yet another fantastic episode. raw emotion mixed with humor. Ted did the right thing during the game - one i was hoping the show would do.
There's nothing a comeback won't do... except healing you marriage, I guess.
Good mix of emotion and comedy there, and good on them for doing a proper "Hail Mary" rather than the disturbingly frequent "buzzer goal". :expressionless: :laughing:
[6.0/10] This is the first episode of Ted Lasso that didn’t really work for me. They lean too hard into the maudlin without really earning it. Case-in-point -- I was really excited to meet Ted’s wife and son. The idea of a partner who could find Ted anything less than charming seems a little wild given how readily he bonds with almost anyone in his orbit. But the show suggests a good idea through Ted’s own words, that his wife might find his optimistic disposition “too much” now and then.
That's totally plausible! You could imagine someone suffering from depression struggling with Ted’s sunny worldview, or just wanting to be able to have a bad day without the efforts to buck them up. But we hear that without really seeing that. All we get is a generic, “It doesn’t feel like it used to” from Ted’s wife, and a rushed, trite “I have to let you go because change is good” epiphany from Ted. Nothing from their interactions shows us there’s a problem. It’s a told not shown sort of thing.
I especially bristle at Ted taking Higgins’ lesson that “If you’re with the right person, even the hard times are easy.” Hard times can be hard, man! It’s borderline unhealthy to put the idea out there that if you’re going through struggles as a couple that's a sign that you’re not meant to be. Challenges happen! Not all of them are going to be peachy to get through 100% of the time. But honestly, that's part of the overall problem here. The episode deals in trite truisms, and expects to get away with it if they can rely on some superb “almost tearing up acting” from the performers and a heartfelt Mumford & Sons song in the background.
Candidly, it feels manipulative. We’ve barely seen Ted and his wife together, and the show doesn’t do the work to explain why they once made sense together but now don’t. So while we can intuitively understand that accepting your marriage is over would be incredibly difficult emotionally, Ted’s wife hasn’t been a real character until now, so the attempt at heightened poignance in the moment comes off unearned.
Everything’s just profoundly on the nose in this episode. I don’t know if you realize this, because they’ve been very subtle about it to this point, but Jamie can be kind of selfish. I jest, but his self-centeredness has reached such cartoonish levels, and is commented on by almost everyone, to the point that it feels like Ted Lasso is bashing its audience over the head with that fact. And at the same time, it’s just as obviously signposting that Keeley and Roy are going to get together, which, fine, they have nice enough chemistry, but be a little less obvious about it.
Even if it’s a throwback to childhood sports movies, I do like that Ted benches Jamie to teach him a lesson, and that the team rallies around the idea of teamwork in the absence of their arrogant star player. It’s a simple story beat, but a venerable one because it’s effective. And for all my gripes, I like the fact that Ted’s greatest professional success in the game of soccer to this point is paired with his greatest personal loss. There’s poetry in that.
You can just feel this episode tugging on your heartstrings without having earned the pull. There’s no subtlety to this episode, no well-written interactions that feel like real people dealing with jubilation and heartbreak, just good performers elevating undercooked material that doesn’t earn the maudlin catharsis it’s shooting for.
I've been having a rough couple weeks. Ted Lasso has been helping me do a lot of healing. This episode absolutely wrecked me. Sometimes its good to have a good cry.
It's a pretty rare occasion when a show has a character that we're seeing for the first time on screen and they deliver an emotional moment in that same episode and it doesn't feel cheap or a "who cares" situation, but this show managed it with Ted's wife.
My wife and I had been thoroughly enjoying the show up until this episode, but this was the one that made us fall in love with it.
:sob: :sob: :sob: :sob: :sob:
The first truly excellent episode of this show. Huge credit for at least trying to make the match footage look vaguely realistic.
CW writers, take note: This is how you write a positive, progressive show with proper setups and pay-offs.
only 5 episodes in and they already have me weeping like a baby
'keep havin' to wipe this g'damn dust out of my eyes after this episode...! :*)
Why the fuck am I tearing up.. its not event that emotional, what a show man
This episode is simply a work of art.
I cried watching this episode.
this one was an emotional one ugh!
This episode took me on an emotional journey. I am in awe
You don't understand how obsessed I'm with Keeley and Roy!!! and then that parking lot reference was super cute!! #RoyleyForever
And that scene with Sam and Roy in the field was hilarious!
And I feel super guilty cause I don't care at all about Ted and his family, like probably if anyone reads my comments you must think I hate Jason but I don't, I just can't connect with his character, my first comment was about worrying I couldn't connect with the brits and now I'm obsessed with all of them but I just see Ted as an Andrew Bernard rip off.
Am I the only one who dislikes the way the games are filmed? I guess it's more visually appealing than the standard football angle.
Shout by Carlos Luis LopesBlockedParent2021-02-27T10:27:49Z
What an amazing mix of emotions: winning and losing with a key message in the Center: moving forward