Ted Lasso [Apple]

Ben Done

The guardian reviewer loved it, I'm looking forward to it too, warm blanket telly..

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/mar/15/ted-lasso-season-three-review-still-so-charming-it-brings-order-to-our-crumbling-universe

Basq

Loved the first 2 seasons (bar the terrible Christmas episode in S2) and watched them again recently..

.. but the S3 opener was short on laughs and found myself watching the clock during the extended runtime.

siblers

Episode 2 was a bit of a struggle,felt overly long, even found Roy Kent kinda annoying in it.

ConcertKing

Really enjoyed the first two episodes of Season 3 myself.Really delighted it is back!!

Penn

I think this was an episode more to set up things to come in the rest of the season. We see Jamie's skepticism about the new signing even though everyone else is excited, Keeley starting to find her feet more in her new business now that she has a friend with her, Roy realising he maybe should have just enjoyed staying with Keeley rather than leaving like he did with Chelsea. Plus Trent becoming part of the team. Not a great episode, but an important part of the whole imo.

But I did laugh a lot at Danny scoring with his face. I love how the show continues to set up such stupid things with throwaway lines but has a great payoff. Something a lot of shows try to do but often try to be overly clever with it or poor payoff.

adaminho

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1641078178952142849?t=J-VspXunqLrXCW24l-f1Kg&s=19

Richmond visit the Whitehouse!

Luxembourgo

This Zava storyline doesn't fill me full of hope.

Seems like something they do when they run out of ideas

PTH2009

Enjoyed episode 3

Do we actually ever see Ted do any 'football management activities ??

He doesn't make big traditional manager speeches, maybe they keeping it for later this season (before he heads back to the States)

Basq

That Colin storyline felt a bit out of left field really..

Zhane

Really? Most people have suspected Colin since the Grindr comment. It’ll be interesting to see where Trent’s loyalty may lay now with him seeing the lads kissing and if he’s going to out Colin in the book or elsewhere.

Basq

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120418668#Comment_120418668

Can't recall that comment tbh. Depending on context, might have felt like a throwaway comment.

FunLover18

I definitely saw the Colin storyline coming.

Tbh I don't like the Zava storyline, after the drama with Jamie in season 1 I find it odd that everyone is so welcoming and accommodating of another ego maniac who is only interested in his own brand.

Also after so much good work on psychology and the importance of therapy last season, seems like a complete uturn to go down the psychic route with Rebecca. Psychics are frauds and I'm really not comfortable with any show glorifying or giving them credibility.

I'm still enjoying the show and the characters but those main storylines are rubbing me up the wrong way at the moment .

PTH2009

Will Ted actually be serious towards the Colin situation if/when it happens ??

Feel Ted's panic attacks could get the best of him fairly soon

ixoy

I strongly suspect that Trent will not do something nefarious but approach Colin instead and encourage him to come out publicly as it'd be let him be more comfortable with himself and of course show the sense of solidarity and strength that Ted Lasso's team have. It'd be much more in the spirit of the show.

Extending my hypothesis, Zava will take it poorly (either homophobic or Colin getting the limelight), and the team will choose between the chance to win with Zava or standing up to him and supporting Colin.

siblers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120425477#Comment_120425477

I think Jamie will start firing in goals and Zava won't like that + they'll slowly get annoyed by all his attention The team will then venture towards Jamie

ixoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120425507#Comment_120425507

Or that too. Or a mix of both. Definitely Zava's ego is going to be his downfall and people will choose Jamie/Colin/whoever.

squonk

The latest ep has kind of ruined any interest I had in the show. I’ve kind of gotten used to the idea that Ted isn’t really a decent premiership manager but his feel good schtick works. I couldn’t help feeling this time though that when the credits rolled the current predicament was all his fault. It was the assistant coaches who formed the game plan. Ted just went along for the ride and instead of working about his match he was more interested in his diamond dogs bs and working out his insecurities.

mom not remotely a fan of soccer but I’ve seen premiership managers get shown the door for less. Moreover I feel sorry for the rest of the group because I’ve come to like them and they deserve better than a clown like Ted.

I don’t see the point of having hand your team red carded and losing 4-1 at the same time. Again, not a premiership person but the red card means the insurers will miss games now doesn’t it? He made no effort to reign in the disaster either as it unfolded. No point in blaming the underlings. He’s the manager. Think I’m done really. It was an ok show, not fantastic but not awful but it’s kind of jumped the shark for me.

lbunnae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120453874#Comment_120453874

Hahahahaha are you a child?

hynesie08

I'm convinced Shandy is going to out Colin, in an attempt to usurp Keeley.

Drumpot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120453874#Comment_120453874

I think Teds infectious positivity defines him. If you think about it; what seperates all UEFA A badge coaches, it’s an X factor that you simply can’t learn, Ted has that, it’s why it shouldn’t work but does.

Always makes me think of the likes of Harry Reknapp or Sam Allardyce, they had a certain personality that seemed to juice up dressing rooms but neither were tactical genius. Oddly enough ole solskaer makes me think of it to a degree, he had no place taking over United but he did because he brought back some happiness to the dressingroom. There’s also examples where managers like Alan Curbishly just worked for specific clubs (Charlton) for a long time

Ted is managing a lower EPL club that yo-yos to the championship. If you accepted that the Chairman kept him on after the relegation then last nights events shouldn’t matter.

Equally , Ted is clearly going through a rough patch, bottling up his anger but by the end he’s learned with his ex, to address it. Even though he was struggling , he still instinctively knew that riling up his team using the video of Nate was not just wrong, but it’s not his style. We saw the results of that, so I would look at that , that the team needs a more focused Ted and in some ways that game shows what happens when the assistants take over.

Man United lost 7-0 to Liverpool only a few weeks ago. They’ve also suffered some unbelievable defeats over the years where it looks like they have never kicked a ball in their lives. While it’s probably not necessarily down to the managers, sometimes it is and they don’t get sacked for one result.

I think you have to suspend some disbelief and enjoy the ride. There’s enough cynical and quite corrupt sh*te going on in the real football world, I don’t watch Ted Lasso so I can be reminded how horrible a cesspit it really is in the backround. I find his unflinching positivity and quite vulnerable shell really endearing and hopeful. That’s why I watch it, I want to believe such positive , genuinely good people can thrive if given a proper chance.

squonk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120453898#Comment_120453898

You’re not obligated to agree with me nor are you banned from disagreeing but to be fair if that’s the extent of your response then there’s no doubt who the child is!

squonk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120453974#Comment_120453974

Sone good points there. I hadn’t looked at it that way. It’s not really my kind of sore as I like a bit if dark in there. It’s too positive for me I think. Just mashed it hard to be believable but I do like what you’ve said and it’s something to consider. I’m not a soccer head and have always kind of hated specific genre shows as they gloss over the professional stuff, like doctors not doing much doctoring or pilots not doing too much real flying. I’m probably not the TL core audience but I do wish they showed some fallout which might make me feel better rather than having to wait a week!

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454217#Comment_120454217

It's part of why I struggled with the show at the start. It's not even that it's unrealistic, but it's so aggressively saccharine and simplistic in many of its stories and resolutions to issues.

But by the end of the first season, I got it. It's not failing to be realistic, because it's not trying to be realistic. It is designed to be so saccharine, but there's also an underlying level of issues going on with the characters which transcend it and don't have easy resolutions. It's a show which isn't trying to be a cynical or realistic take on the subject, but is meant to just be mostly charming and fun. The actual football stuff is nothing more than a delivery device for what's important to the characters. It's realism changes and adapts as required.

Yes, so many players being sent off in the West Ham game would have been ridiculous, unrealistic, Ted would have been slaughtered for it by actual management and by supporters etc. But it's not about that, it's about Ted holding on to his resentment over his ex moving on, the team's manifestation of their anger at Nate showing Ted how destructive it can be to just let hate and anger motivate you, and giving him a path forward in how to confront his ex over her dating their former therapist, something which was also distracting him from being able to manage the team properly.

squonk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120454440#Comment_120454440

Yeah I definitely struggled with how overly sweet it was from day one and obviously still am. It’s rare enough to see a show with nice characters genuinely being nice to one another with no subtext or agenda. I guess that’s what gets me really. I just can’t get it into my head but we are surrounded with shows full of duplicitous characters and an angle with every plot point. I suppose you get accustomed to that and it makes it harder for shows like this to land.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120455178#Comment_120455178

Yeah, it's definitely jarring compared to almost every other show on telly, but the only way I learned to enjoy Ted Lasso was to just go with it, because there are deep, emotional stories underneath it all. Ted dealing with his father's suicide and not being able to be there for his own son. Nate's self-loathing. Jamie's relationship with his father. Rebecca dealing with Rupert leaving her which started off as vengeance but became about becoming her own person.

It's a show that doesn't really do anything new or hugely interesting, but it's so effortlessly charming that it draws you into the characters, and then the actual weighty moments hit a bit harder.

FortuneChip

Have to say, I'm finding this season a bit of a drag.

It's lacking so much of what made Season One & Two great, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I'm sure it'll all come together with some amazing lovely bow wrapped around it by the end of the season, but I dunno if it'll be worth it.

I didn't mind Zava as a character himself, but how everyone acted around him was really juvenile (with the exception of Jamie). It was too far OTT, and it seemed to go against Ted's thinking to just build a team around this one person. And would players like Danny not rather try emulate Zava as opposed to become a bumbling kid?

I can't see Ted's story going any other way than hm leaving the club at the end of the season returning home to be there for his son. Because right now, he's got very little interest in football.

Rebecca's been reduced to a prophecy storyline, I know she's going through a bit of a crisis. When Ted was going through a crisis, they kept it real, he dealt with a counseller. She's dealing with a psychic.

I do expect Roy & Jamie's arc to play out well, and Keeley's growth has been great to watch.

The management are completely inept - getting destroyed by West Ham and the whole team becoming a bundling mess.

Rupert was an egotistical and cynical ex in Season 1 & 2, now he's a big corrupting evil entity.

Nate doesn't seem all that bad either, and I'm left to question if he ever was. His only role-model/guidance is the aforementioned Rupert.

Basq

A drag? It's damn near unwatchable..

yerwanthere123

I'm enjoying the third series anyway, haven't noticed any particular drop in quality. It's always been pretty simple, uncomplicated viewing, and the new series hasn't changed that.

Penn

I can see the criticism. Rebecca's story is dragging a bit and feels flimsy compared to her stories in previous seasons. The Zarva story just seems to have ended. Maybe it'll lead into something about Jamie realising he needs to step up more or something, but that already seems to be happening even without the Zarva stuff.

I'm enjoying it, and there have been great moments in each episode, but I hope they have enough time to bring everything to a close.

Mike Litoris

It's definitely missing that something that made the first seasons 2 so special. There are still good moments and I'm still enjoying it overall but it's almost become a caricature of itself going way over the top at times. Maybe I was totally blind to it but I didn't see the Keeley/Jack thing coming. That seemed right out of left field.