Ted Lasso Season 3 has been released with episodes premiering on Wednesdays on Apple TV+ and I'm going to cover each episode weekly in this blog post! I'm pretty excited about the final season and how they're going to wrap things up for the award-winning series.
Ted Lasso is a show about an american sports coach being moved to London, England to coach a premier football league. The show stars Jason Sudeikis (Saturday Night Live, Sleeping with other people) , Hannah Waddingham (Hpcus Pocus 2), Juno Temple, and Brett Goldstein (Thor: Love and Thunder). The show originally was a skit created by Jason Sudeikis for NBC about a coach coaching american football. The show focuses on Ted Lasso (Sudeikis) adjusting to England and the people.
S3E1: Smells Like Mean Spirit
March 15, 2023
Following the Premier loss, AFC Richmond has now been ranked last by news outlets and everyone in England. The team is sad about it and Ted and the other coaches take a field trip to try and cheer the players up. Rebecca (Waddingham) is trying to keep the league together after her ex-husband, Rupert buys a new club to compete against Rebecca and Richmond. Nate (Nick Mohammed) is the new head coach for Rupert's league, formerly a coach at Richmond. The field trip by the team is posted online, causing people to laugh at the team and the management. The episode ends with Ted questioning why he's still coaching in London, away from his family.
This was a great first episode. It followed what Ted Lasso is famous for, positivity. Ted trying to build team spirit after the rankings is how past episodes used to be. I will admit, Nick Mohammed does a great job as Nate. Nate was someone you used to root for in the first season but soon became corrupted by his greed for more control and respect. I feel bad for Nate but I also can't tolerate him. Also, in the scenes where both Nate and Ted are doing press junkets, you can see how the reporters treat them differently. In Nate's press run, the reporters were kind of quiet around him since he made fun of the first reporter. Ted, on the other hand, knew the reporters individually and talked to them before they asked their questions. The drastic contrast between the two of them shows who will clearly win when it comes to respect. It was already shown through Nate scrolling through Twitter. Overall, this episode sets up how the characters are feeling this season and what they're going to try next.
S3E2: (I don't want to go to) Chelsea
March 22, 2023
The team this week faces their first game against Chelsea. A famous player, Zava, is leaving his club, which creates a bidding war for the other clubs to recruit him. Trent Crimm joins, hoping to write a book about Richmond's comeback season. It was revealed in the last episode that Keeley (Temple) is running her own company now, KJPR. She works a commercial shoot and meets one of her old friends on the shoot. Keeley hires her to be a part of KJPR, which may not be good for the company. The team finds out about Roy and Keeley's break up and questions Roy about why he broke up with her. Rebecca goes head to head with her ex-husband, Rupert and his club, West Ham, to get Zava.
This episode was fun to watch. I loved the banter/feud between Roy and Trent, and how Roy basically yelled at him the entire episode. I love that Trent is back with the team instead of writing against them. It's nice to see that development from him bashing Ted in the first season to them working together now. We've always seen Keeley's success for her PR brand since season 1, but now we might see a little pitstop in that journey with her friend working beside her. I don't know how bad it'll be for Keeley but, we'll have to wait and see.
S3E3: 4-5-1
March 29, 2023**SPOILERS**
Zava has officially joined the team this week and scores Richmond several wins, raising them to third place. Most of the team has accepted Zava except for Jamie (Phil Dunster), who dislikes Zava joining. Roy offers to coach Jamie to make him better than Zava. We also see another player's story, Colin, who is revealed to be in a "situationship" with his friend. Ted receives some bad news about his ex-wife, learning that she is in a relationship with their marriage counselor. Rebecca meets her mother's psychic who tells her that she has lost someone who could be her potential romantic partner that's half her age (In season two, Sam, a player at Richmond, and she had a relationship) and that she will be a mother. She also revealed signs to look for, a green matchbook and "a shite in nighning armour". To celebrate the winning streak for Richmond, Sam hosts a dinner at his restaurant where he hands out green matchbooks as a thank you.
This was a jam-packed episode. It feels like all the storylines for character development and conflict for this season started in this episode. I would like to change my opinion on Shandy, Keeley's friend. I think Shandy is gonna try and get with one of the players. It felt foreshadowed in the last episode when she says that all their friends married football players. I do not like the idea of Rebecca going back to Sam though. I don't have much of an opinion about this episode since it feels like a stepping block to the next couple of episodes.
S3E4: Big Week
April 4, 2023**SPOILERS**
Today was the episode everyone was waiting for. West Ham versus Richmond. Ted and Nate on the same field. Rebecca and Rupert compete for first place.
This episode was going to be a strong episode of the season, and I was not prepared. It is the week leading up to the big game and the main focus was on the team, Ted, and Nate. Ted is told by a friend that he's a mess after finding out his wife is with their marriage counselor, which causes him to question everyone if they're correct. Nate is trying to boost himself up before the game. Coach Beard and Roy are finding potential plays for Richmond. The team finds out the Believe sign taped to the top of the door was ripped in half, causing the team to get angry. Beard and Roy use this to their advantage and find a video of Nate ripping the sign from season 2's finale. The episode fast-forwards to Saturday, game day, where everyone is settling into the West Ham arena. Ted and Nate end up in an elevator together. Nate tried to talk to Ted and possibly apologize but, the doors open and Rupert brings Nate away.
Rebecca is under a lot of stress during this match, as she wants to win against Rupert, her ex-husband. In the first episode, Rebecca tells Ted to fight back and win this season. Now is the chance for Richmond to fight back. The first round ends with West Ham leading by 2 to Richmond's 1. Rebecca finds Ted and breaks in front of him, telling him that she believes in him and to have fun out there. Beard and Roy use the video of Nate to motivate the team but backfires. The team instead played dirty and angry, pushing the other team and purposefully injuring and fighting them. That causes the team to lose 4-1. Everyone is in shock and disbelief. Rebecca leaves the arena and into the lobby, where she sees Rupert with his arm around his assistant. Rebecca sees Rupert's current wife and Rupert. She quietly goes up to him and lets him know that she saw them and will tell his wife if he doesn't shape up.
Keeley meets her main investor at the game, Jack Danvers. Shandy becomes in charge of a sponsor shoot, Bantr, an anonymous dating app, for the team. Keeley joins in and realizes how her ex-boyfriend, Jamie, has changed. We see one of my predictions come true, Shandy has messed up. With the app, she changed the mission statement to "Bang a celebrity", which does not meet the values of the brand.
The episode ends with Ted talking to Michelle, his ex-wife, admitting that all he wants to do is co-parent their child.
This was a great episode. Richmond lost their first game after their Zava streak raised them up. Watching Rebecca freak out in front of Ted about winning was a little scary to watch. The whole purpose of Rebecca owning the club was to get back at her ex-husband. Whether it was destroying the club in season 1 to destroying Rupert's club this season. To see her so passionate about it is really strong. Also to see Shandy go down is all I've been waiting for. I didn't like her that much and felt like she was only looking out for herself and her success. I see the team next episode trying to make up their mistakes to the coaches and Rebecca with their game against Manchester City. I also feel like Zava's going to freak out and go solo, which will let Jamie step in.
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I have missed a couple of weeks but I am sort of back now.
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S3E7: The Strings That Bind Us
April 26, 2023
The end is coming. Everything is now finding its place to end off on. You can see it with Keeley and her brand (maybe not her romantic relationships), Sam with his restaurant, Beard with Jane, Nate with the girl from Taste of Athens, Jamie and his sacrifices, and the team all becoming a family. The moment I realized that the end was coming in the episode was when Trent Crimm talks about how everything has lead up to this moment because of the "Lasso Way". He talks about how every team activity and moment helps with Richmond and their community.
This was a fun episode to watch since we see quite a lot of jokes and old references to past seasons and last week's jokes. It's kind of a mixed bag for me since it does talk about the end a bit through how the team works with one another now but, the story is still unfinished with the main characters and their personal aspirations. Rebecca wasn't talked about much in this episode and I feel like they don't have an ending for her. It feels like they are going to show an open ending, letting the viewer imagine what's going to happen with her and Roy and Keeley. Because it doesn't feel like Roy and Keeley are going to be together. While this was a good episode, it doesn't leave much promise about the other Richmond people. Ted is someone that is going to have a good ending. (or bad, depending on some people)
S3E9: La Locker Room Aux Folles
May 10, 2023
Everyone is starting to realize how bad the season is except for Ted Lasso stans and I can kind of understand why. I've been trying to be positive about it but, I just don't enjoy it. So Ted Lasso stans are on Twitter talking about how this show is like a sitcom with all the characters now getting an arc and storyline this season. Clearly, it's seen with the supporting cast like Colin, Sam, and Jamie. But critics and everyone else watching don't enjoy that format this season. The show is named Ted Lasso because it's supposed to be Ted's story. The show won a ton of Emmys because of the first two seasons revolving around Ted. It was a "fish out of water" story. And everyone tuned in to see the great storytelling it won for. But now it's not delivering expectations. I feel like this could've been avoided if they had released proper details about the season.
This week's episode focused on Colin and Nate. In the last episode, Nate got a girlfriend and Colin was accidentally outed in front of Issac, the team captain. This episode resolves the issue between Colin and Issac after avoiding Colin in the last episode. And Nate sees Rupert for who he is after he tries to get him to cheat on Jade, his girlfriend, with another woman he brought to guys' night.
Once again, it's an episode revolving around other characters and their stories. It's tying up the loose ends of the final season. Did I enjoy this episode? No. Nothing has been memorable from the past episodes that really contribute to Ted and his story. It's just been one-off jokes that have been nice to laugh at. (Jamie teaching Roy how to ride a bike.)
My predictions for the final season:
- Nate realizing how cruel he's become and making up with Richmond. I don't expect him to come back since he has his dream job, but at least some neutral ground would be great.
- Richmond to win the Premier League.
- Ted is going to stay with Richmond.
- Roy and Keeley are going to get back together. 04/26 UPDATE: UNLIKELY
- Ted and Rebecca are PLATONIC soulmates.
- Trent Crimm is going to out Colin in his book. 04/26 UPDATE: Proven wrong in episode 6, "Sunflowers"
- Zava is going to leave before the end of the episode, making Jamie step in and win the whole thing. 05/12 UPDATE: HAPPENED IN E7
