And we’re BACK.
Well, technically we never left. We are chasing you around your Inbox a couple times a week. But Ted Lasso disappeared on us after an underwhelming third and final season — only to revive itself with a brand-new concept: Perky mustachioed American moves to England to coach a soccerfootball team. A WOMEN’S team this time.
I cherish this show, as I think a lot of us do, as something from during Covid that brought a little joy and mirth and optimism. Even with seasons 2 and 3 squandering some of what they built, or at the very least making bizarre choices with it (I enjoy Coach Beard, but not his relationship), I am always going to be pretty forgiving of Ted Lasso because, in part, Ted himself would understand if I weren’t. He would not beg me to give him another chance; he’d simply hear me out, respect my decisions, internalize the feedback, and wish me the best with deep sincerity. It’s hard to stay mad at that guy, and dammit, I’m fond of these people.
That doesn’t mean I’m going to pull any punches, either. Ted Lasso has never been as self-assured as in its first season, and it remains to be seen whether these ten episodes can deliver on the promise of Everything You Love About Ted Lasso, But With Women’s Sports Now. But I think Ted would appreciate any and all tough love we send his way. He knows it’s because we care.
We decided, like so many State Farm customers, to bundlerooski these first two episodes because the premiere didn’t offer much in terms of building the new (“new”) Lassoverse. We’ll probably stick to doing them in bunches of two, unless something big happens that demands an early release. And, yes, I said “we”: Jessica and I are going to tag team these recaps. Woohoo! Crack a drink, Broads, and let’s Lasso.
Episode 1: Home
You probably sensed this, but half the reason for that preamble up there was because I didn’t love the premiere. I was really glad to see everyone’s faces, and the cast chemistry is still there. But when the show is a weekly release in the time of Everything Everywhere To Watch All At Once, it was a bold choice to deliver an episode that takes you, essentially, nowhere, and then make everyone wait another week for evidence of the promises it made. Especially because that second episode is so much stronger! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
When we left Ted, it was with an emotionally resonant finale that still missed on a lot of actual story beats — this show is great at feelings, but not so much at, “Wait, how did we get from A to G?”, and I still am not over the sheer number of important conversations that happened off-camera. In the end, Ted reckoned with a lot of sudden and plot-convenient daddy issues pursuant to his own father being absentee, and decided not to make the same mistake with Henry, so he left Richmond for Kansas City. However… ahem, to quote myself:
I’m glad they landed on Ted not wanting to miss the years that his own father did, though when Rebecca made the cogent argument that his son could try living in the U.K. for a while, I was cheering because she is right. Living in another country is an awesome opportunity, and frankly if I were Michelle — divorce or not — I’d have thought about it too. Henry Lasso, soccer fiend, might one day be like, “Wait, I could have moved to England and played in an ACTUAL HOTBED of the sport? Where they sell GREAT POTATO CHIPS?”
Apparently Jason Sudeikis came to the same realization, because this episode covered that exact ground. Minus the potato chips, but just wait. Henry Lasso, about whom I generally do not care, will REALLY come alive with some artificial meat powder on his crinkle crisps. But once again, it’s the beats in between that don’t track for me, and once again, we aren’t even privy to what exactly they were.
Ted is working as an assistant manager in a local grocery store, which allows him to a) dispense folksy pleasantries to the clientele, b) fix the life of a shoplifting employee through similarly folksy pleasantries, and c) attend all of Henry’s games, which he does not coach, because he believes Henry just wants him to be dad. (Plenty of parent-coaches would disagree with this, but I think Ted is right. Your kids often don’t want you to be their teacher; they want you to be their cheerleader. They want to impress you with the results, not show you their struggles. At least, that’s the case with mine.) Michelle is doing fine, thanks for asking, except for a throwaway line about not loving whatever her job is. She and Ted get called into the principal’s office because Henry — who is finishing elementary school — had a notebook in which he had written “disturbing poetry,” which turn out to be hip-hop lyrics. (This reminds me of the time when I was 9 and I transcribed the words to “Take My Breath Away,” and my sister thought it was my own poetry and was briefly SUPER alarmed until she realized what it really was.) The passage is an INCREDIBLY mild portion of “Black Steel In The Hour of Chaos” by Public Enemy, which makes the principal look like a dolt, and the school, alarmist. Ted and Michelle are relieved to get Henry out and into middle school, all of which is just groundwork for Henry to finally, finally blow this pop stand and live out his best life with a bag of McCoy’s Flame Grilled Steak Flavo(u)r.
So yeah, Ted is plodding through his life, making it hard to tell if he’s actually that happy. Again, bold to start with an episode where your cheery lead is low-energy. But he’ll wake up soon: Rebecca, Leslie, and Keeley arrive to offer him a job coaching the Richmond women’s team, and this is his reaction to seeing them get out of the car in front of his house: