TED LASSO - S2 - EP6 - Wonderkids & Bad Cycles (Patreon)

Reminder! Like I said last time, I know people involved with the very heart of making this show so I’m crazy biased / disregard my take / yada yada yada. I just mostly want us to have a space to talk about this show each week and hear what y’all think. Cool? Cool!

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As always, let’s go subject by subject…

This Season’s Narrative Approach - Unsurprisingly, “the discourse” has finally come for Ted Lasso, but honestly I don’t think too much about all that. Such things are part of the natural ebb and flow of public conversation, particularly with something that is considered both good and popular. So we have to understand that there’s going to be things in ANY show that rub some people the wrong way. Because some people don’t like being “manipulated” by media in any form. Some people want shows that better reflect their mood. And some people like different kinds of humor all together. It’s fine and we don’t need to defend, nor amplify it because we’ve all done this dance many times before. Still, whenever it inevitably happens I tend to be curious at what talking points come up because it sort of allows you to ‘read the tea leaves” and see what’s really sticking for people. And this time a lot of folks seem to be expecting the show to mine the same specific emotional depths that it did in season one and having some confusion about why it’s “not as good” at doing that.

Which is why I talked about this very issue at the very beginning of this second season. Yes, the reason the first season of the show was so damn cathartic was because all the characters started in a deep place of conflict and very far away from one another. We got to watch as Ted slowly brought them closer together while still honoring the truth at the earnest heart of their characters. It was an elative experience and pretty much perfect. But there was no real way this show was going to be able to go back to that initial state of conflict. For one, people hate it even MORE when shows try to regress from their growth and make everyone pissed at each other (see Friday Night Lights season two). Instead, it would have to work within the new status quo, expand outward and build new conflicts (and I’ve been writing about the way the show has been trying to do that). Moreover, understanding that with these new status quos, there’s a reset of expectations that go along with it. Not just because these episodes are much, much harder to write. But simply understanding that Ted Lasso’s has entered its “sitcom era.” But even in that space, I believe the show will keep punching through in resonant ways that surprise us.

I’m using that word surprise on purpose because the most interesting thing to me about this season is that it seems to keep us a bit off kilter with the overall structure. Where season one was mostly working off steady builds in deeply serialized fashion, this season will focus on things here and there before they’ll suddenly pop to the forefront in this surprising way (while still being set-up). For example, there’s the way this season had been making light of the on again / off again romance between Beard and Jane as if it was this funny thing that existed off screen, but today it suddenly became this important reality to the clubhouse. Or how the last episode finally brought Nate’s anger issues to the forefront. This tactic can really work wonders (it’s not a sitcom, but think of how a show like Mad Men often operated in that way). And at this point we have to trust that all the lessons are going to add up in really interesting ways, usually along thematic lines. This episode was no exception because it was about…

Breaking Bad Cycles / Speaking Up - All of our characters are stuck in various cycles this week and the big conversation is about whether or not it is better to let people stay stuck in them or speak up and say something. To that, I actually think it’s interesting Ted is the one who preaches non-interfere considering he’s often someone who throws himself in situations where he can try and kill ‘em with kindness (but notice how often those situations involve what people think of him!). But in this conflict involving Beard and Jane, it’s actually Higgins who wants to say something to his friend about falling back into his bad cycle. But what I really love about this episode is that it’s not trying to turn any of this into a binary because there’s often not a singular right answer. There’s good and bad that comes from both and it’s always going to be a little messy. Because what we’re really asking is “can people change?” The answer is yes, but it’s hard. Moreover, breaking cycles can take all sorts of approaches…

Jamie Tart Do Do Do Da Do Do Do - Jamie’s arc this season has been really interesting. He came to the team a humbled man and now we’ve watched him learn how to be a teammate. But this is not the be-all-end-all of Jamie’s journey. Especially now that he has to deal with Roy Kent as a coach. But I love the way the show handles their issues (Ted: “Roy, I hate to break it to you but Jamie’s being the mature one” / Jamie: “That’s right I’m being mature you big dumb hairy twat!”) Kent recognizes that Jamie is doing his part to try and break their cycle, so now it’s up to Roy to tell the truth. Which is important because he sees Jamie’s current problem for what it is. Namely that in critically learning to be a good teammate he’s also lost the benefits of what comes with being a competitive prick on the field.

This is a huge part of high-level competition. Many of you saw the Jordan doc The Last Dance and saw what that kind of ego and ferocity can stoke, and we see it in the way Trae Young plays right now. Jamie has to understand that his “prick” abilities are a thing that he has to turn on and off when appropriate. That sometimes it’s not just good on the field but a necessary part of competition. What’s fascinating about his growth here is that Jamie actually broke his cycle earlier in the season, now it’s a re-building a more balanced and whole self. This is the reminder he’s an all-star. And the final stop will be him becoming a leader. But what I also like about this plotline is that it hints at that idea that Roy didn’t want to voice any of this in the first place precisely because he was afraid of what “embracing the preakness” could do both the team and Jamie, thus not trusting that Jamie could really handle that balance. But here he was proved wrong in that doubt, but right in the diagnosis. And what I like is also that Kent’s plot here intersects with a different character this week in a really interesting way...

Coach Nate - After his hard won moment of confidence last week, it ended with Nate feeling a little worried about his place in the coaching hierarchy. And Kent’s overwhelmingly positive effect on the team has only seemed to exacerbate that. We see Nate try to be mean like Roy does but his words often come out negative and cruel in a way that doesn’t fit. Cue lots of Nate talking from a place of frustration and hating himself (along with revealing that his villainous dad once sabotaged his first love). But right when things are dire at the end, there’s a moment where he actually re-learns the lesson from last week. He does the “spit activation” thing and goes after the win with a confident plan. Because that’s the whole thing. The team doesn’t need his anger. It needs his brain. He’s the out-of-left-field tactician who understands a way to play to the weakness of the other club and thus gives them a crucial win. Cue the validation from the team. The validation from twitter and the media. And more importantly, the validation from Roy himself. But what I also love is there’s the quiet of him taking all this in, along with ruminating on the “wonderkid” flub. It’s a hint that all the validation in the world doesn’t matter unless you can heal those things inside yourself. In the end, it’s still you. And it’s another thing we all have to learn.

Beard / Higgins - We talked about Beard sliding back into his relationship with Jane above, but where everyone else wants to leave him alone, Higgins is “making the noise again,” which is what he does when something’s bothering him. But what I love about this plot is how it shows understanding that there is a way to speak up (No, Ted, it’s NOT during a best man speech and maybe that’s the core of the lesson you should have learned, not that warning friends is bad in general). But even then it’s not a warning. It’s just letting your friend know they’re loved and you support them and so much of “concern” is just wanting them to be happy and full of awareness. Yeah, voicing this can backfire. But it’s not about it always going right. It’s about someone hearing and feeling it. Which is exactly what Beard responds to (with that sudden hug), but he’s still going to have to figure things out with Jane on his own. But at least he’s been incepted with self-concern. What I love about this moment is how it also ties into the interrelated nature of the stories in this episode, as this catharsis provokes someone else to reconsider their own relationships. That would be…

Rebecca / Her Mom - I love when parents show up in TV shows and this time it’s Rebecca’s mom (played by the great  Harriet Walter! A long-time British character actor who you may recently recognize as the mom from Succession). But she’s yet another person who is absolutely trapped in her own cycle where she breaks up with Rebecca’s father every few years, before promptly getting back together. Yes, it’s the same on again / off again bad cycle that Beard has with Jane. But Rebecca’s sort of learned to coast by with it, even employing Ted and Keeley to do the heavy emotional support during lunch, but it’s not until that moment where she witnesses Higgins and Beard that she realizes she has to have a bigger talk. That maybe all she needs to do is express love and concern. But in this case it’s too little too late, mom’s already gone back to dad. But it’s really Rebecca’s reaction to this where we see that’s not REALLY what her story is about. No that would be…

Rebecca’s Love Life - So all episode Rebecca’s been balancing her romantic life between the very hot himbo known as “Hunky Luka” (which awesome for you Rebecca, get it) and the mysterious connection she was the nameless person on Bantr. It’s so clear that Luka is nice and fun, but the depth of that connection she has with the person is the “lightning” she’s been seeking. But when the telling moment comes to push further with him? Rebecca DOESN’T risk contacting this person and instead goes for the safety of Luka. Meaning she did just what her mom did and fell back into the bad cycle. But the heartbreak of that narrative goes one further when it finally reveals who she’s actually been texting with…

It’s Sam! - And I for one have always thought this was the one. We saw their connection from season one on and their unflinching support for one another. And I love the way their lovely conversations speak to the light of Sam’s inner soul. He’s a person full of knowledge, conviction, bravery, and pure sunshine. But the whole situation is obviously not without its own complications (I mean, duh). Mostly I’m so glad that Ted and Rebecca was a feint because that just genuinely felt wrong to me. As I said last week there are “reasons to worry. Not just because of the clear conflicts of interest / Sassy history / but the fact that the friendship and work relationship they have is so damn solid.” And it’s that very friendship that again shines through in the final moments of the episode when she goes to look for him after he ran out. As I said, the “what an episode is really about” keeps sneaking up on us this season. And in the end, the final bad cycle belonged to…

Ted - He enters the episode with his trademark positivity, cracking jokes and being friendly, all as Sharon keeps reminding that her door is open and he can make an appointment (she really sees through it, huh?). But Ted won’t because he’s in a state of comfort. Everything seems fine, the team is winning and then… he’s ending the episode in a full on panic attack. But for how direct the show often is, I love how indirect the trigger on this one was. Especially because that’s how panic attacks can work sometimes. It starts with something seemingly manageable but soon it snowballs into other things. Here’s a little call where his son forgot his lunch for a field trip and they just happened to go to the call sheet. But the deep thing is that this is a moment where he couldn’t be there for his son (and given what I’ve talked about when it comes to the possibility of trauma with his dad’s death, that feeling would be a BIG anxiety trigger). There’s a sense of creeping dread as he feels it, but he tries to bury it. But then in the intensity of that end game, his body can’t help but take on all that energy, especially as he hears them all in disharmony and discord, where Jamie and the players are all “sons” in need. He couldn’t possibly be able to help them because it’s all piled up. It’s really the most terrifying thing when your body starts overriding your brain. So he runs. But in disappearing into a dark and secure place, he realizes... It’s time to break the cycle.

It’s time to make an appointment.

RANDOM THOUGHTS / BEST JOKES

-One thing we don’t make enough of is how Brett Goldstein, Mr. Roy Kent himself, is actually a writer on the show. I say this because he wrote this one in particular (and for added oomph, know that Tottenham is his favorite club). But one of the things people often ask me is “how much does it mean to be the writer of an episode? Is it total autonomy? Just a name accreditation? Well, you break the stories together as a group. Then a writer goes off and writes the first draft. They come back and sometimes there’s notes and a rewrite. Sometimes there is a group write. Sometimes the head writer does a polish. And sometimes it’s great and they don’t change a word. Sometimes they change it and it never has anything to do with the quality of the script, but some overall change the show needs based on production or a change in larger arcs. Like football, getting credit is both a really lovely honor, but also something that is inevitably part of a team sport.

-“The stupid barking means it’s over, right?” Roy refusing to be in the diamond dogs makes me so happy. Especially because we know he's soooooo going to need the dogs at some point.

-“That is a joke for people born in the early to mid 70s!”

-Ted: “Hey Roy, you’re paid to coach the whole team” / Roy: “Just dock 4% of my pay.”

-“Roy: “You’re an ugly ugly boy, with bad hair.” / Jamie: “I am ugly ugly boy with… less than…”

-Keeley: “Jane’s the jealous type, huh? She followed me home one night to ask if Beard was shagging Ted.”

-The moment where a really confused Ted reflexively points at the “believe” sign is such a great little beat that shows what happens when Ted is out of his element.

-I feel like Nate’s dad might stealth be the worst villain of the show

-“Way to keep that ice bucket challenge alive!” Something that stuck out to me about this line is the fact it could be read like this person is still trying to do some fad, but it’s not that at all likely, is it? It means she’s probably just steadfastly committed to ALS research (likely because she knows someone) and working at something people forgot once it was no longer a fad. It’s sort of this really powerful little moment that hints at worlds of meaning beyond it.

-It seems that Bantr has slid in as the team’s new sponsor and I admit, I hoped there would be a bit more fallout to the Dubai Air decision? Particularly because doing the right thing often comes with negative consequences, but hey, it’s not exactly a big worry over here.

-“Y’all been manning up for a while now and look where that’s got ya,” / womaning up - I sort of admit that I’m curious what y’all think when you hear lines like this. I spent so much of my life looking at toxic masculinity through the lens of the gender binary, and these days I can still see the ghosts of that stuff everywhere. It just radically reforms how much I even react to lines like this and how much things are also changing away from that?

-Hey random reporter “wonderkid” is still what wunderkind MEANS, so give Nate a break!

-That shot of Sam celebrating so unhinged made me so happy. But speaking of which…

-Perhaps the moment that hit me hardest was when everyone was celebrating like mad and Rebecca was walking around, rightfully concerned about Ted. Because there’s no more alienating feeling than when everyone is having a great time and you can’t take part because your concerns are someplace so far away. Sometimes it’s not even a moment of concern for others, but that concern for yourself. Like Ted is certainly feeling. The most deeply anxious feelings where you are trapped with your own worries and deepest demons. The thing to always know is that’s okay. You don’t have to be at every celebration. You aren’t missing the world. Sometimes you need to go into a hole and find your own way to climb out of it. Sometimes, it’s the only way to come back to earth...

All so that you can be there for that celebration in the future.

<3HULK