PREMISE
A friendly match takes the team to Amsterdam, where one night out unlocks truths for many.
EPISODE MVP’S
BRETT GOLDSTEIN & PHIL DUNSTER
To me, the most engaging relationship between two characters on this show has always been the relationship between Kent and Tartt. Jamie Tartt was the main villain of season one damn near, and that relationship was as combative as it’s ever been. The levels of healing done by these two characters began with the epic bro hug from season 2, and this episode shows how far Tartt has come and how Roy has regressed.
Roy seems to have blocked himself from his fear of failure, and Tartt has lived most of his life thinking that he was a failure because of his dad. I love how this show makes these two more and more alike as time passes. It was nice to see them bond in this episode. It was the most enjoyable storyline for me.
Episode highlights
The evolution of Trent crimm
What a long way this character has come. I think Trent Crimm was a flat-out unlikeable character in season one, and now his arc through this season has been truly touching. He has been operated as a plot device for so long, and he’s been such a combative reporter to all of AFC Richmond, it seems, that you never really come to think of who he is as a character. The revelations that come through this episode on his behalf are very surprising and wonderful to watch.
COMEBACK TED
It’s been borderline depressing watching Ted being homesick episode after episode. The supporting cast of this show is so strong that one may not notice how one note Ted has been this entire season. I understand why. If this show really is circling the runway for its final descent, then everything about Ted’s character right now makes sense. Ted has been taking a lot of L’s this season, and it was nice to see him fighting back to get some points on the board for himself.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Who cares? It’s a f****** friendly. A friendly is a pretend match. This is a pretend conversation. You’re a pretend person, with a pretend job, and I’m having a really hard time pretending to give a s***.”
-Roy-
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE
EVERYTHING INVOLVING REBECCA
Up until this point, I would say that Rebecca was the MVP this season overall. But this f****** episode was really ridiculous on her end. I understand that a show that focuses on the power of positivity isn’t going to have a lot of realistic things going on to its characters because of the wicked nature of the world. I don’t look for TED LASSO ever to be a beacon of realistic storytelling or anything like that… But Rebecca’s storyline in this episode is so absolutely ridiculous and impossible that it pretty much derails the whole episode.
All this time, we’ve been building towards the psychic’s prediction and having them play out in creative ways over the last couple of episodes. I can’t help but get the impression that the culmination of everything was to come here and that every episode after this is the fallout of Rebecca’s adventure with the man on the boat.
There are quite literally five other storylines going on in this episode aside from Rebecca’s. And every one of those storylines has a hint of reality to them. Some more than others. But they all have just a hint. This is so eye-rollingly preposterous that I was worried my eyes would get stuck in the back of my head from rolling them so often, and I would end up like The Undertaker permanently. Hated every single moment of this, if you couldn’t already tell.
*****************
This is an hour-long episode with six separate storylines. Three of them (Ted, Jamie/Roy, and the Trent Crimm storyline) were very good, and everything else fell flat. That’s 50% doing well, and welp…. 50% is a failing grade by all technicality.
The segment involving Rebecca was so bad that we’re taking the 50% to 40% and hoping next week is much better.
TED LASSO is streaming on Apple TV+
