TED LASSO - S2 - EP 9 - Once In A Blue Moon (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!

* * *

I’ve talked a lot this season about how much I like it when TV shows suddenly pay attention to side characters. Perhaps it’s because it reflects a kind of generosity; an understanding that expansion is what allows your show to grow, rather than imploding within self obsession / tiring out plots of the main principle cast. For these first two seasons, Coach Beard has spent a lot of time on the sidelines, literal and figurative. Granted, it’s not that he hasn’t been a major presence. He’s been Ted’s right hand man like a calm, stoic force of nature. He’s also been a goof off buddy and sometimes offer-er of sage wisdom. But his inner life has mostly remained a bit of enigmatic punchline. As if they were always alluding to some eccentric life that lived beyond our eyeballs. It’s really easy to let that kind of joke go on forever (think Creed in The Office US). But this show is always interested in going beyond the joke. It first happened a few episodes ago when they began by taking his problematic relationship with Jane more seriously.

But it’s this week’s episode where we go all the way inside his life with a full After Hours-esque journey into a night with the Beard (if you’ve never seen Scorsese’s 1985 film, it’s great and also a weird love letter to a seedy, pre-disnified Manhattan). But what I love about the episode is that it may seem like it’s a bunch of funny beats and vignettes (and it certainly is that), but it’s also walking through a lot of Beard’s psychology and how he deals with things using different forms of displacement for relief. But let’s start with the core problem…

Bad Days At The Office - I wanted to generalize this more than saying it was “a bad loss” because a really bad work day is an all too common thing. I mean, most jobs suck by their very nature. But then there’s those extra bad days where it sucks really hard. You finish a miserable day and you KNOW you are just going to have to go back the next day and do more of it. Bad days require a way to find a release valve. Something that becomes an outlet for your justified anger or frustration or sadness or whatever emotion feels welling up inside. We all have different ways of dealing with it. Some people collapse on the couch and shut their brain off. Some people hit the bar. Some people get high. Some people curl up with ice cream and youtube. Some people go to the boxing / regular gym and push all that emotion into physical exertion. It all comes with the understanding that some behaviors are perhaps healthier than others (along with the acknowledgement that some people displace and pass the torch of their anger by getting angry at those who don’t deserve it, or worse). Reeling from the intensity of the loss, Beard walks home and looks for some solace. His first answer is thankfully…

Going Home - It’s good to know that this was Beard’s first instinct. But turns out not to be the relief he was seeking. Not just because he can’t sit alone with his own thoughts, but because the TV commentary of the game soon turns into a surreal imagining of the commentators mocking him. It’s an important moment because it shows us that, unlike Ted, he really internalizes the success and failure of the team - along with his role in coaching them. And as the chief strategist, his “attack first” really cost them dearly on defense in this game. You have to remember the commentators are his internal voice - and it shows you how hard Beard is on himself. So there will be no solace here at home as there is no way to drown out the noise. So he will have to find an outlet elsewhere. Starting with…

The Local Bar - Ah, the old familiar. Beard goes to have a beer, perhaps sit at the bar and listen to the sounds of people, but he ends up having many, many drinks with none other than the three Richmond fans who are always there: Baz, Jeremy, and Paul. Cue a whole implied talk about life, philosophy, and existence (of course beard is a “the universe is a simulation” guy). But all these cerebral insights don’t solve much in terms of relief for Beard, do they? They are merely distractions. But sometimes distractions seem like they’re working. And when it hits closing time, he and his new best friends don’t want the distractions to stop. It’s moments like this I always try to remember the advice that the famous sports agent James Babydoll Dixon told his players: “fellas, fellas, never chase the night.” But chase the night they do. In fact, they step on the accelerator.

Hijinks and Displacement - Here we finally see the kind of absurd hijinks and adventures that Beard always seems to get up to off screen - it’s the four of them trying to sneak into an exclusive party club for rich folks (I love their little outfits from the lost and found). Sure, they have a funny little scam to get inside, but the second they get in the three bar guys really feel the “I don’t belong here vibe.” Which Beard assures them isn’t true. They belong there. But skating through all the obstacles to keep them out means playing a trick on the rich jerks who suck at pool, etc. The thing about all this is it’s yet another subtly pointed look into Beard’s mind. Think about it. He’s literally trying to escape his feelings by becoming someone else… anyone else in order to distance himself from the pain he’s feeling (which, oof). It also makes that moment where he goes to the room and imagines the game on all the TVs hit all the more hard - he can’t escape it. It’s still him. And so he turns to other vices…

The Femme Fatale - We’ve gotten lots of hints that the Beard’s love life has had this heightened reality, but notice how much he plays into a “full-on noir situation” with the Woman In Red (one that just has more absurd pants-saving to it). Everything so obviously loaded about their interaction, but for Beard? That’s the point. He alludes later that he likes things that make life feel more interesting. And here it’s like he’s feeding on the loaded-ness and allure of this (as she hems his pants) and turns out, so is she - Cue her clear baiting of her jealous boyfriend who shows up and a chase that ensues…

Beating Yourself Up - Beard gets away from one fight, but ends up in another one with none other than Jamie’s dad. It’s important to qualify he’s not exactly looking for a fight and even tries running away again - but the fight nonetheless happens. And this feels par for the course of his night. But there’s something about fighting sometimes where it's not about proving that you are tough - it’s about getting beat up because it’s what you think you deserve. You hear him echo these thoughts so often with the recurring gag of the commentators who talk about his real self-loathing. Beard thinks the game is all his fault. He thinks all these problems are his fault. And yet he also struggles with the fact he thinks that. Everything about the fight is the outward manifestation of these self-beating-up feelings. But so is the solution that comes…

Reminding Yourself of Growth - So Beard gets saved by the jealous boyfriend who was initially chasing him. Turns out he came to apologize and give him his phone and wallet back. The boyfriend tells a story about trying to overcome jealousy and it being more a reflection of his own cheating past and how so much of it feels loaded with a baby on the way. It’s just this really sudden interesting peek into this person who is clearly still dealing with their harmful patterns and trying to grow. It’s such a really thoughtful little moment and is clearly meant to mirror Beard’s own struggles. But, of course, Beard ignores the lessons and begins freaking out over all the missed texts from Jane (which are toxic as fuck, more on that in a second), but then his phone dies. He screams into the void, so frustrated with this impossibly terrible night, even a sudden deux ex machina limo ride home from the boys can’t dissuade him from going home and charging his phone. But as he tries… the key breaks. And it starts raining, the kind of comedy of errors that makes it feel like the universe is against you. So naturally, he starts to….

Question the Universe  - Early in the episode we hear Beard say “I listen more than I talk,” and it is very much one of his super powers. But what happens when he talks to himself? He wanders into a church as a “long time listener, first time caller,” looking for some kind of solace, some kind of answer. But all he can do is talk about Jane, last name Payne. He’s angry that he’s stuck here in the church with “you” (IE god). And then says something rather revealing: “I am under no illusions that she could solve what ails me. But when I’m with her the world just feels… more interesting.” But right then he then hears a bass beat, which leads him to that which wants… but also that which may not be what he needs…

Dance It Out / Jane Payne Pain - First off, some people are karaoke people. Some people are dancing people. Some people are blessed in liking both! Me? I’ve always liked dancing. It’s fun, it’s silly, but I feel confident doing it and it’s good exercise. I just like the way it makes me feel alive and connected and exhausted and so many other things. And so of course I like that this was pretty much the most cathartic and healthy release for Beard in the entire night. A way of taking all that absurd tension of the day and just getting to VIBE with the energy around him for once (also it’s a way of showing that Bredan Hunt is weirdly good at hoola hooping). But the Beard doesn’t just dance… he also meets up with Jane, who seems to wrap him up in her allure and vice versa, like two twirling, spiraling souls… which, oof.

For a long time, we’ve been on the outside and seen the two of them have their interactions and been like “ohhhhh, this seems toxic.” And if those drunken texts are any indication, it is very, very, very toxic. Many thanks to our friend Kat who wrote out every text https://cinematicnomad.tumblr.com/post/662576534707666944/in-case-anyone-was-curious-ive-transcribed-all which is full of all sorts of “fuck yous” and trying to make him jealous and saying he’s dead to her / wishing him dead for not responding and doing exactly what she wanted. This is more than anxious ambivalent attachment. This is even more than co-dependency. This is full-on toxicity and verbally abusive behavior. And as Beard dances the night away with her, there’s obviously this uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach about it. Beard’s still stuck in his cycle oh so completely.

And in the end, the interesting thing about the episode is that there isn’t any kind of real catharsis - just release; a vague kind of understanding that “it’s okay now” and I can just show up to work and people will wonder and it will be fine. But for us? It’s more there is just a deeper understanding of who Beard is and why he wants what he wants. We see the way he’s trying to shut out the negative voices. The way he tries to fill his life with the things that are more “interesting,” even if not healthy. Whether it is in the bar room conversations, the hijinks, the emotionally loaded flirting, confrontations, the fisticuffs, and ultimately his woefully complicated love life. None of these things are “the solutions to what ails him” as he puts it. But I at least now understand why he loves all these things as displacement.

And thus I worry for our friend even more...

RANDOM THOUGHTS / BEST JOKES

-Naturally, we have to single out Brendan Hunt who is not only great in this episode, but been one of the driving creative forces of the show from minute one (IRL he’s been a long time friend and co-writer with Jason Sudeikis, going back to Chicago days). Everything about what he brings to this episode / show is utterly fantastic.

-Likewise, it’s important to single out the three barroom actors who have been so funny throughout the show: Adam Colborn as Baz, Bronson Webb as Jeremy, and Kevin KG Garry as Paul, whose delightful enthusiasm has never not made me smile.

-“You went out with Richard?!?” Ugh, we have only just met Richard, but he is the WORST.

-Beard: “Act casual!” / Jeremy: *points to the sky* “Orion’s belt!”

-“Shut up, Thierry Henry” I found this runner to be so good. Maybe it’s just that he’s one of the few players that even I was familiar with, but it just felt like the exact right character to do it. Also: “They do food here?” / “For me, yeah.”

-Beard’s little performance when his phone died and he started screaming with this high pitch “nooooo” and hopping around was so funny to me.

-Of course Ted’s solution was to re-watch the game at 10 times speed with the Benny Hill theme… Of course.

-I said the episode was without catharsis, but that’s not true. The scene where it was revealed that Beard let the bar guys play go out and play on the Richmond pitch was just sublime.

-Lastly, you probably noticed that music was a huge part of the episode. Particularly the running theme of of the Blue Moon, which adorned his journey through the night. But I also love that ending Blur song, “The Universal.” For a little bit of rumination, I’m just going to let the lyrics of both songs speak for themselves…

BLUE MOON

Blue moon you saw me standing alone

Without a dream in my heart

Without a love of my own

Blue moon

You knew just what I was there for

You heard me saying a prayer for

Someone I really could care for

And then there suddenly appeared before me

The only one my arms will ever hold

I heard somebody whisper, please adore me

And when I looked, the moon had turned to gold!

Blue moon, now I'm no longer alone

Without a dream in my heart

Without a love of my own

THE UNIVERSAL

This is the next century

The Universal is free

You can find it anywhere

Yes, the future has been sold

Every night we are gone

And to karaoke songs

We like to sing along

Although the words are wrong

It really, really, really could happen

Yes, it really, really, really could happen

When the days seem to fall straight through you

Just let them go

No one here is alone

Satellites in every home

The Universal is here

Here for everyone

Every paper that you read

Says tomorrow is your lucky day

Well, here's your lucky day

<3HULK