Ted Lasso left fans off with a great ending to season two of the hit comedy series on Apple TV Plus. AEC Richmond have moved up to the top tier in the EPL but with all positive things must come the negative. Nate (Nick Mohammed) left the team for a head coaching job with West Ham United owned by Rupert Manion (Anthony Head). The ex-husband of Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) and owner of AEC Richmond. Roy (Bret Goldstien) becomes the replacement assistant coach and Keeley (Juno Temple) decides to branch out and open up her own PR Firm. There are definitely a lot of stories going into season three.
Season three picks up with Ted (Jason Sudekis) taking his son to the airport so he can go back home after spending some time with his father over the summer. And an announcement that FC Richmond has been picked to finish last in the table and will inevitably be sent back down or relegated as people say in futbol circles. This doesn’t sit well with anybody in the organization but there isn’t a whole lot they can do about it. Nate does a press conference making fun of his old team and Ted has to step up and defend his players, owner and club as a whole. There may be hope on the horizon though as a new free agent pick up looms large over the outcome of the season. And an all in season long expose by Trent Crimm (Jame Lance) has been added to an already tumultuous season.
As in previous seasons Ted has to be the wisdom for everyone but he has Assistant Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) as his go to for advice. With the whole scenario involving West Ham, Nate and Rupert going on Rebecca is on edge and she can’t stand being second fiddle to her ex-husband. Keeley is still learning the ropes of her own PR Firm and Roy has issues with allowing a cutthroat reporter like Trent Crimm into the locker room with the team. Through a few episodes the drama is set up very nicely by the writers. A lot of the major players in the show once again have good character arcs far early in season three. They know just what audiences of this terrific show are looking for in it.
As a fan of European futbol I love all the references to the EPL and so forth. The battle for the table is a fun part of the show. The rivalry between Ted and Nate, dubbed “the Wonder Kid” is definitely one I am looking forward to all season long and the early blows from Nate towards Ted are definitely fuel for the fire going forward as season three moves along. Will his ego get the better of him or will Ted not get involved in junior high antics with his former assistant coach. These things are yet to be seen but I will be waiting with bated breath to see how this subplot unfolds in the final season of Ted Lasso.
Even though this show is a comedy it has some darker moments early on in season three. With that comes the length. It’s not a normal half hour comedy anymore. Most of the episodes are around 45 minutes or so in length. That gives the writers more to do with each of the character arcs they are working on. There are a lot of funny fish out of water moments, as always, but also some guru type moments early on regarding the new character in the show but the tone is relatively serious throughout season three.
With this being a show about soccer or futbol as Europeans call it there must be some good soccer in the show. There are a flurry of scenes with pretty cool soccer moments in episode three but not much more than that in the show overall early on. Even though this is staged the soccer scenes aren’t bad but in comparison to actual soccer being played they are pretty slow and bad. It’s hard to recreate actual soccer and make it look good.
Ted Lasso Season 3 is a bit different from previous seasons. It is has some good laughs most of the time, but it has much more hard hitting character development and various interesting character arcs. Specifically the main one between Ted and Nate. Their storyline early on didn’t entirely develop but I’m sure it will be as the season progresses. Apple TV Plus has a few crown jewels in it’s stable and one of them is Ted Lasso for a reason. It is a very good show. Season three is bound to be as good as the other seasons if not better and I loved the episodes I’ve seen so far. I hope the rest of season three lives up to my lofty expectations.
Ted Lasso streams starting March 15th on Apple TV Plus Weekly (4 Episodes Reviewed)
4 stars
Dan Skip Allen
From the Fourth Row! 