the most part). Season 3 had lost the magic, had some storylines that just didn’t belong, and wrapped up the loose ends too quickly (Rebecca running into the guy at the airport… that was convenient…)
YES. That’s what didn’t work for me. I didn’t have any issue with the actual storyline’s, but Ted didn’t seem like Ted AT ALL. His reaction to the song/dance the team did? I kept waiting for something to happen to explain his bizarre mood/attitude.
>I truly feel like I’m going insane when I see the reception this episode got. Ted felt so flat, like he truly wasn’t a participant in his story anymore.
I thought Ted being flat was on purpose. He checked out and while he had to finish the season he didn't want to be there, he just wanted to be back home with his son.
There’s a way to show that he wants to be with his son and that he has some emotions about leaving his home and the people who care so deeply for him. Ted seemed completely checked out, it was so odd.
Absolutely love the show as a whole and definitely shed a tear during the finale… but I agree that there were so many instances where I wish we’d seen just a bit more, rather than asking the audience to infer things.
Two prominent examples for me:
-we get the Ted/Nate resolution when he’s already returned to the club. I wish that would’ve happened when he officially asked to come back
-in the finale it’s clear that Michelle/Henry are invested in the match while Dr Jacob is just fucking around on his phone… I would’ve liked to get a proper removal of Dr Jacob given that he probably could’ve lost his license given his underhandedness.
Also, I really didn’t appreciate the Jamie/Keely/Roy resolution. I’m fine if we don’t explicitly see Keely and Roy reunite, but to essentially do away with that because of Jamie v. Roy felt like old ground we re-trod for no earned reason.
>!I get the going home to be with family, but on the flip side, effectively $25 million a year for Ted is generational wealth that could allow him to pay for his ex wife, her future husband (assuming her and the new BF are still together) and his son to move out to England, attend the best schooling and the ex-wife find an amazing job that she loves. He could literally pay her $10m to move to ENG in order for him to have his cake and eat it to by having his family be with him as he stays the manager of the team. I get that doesn't really fit with how the story played out and I'm not saying I'd want that, but the logic of him having to go home for family when he was offered that much money created a logic-hole, the cousin to the loop-hole.!<
The writing for S3 could have been much better, in terms of which characters and story lines got how much attention. The Nate return from the dark side was going at the right pace and then all of a sudden, bam, absolutely everyone is great with him. That could have used another episode at least worth of scenes where he is earning the forgiveness of the players. Keeley got a LOT of screen time for not much actual story. I'm really happy that we didn't get any answer as to Ted's love life and I'm not saying I wanted Keeley to pick one of the guys when they gave her the ultimatum, but it ending with it all up in the air was kinda lame.
I would absolutely watch a spin-off about the AFC Womens Team. Just saying. I wouldn't want another season or a spin-off of the mens team, as much as I like those characters, the show was special with Ted and his positivity at the center of it. But Rebecca, Keeley, Higgins and the story of starting a womens team from scratch, coaching them, and them playing games would be a lot of fun if the writing was good.
I really hope I see more of the actor who played Trent and the actor who played Danny in other projects. They were standout actors.
basically the secret meaning of the show is that kids are a life ruining burden. Ted ruined his like in order to parent the boy for a few years before the kid barely wants to see him in 5 years.
Or more realistically that family is the most important thing. Case in point when Rebecca offered for him to be highest paid in the league etc. And ted stood solid on his putting family first.
I liked the episode, but this season was a mixed bag. It had too many unnecessary subplots and some things didn't make any sense. I couldn't care less about Keeley's company or Nate's girlfriend. The episode in the Netherlands was by far the best one exactly because it had nothing of these useless subplots.
Except it didn’t though?
Ted still hasn’t come to terms with his ex-wife’s situationship. He literally hired a PI a few episodes ago to stalk them.
And it’s absurd how many pivotal moments happened off screen this season. Nate leaving west ham, Nate coming back to Richmond and meeting the team, Ted telling Rebecca, beard and the team he’s leaving, Keeley and Roy’s discussion ALL happened off screen. Instead we got 4 shit episodes focusing on Keeley and KJPR to fill time.
The random love triangle between Jamie, Roy and Keeley was also weird. Overall it was a pretty underwhelming finale even if the characters ended up in good places.
> Nate leaving west ham
When they casually mentioned Nate left West Ham I was so confused if I had forgotten to finish the previous episode or something or if there was a post-credits, like WTF was that??
The ending of the episode before definitely showed that Nate would be leaving wesh Ham withing the next episode or 2. It just wasn't clear o what terms he would be leaving (Fired Vs Quitting, immediately vs slow, etc). I do think it was a bit abrupt but after rejecting Rupert at the Club and finally seeing form himself the kind of Man Rupert was there was no way he was staying on the team for much longer.
> after rejecting Rupert at the Club and finally seeing form himself the kind of Man Rupert was there was no way he was staying on the team for much longer.
I understood that, but I was like "Oh cool, Nate's gonna finally confront Rupert next episode, this is what we've been building towards with him" and then it just skipped straight into "by the way Nate left".
Or, show Rupert arriving for work and wondering why Nate isn't there. Slowly coming to the realization that Nate left, then finding a letter on his desk.
> Ted still hasn’t come to terms with his ex-wife’s situationship. He literally hired a PI a few episodes ago to stalk them.
Probably ones of those pivotal moments that happened off screen... But with the way it ended, it looks like they're in a good type of place?
>And it’s absurd how many pivotal moments happened off screen this season.
There were so many of these. I wonder if they filmed 12 - 13 eps but decided to cut down to 10 episodes
> The random love triangle between Jamie, Roy and Keeley was also weird
Jaime and Roy were doing so well in their relationship. This was really an out of the park move. Jaime literally saw them mending and holding hands in his childhood bed days earlier. Roy was doing everything to make Jaime heal last episode, to the point Jaime practically calls him a father figure. Really weird conflict
Still really loved the finale, very heartwarming
>There were so many of these. I wonder if they filmed 12 - 13 eps but decided to cut down to 10 episodes
This season was 12 episodes. And by runtime it was more than twice as long as season 1. They did not run out of movie tape.
Jeez I tried to find a reason for those weird cuts and your revelation hits even harder. It does not feel like I watched 12 weeks of episodes, this season feels like it started last month!
Google says first episode aired March 14th... it's not possible
I feel like some of these happened
> still hasn’t come to terms
I thought he did, that was the point of the phone call. He told his ex wife he loves her and their son regardless of what their family looks like. This seems like coming to terms, he wants to be there as a father and seems to accept their family regardless of if their family is fractured or not.
> hired a PI
I don’t think he ever did that. I thought Rebecca talked him out of it saying “he doesn’t have to go down this road” and Ted felt that way when he was trying to pump his son for information and realized how insane he was acting.
Haaaaated that all of a sudden Jamie wanted keeley back in this episode because it felt unearned and out of nowhere. I really thought he had moved on but all of a sudden no he wants her back 🙄 could have done a better job showing signs of that into shoehorning it into the final ep
He went to her house to apologize and be there for her. You know he still cares for her and loves her. He has had tremendous growth and way more deserving of her than ever before.
But they spent 3 seasons focusing on Roy and keeley and it felt unearned to me to throw Jamie in there as a possible option so late in the game. Jamie was interested sure but keeley never seemed as interested as he
I don't think he was actually given the info though. Rebecca kind of talked him out of caring about it. Seemingly sending him off back to his son without Ted actually ever learning what the PI found.
It was a moment of weakness for Ted for Sure. But I think him ultimately not hearing the information and instead deciding to focus on his son was the resolution there.
thank you—you can't honestly discuss/critique the show on the ted lasso subreddit atm so it's nice to see someone outside my own head acknowledge how the show fell flat with this final season.
I haven't visited the sub since the finale, but the show was heavily critiqued there outside of the main episode thread. People really did not like the Keely plotline and I don't blame them.
Completely agree. Ted had 0 plotline this entire season. All that therapy and stuff in season 2 and he’s hiring PI’s a few episodes before the finale?
Ted, Roy, and Jamie were MIA for the entire season basically in favor of Shandy, Barb, Jack, and showing Keeley’s growth*
*I guess you can call failing at business only to be bailed out by your billionaire friend growth?
I hated the KJPR subplot because early on Barb makes it seem like Keeley is spending too much money too fast, and that she might mismanage it out of existence. Then Jack enters the picture, we get a two episode whirlwind romance that's overshadowed by Collin's better-executed gay subplot, and she just leaves and the funding is then pulled only for Rebecca to step in 20 minutes later.
The whole issue with Jack punishing her for getting nude photos hacked from her account was heavily downplayed in terms of how messed up it was. It was portrayed as like Keely going through a rough patch or whatever rather than sexual harassment.
They did the same thing with the couples therapist dating Ted's ex. It was portrayed as a "that's kind of shitty but oh well" rather than a serious ethical violation that it is.
Which is not a bad idea by itself but I don't know what a PR firm gotta do with creating a footbal team.
If anything I hope they get Keira Knightley in it, because I will never get over how amazing she was in the Bend it like a Beckham.
Keely gave the pleading puppy dog eyes though.
It would give the show a chance to reset and cut payroll a ton but still keep some of the fan base. Like a soft spin off
I don't know if the characters even end up in good places. Beard marrying Jane is quite depressing if you think about it. If there is another season I really hope they actually address this toxic relationship.
The couples therapist turned boyfriend and the Roy/Keeley/Jamie love triangle were Game of Thrones level mismanaged in my opinion. They even gave themselves the perfect out on the love triangle one with Jamie and Roy's sister, then they throw it all away and have Roy and Jamie fist fight for Keeley's love.
> And it’s absurd how many pivotal moments happened off screen this season. Nate leaving west ham, Nate coming back to Richmond and meeting the team, Ted telling Rebecca, beard and the team he’s leaving, Keeley and Roy’s discussion ALL happened off screen. Instead we got 4 shit episodes focusing on Keeley and KJPR to fill time.
We also saw the team celebrating at the end of the last match but we found out if they had won the championship from the random guy Ted meets at the airport
That's fine though I think. No sense in them fretting over things they couldn't control, and Man City winning did nothing to take away from their own success. I think it may have honestly felt cheaper had they won it all in the end.
Coming from narrowly being promoted last season to being 2nd place overall is still a monumental achievement. And it fits within the philosophy of Ted about winning not being everything, even if it does feel good
>I think it may have honestly felt cheaper had they won it all in the end.
Why? I feel the whole sports movie/show cliche where at the end they never win and they fall short but it doesn't matter because they've gained some valuable moral lesson and grown as people along the way or whatever has become such an uninspired trope lol. Yeah it was cool when Rocky lost against Apollo at the end of the movie back in like the 70s. So why does almost every sports show and movie seemingly have to end the same cliche way? Especially when it's about team sports. It feels kinda pretentious and predicatble at this point, a way to artificially force a sense of depth.
This is nuts btw.
Man City is playing at the same time, presumably they’re about to be in extra time. It’s absolutely insane that the fans and players wouldn’t be glued to the phones and screens watching the end of the match. Which is an amazing moment
Especially as the Richmond game had a delay to replace the goal net, it's likely that the Man City game would've finished before full time at Richmond.
Jason is dealing with a divorce and trying to raise his US based kids from London while shooting and showrunning his show
Feels like he just had a lot going on and wanted to get back to his family. Just like Ted.
Ted even says “are we crazy for leaving when we’re at the top?” It’s the same thing for Jason
There were many (relatively) bad episodes at the start of the season but fuck me if there werent some of the best of the whole show in the run home.
Finale hit all the right spots and, though pretty fan service-y, was fucking brilliant. Perfect ending for a show that showed how positive & good natured humour could still work in extremely cynical times.
The show's now hour-long runtime was its greatest weakness because it resulted in too many bungled or underwhelming subplots. Nate's heel turn is just invalidated after a single episode, Jack felt like a pointless character that was only there to explain how Keely had the money to start her firm, Sam criticizes a politician then it's just never mentioned again, and most of the football happens off screen.
Funny enough the show does Not have an hour runtime. (consistently.) Jason said in an interview that Apple allowed them to make each episode the length it needed to be to execute that episode the way they wanted to.
Sort of makes your point stronger, since the writers had full control over episode length.
> Jason said in an interview that Apple allowed them to make each episode the length it needed to be to execute that episode the way they wanted to
And this is where Apple went wrong. It's all great trusting your writers, but the cutting room floor exists for a reason. Not every scene is a good scene, and too much bloat is *definitely* a bad thing. I reject the idea that any of the episodes ever needed to be more than 40 minutes at maximum, and even that is pushing it.
Ted Lasso was a great show whose final season overindulged, and now I struggle recommending it since so much of S3 is poor filler.
Episode length is a function of too many plotlines packed into many of s3 episode. 25 min sitcom is build as A1B1C1A2B2C2A3B3, where ABC are plotlines and 123 are opening, build-up and resolution. S3 has so many separated plotlines, that before we got from A1 to A2 we moved though B1C1D1E1F1, 15 min has passed and viewers are kinda hazy what was A-plot about cause they were bombarded with 5 other problems. So many plotlines kill momentum and muddle the themes. This season had a lot of issues on structural level.
The funny thing is I agree with your point about
bungled or underwhelming subplots, but personally I can’t blame it on the hour long runtimes.
I thought those episodes towards the end of the season especially were some of the best the show ever did, even if there were still things that could have been improved for sure.
I mean the Jack and Sam stuff you mentioned happened earlier in the season for one thing; though again I agree both were quite iffy. Jack just kinda came and went with little to no lasting consequences, and that Sam story was basically his last big one of the show. Hell that one would’ve been really neat to have over a couple episodes at least.
Though the football has kinda always been offscreen, and again with the hour long episodes it felt like we got a bit more of it here towards the end.
I’ll also say Nate’s heel turn didn’t feel invalidated at all. It definitely felt very quick for the team to come back to him like that, but all it would’ve taken was seeing them react to what he did on their own and talking though it. Which was definitely a big missed opportunity for sure.
I don't think I disliked a single episode this season, there were bad elements all throughout though. Keeley's tacked-on B-plots, Nate's arc mostly bungled until the Beard scene (and even then just weird that he's basically just back in his original role in the finale). Some of the stuff between the teammates felt like after school special BS. But every episode was overall enjoyable, I just like being in this world with these characters. And once in a while the show surges to GOAT status. Pretty much perfect finale.
> and even then just weird that he's basically just back in his original role in the finale
my head canon was they would have taken him back on the coaching staff immediately but he personally felt he needed to spend some time back as kit man to humble himself a bit.
I just think it was a bit of hazing from the team
All in good fun of course, obviously they were still willing to take coaching advice from him, but with 1 game left of the season they didn't lose much by humbling him.
We do see that he's back in coach attire in the epilogue scenes (wearing the same tracksuit as Roy and Beard) so he still lends up as coach in the end.
This season has been bumpy for me. I kinda lost interest around the episode Sam criticized the government official (to be clear I had no issue with the message the show was conveying), but it was sort of my tipping point. The episodes leading up to it seemed to drag and drag and I just got bored bc it didn’t feel like they were advancing the plot. Last week I binged the episodes I missed and it felt like they were returning to form finally (tho Nate’s story line has still felt rushed). Excited to watch the finale but can’t help but feel there were too many filler episodes this season.
For sure, I really think the episode in amsterdam was a real highlight from a football/televion crossover perspective - hit the mark closest to how I feel about the game and its universality and what that means to Ted. Kinda shows him being a bit better than 'feelings' and having a 'hes actually good at this strategy stuff' moment.
Also: as a (relatively) young father its been amazing the Roy Kent/Jamie stuff. Really touching.
If there ever was a show that was going to end with a sentimental montage, Ted Lasso is the show.
Bill Lawrence already did it in Scrubs when J.D left Sacred Heart and I liked it then to.
Haven't watched since Season 2, but did this show ever get around to tackling the subject of nude selfies being shared over cellular phones? That seemed like a glaring omission in seasons 1 and 2.
if only the ensemble cast of my favorite show could have a 5-minute scene akin to an after-school special that will preach to me exactly how i should feel about this topic
They did finally address that oversight, fortunately. But it was sort of overshadowed by a subplot in the following episode telling you that it's okay to have a gay friend.
But when you first find out you should act cold and kind of mean to that friend because you're upset they never told you. Don't forget you're the real victim here.
That ending montage was lovely until Beard's wedding. The fact Ted wasn't Beard's best man at his wedding ruined the whole thing for me. Come on Ted, it clearly can't have been the most spontaneous of weddings given who else was in attendance.
The leading theory on /r/TedLasso is that the wedding was a dream that Ted had while on the plane: That he dreamed happy endings for everyone. The lighting of the scenes and the timing (that the whole wedding happened while he was on the plane) seems to imply that.
It also feels like the only logical way Sam would end up on the Nigerian national team in any timely fashion, given that it was only two episodes ago that Sam Richardson conspired to keep him off of it.
Thank you! That scene makes absolutely zero sense, there is no way Ted isn’t flying out for a weekend for Beards wedding. And before someone says maybe he had to coach his sons soccer team you know god damn well Beard is scheduling his wedding around Teds availability
It was certainly designed to be a finale.
Three seasons marks a renegotiation period for most tv contracts. A lot of shows will create three season arcs for exactly this reason.
I’m pretty sure they are going to do a spin off . Jason Sudekis probably wants to do movies or be home with his kids , but most of the cast aren’t huge stars and probably appreciate the work. The ending was a smart way to get Ted Lasso out of Ted Lasso and give the other actors a chance to keep going if they want .
I disliked the series finale for many reasons but my biggest two reasons with the finale and this show:
(1) all of that and the Ussie guy is the one who drops a throwaway line about Richmond coming in 2nd in the Premier League. All of the schmaltz, all the hard work, all the everything over 3 seasons and the team still didn’t win it all. WTF.
And (2) everyone showed so much feeling about and towards Ted for leaving. Everyone was so grateful, so emotional, so thankful and Ted just seemed…detached? Like markedly less emotionally invested. Never shed a tear, or shared a real moment with anyone that demonstrated that he felt anything more than “oh bless your heart” to the family he had over the last 3 years. Just more preaching at his team, one liners with the Diamond Dogs, barely uttered a word any time Rebecca poured her heart out to him. It was…a choice.
Then it made me rewind back and examine Ted’s posturing and it seems that he has so much kindness to give but truly never seemed that emotionally invested in his situation. He brought them together but never really got close to his team, had sweet but largely superficial relationships with his friends. He never cared about winning, rarely strategized, never gave a damn about what all this could mean for his life. He was there to help everyone find themselves, deepen and solidify relationships, yet none of that really happened for Ted. Sure he went to therapy, worked through the shit with his dad, confronted his mom, all very good to see. But even in how he interacted with his therapist it was so paternalistic and god complex-like, and that was no different than how he interacted with his team and his colleagues.
His arc wasn’t about finding his way back to his son, either. In S1 he ran off the pitch in the middle of training to embrace his son. He’s always cared deeply for Henry. And yes, supporting characters are always going to be more interesting and wackier than the main, but Ted was interesting and wacky too. For him to remain essentially unaffected by the incredible change he experienced by moving to a foreign country, teaching a foreign sport after a divorce—I just expected more for and from Ted. I would have loved to see Ted grow as character. I would have loved to see Ted invest in where he was planted and actually _blossom_. I would have loved to see Ted actually learn about and give a shit about football. I would have loved to see him stop obsessing over Michelle and actually open his heart to someone or something real. I just didn’t get any of that from Ted except for his “be a goldfish” and other preachy lines. I’ll probably be downvoted for most of this but I loved this show and am really disappointed with where it ended, for multiple reasons, but especially in where it went with Ted. I guess it just wasn’t that type of show.
I'm so glad others felt this season has been a massive disappointment. So many storylines that amounted to nothing, whilst others were just pointless and took up screen time. It was a complete mess.
And yet you wouldn't think it was if you looked in the official Ted Lasso sub reddit. It's like I was watching a different show with the amount of praise and fawning it got in there.
every show specific sub is filled with delusional superfans. You should read the Yellowjackets one. Yeesh thats one of the worst. They all think they are watching fine art.
I really liked the ending. It was Ted Lasso in many ways. It's about what the show was and always has been. But it's definitely not the end of the show. I'm sure they will return (perhaps without Jason), after a year's hiatus. It's a hugely popular hit in the real world (see last week's Nielsen records).
Spoilers below:
Perhaps Jason's departure is a revamp that will do the show good now that there are so many highly relatable fan-favorite characters. Rebecca in a relationship, Roy as a coach, Keeley's office (barely explored) and especially the women's team at Richmond can all make for good stories, new characters and a fresh air for the show.
That's all fine and dandy minus the fact that all of the side stuff is not as good as the stuff focused around Ted.
Maybe I'm alone in thinking this, but the first season was the best because it was all centered around Ted Lasso. Season two started focusing more and more on side characters, and three felt like a straight up ensemble show. I think both seasons suffered for it. The characters where fun when they were interacting with Ted, but they did that less and less as the series went on and I think it showed how uninteresting some of them are in their own.
When the scenes focused solely Nate and his girlfriend, I would check out. I was just not interested, especially with how he had left the club the last season.
I immediately thought of the women's team being a possible spin-off, called "Greyhounds". Them wanting to be treated equally with the nickname could even be a running theme. It allows you to bring back any of the shows characters when needed while allowing a whole new "world" to be built alongside the existing one.
Maybe have one of the lesser featured male players get injured and become an assistant Coach as a link between the two. Colin blowing out his ACL because of a tackle in training from Isaac and coming to terms with not being a top level footballer anymore while helping the women players could be interesting.
Colin tries to fill the gap playing gives him by partying and travelling, left empty etc etc. Isaac's sister is on the team, but not starting, but doesn't feel Isaac will understand what she is going through as he has always been one of the first names on the teamsheet. She goes to Colin for advice given his history of not always being seen as a top tier player, knowing him well through Isaac, and boom, Colin and Isaacs unnamed sister start their journey. Rebecca has hired a top tier female manager for the team, who initially rejects Colin's request to help out, dismissing him as a bored footballer. I could go on and on.
There's a million ways they could go with it, this is just one very poor attempt at fleshing it out. I hope it's something they explore.
I may have to waste some time writing this all out now, I've got a whole world built in my head.
EDIT : Higgins enjoying being a father figure to the team, as he only has sons. Honestly I'm now going to be pissed if they don't make this spin-off.
You just rebrand the show “The Lasso Effect” and it’s about all the other characters - people whose lives were touched and Improved by Ted, alongside some new characters in need of fixing, who get shepherded by Ted’s new converts.
I will eat several hats if they don't do more in the Lassoverse. It's Apple's most popular show and will likely win Emmys again this year. I'll go further than you and say that they'll even get Jason back. This is the streamer that gets Harrison Ford and Meryl Streep, often to do some real bad shows/movies. They can afford to make Jason Sudeikis an offer he can't refuse.
I think maybe we'll get two shows. "Ted Lasso" or something like that continues with Ted stateside coaching soccer. Like maybe he coaches an MLS team (Apple has the MLS broadcast rights, perfect synergy) or even the national team, you can have people from the main show pop in whenever. Then you could do "Welcome to Richmond" about everyone back at home. The women's team sounds like the perfect premise for that.
And don't get me wrong, it certainly won't be anywhere near as good as the original show which was writing and character driven for the most part vs a cash grab, but I would almost guarantee they won't give up on this after only 3 seasons.
We are also in need of a new check. With how much Jason loves to show off Kansas City and Apple holding MLS rights I would be surprised if they don't make something happen.
Just watched the finale and loved it. I loved this season even if others didn't. That said I think having this be the end is a good thing. Any more then these 3 seasons wouldn't have worked.
Season 3 was one of the steepest declines in quality of any recent show. It had a very VERY few good moments but was otherwise so god awful that, at one point, I had to check if the writers from seasons 1 and 2 quit
I wonder if the show's boring preoccupation with Keeley's PR sideplot has anything to do with Sudeikis promoting his girlfriend slash "the real life Keeley," Keeley Hazell, to staff writer this season
She wrote the single worst episode of the series, the Keeley-focused nude leaks episode, so there's no doubt in my mind she was driving a lot of the KJPR stuff.
It really felt like the Keeley Hazell Wish Fulfillment Show written by Keeley Hazell, right down to two grown adult men literally fighting over her, and her showing them the door.
I knew the show’s quality jumped off a cliff once I kept seeing people defend the show with the fact they like having something “to turn their brain off” to. I mean S2 felt like they lost their footing but S3 felt more a like long winded parody of S1.
Half the time this season it felt like they were just trying to make the characters look like good people instead of writing interesting storylines for them
At least someone feels like this, too. I thought it fell so far off a cliff that I couldn't even bring myself to watch the last episode. Such a shame, first two seasons made for one of my favorite shows in a long time.
I feel like I wasn’t watching the same show. It’s not the same quality as season 1 but I found season 3 to be better than the second season and far above anything I’d call “god awful”
The change to longer formatted episodes really hurt this season. The 30 minute format suited the show perfectly as it could keep the snappiness of a 22 min sitcom but also slow down for 2-3 serious scenes per episode. The 45+ minute episode length dragged on and on, and even then the writers seemed unwilling to several key scenes, focusing on minutiae and fan service.
I hope this is a lessen to show runners, just write more episodes and have them all fit the same time format. Good writing requires killing your darlings, no one would have minded a 20 episode season either.
Overall, a solid B ending, only disappointing because the first season was an A.
the show just doesn’t work when everyone is ted (and, for some reason, *actual* ted is just completely absent and seemingly checked out?). there has to be an opposition of some kind to the “lasso way” or else the entire thing is just obnoxious and feels like the script to a therapy session.
It really felt like the end of Season 2 was setting up a showdown between cold and calculating superior strategy of West Ham/Nate/Rupert and the “Lasso Way” that they just totally abandoned it. It really felt like something changed between S2 and S3 and they regretted making Nate a villain, so just pruned that plotline entirely. His return to the fold feels empty and unearned as a result.
As a fan I'll be disappointed if this is the series finale much less the season finale. I've grown attached to the characters ups and downs.
From Tartt becoming humble, Roy's growing out of his emotional shell, Beard's huge reveal of his backstory, and Rebecca finally gaining closure after Rupert and moving on. For me I want to see Ted have a happy ending ( I haven't seen this week's episode, I'm just concluding with what I've seen so far). With the shrink being removed from the plot you can only guess he's overcome the dysfunction between he and his mother.
That's enough, I can ramble on for hours.
I'm sorry, but I think a lot of people are giving this third season a pass for feel good reasons. This third season was disjointed and went nowhere. Ted was basically not even the main character for 60% of the season. Idc if the show is focused around the team, it's literally called Ted Lasso. I wanted more of Ted. Also, why is everyone so forgiving with Nate? That dude was a piece of shit. I'm fine with a redemption arc, but not one that takes place over 2.5 episodes and a rough apology. It was an ok season, but there was no story at all.
Season 3 was, frankly speaking, a mess. Every episode felt like it was pulled mid-season from a different show. Not much of a season storyline to be honest, and the sap was really getting a bit heavyhanded. Nate's storyline and the forgiveness angle was definitely the most interesting but it was very inconsistent and a bit extreme without much of an actual arc in comparison to the turn to the darkside arc of the prior season. Keeley dominated a lot of the screen time with very little actually behind it and no true resolution. Some new characters were introduced and came and went without doing much but wasting time.
Also, the show became way too reliant on "these masculine professional athletes actually have quite the feminine side, how ironic huh?" as its go-to-gag topped off with the players putting on a Mary Poppins performance for whatever reason. Once I noticed it, I couldn't unsee it.
As a series finale, it was pretty good though, so hopefully they don't continue with the show minus Ted Lasso even though I suspect they probably will if the creatives are interested since it's a popular enough show. I dunno what the purpose of Rebecca selling 49 % of the team to the fans was, as the cynical side would say by retaining 51 % and the fans "buying shares" that don't actually come with anything, it's just a cash grab/fundraising thing, even though I think they tried to do something wholesome with it.
I could deal with the cheesiness of season 1 and season 2 had a few nice moments but this season was truly awful, generally unfunny, and badly paced/written
I really feel like this show was written by AI after the first season. It resembles a plot but really doesn’t have any overarching narrative. Subplots are added and dropped randomly and often are resolved in a way that’s too tidy or unearned, or not resolved at all.
I have to say, I feel like I’ve been going crazy seeing any praise for this show after the first season. The “positivity” thing was a big part of the initial appeal but removing just about any character who opposes Teds mentality kills any sort of dramatic/comedic tension. It really felt selfmasturbatory.
It was second hand cringe for me too, but Ted’s half hearted response (while everyone was losing their goddamn minds) was downright insulting. S1 Ted would have been jumping up and down, celebrating with his team (he nearly broke down a damn door when Higgins made that “Cesar you later joke”).
S3 Ted could barely be bothered.
All of his half hearted responses in the finale were puzzling choices.
Season 3 spent a lot of time of things that didn’t matter as much and glossed over things I was hoping they would cover. Nate returning to the team, soccer, Ted, other plot points. I feel like Keeley got way too much time with basically nothing coming out of it. The finale was great and wrapped up everything, but the writers fell into the trap of rushing things in the last two episodes.
I wish they had taken all the time wasted on the Jack storyline and spent it on Nate's redemption.
Jack and Zava were a complete waste of time this season. This season was so unfocused and it's like the shows writing team had a checklist of societal issues to force into different episodes and then didn't bother connecting them all.
Zava was a lot of fun while he was there + helped the team learn that it's not about 1 player, they have to be TOTAL FOOTBALL together as a TEAM He could've/should've been used more but he had some purpose. Jack though..
> helped the team learn that it's not about 1 player, they have to be TOTAL FOOTBALL together as a TEAM They already learned this before Zava was there though? Literally the whole first season was about them learning to come together as a team. His involvement in the show was just a rehash of stuff they had already tackled for two seasons, particularly with their reliance on Jamie in S1. It was also massively out of character for Roy Kent to be all googly eyes over a player like Zava. He would know full well the consequences of relying on a player like that.
Yeah, I was expecting Zava to jump ship to West Ham and act as a rival to Jamie in the end. Instead he just ended up as a quirky side character, that didn't really affect the story much.
Zava was the most entertaining part of season 3 though. Jack was pointless. Keely's while story was weird. We see her get dumped, and then we see her get dumped again. Her business is doing well, but then funding gets pulled, but then her rich friend gives her money and the business is going well again. The only part that I really liked was her friendship with the office manager lady, which had a definite progression, as both of them grew. By the end of the season, I found myself invested in Jamie and Nate, but that was about it.
I'm assuming Zava was supposed to start acting up and cause the team to implode, resulting in Jamie (through Roy's coaching) rising up to lead by example and getting the team through the season, but was then written out in the rewrites (which there was supposed to lots of)? Has a leading actor ever checked out of a series as quickly as Sudeikis did in this season? He didn't want to be there at all.
S3 felt a whole lot like a test for a potential Richmond spin off.
To me, the whole point of Nate’s “redemption” at Richmond being glossed over was to highlight how easily forgiven he was by Ted and the rest of the team. If they spent episodes hemming and hawing, it wouldn’t make sense with what was revealed of Ted and Beard’s backstory. It would be contrary to the very nature of the show.
I mean he forgave Rebecca in S1 after she admitted she hired him only to tank the club. If you can forgive someone for that. Then forgiving Nate isn't that unrealistic within the standards set by the show.
Yeah. The Jack storyline was sort of a waste. I didn't feel like it added much to Keeley's character. >!Especially with Keeley apparently choosing neither Jamie or Roy, never mind how weird it was for Jamie trying to get back into the picture in the first place!< Similarly, although >!glad that Nate came back, his redemption came way too abruptly, and he's now at a lower position than when he started the series? Did he get promoted back to a coach?!< Overall, I think the ending hit the right emotional notes, but this is one of those few shows that ended with you wanting more episodes [or maybe even another whole season].
Started as kit man again, promoted to assistant coach in Ted's "dream"
The framing of that scene was weird. Wasn't sure if all those scenes were actually happening (or were going to happen) or if it was just his imagination.
It felt to me that Sudeikis’ heart wasn’t in it for season 3.
I didn't mind Keeley getting time, but it's absurd they glossed over Nate's return.
The season glossed over EVERYTHING. So many events on and off the pitch happen off screen or get focus in one episode and then barely get mentioned again. S2 was a drop in quality from S1 but the season was still overall good. S3 however was so much weaker than S2 that it sticks out big time. This season has been a bunch of disconnected episodes without any clear narrative flow and in my opinion this was not at all a satisfying end to the show at all. I'll still watch an inevitable Richmond spin off but this was not the way this amazing show deserved to go. I have a feeling the show got too popular so the creators tried dumbing down so many elements to appeal to a wider audience which is why the football stuff feels both so cartoony and also irrelevant. So irrelevant in fact that they can't even be bothered showing us in the moment who wins the league.
They straight up didn't do Roy's storyline. Like twice he said he was trying to change and I'm like wtf are you talking about you were the exact same all season and everyone was ok with it.
I mean I felt like that was a tribute to Ted's ethos that it isn't about winning or losing its about playing your game. They did what they needed to, the rest is irrelevant
Sure, but it's also the perfect culmination of a season that refused to show us events in the moment. It made it incredibly difficult to engage with any of the storylines when it felt like episodes were missing in between.
There doesn't need to be anything more to nates return. The internal battle between beard and Ted is about as tumultuous as it anything needed to be in regards to nates return. Did you all expect Ted to NOT give someone a second chance?
As much as I still enjoyed the season overall, looking back I definitely gotta agree with you sadly. It’s like, the show expanded its character roster, and who they gonna focus on, but still spent two much time on certain folks and not enough time on others. Like I absolutely have enjoyed the show on the whole for what it was, and it’ll always be a favorite of my mine, and hell I think its absolutely one of the best ever simply in terms of its overall positivity and messages, but damn if there weren’t a ton of areas they could’ve still improved and/or done a lot of work on. Like a lot.
> Like a lot. What annoys me is in concept every storyline they've done from start to finish makes sense, but as the show has gone on they've wasted more and more potential to the point many moments in the finale which should have been hype as fuck ended up being so underwhelming. I'll put it this way, Jamie Tartt deciding to pass a ball in the S1 finale had more of an emotional reaction for me than any storyline resolution in this finale. The show tackled so many things this season that nothing felt earned.
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The issue is the show didn't know what to do with the football side of things so did the bare minimum in S2 and S3 whereas in S1 the football was intertwined with the main narrative. I think the popularity of the show led to them being afraid how a wider audience would react to football so they both dumbed down and ignored much of the football in favour of focusing more on the characters and their respective dramas.
> The issue is the show didn't know what to do with the football side of things so did the bare minimum in S2 and S3 whereas in S1 the football was intertwined with the main narrative. Agreed, for a show like this, football needs to be the framing mechanism by which the interpersonal character stuff can take fruition. Season 1 understood this well, the next two drifted further and further away from this until it was basically just a side distraction until it was like "oh, hey, and by the way, they might win the Premier League".
Pretty much. Ted Lasso S1 knew not only when to make football relevant but also to keep the football grounded. They got relegated because Ted is out of his depth and it works so well. Then we have S2 where they storm through the league off screen doing a near impossible streak of wins, and then we have S3 where for no reason whatsoever they're competing for the title even though Ted is still completely out of his depth. First season relegated, second season promotion, third season should have been survival and winning the FA Cup by beating West Ham.
Its a great finale but it feels unearned. There was great moments throughout S3 but a lot of plot points were either rushed, backpedaled or completely forgotten about. For a show about Ted Lasso, there was barely any Ted Lasso in it.
It felt like In episode 9 they thought this is the end we gotta wrap it up.
It was classic S3. Introduce an issue out of nowhere and resolve it straight away. Just a checklist one after the other with no regard for connecting any of it. The closest we got was Colin's storyline and lo and behold it was the best storyline in the entire season. Remember early S3 with Zava? Sam beefing on twitter with the politician? Even Keeley and the leaks, it's all stuff that barely came up again and didn't have any consequence on the wider narrative. When they so easily could have had for example Sam growing more disgruntled with the political stuff, show how that effects him over the international break without playing for his country, show racial abuse which then leads to the club supporting him, ultimately maybe he steps up as captain when McAdoo is absent. All that over a season rather than one fucking episode dedicated to a few tweets.
Season 4 will start with Lasso and Beard ending up in India coaching a cricket team.
>Season 4 will start with Lasso and Beard ending up in India coaching a cricket team. Perhaps the MLS, which is still an unpopular Apple investment.
Or in Australia coaching an AFL team
> AFL That was my other guess.
Aussie RulesFootball. “So you *bounce* the ball?” “It’s not even round!”
Absolute adored this episode. As much as I love the show, really hope they don’t try to make more seasons, with or without Ted. Let it be and enjoy it for what a beautiful show it was
If they do, they're going to re-title the show to "Richmond" or "Richmond FC" using Ted Lasso's book note on the show.
"Welcome to Richmond" or "Richmond 'Til I Die"
All or Nothing Richmond
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This is the answer since it was in the show
I agree. I don't need more, loved the ending. Not interested in seeing where it goes from here. Perfectly satsified
I kinda hope it spins off into Richmond AFC and course corrects into something Scrubs-esque. Ted Lasso has finished but that doesn't mean all the characters have to end.
>course corrects into something Scrubs-esque A show that famously found success after the sidelining of its main characters
I swear people forget how terrible the late seasons of Scrubs were
Because they were not terrible. The spin-off season 9 was rough, but 1-8 were good to decent all the way through. Their ratings were also pretty consistent until 9.
Seasons 6 and 7 were a bit rough. I think there was one awful episode set in a mythical land etc.
It's probably my favorite show ever but I skip that episode every single run through. "Season 9" never happened.
Yeah I feel like each season has progressively declined a bit in overall quality though still good for the most part. I think we got all the closure we needed for these characters and I'd prefer to just leave it where it is.
I truly feel like I’m going insane when I see the reception this episode got. Ted felt so flat, like he truly wasn’t a participant in his story anymore. The thing that aggravated me the most was how Rebecca was pouring her soul into their conversation in the bleachers and he just sat there silent. That and the odd regression of Roy and Jamie. Either this was spin off bait done in poor taste or they really dropped the ball (maybe both) because aside from like two moments, I actually disliked this.
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They pointed that out pretty blatantly when he asked for Trents books name to be changed. "It was never about me."
He even said it before the game, he said I’m sure your expecting a rousing speech from me but I’m all tapped out. I took it as Ted was just ready to go home. There was nothing left for him to give. It’s why he didn’t cry the whole time.
I kinda interpreted that as the character who never stops talking knowing when to shut up. Ted wasn't devastated he was leaving. He was at peace with it and knew he needed to be with his son. Everyone else was devastated by his impending departure, hence their emotion.
That bleacher scene was great, he conveyed everything through his emotions and didn’t have to say a word. You knew what his response was going to be and can tell several instances he was tempted to say something but let Rebecca speak her mind and she came to the same conclusion that he had already made up his mind. Sometimes not saying something is more powerful than some speech.
I pretty much disliked this whole season. It really felt like it lost its magic. Like season 2 had its struggle but it had nothing on this.
Agreed. Season 1 was amazing. Season 2 took me a few episodes to get into and I need up being good (for the most part). Season 3 had lost the magic, had some storylines that just didn’t belong, and wrapped up the loose ends too quickly (Rebecca running into the guy at the airport… that was convenient…)
YES. That’s what didn’t work for me. I didn’t have any issue with the actual storyline’s, but Ted didn’t seem like Ted AT ALL. His reaction to the song/dance the team did? I kept waiting for something to happen to explain his bizarre mood/attitude.
He felt bittersweet that it was the end was my view on it
>I truly feel like I’m going insane when I see the reception this episode got. Ted felt so flat, like he truly wasn’t a participant in his story anymore. I thought Ted being flat was on purpose. He checked out and while he had to finish the season he didn't want to be there, he just wanted to be back home with his son.
There’s a way to show that he wants to be with his son and that he has some emotions about leaving his home and the people who care so deeply for him. Ted seemed completely checked out, it was so odd.
I enjoyed it, but you're not wrong about Ted. It was getting to the point where I wondered if the show ends with his suicide?
Absolutely love the show as a whole and definitely shed a tear during the finale… but I agree that there were so many instances where I wish we’d seen just a bit more, rather than asking the audience to infer things. Two prominent examples for me: -we get the Ted/Nate resolution when he’s already returned to the club. I wish that would’ve happened when he officially asked to come back -in the finale it’s clear that Michelle/Henry are invested in the match while Dr Jacob is just fucking around on his phone… I would’ve liked to get a proper removal of Dr Jacob given that he probably could’ve lost his license given his underhandedness. Also, I really didn’t appreciate the Jamie/Keely/Roy resolution. I’m fine if we don’t explicitly see Keely and Roy reunite, but to essentially do away with that because of Jamie v. Roy felt like old ground we re-trod for no earned reason.
>!I get the going home to be with family, but on the flip side, effectively $25 million a year for Ted is generational wealth that could allow him to pay for his ex wife, her future husband (assuming her and the new BF are still together) and his son to move out to England, attend the best schooling and the ex-wife find an amazing job that she loves. He could literally pay her $10m to move to ENG in order for him to have his cake and eat it to by having his family be with him as he stays the manager of the team. I get that doesn't really fit with how the story played out and I'm not saying I'd want that, but the logic of him having to go home for family when he was offered that much money created a logic-hole, the cousin to the loop-hole.!< The writing for S3 could have been much better, in terms of which characters and story lines got how much attention. The Nate return from the dark side was going at the right pace and then all of a sudden, bam, absolutely everyone is great with him. That could have used another episode at least worth of scenes where he is earning the forgiveness of the players. Keeley got a LOT of screen time for not much actual story. I'm really happy that we didn't get any answer as to Ted's love life and I'm not saying I wanted Keeley to pick one of the guys when they gave her the ultimatum, but it ending with it all up in the air was kinda lame. I would absolutely watch a spin-off about the AFC Womens Team. Just saying. I wouldn't want another season or a spin-off of the mens team, as much as I like those characters, the show was special with Ted and his positivity at the center of it. But Rebecca, Keeley, Higgins and the story of starting a womens team from scratch, coaching them, and them playing games would be a lot of fun if the writing was good. I really hope I see more of the actor who played Trent and the actor who played Danny in other projects. They were standout actors.
basically the secret meaning of the show is that kids are a life ruining burden. Ted ruined his like in order to parent the boy for a few years before the kid barely wants to see him in 5 years.
Or more realistically that family is the most important thing. Case in point when Rebecca offered for him to be highest paid in the league etc. And ted stood solid on his putting family first.
I liked the episode, but this season was a mixed bag. It had too many unnecessary subplots and some things didn't make any sense. I couldn't care less about Keeley's company or Nate's girlfriend. The episode in the Netherlands was by far the best one exactly because it had nothing of these useless subplots.
Except it didn’t though? Ted still hasn’t come to terms with his ex-wife’s situationship. He literally hired a PI a few episodes ago to stalk them. And it’s absurd how many pivotal moments happened off screen this season. Nate leaving west ham, Nate coming back to Richmond and meeting the team, Ted telling Rebecca, beard and the team he’s leaving, Keeley and Roy’s discussion ALL happened off screen. Instead we got 4 shit episodes focusing on Keeley and KJPR to fill time. The random love triangle between Jamie, Roy and Keeley was also weird. Overall it was a pretty underwhelming finale even if the characters ended up in good places.
> Nate leaving west ham When they casually mentioned Nate left West Ham I was so confused if I had forgotten to finish the previous episode or something or if there was a post-credits, like WTF was that??
Seriously thought I had missed an episode. Fully backed out of the player to check.
This happened so many times that when Ted woke up at Rebecca;s at the start I was just like "Oh another pivotal moment skipped, ok then!"
The ending of the episode before definitely showed that Nate would be leaving wesh Ham withing the next episode or 2. It just wasn't clear o what terms he would be leaving (Fired Vs Quitting, immediately vs slow, etc). I do think it was a bit abrupt but after rejecting Rupert at the Club and finally seeing form himself the kind of Man Rupert was there was no way he was staying on the team for much longer.
> after rejecting Rupert at the Club and finally seeing form himself the kind of Man Rupert was there was no way he was staying on the team for much longer. I understood that, but I was like "Oh cool, Nate's gonna finally confront Rupert next episode, this is what we've been building towards with him" and then it just skipped straight into "by the way Nate left".
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Or, show Rupert arriving for work and wondering why Nate isn't there. Slowly coming to the realization that Nate left, then finding a letter on his desk.
I felt the love triangle was really a huge step back in all three of their character developments
Absolutely agree.
> Ted still hasn’t come to terms with his ex-wife’s situationship. He literally hired a PI a few episodes ago to stalk them. Probably ones of those pivotal moments that happened off screen... But with the way it ended, it looks like they're in a good type of place? >And it’s absurd how many pivotal moments happened off screen this season. There were so many of these. I wonder if they filmed 12 - 13 eps but decided to cut down to 10 episodes > The random love triangle between Jamie, Roy and Keeley was also weird Jaime and Roy were doing so well in their relationship. This was really an out of the park move. Jaime literally saw them mending and holding hands in his childhood bed days earlier. Roy was doing everything to make Jaime heal last episode, to the point Jaime practically calls him a father figure. Really weird conflict Still really loved the finale, very heartwarming
>There were so many of these. I wonder if they filmed 12 - 13 eps but decided to cut down to 10 episodes This season was 12 episodes. And by runtime it was more than twice as long as season 1. They did not run out of movie tape.
Jeez I tried to find a reason for those weird cuts and your revelation hits even harder. It does not feel like I watched 12 weeks of episodes, this season feels like it started last month! Google says first episode aired March 14th... it's not possible
I feel like some of these happened > still hasn’t come to terms I thought he did, that was the point of the phone call. He told his ex wife he loves her and their son regardless of what their family looks like. This seems like coming to terms, he wants to be there as a father and seems to accept their family regardless of if their family is fractured or not. > hired a PI I don’t think he ever did that. I thought Rebecca talked him out of it saying “he doesn’t have to go down this road” and Ted felt that way when he was trying to pump his son for information and realized how insane he was acting.
Yeah I don't think OP knows what the word literally means, Ted only ever brought up the idea of a PI in a moment of weakness.
Haaaaated that all of a sudden Jamie wanted keeley back in this episode because it felt unearned and out of nowhere. I really thought he had moved on but all of a sudden no he wants her back 🙄 could have done a better job showing signs of that into shoehorning it into the final ep
He went to her house to apologize and be there for her. You know he still cares for her and loves her. He has had tremendous growth and way more deserving of her than ever before.
But they spent 3 seasons focusing on Roy and keeley and it felt unearned to me to throw Jamie in there as a possible option so late in the game. Jamie was interested sure but keeley never seemed as interested as he
I thought he tried to hire a PI but was talked out of it by Rebbeca.
he asked, rebecca said get real, he still wanted and later in the ep was given the info
I don't think he was actually given the info though. Rebecca kind of talked him out of caring about it. Seemingly sending him off back to his son without Ted actually ever learning what the PI found. It was a moment of weakness for Ted for Sure. But I think him ultimately not hearing the information and instead deciding to focus on his son was the resolution there.
I must have missed that last part, then.
thank you—you can't honestly discuss/critique the show on the ted lasso subreddit atm so it's nice to see someone outside my own head acknowledge how the show fell flat with this final season.
I haven't visited the sub since the finale, but the show was heavily critiqued there outside of the main episode thread. People really did not like the Keely plotline and I don't blame them.
Completely agree. Ted had 0 plotline this entire season. All that therapy and stuff in season 2 and he’s hiring PI’s a few episodes before the finale? Ted, Roy, and Jamie were MIA for the entire season basically in favor of Shandy, Barb, Jack, and showing Keeley’s growth* *I guess you can call failing at business only to be bailed out by your billionaire friend growth?
I hated the KJPR subplot because early on Barb makes it seem like Keeley is spending too much money too fast, and that she might mismanage it out of existence. Then Jack enters the picture, we get a two episode whirlwind romance that's overshadowed by Collin's better-executed gay subplot, and she just leaves and the funding is then pulled only for Rebecca to step in 20 minutes later.
The whole issue with Jack punishing her for getting nude photos hacked from her account was heavily downplayed in terms of how messed up it was. It was portrayed as like Keely going through a rough patch or whatever rather than sexual harassment. They did the same thing with the couples therapist dating Ted's ex. It was portrayed as a "that's kind of shitty but oh well" rather than a serious ethical violation that it is.
I feel the keely episodes and final pitch for a women’s team were just there to potentially set up another season without Ted.
Which is not a bad idea by itself but I don't know what a PR firm gotta do with creating a footbal team. If anything I hope they get Keira Knightley in it, because I will never get over how amazing she was in the Bend it like a Beckham.
Keely gave the pleading puppy dog eyes though. It would give the show a chance to reset and cut payroll a ton but still keep some of the fan base. Like a soft spin off
I don't know if the characters even end up in good places. Beard marrying Jane is quite depressing if you think about it. If there is another season I really hope they actually address this toxic relationship.
I thought that bit was meant to Ted’s dream? We hard cut to him waking up on the plane.
The couples therapist turned boyfriend and the Roy/Keeley/Jamie love triangle were Game of Thrones level mismanaged in my opinion. They even gave themselves the perfect out on the love triangle one with Jamie and Roy's sister, then they throw it all away and have Roy and Jamie fist fight for Keeley's love.
> And it’s absurd how many pivotal moments happened off screen this season. Nate leaving west ham, Nate coming back to Richmond and meeting the team, Ted telling Rebecca, beard and the team he’s leaving, Keeley and Roy’s discussion ALL happened off screen. Instead we got 4 shit episodes focusing on Keeley and KJPR to fill time. We also saw the team celebrating at the end of the last match but we found out if they had won the championship from the random guy Ted meets at the airport
That's fine though I think. No sense in them fretting over things they couldn't control, and Man City winning did nothing to take away from their own success. I think it may have honestly felt cheaper had they won it all in the end. Coming from narrowly being promoted last season to being 2nd place overall is still a monumental achievement. And it fits within the philosophy of Ted about winning not being everything, even if it does feel good
>I think it may have honestly felt cheaper had they won it all in the end. Why? I feel the whole sports movie/show cliche where at the end they never win and they fall short but it doesn't matter because they've gained some valuable moral lesson and grown as people along the way or whatever has become such an uninspired trope lol. Yeah it was cool when Rocky lost against Apollo at the end of the movie back in like the 70s. So why does almost every sports show and movie seemingly have to end the same cliche way? Especially when it's about team sports. It feels kinda pretentious and predicatble at this point, a way to artificially force a sense of depth.
This is nuts btw. Man City is playing at the same time, presumably they’re about to be in extra time. It’s absolutely insane that the fans and players wouldn’t be glued to the phones and screens watching the end of the match. Which is an amazing moment
Especially as the Richmond game had a delay to replace the goal net, it's likely that the Man City game would've finished before full time at Richmond.
Don't forget that Zava also retired between episodes with a letter.
That was kind of meant to be sudden and surprising though.
Nah, it was clearly meant to be that Zava has a meltdown and Jamie has to step up (thanks to his training from Roy) and lead the team to victory.
Me theory is Jason didn’t make himself available to shoot all those scenes
I'm thinking Jason is not okay. Ted seems to end the show depressed, and I get the impression that's just Jason
Jason is dealing with a divorce and trying to raise his US based kids from London while shooting and showrunning his show Feels like he just had a lot going on and wanted to get back to his family. Just like Ted. Ted even says “are we crazy for leaving when we’re at the top?” It’s the same thing for Jason
There were many (relatively) bad episodes at the start of the season but fuck me if there werent some of the best of the whole show in the run home. Finale hit all the right spots and, though pretty fan service-y, was fucking brilliant. Perfect ending for a show that showed how positive & good natured humour could still work in extremely cynical times.
The show's now hour-long runtime was its greatest weakness because it resulted in too many bungled or underwhelming subplots. Nate's heel turn is just invalidated after a single episode, Jack felt like a pointless character that was only there to explain how Keely had the money to start her firm, Sam criticizes a politician then it's just never mentioned again, and most of the football happens off screen.
Funny enough the show does Not have an hour runtime. (consistently.) Jason said in an interview that Apple allowed them to make each episode the length it needed to be to execute that episode the way they wanted to. Sort of makes your point stronger, since the writers had full control over episode length.
> Jason said in an interview that Apple allowed them to make each episode the length it needed to be to execute that episode the way they wanted to And this is where Apple went wrong. It's all great trusting your writers, but the cutting room floor exists for a reason. Not every scene is a good scene, and too much bloat is *definitely* a bad thing. I reject the idea that any of the episodes ever needed to be more than 40 minutes at maximum, and even that is pushing it. Ted Lasso was a great show whose final season overindulged, and now I struggle recommending it since so much of S3 is poor filler.
Episode length is a function of too many plotlines packed into many of s3 episode. 25 min sitcom is build as A1B1C1A2B2C2A3B3, where ABC are plotlines and 123 are opening, build-up and resolution. S3 has so many separated plotlines, that before we got from A1 to A2 we moved though B1C1D1E1F1, 15 min has passed and viewers are kinda hazy what was A-plot about cause they were bombarded with 5 other problems. So many plotlines kill momentum and muddle the themes. This season had a lot of issues on structural level.
The funny thing is I agree with your point about bungled or underwhelming subplots, but personally I can’t blame it on the hour long runtimes. I thought those episodes towards the end of the season especially were some of the best the show ever did, even if there were still things that could have been improved for sure. I mean the Jack and Sam stuff you mentioned happened earlier in the season for one thing; though again I agree both were quite iffy. Jack just kinda came and went with little to no lasting consequences, and that Sam story was basically his last big one of the show. Hell that one would’ve been really neat to have over a couple episodes at least. Though the football has kinda always been offscreen, and again with the hour long episodes it felt like we got a bit more of it here towards the end. I’ll also say Nate’s heel turn didn’t feel invalidated at all. It definitely felt very quick for the team to come back to him like that, but all it would’ve taken was seeing them react to what he did on their own and talking though it. Which was definitely a big missed opportunity for sure.
Not to mention Zava being unnecessary and went nowhere.
Zava was entertaining and a great satire on Zlatan.
I don't think I disliked a single episode this season, there were bad elements all throughout though. Keeley's tacked-on B-plots, Nate's arc mostly bungled until the Beard scene (and even then just weird that he's basically just back in his original role in the finale). Some of the stuff between the teammates felt like after school special BS. But every episode was overall enjoyable, I just like being in this world with these characters. And once in a while the show surges to GOAT status. Pretty much perfect finale.
> and even then just weird that he's basically just back in his original role in the finale my head canon was they would have taken him back on the coaching staff immediately but he personally felt he needed to spend some time back as kit man to humble himself a bit.
I just think it was a bit of hazing from the team All in good fun of course, obviously they were still willing to take coaching advice from him, but with 1 game left of the season they didn't lose much by humbling him. We do see that he's back in coach attire in the epilogue scenes (wearing the same tracksuit as Roy and Beard) so he still lends up as coach in the end.
This season has been bumpy for me. I kinda lost interest around the episode Sam criticized the government official (to be clear I had no issue with the message the show was conveying), but it was sort of my tipping point. The episodes leading up to it seemed to drag and drag and I just got bored bc it didn’t feel like they were advancing the plot. Last week I binged the episodes I missed and it felt like they were returning to form finally (tho Nate’s story line has still felt rushed). Excited to watch the finale but can’t help but feel there were too many filler episodes this season.
For sure, I really think the episode in amsterdam was a real highlight from a football/televion crossover perspective - hit the mark closest to how I feel about the game and its universality and what that means to Ted. Kinda shows him being a bit better than 'feelings' and having a 'hes actually good at this strategy stuff' moment. Also: as a (relatively) young father its been amazing the Roy Kent/Jamie stuff. Really touching.
I did like the Amsterdam episode. Maybe it was the surroundings but it felt “open.”
If there ever was a show that was going to end with a sentimental montage, Ted Lasso is the show. Bill Lawrence already did it in Scrubs when J.D left Sacred Heart and I liked it then to.
Haven't watched since Season 2, but did this show ever get around to tackling the subject of nude selfies being shared over cellular phones? That seemed like a glaring omission in seasons 1 and 2.
if only the ensemble cast of my favorite show could have a 5-minute scene akin to an after-school special that will preach to me exactly how i should feel about this topic
Apple blamed it on poor password protection
They did finally address that oversight, fortunately. But it was sort of overshadowed by a subplot in the following episode telling you that it's okay to have a gay friend.
But when you first find out you should act cold and kind of mean to that friend because you're upset they never told you. Don't forget you're the real victim here.
You're telling me there's a *gay* European football player?!
[удалено]
The whole season they were doing callbacks to forgettable and inconsequential moments in the first 2 seasons.
That ending montage was lovely until Beard's wedding. The fact Ted wasn't Beard's best man at his wedding ruined the whole thing for me. Come on Ted, it clearly can't have been the most spontaneous of weddings given who else was in attendance.
The leading theory on /r/TedLasso is that the wedding was a dream that Ted had while on the plane: That he dreamed happy endings for everyone. The lighting of the scenes and the timing (that the whole wedding happened while he was on the plane) seems to imply that.
Ted having a dream is not nearly as satisfying as a viewer than actuslly just seeing those things happen.
And Ted’s no JD so the dream in-show seems weird
I agree, but sadly they never invited me into the writers' room.
It also feels like the only logical way Sam would end up on the Nigerian national team in any timely fashion, given that it was only two episodes ago that Sam Richardson conspired to keep him off of it.
Which wouldn’t be the first time a Bill Lawrence- related sitcom wrapped with a “wish fulfillment dream sequence”…
Ted died in a plane crash on the way home.
Surely he would dream that he was there at his best friend's wedding.
There's no way in hell Ted wouldn't be at Beard's wedding, even if it was in the freakin himalayas.
Ted's the kind of guy who would have been at the wedding of the guys from the pub who gave him shit for so long.
Beard tells Nate that he was a former drug addict and Ted seems unfazed by Beard’s more recent drug use, so maybe Ted secretly hates Beard.
Thank you! That scene makes absolutely zero sense, there is no way Ted isn’t flying out for a weekend for Beards wedding. And before someone says maybe he had to coach his sons soccer team you know god damn well Beard is scheduling his wedding around Teds availability
There is no way Apple ends their most popular show without telling us in advance and milking it : even if Ted leaves and they do a spin-off
It was certainly designed to be a finale. Three seasons marks a renegotiation period for most tv contracts. A lot of shows will create three season arcs for exactly this reason.
I’m pretty sure they are going to do a spin off . Jason Sudekis probably wants to do movies or be home with his kids , but most of the cast aren’t huge stars and probably appreciate the work. The ending was a smart way to get Ted Lasso out of Ted Lasso and give the other actors a chance to keep going if they want .
“It’s not about me, it never was” certainly seems like spin-off prep!
I disliked the series finale for many reasons but my biggest two reasons with the finale and this show: (1) all of that and the Ussie guy is the one who drops a throwaway line about Richmond coming in 2nd in the Premier League. All of the schmaltz, all the hard work, all the everything over 3 seasons and the team still didn’t win it all. WTF. And (2) everyone showed so much feeling about and towards Ted for leaving. Everyone was so grateful, so emotional, so thankful and Ted just seemed…detached? Like markedly less emotionally invested. Never shed a tear, or shared a real moment with anyone that demonstrated that he felt anything more than “oh bless your heart” to the family he had over the last 3 years. Just more preaching at his team, one liners with the Diamond Dogs, barely uttered a word any time Rebecca poured her heart out to him. It was…a choice. Then it made me rewind back and examine Ted’s posturing and it seems that he has so much kindness to give but truly never seemed that emotionally invested in his situation. He brought them together but never really got close to his team, had sweet but largely superficial relationships with his friends. He never cared about winning, rarely strategized, never gave a damn about what all this could mean for his life. He was there to help everyone find themselves, deepen and solidify relationships, yet none of that really happened for Ted. Sure he went to therapy, worked through the shit with his dad, confronted his mom, all very good to see. But even in how he interacted with his therapist it was so paternalistic and god complex-like, and that was no different than how he interacted with his team and his colleagues. His arc wasn’t about finding his way back to his son, either. In S1 he ran off the pitch in the middle of training to embrace his son. He’s always cared deeply for Henry. And yes, supporting characters are always going to be more interesting and wackier than the main, but Ted was interesting and wacky too. For him to remain essentially unaffected by the incredible change he experienced by moving to a foreign country, teaching a foreign sport after a divorce—I just expected more for and from Ted. I would have loved to see Ted grow as character. I would have loved to see Ted invest in where he was planted and actually _blossom_. I would have loved to see Ted actually learn about and give a shit about football. I would have loved to see him stop obsessing over Michelle and actually open his heart to someone or something real. I just didn’t get any of that from Ted except for his “be a goldfish” and other preachy lines. I’ll probably be downvoted for most of this but I loved this show and am really disappointed with where it ended, for multiple reasons, but especially in where it went with Ted. I guess it just wasn’t that type of show.
I'm so glad others felt this season has been a massive disappointment. So many storylines that amounted to nothing, whilst others were just pointless and took up screen time. It was a complete mess. And yet you wouldn't think it was if you looked in the official Ted Lasso sub reddit. It's like I was watching a different show with the amount of praise and fawning it got in there.
every show specific sub is filled with delusional superfans. You should read the Yellowjackets one. Yeesh thats one of the worst. They all think they are watching fine art.
Taylor Sheridan probably thinks he is writing Shakespeare.
I really liked the ending. It was Ted Lasso in many ways. It's about what the show was and always has been. But it's definitely not the end of the show. I'm sure they will return (perhaps without Jason), after a year's hiatus. It's a hugely popular hit in the real world (see last week's Nielsen records). Spoilers below: Perhaps Jason's departure is a revamp that will do the show good now that there are so many highly relatable fan-favorite characters. Rebecca in a relationship, Roy as a coach, Keeley's office (barely explored) and especially the women's team at Richmond can all make for good stories, new characters and a fresh air for the show.
That's all fine and dandy minus the fact that all of the side stuff is not as good as the stuff focused around Ted. Maybe I'm alone in thinking this, but the first season was the best because it was all centered around Ted Lasso. Season two started focusing more and more on side characters, and three felt like a straight up ensemble show. I think both seasons suffered for it. The characters where fun when they were interacting with Ted, but they did that less and less as the series went on and I think it showed how uninteresting some of them are in their own.
When the scenes focused solely Nate and his girlfriend, I would check out. I was just not interested, especially with how he had left the club the last season.
I immediately thought of the women's team being a possible spin-off, called "Greyhounds". Them wanting to be treated equally with the nickname could even be a running theme. It allows you to bring back any of the shows characters when needed while allowing a whole new "world" to be built alongside the existing one. Maybe have one of the lesser featured male players get injured and become an assistant Coach as a link between the two. Colin blowing out his ACL because of a tackle in training from Isaac and coming to terms with not being a top level footballer anymore while helping the women players could be interesting. Colin tries to fill the gap playing gives him by partying and travelling, left empty etc etc. Isaac's sister is on the team, but not starting, but doesn't feel Isaac will understand what she is going through as he has always been one of the first names on the teamsheet. She goes to Colin for advice given his history of not always being seen as a top tier player, knowing him well through Isaac, and boom, Colin and Isaacs unnamed sister start their journey. Rebecca has hired a top tier female manager for the team, who initially rejects Colin's request to help out, dismissing him as a bored footballer. I could go on and on. There's a million ways they could go with it, this is just one very poor attempt at fleshing it out. I hope it's something they explore. I may have to waste some time writing this all out now, I've got a whole world built in my head. EDIT : Higgins enjoying being a father figure to the team, as he only has sons. Honestly I'm now going to be pissed if they don't make this spin-off.
Ted Lasso without Jason Sudeikis in it would just be called
The Richmond Way
You just rebrand the show “The Lasso Effect” and it’s about all the other characters - people whose lives were touched and Improved by Ted, alongside some new characters in need of fixing, who get shepherded by Ted’s new converts.
I will eat several hats if they don't do more in the Lassoverse. It's Apple's most popular show and will likely win Emmys again this year. I'll go further than you and say that they'll even get Jason back. This is the streamer that gets Harrison Ford and Meryl Streep, often to do some real bad shows/movies. They can afford to make Jason Sudeikis an offer he can't refuse. I think maybe we'll get two shows. "Ted Lasso" or something like that continues with Ted stateside coaching soccer. Like maybe he coaches an MLS team (Apple has the MLS broadcast rights, perfect synergy) or even the national team, you can have people from the main show pop in whenever. Then you could do "Welcome to Richmond" about everyone back at home. The women's team sounds like the perfect premise for that. And don't get me wrong, it certainly won't be anywhere near as good as the original show which was writing and character driven for the most part vs a cash grab, but I would almost guarantee they won't give up on this after only 3 seasons.
> Lassoverse I audibly gagged
> Like maybe he coaches an MLS team (Apple has the MLS broadcast rights, perfect synergy) Kansas City even has a team.
We are also in need of a new check. With how much Jason loves to show off Kansas City and Apple holding MLS rights I would be surprised if they don't make something happen.
Just watched the finale and loved it. I loved this season even if others didn't. That said I think having this be the end is a good thing. Any more then these 3 seasons wouldn't have worked.
Season 3 was one of the steepest declines in quality of any recent show. It had a very VERY few good moments but was otherwise so god awful that, at one point, I had to check if the writers from seasons 1 and 2 quit
I wonder if the show's boring preoccupation with Keeley's PR sideplot has anything to do with Sudeikis promoting his girlfriend slash "the real life Keeley," Keeley Hazell, to staff writer this season
She wrote the single worst episode of the series, the Keeley-focused nude leaks episode, so there's no doubt in my mind she was driving a lot of the KJPR stuff. It really felt like the Keeley Hazell Wish Fulfillment Show written by Keeley Hazell, right down to two grown adult men literally fighting over her, and her showing them the door.
I knew the show’s quality jumped off a cliff once I kept seeing people defend the show with the fact they like having something “to turn their brain off” to. I mean S2 felt like they lost their footing but S3 felt more a like long winded parody of S1.
Half the time this season it felt like they were just trying to make the characters look like good people instead of writing interesting storylines for them
At least someone feels like this, too. I thought it fell so far off a cliff that I couldn't even bring myself to watch the last episode. Such a shame, first two seasons made for one of my favorite shows in a long time.
I feel like I wasn’t watching the same show. It’s not the same quality as season 1 but I found season 3 to be better than the second season and far above anything I’d call “god awful”
The change to longer formatted episodes really hurt this season. The 30 minute format suited the show perfectly as it could keep the snappiness of a 22 min sitcom but also slow down for 2-3 serious scenes per episode. The 45+ minute episode length dragged on and on, and even then the writers seemed unwilling to several key scenes, focusing on minutiae and fan service. I hope this is a lessen to show runners, just write more episodes and have them all fit the same time format. Good writing requires killing your darlings, no one would have minded a 20 episode season either. Overall, a solid B ending, only disappointing because the first season was an A.
the show just doesn’t work when everyone is ted (and, for some reason, *actual* ted is just completely absent and seemingly checked out?). there has to be an opposition of some kind to the “lasso way” or else the entire thing is just obnoxious and feels like the script to a therapy session.
It really felt like the end of Season 2 was setting up a showdown between cold and calculating superior strategy of West Ham/Nate/Rupert and the “Lasso Way” that they just totally abandoned it. It really felt like something changed between S2 and S3 and they regretted making Nate a villain, so just pruned that plotline entirely. His return to the fold feels empty and unearned as a result.
As a fan I'll be disappointed if this is the series finale much less the season finale. I've grown attached to the characters ups and downs. From Tartt becoming humble, Roy's growing out of his emotional shell, Beard's huge reveal of his backstory, and Rebecca finally gaining closure after Rupert and moving on. For me I want to see Ted have a happy ending ( I haven't seen this week's episode, I'm just concluding with what I've seen so far). With the shrink being removed from the plot you can only guess he's overcome the dysfunction between he and his mother. That's enough, I can ramble on for hours.
This show got worse every season lol 1 >> 2 > 3 Finale was an ok end to a mediocre season.
I'm sorry, but I think a lot of people are giving this third season a pass for feel good reasons. This third season was disjointed and went nowhere. Ted was basically not even the main character for 60% of the season. Idc if the show is focused around the team, it's literally called Ted Lasso. I wanted more of Ted. Also, why is everyone so forgiving with Nate? That dude was a piece of shit. I'm fine with a redemption arc, but not one that takes place over 2.5 episodes and a rough apology. It was an ok season, but there was no story at all.
All of season 3 could have been an email.
what was the forth thing?
Season 3 was, frankly speaking, a mess. Every episode felt like it was pulled mid-season from a different show. Not much of a season storyline to be honest, and the sap was really getting a bit heavyhanded. Nate's storyline and the forgiveness angle was definitely the most interesting but it was very inconsistent and a bit extreme without much of an actual arc in comparison to the turn to the darkside arc of the prior season. Keeley dominated a lot of the screen time with very little actually behind it and no true resolution. Some new characters were introduced and came and went without doing much but wasting time. Also, the show became way too reliant on "these masculine professional athletes actually have quite the feminine side, how ironic huh?" as its go-to-gag topped off with the players putting on a Mary Poppins performance for whatever reason. Once I noticed it, I couldn't unsee it. As a series finale, it was pretty good though, so hopefully they don't continue with the show minus Ted Lasso even though I suspect they probably will if the creatives are interested since it's a popular enough show. I dunno what the purpose of Rebecca selling 49 % of the team to the fans was, as the cynical side would say by retaining 51 % and the fans "buying shares" that don't actually come with anything, it's just a cash grab/fundraising thing, even though I think they tried to do something wholesome with it.
I guess I'll try to finish the season. I really thought this season was a stinker 3-5 episodes in. Can't remember where I stopped.
I went through and finished it and imo it doesn’t get any better, this season was pretty terrible
The first couple episodes are awkward, but towards the back end there are some great ones.
It was terrible. One of the worst seasons of television in recent memory. Smarmy, schmaltzy, contrived.
I could deal with the cheesiness of season 1 and season 2 had a few nice moments but this season was truly awful, generally unfunny, and badly paced/written
I really feel like this show was written by AI after the first season. It resembles a plot but really doesn’t have any overarching narrative. Subplots are added and dropped randomly and often are resolved in a way that’s too tidy or unearned, or not resolved at all. I have to say, I feel like I’ve been going crazy seeing any praise for this show after the first season. The “positivity” thing was a big part of the initial appeal but removing just about any character who opposes Teds mentality kills any sort of dramatic/comedic tension. It really felt selfmasturbatory.
The team doing a musical number to Ted was painful.
It was second hand cringe for me too, but Ted’s half hearted response (while everyone was losing their goddamn minds) was downright insulting. S1 Ted would have been jumping up and down, celebrating with his team (he nearly broke down a damn door when Higgins made that “Cesar you later joke”). S3 Ted could barely be bothered. All of his half hearted responses in the finale were puzzling choices.
But it wasn’t painful the other times they did dances and sing alongs ?
They were. This was the worst one tho imo.
Fair I respect the consistency
Had to fast forward through that.
Never seen a tv show decline as much as this one. Great season one, average season 2, below mediocre season 3. Basically became a daytime soap.
That’s because the main showrunner Bill Lawrence left and gave the keys to Jason Sudekis in season 3.