Ted Lasso finale review: The Richmond Way couldn’t save the show

ted lasso It’s over, but everyone is doing great.

We don’t see the moment when Ted (Jason Sudeikis) announces he’s leaving AFC Richmond and England to return to Kansas City. It happened during the last two episodes. People are a little sad, and that’s okay. This is the story of the man who made the club what it is: caring for each other and emotionally touching.They almost won the title, just as Ted promised in the Season 1 finale. but at least ted lasso Take comfort in knowing that the characters have turned into good people who can talk about their feelings. Unfortunately, that “growth” came entirely at the expense of programming quality.

ted lasso When it first premiered, it seemed like a breath of fresh air without the pandemic. The Apple TV Plus show, which launched in 2020, has become a sleeper hit thanks to its half-hour comedy that effortlessly tackles everything from big character divisions to soccer practice. While the truth of the Richmond situation may be difficult to reconcile (owners actively trying to undermine the team, coach going through a slow divorce), the solution is always clearly in the characters. was rooted. In this way, Ted looked like a proof of concept. he is an optimistic person select It’s not because nothing has happened in his life that makes him angry. Some of the first season’s most pivotal moments — Dart’s monologue and Rebecca’s confession — are powerful because they recognize how instructive his philosophy is. It’s a quieter victory than they appear on another show. But they work! The world might be a better place if others had followed in his footsteps. Just as the sign said, I had to believe.

Season 3, by contrast, was ultimately so frictionless that nothing was believable anymore. Almost every plot development feels set for minimal payoff. Addition to the new roster of superstars, Zava (Maximilian Osinski) has come and gone, changing very little about either the show or the football season. Nate (Nick Mohammed) goes to West Ham and is surprised to find that his boss’s persona is indeed a person.

Image: Apple TV Plus

Image: Apple TV Plus

The problem is not that these developments are a blank slate. It’s that there’s nothing significant to be gained from any of them, other than killing time and ranting about nudity in the locker room. These ideas become less and less convincing as the show snowballs. Rather than complete a season arc, the series serves as a cultural atlas of all positive masculine behavior. It’s exhausting and has the effect of characters moving left and right briefly as the final season’s major developments take place off-screen. Nate overcomes her years of disappointment and reconciles with his father, realizing that he just wanted him to be happy. Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) momentarily feels like she’s realized that Rupert (Anthony Head) hasn’t grown up since she did, but she’s unforgivably cruel to him throughout the show. , it is natural. Roy (Brett Goldstein) and Keely (Juno Temple) have a long-awaited reunion. Because Roy says their problems, even off-screen and between seasons, were always with him, not with her.

So when it all wraps up in a montage of people being happy in the finale, it feels right for a show that’s becoming apathetic about what its character choices actually are. average, either on what motivated them in the first place, or on the consequences of those decisions. Every character speaks as if their thoughts have already been peer-reviewed by a therapist, so everyone can diagnose their own problems and hang-ups.Character it was, how they handle their problems (or not) and how that conflict can be productive has been set aside.Goodness has come to be equated with clearly filtering one’s emotions and doing things with sensible solutions, allowing everyone to simply do Or

It’s no surprise then that everything fell into place from Nate’s return to Richmond to Jamie’s reconciliation with his toxic parent. Both involve interrogating complex emotions and giving characters room to react imperfectly to things. In that final season, ted lasso I made a lot of time for things, but I couldn’t make time for them. The run time swelled to more than double the average for the first season, but the show was too concerned with frames to explain emotions and their importance, rather than giving characters time to actually have them. couldn’t make.this is the end of the world ted lasso I know that. There is no room for more than feeling better.