the ‘Ted Lasso’ Way
June 1, 2023 7:27 AM Subscribe
Ted Lasso’s third season was unfocused and unwieldy, but it stuck the landing [The Verge] This link and the commentary below the fold contain spoilers about the series finale of Ted Lasso.
[Series/Finale Spoilers] “In the opening episode of Ted Lasso’s third season, the perpetually cheerful coach (Jason Sudeikis) found himself stuck between two worlds: the desire to stay with his soccer club, AFC Richmond, in England and complete some unfinished business with a found family and his need to go back home to the US and be with a son who is missing him very badly. It provoked a full-on existential crisis — and as the season wore on, the show itself experienced something similar. With ballooning episode run times that were overstuffed with plotlines, the show found itself somewhere between the sitcom it started out as and the prestige drama it seemed to want to be. The result was a show that was unwieldy at times, losing sight of the things that made it such a phenomenon to begin with, while taking some strange and unnecessary detours. Thankfully, while the finale was long and self-indulgent, it remained focused — and sent off Coach Lasso with a beautiful goodbye.”
• Ted Lasso turned a lovable soccer team into a bunch of boring therapists [Polygon]
[Series/Finale Spoilers] “In the opening episode of Ted Lasso’s third season, the perpetually cheerful coach (Jason Sudeikis) found himself stuck between two worlds: the desire to stay with his soccer club, AFC Richmond, in England and complete some unfinished business with a found family and his need to go back home to the US and be with a son who is missing him very badly. It provoked a full-on existential crisis — and as the season wore on, the show itself experienced something similar. With ballooning episode run times that were overstuffed with plotlines, the show found itself somewhere between the sitcom it started out as and the prestige drama it seemed to want to be. The result was a show that was unwieldy at times, losing sight of the things that made it such a phenomenon to begin with, while taking some strange and unnecessary detours. Thankfully, while the finale was long and self-indulgent, it remained focused — and sent off Coach Lasso with a beautiful goodbye.”
• Ted Lasso turned a lovable soccer team into a bunch of boring therapists [Polygon]
“So when the finale brings everything together in a montage of people being happy, it feels right for a show that’s become so disinterested in what its characters’ choices actually mean, either for what motivated them in the first place or the fallout of those decisions. Everyone can diagnose their own problems and hang-ups, since every character now speaks like their thinking has already undergone peer review by a therapist. Who the characters were, how they might process their troubles (or not!), and the ways in which that conflict could be productive fell by the wayside. Goodness became so equated with filtering one’s feelings clearly and with tidy resolution that everyone simply does that.”• Ted Lasso Wanted to Do It All [Vulture]
“From a broader perspective, though, it’s tough to see Ted Lasso as anything other than a cautionary tale. For a brief period after its first season, it looked like a heal-all for a culture desperately searching for positivity and hope. The combination of Trump-era politics and a global pandemic made Ted Lasso a universal panacea, soothing and warm for everyone at once, a brotherhood of the magical soccer jersey that somehow managed to fit everyone. But a show that tries to be everything to everyone inevitably ends up failing on multiple fronts at once. Every character got a little bit of story, and the show ballooned in length to try to encompass it all, but rather than expand Ted Lasso’s world, it began to feel diluted.”
The idea that he's torn between going back to Kansas and staying with Richmond has been discussed throughout the season. There's nothing spoilery above the cut unless you're 12 episodes behind.
posted by Etrigan at 7:51 AM on June 1, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 7:51 AM on June 1, 2023 [7 favorites]
I watched the last episode of Ted Lasso and then headed to Fanfare which has fun discussion, useful details, etc.
Linda Holmes on NPR has done recaps that I quite enjoy.
posted by theora55 at 7:51 AM on June 1, 2023 [4 favorites]
Linda Holmes on NPR has done recaps that I quite enjoy.
posted by theora55 at 7:51 AM on June 1, 2023 [4 favorites]
Mod note: Spoiler text moved below the fold!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 7:52 AM on June 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 7:52 AM on June 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
I felt like Season 3 was a complete embrace of the sort of maudlin, Very Special Episode 80s sitcoms that Sudeikis and Hunt and I'm sure plenty of the other writers grew up with. Today on Family Ties, Roy learns the value of friendship. Today on Facts of Life, Nathan stands up to his boss. Not terrible, but certainly overwrought at times.
However, I did deeply appreciate the long-game groaner at the end - Ted adopting Total Football mid-season - associated heavily with Johan Cruyff, "The Flying Dutchman" - and Rebecca's inevitable reuniting with her Amsterdam tryst, who turns out to be an airline pilot - a literal Flying Dutchman.
posted by phong3d at 7:55 AM on June 1, 2023 [26 favorites]
However, I did deeply appreciate the long-game groaner at the end - Ted adopting Total Football mid-season - associated heavily with Johan Cruyff, "The Flying Dutchman" - and Rebecca's inevitable reuniting with her Amsterdam tryst, who turns out to be an airline pilot - a literal Flying Dutchman.
posted by phong3d at 7:55 AM on June 1, 2023 [26 favorites]
The Fanfare discussions capture some fairly diverse, real-time reactions to this season really well, with a lot of participation in each episode's thread. This season had a lot to love, but a lot that didn't make sense, and a lot that was just plain superfluous (especially notable given the more-than-doubled episode length). And the show's distinctive storytelling style, of subtly showing not telling, morphed into an imply-and-assume approach, with some important things happening off-screen, which created some over-reliance on viewer inference (IMHO) and made me feel left out of some important moments but included in lots of trivial ones.
Still enjoyable, still extremely well and thoughtfully made, still better than most other shows currently being produced, but ultimately S3 is really wobbly and a very different show from S1.
posted by LooseFilter at 8:02 AM on June 1, 2023 [9 favorites]
Still enjoyable, still extremely well and thoughtfully made, still better than most other shows currently being produced, but ultimately S3 is really wobbly and a very different show from S1.
posted by LooseFilter at 8:02 AM on June 1, 2023 [9 favorites]
One more thought: a primary feature of a workplace comedy (or any sitcom) is that, as the viewer, I like to hang out with these people. Good episodes, bad episodes, I just like spending time in that world with those people for a little while each week (Cheers, in this sense, is the ultimate meta-sitcom). S3 of Ted Lasso became more about the characters themselves than hanging out with those characters, if that makes sense, and I think that's one of the changes that keep S3 from working for me.
posted by LooseFilter at 8:07 AM on June 1, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by LooseFilter at 8:07 AM on June 1, 2023 [7 favorites]
Nate's redemptive arc has been the worst thing about this entire S3. It does not feel earned and the way Nate finds himself back to the "good" version of himself is chalk full of some odious story-beats that send some kinda gross messaging regarding how someone who is toxic can redeem themselves. It doesn't feel like its honest and like so much else in this season, it feels rushed to get to the happy nostalgia that this show wants to luxuriate inside of.
posted by Fizz at 8:18 AM on June 1, 2023 [11 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 8:18 AM on June 1, 2023 [11 favorites]
I wonder if Ted Lasso’s critique of Hallmark movies (“Very bad but also good. But also bad.”) accidentally applies to itself. Or if it was very much intentional?
posted by pwnguin at 8:23 AM on June 1, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by pwnguin at 8:23 AM on June 1, 2023 [6 favorites]
I'm a latecomer to Ted Lasso. Thus far, I've seen most of Season 1 and have quite enjoyed it for all the reasons made above ...
For a brief period after its first season, it looked like a heal-all for a culture desperately searching for positivity and hope. The combination of Trump-era politics and a global pandemic made Ted Lasso a universal panacea, soothing and warm for everyone at once, a brotherhood of the magical soccer jersey that somehow managed to fit everyone.
With the added bonus that it's, above all, funny. Though it's always navigating a tricky path, with dangerous levels of radioactive sentimentality (etc) in the immediate area, it keeps finding a way to not go there, to not fumble off into ... well ...
I felt like Season 3 was a complete embrace of the sort of maudlin, Very Special Episode 80s sitcoms that Sudeikis and Hunt and I'm sure plenty of the other writers grew up with.
This does not surprise me. I'm eight episodes into Season One and, much as I'm loving it, I just don't see how you could continue deep diving into these characters and situations for three seasons without either going dark (the best comedy always dances with the dark side) or just flat -- that tendency of long running comedies to forget their principle job is to be funny. MASH went down this hell road (paved with good intentions) until you had a much vaunted, much hyped final episode that was painfully self-serious and really no fun at all. Whereas Seinfeld didn't. I suppose you could argue it went the other way, it went dark. But that was just being honest about what had always been there, lurking in the hearts and brains of four people whose only redeeming features were a certain degree of charm and tendency to NOT get what they wanted, to NOT have their scheming and conniving and overall shallowness rewarded.
tldr: too much hugging and learning going on in Ted Lasso from the get-go for it to sustain past one maybe two seasons.
posted by philip-random at 8:47 AM on June 1, 2023
For a brief period after its first season, it looked like a heal-all for a culture desperately searching for positivity and hope. The combination of Trump-era politics and a global pandemic made Ted Lasso a universal panacea, soothing and warm for everyone at once, a brotherhood of the magical soccer jersey that somehow managed to fit everyone.
With the added bonus that it's, above all, funny. Though it's always navigating a tricky path, with dangerous levels of radioactive sentimentality (etc) in the immediate area, it keeps finding a way to not go there, to not fumble off into ... well ...
I felt like Season 3 was a complete embrace of the sort of maudlin, Very Special Episode 80s sitcoms that Sudeikis and Hunt and I'm sure plenty of the other writers grew up with.
This does not surprise me. I'm eight episodes into Season One and, much as I'm loving it, I just don't see how you could continue deep diving into these characters and situations for three seasons without either going dark (the best comedy always dances with the dark side) or just flat -- that tendency of long running comedies to forget their principle job is to be funny. MASH went down this hell road (paved with good intentions) until you had a much vaunted, much hyped final episode that was painfully self-serious and really no fun at all. Whereas Seinfeld didn't. I suppose you could argue it went the other way, it went dark. But that was just being honest about what had always been there, lurking in the hearts and brains of four people whose only redeeming features were a certain degree of charm and tendency to NOT get what they wanted, to NOT have their scheming and conniving and overall shallowness rewarded.
tldr: too much hugging and learning going on in Ted Lasso from the get-go for it to sustain past one maybe two seasons.
posted by philip-random at 8:47 AM on June 1, 2023
My thought on the S3 finale was that it was deliberately calculated to provide a feel-good ending. It was manipulative and a touch sappy for my taste, but it doesn't mean that it was bad. In my heart, I feel happy that all the good people in the show get to have good lives. I've watched the last part of the final show several times already.
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 8:50 AM on June 1, 2023
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 8:50 AM on June 1, 2023
Nate's redemptive arc has been the worst thing about this entire S3. It does not feel earned and the way Nate finds himself back to the "good" version of himself is chalk full of some odious story-beats that send some kinda gross messaging regarding how someone who is toxic can redeem themselves.
That was one of the biggest revelations that came out of the FanFare analysis of the show for me, and it's right there in the show, in Beard's visit to Nate. It's not earned. He hasn't redeemed himself yet. This isn't a show about redemption. It's a show about forgiveness, even if it's undeserved. That sometimes that's what it takes for someone to earn it and become better, and sometimes they never get better, but to be a better person, you have to be the better version of yourself and give them the chance to get there.
posted by Mchelly at 8:53 AM on June 1, 2023 [32 favorites]
That was one of the biggest revelations that came out of the FanFare analysis of the show for me, and it's right there in the show, in Beard's visit to Nate. It's not earned. He hasn't redeemed himself yet. This isn't a show about redemption. It's a show about forgiveness, even if it's undeserved. That sometimes that's what it takes for someone to earn it and become better, and sometimes they never get better, but to be a better person, you have to be the better version of yourself and give them the chance to get there.
posted by Mchelly at 8:53 AM on June 1, 2023 [32 favorites]
with some important things happening off-screen, which created some over-reliance on viewer inference (IMHO) and made me feel left out of some important moments but included in lots of trivial ones.
This pissed me off a lot this season because after 2 years of Rebecca dropping Truth Bombs on Ted, I wanted to see Ted have the uncomfortable conversation about returning to Kansas. I wanted to see Nate tell Rupert he was quitting West Ham. I wanted to see Sam's restaurant thrive despite Afuko's hired food blogger and rival restaurant. I wasn't into Ted Lasso because it was Prestige Television. I didn't want to have to fill in the blanks myself a la "was Tony Soprano killed?" They painted these characters into these strange corners, now show me how they got out.
Ted was our least favorite character this season and I'm glad the rest of the characters found their way (although thanks to the weird editing choices it could have all been Ted's dream on the flight home) while Ted is ostensibly unemployed, coaching youth soccer, and probably too much into his ex-wife's life.
posted by kimberussell at 9:10 AM on June 1, 2023 [14 favorites]
This pissed me off a lot this season because after 2 years of Rebecca dropping Truth Bombs on Ted, I wanted to see Ted have the uncomfortable conversation about returning to Kansas. I wanted to see Nate tell Rupert he was quitting West Ham. I wanted to see Sam's restaurant thrive despite Afuko's hired food blogger and rival restaurant. I wasn't into Ted Lasso because it was Prestige Television. I didn't want to have to fill in the blanks myself a la "was Tony Soprano killed?" They painted these characters into these strange corners, now show me how they got out.
Ted was our least favorite character this season and I'm glad the rest of the characters found their way (although thanks to the weird editing choices it could have all been Ted's dream on the flight home) while Ted is ostensibly unemployed, coaching youth soccer, and probably too much into his ex-wife's life.
posted by kimberussell at 9:10 AM on June 1, 2023 [14 favorites]
although thanks to the weird editing choices it could have all been Ted's dream on the flight home
I really don't understand this take because there's too much in that montage that Ted has never been a party to and therefore would never have known about, unless we're also putting Ted in the "psychics are real and you should believe them" category the show decided to embrace this season (just yuck).
posted by tzikeh at 9:26 AM on June 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
I really don't understand this take because there's too much in that montage that Ted has never been a party to and therefore would never have known about, unless we're also putting Ted in the "psychics are real and you should believe them" category the show decided to embrace this season (just yuck).
posted by tzikeh at 9:26 AM on June 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Loved the first two seasons when they aired, but S3 was so atrociously bad that I quit halfway through and don't plan to rewatch the show. A 30-35 minute comedy became a bad 75 minute drama. Supposedly this is mainly due to showrunner Bill Lawrence leaving the show to work on Shrinking instead.
posted by neon909 at 9:45 AM on June 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by neon909 at 9:45 AM on June 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Metaquestion for Ted Lasso viewers: I watched S3 of Ted on a FireTV with the AppleTV+ app installed, and the video quality was awful. Like there a deliberate filter over the screen that muted the brightness of everything. On some episodes you actually saw different camera angles get brighter than the others so it wasn't my actual screen.
Did anyone else notice this?
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:53 AM on June 1, 2023
Did anyone else notice this?
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:53 AM on June 1, 2023
I really don't understand this take because there's too much in that montage that Ted has never been a party to and therefore would never have known about,
Agreed 100% - it’s not my take but I’ve seen it more than once. I don’t think Ted knew about Rebecca’s Dutchman or of the couple who gave Beard his jazzy pants to be able to dream any of that.
posted by kimberussell at 10:03 AM on June 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Agreed 100% - it’s not my take but I’ve seen it more than once. I don’t think Ted knew about Rebecca’s Dutchman or of the couple who gave Beard his jazzy pants to be able to dream any of that.
posted by kimberussell at 10:03 AM on June 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Supposedly this is mainly due to showrunner Bill Lawrence leaving the show to work on Shrinking instead.
The contrast between Shrinking season 1 and Ted Lasso season 3 in terms of restraint is pretty stark. I thought Shrinking kept the episodes to a reasonable length, and there were no weird arcs that went nowhere (I can think of at least four that could be cut from Ted Lasso season 3 without affecting the final outcomes). And Shrinking, despite slightly darker subject matter, was funnier to me. Whether it's fair to attribute all of that to Bill Lawrence, I don't know. Lots of other people worked on Shrinking, and there may have been external factors that led to Ted Lasso's final season turning out the way it did.
Re: Nate's arc. I don't enjoy tropes like "poorly-defined female character gets into a relationship with a guy and transforms his life, without having any needs or wants of her own shown on screen." Or "let's focus on how bad a guy feels about doing a shitty thing, without him actually doing anything about it." Or "some guy gets nurtured by a lot of people, does little to no nurturing of others". So the middle part of Nate's arc (the part before he apologized to Will) was never going to be interesting to me, no matter whether the end result of his arc was redemption or forgiveness. I do appreciate that Nate's return was "start as Will's assistant, move up to assistant coach", and not "Nate is handed the head coaching job on a silver platter, without him ever nurturing a player like Ted did" as some fans had predicted.
I'm not sorry I watched Season 3, but I doubt I'll ever do a total season rewatch like I have Season 1 and Season 2. The things I'll rewatch are the Amsterdam episode plus selected Roy & Jamie friendship moments, and bits from the finale that I liked.
posted by creepygirl at 10:29 AM on June 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
The contrast between Shrinking season 1 and Ted Lasso season 3 in terms of restraint is pretty stark. I thought Shrinking kept the episodes to a reasonable length, and there were no weird arcs that went nowhere (I can think of at least four that could be cut from Ted Lasso season 3 without affecting the final outcomes). And Shrinking, despite slightly darker subject matter, was funnier to me. Whether it's fair to attribute all of that to Bill Lawrence, I don't know. Lots of other people worked on Shrinking, and there may have been external factors that led to Ted Lasso's final season turning out the way it did.
Re: Nate's arc. I don't enjoy tropes like "poorly-defined female character gets into a relationship with a guy and transforms his life, without having any needs or wants of her own shown on screen." Or "let's focus on how bad a guy feels about doing a shitty thing, without him actually doing anything about it." Or "some guy gets nurtured by a lot of people, does little to no nurturing of others". So the middle part of Nate's arc (the part before he apologized to Will) was never going to be interesting to me, no matter whether the end result of his arc was redemption or forgiveness. I do appreciate that Nate's return was "start as Will's assistant, move up to assistant coach", and not "Nate is handed the head coaching job on a silver platter, without him ever nurturing a player like Ted did" as some fans had predicted.
I'm not sorry I watched Season 3, but I doubt I'll ever do a total season rewatch like I have Season 1 and Season 2. The things I'll rewatch are the Amsterdam episode plus selected Roy & Jamie friendship moments, and bits from the finale that I liked.
posted by creepygirl at 10:29 AM on June 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm honestly amazed at how many people are even willing to defend Season 2. That show fell off a fucking cliff between Seasons 1 and 2, to a degree I've never seen in another show before. Season 1 was lighthearted and joke-dense and fun, and Season 2 was the opposite, extremely light on jokes and extremely heavy on Important Ideas That Are Often Sad.
Worse, easily half of Season 2's episodes made no sense in light of the world that Season 1 had built. Nate's heel turn? The absolutely joyless "All Beard" episode? That nightmare of a Christmas one that ended in the cringiest way possible? Even the bizarre change in Roy Kent's voice between the first and second seasons made no sense. What a disappointing fall from grace.
posted by saladin at 11:00 AM on June 1, 2023 [10 favorites]
Worse, easily half of Season 2's episodes made no sense in light of the world that Season 1 had built. Nate's heel turn? The absolutely joyless "All Beard" episode? That nightmare of a Christmas one that ended in the cringiest way possible? Even the bizarre change in Roy Kent's voice between the first and second seasons made no sense. What a disappointing fall from grace.
posted by saladin at 11:00 AM on June 1, 2023 [10 favorites]
thanks to the weird editing choices it could have all been Ted's dream on the flight home
Yeah the vibe I got from it was that the ending was a "dream ending" in some ways even if it wasn't Ted's dream per se. Most of the characters get their wishes fulfilled, even if they are slightly odd ones (i.e. Beard/Jane and their odd relationship) and the snow globe (HOW did he bring that in his carry-on) to me harkened back to St Elsewhere (seriously, this show was FULL of Old TV references) and some of that "It was all a dream" vibe. I'm not saying I think this is canon, just saying it was the way it felt to me.
S3 seemed built ending-first and was a really uneven season.
posted by jessamyn at 11:05 AM on June 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
Yeah the vibe I got from it was that the ending was a "dream ending" in some ways even if it wasn't Ted's dream per se. Most of the characters get their wishes fulfilled, even if they are slightly odd ones (i.e. Beard/Jane and their odd relationship) and the snow globe (HOW did he bring that in his carry-on) to me harkened back to St Elsewhere (seriously, this show was FULL of Old TV references) and some of that "It was all a dream" vibe. I'm not saying I think this is canon, just saying it was the way it felt to me.
S3 seemed built ending-first and was a really uneven season.
posted by jessamyn at 11:05 AM on June 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
Yeah, I think the notion of a “Nate redemption arc” was wrong-headed to begin with and it sort of made me itchy whenever such a thing was discussed in fanfare. I don’t think Nate was redeemed; nor do I think we’re supposed to think he is. I think he’s literally been given a second chance, starting at assistant kit man. I think that could have happened without being lampshaded by that visit from Beard, but I’m in favor of any scene combining Beard with quirky cinematography so on balance I’ll let it pass.
Jade remains a cipher, but honestly so does Jane. I have no idea about the inner lives of either of them. I just have slightly more faith in Beard than in Nate. (But only slightly. Beard and Jane clearly have matched luggage. Good luck to them, but the shredded passport is not amusing.)
I give season 1 an A, season 2 an A-. Season 3 had a lot of C and C- level work that was occasionally buoyed by, for example, any time Hannah Waddingham is in a scene. Probably averages out to B-, which is also what I’d give the finale.
On that note: I apparently liked Ted and Rebecca sitting in the stands more than a lot of people. Quippy Ted Lasso is great, but so is open, expressive, *listening* Ted Lasso and I liked his appearance in that scene quite a lot.
I may find season 3 more acceptable on rewatch now that I’m not anxious about where it’s going. For better *and* for worse, I know where it’s going. Or, I may choose to let Ted Lasso exist in a season 1-2 best-of format in my head.
posted by clauclauclaudia at 11:55 AM on June 1, 2023
Jade remains a cipher, but honestly so does Jane. I have no idea about the inner lives of either of them. I just have slightly more faith in Beard than in Nate. (But only slightly. Beard and Jane clearly have matched luggage. Good luck to them, but the shredded passport is not amusing.)
I give season 1 an A, season 2 an A-. Season 3 had a lot of C and C- level work that was occasionally buoyed by, for example, any time Hannah Waddingham is in a scene. Probably averages out to B-, which is also what I’d give the finale.
On that note: I apparently liked Ted and Rebecca sitting in the stands more than a lot of people. Quippy Ted Lasso is great, but so is open, expressive, *listening* Ted Lasso and I liked his appearance in that scene quite a lot.
I may find season 3 more acceptable on rewatch now that I’m not anxious about where it’s going. For better *and* for worse, I know where it’s going. Or, I may choose to let Ted Lasso exist in a season 1-2 best-of format in my head.
posted by clauclauclaudia at 11:55 AM on June 1, 2023
Worse, easily half of Season 2's episodes made no sense in light of the world that Season 1 had built. Nate's heel turn? The absolutely joyless "All Beard" episode? That nightmare of a Christmas one that ended in the cringiest way possible?QFFT. We bailed hard after the penultimate episode of season 2, when the writers apparently thought "have every character act in ways that are antithetical to that character as previously established" was a good approach (Nate being the prime example). Couldn't even bring ourselves to watch the S2 finale.
posted by pwe at 11:59 AM on June 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
I watched S3 of Ted on a FireTV with the AppleTV+ app installed... On some episodes you actually saw different camera angles get brighter than the others so it wasn't my actual screen.
I was watching on an LG C1 with the app, and there were absolutely lighting inconsistencies in every dark room in the season I watched. It was quit jarring to see Nate brightly lit from above but have none of that light when the view flips to Jade, as though they were in two different kitchens. The most generous answer is some kind of problem with HDR applied on modern smartTVs?
posted by pwnguin at 12:55 PM on June 1, 2023
I was watching on an LG C1 with the app, and there were absolutely lighting inconsistencies in every dark room in the season I watched. It was quit jarring to see Nate brightly lit from above but have none of that light when the view flips to Jade, as though they were in two different kitchens. The most generous answer is some kind of problem with HDR applied on modern smartTVs?
posted by pwnguin at 12:55 PM on June 1, 2023
This pissed me off a lot this season because after 2 years of Rebecca dropping Truth Bombs on Ted, I wanted to see Ted have the uncomfortable conversation about returning to Kansas.
Yep. Every single conversation that mattered (and some that didn't) happened off screen. Very frustrating for a show that had a lot of great conversations to start with.
Unrelated: I felt like the beginning of the final episode was a late addition just to goof with everyone who thought Ted and Rebecca would end up with each other. It had nothing to do with anything else.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:06 PM on June 1, 2023 [4 favorites]
Yep. Every single conversation that mattered (and some that didn't) happened off screen. Very frustrating for a show that had a lot of great conversations to start with.
Unrelated: I felt like the beginning of the final episode was a late addition just to goof with everyone who thought Ted and Rebecca would end up with each other. It had nothing to do with anything else.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:06 PM on June 1, 2023 [4 favorites]
Brendan Hunt, one of the writers and creators of the show, did an AMA today. He confirmed that the montage was not a dream.
posted by rednikki at 2:32 PM on June 1, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by rednikki at 2:32 PM on June 1, 2023 [7 favorites]
Eh, season three wasn't as good as the first two but I can't hate it because of that. Endings are hard. Consistency is hard. There was still plenty for me personally to enjoy along the way and I'm content to focus on that and forgive (or at least overlook) the missteps.
posted by Godspeed.You!Black.Emperor.Penguin at 2:49 PM on June 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Godspeed.You!Black.Emperor.Penguin at 2:49 PM on June 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
Brendan Hunt, one of the writers and creators of the show, did an AMA today. He confirmed that the montage was not a dream.
And he clarified that he does not see Jane as abusive, which is pretty wild:
Thanks for the question. I respectfully reject the assertion that Jane is abusive; they may be a little toxic, but as Ted says, their baggage goes together real nice (paraphrasing); they feel like they’re the right person for each other...The main thing we know about Beard and Jane: he just loves her . “She makes life more interesting.” Where once he was addicted to meth, he is now, IMO, addicted to her pheromones. Is he making the right long-term decision? Don’t know. Is he doing something that he wants to do right now? Certainly. And there is joy to be had in that. I am happy for Beard and I wish him luck.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:57 PM on June 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
And he clarified that he does not see Jane as abusive, which is pretty wild:
Thanks for the question. I respectfully reject the assertion that Jane is abusive; they may be a little toxic, but as Ted says, their baggage goes together real nice (paraphrasing); they feel like they’re the right person for each other...The main thing we know about Beard and Jane: he just loves her . “She makes life more interesting.” Where once he was addicted to meth, he is now, IMO, addicted to her pheromones. Is he making the right long-term decision? Don’t know. Is he doing something that he wants to do right now? Certainly. And there is joy to be had in that. I am happy for Beard and I wish him luck.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:57 PM on June 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
I've seen 90% complaining about this season, but I liked it better than season 2 and better than...honestly a lot of things? Certainly better than another season of Love Is Blind, or of something grim and horrible, which most prestige dramas are.
idk, Ted Lasso is a nice show about people who are mostly trying to do the right thing, whether it's in sitcom format or trying-to-be-a-prestige-drama format, plus some silly puns. It's nice to spend an hour a week in a world where a (paper) billionaire eats at the same pub as the people who watch her sports team on TV.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 3:01 PM on June 1, 2023 [14 favorites]
idk, Ted Lasso is a nice show about people who are mostly trying to do the right thing, whether it's in sitcom format or trying-to-be-a-prestige-drama format, plus some silly puns. It's nice to spend an hour a week in a world where a (paper) billionaire eats at the same pub as the people who watch her sports team on TV.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 3:01 PM on June 1, 2023 [14 favorites]
That show fell off a fucking cliff between Seasons 1 and 2, to a degree I've never seen in another show before.
While I actually enjoyed both Season 2 and Season 3, I didn't feel that either met the quality of Season 1. There was a lot of Season 2 that was wobbly and unfocused. And the issue was: stakes.
In Season 1 we knew that Rebecca was trying to sabotage Ted. There were high stakes. Could Ted get the team on side? Could Ted win Rebecca over? Would Rebecca stop sabotaging him?
In the first half of the second season, they were so focused on feel-good moments that we got a lot of inertia and lack of conflict. Getting out of relegation didn't feel that important, and they didn't work in any other high-stakes thing to make up for it. Lesley said either at the end of S1 or the beginning of S2 that being relegated means you lose a bunch of players to Premiere League teams, but we didn't see that happen. We SHOULD have seen that happen. We should have seen heartbreak and felt like "oh, can our poor beaten tribe actually do this?" And Ted's panic attacks were not the high stakes we needed. We needed more. And when we got to the second half I thought maybe they were trying to show not tell that you need to have a certain level of competitiveness to succeed, but after reading the AMA with Brendan Hunt I'm not sure they were thinking that big.
This season had the same problem, but even more so. In the first season, "Rebecca is sabotaging the team" was extremely high-stakes and carried us through many episodes. In this season, everything that could have been high-stakes, from Keeley's sex tape getting leaked to Nate's friction with Rupert, was totally softballed. And anyone who says, "But Nate didn't do enough to make up for his betrayal of Ted!" I would like to point you to all of the terrible things Rebecca did in S1 and how quickly we all, as the audience, forgave her for it. Nate had a moment of betrayal; Rebecca did it for months, and with a lot more power. The issue is not that he did not do enough to make up for it; the issue is that his change of heart was slow and there was nothing dramatic about it. They loved their characters too much to hurt them enough to give the audience catharsis.
All of that having been said, I still enjoyed the show. I like the characters and there were heaps of great character moments in it. But S1 left people wanting a transcendent prestige show, and that Hunt AMA makes it clear that they just wanted to write a sitcom.
posted by rednikki at 3:57 PM on June 1, 2023 [9 favorites]
While I actually enjoyed both Season 2 and Season 3, I didn't feel that either met the quality of Season 1. There was a lot of Season 2 that was wobbly and unfocused. And the issue was: stakes.
In Season 1 we knew that Rebecca was trying to sabotage Ted. There were high stakes. Could Ted get the team on side? Could Ted win Rebecca over? Would Rebecca stop sabotaging him?
In the first half of the second season, they were so focused on feel-good moments that we got a lot of inertia and lack of conflict. Getting out of relegation didn't feel that important, and they didn't work in any other high-stakes thing to make up for it. Lesley said either at the end of S1 or the beginning of S2 that being relegated means you lose a bunch of players to Premiere League teams, but we didn't see that happen. We SHOULD have seen that happen. We should have seen heartbreak and felt like "oh, can our poor beaten tribe actually do this?" And Ted's panic attacks were not the high stakes we needed. We needed more. And when we got to the second half I thought maybe they were trying to show not tell that you need to have a certain level of competitiveness to succeed, but after reading the AMA with Brendan Hunt I'm not sure they were thinking that big.
This season had the same problem, but even more so. In the first season, "Rebecca is sabotaging the team" was extremely high-stakes and carried us through many episodes. In this season, everything that could have been high-stakes, from Keeley's sex tape getting leaked to Nate's friction with Rupert, was totally softballed. And anyone who says, "But Nate didn't do enough to make up for his betrayal of Ted!" I would like to point you to all of the terrible things Rebecca did in S1 and how quickly we all, as the audience, forgave her for it. Nate had a moment of betrayal; Rebecca did it for months, and with a lot more power. The issue is not that he did not do enough to make up for it; the issue is that his change of heart was slow and there was nothing dramatic about it. They loved their characters too much to hurt them enough to give the audience catharsis.
All of that having been said, I still enjoyed the show. I like the characters and there were heaps of great character moments in it. But S1 left people wanting a transcendent prestige show, and that Hunt AMA makes it clear that they just wanted to write a sitcom.
posted by rednikki at 3:57 PM on June 1, 2023 [9 favorites]
assistant kit man
I think you mean Assistant to the Kit Man.
posted by Ranucci at 4:17 PM on June 1, 2023 [13 favorites]
I think you mean Assistant to the Kit Man.
posted by Ranucci at 4:17 PM on June 1, 2023 [13 favorites]
Season 3 sucked. I am from Richmond and while I loved the first two seasons, S3 has removed all sense of pride I had in Richmond.
BTW: that pub is rubbish (staff are nice though)
Squillionaires definitely drink in those pubs though. Richard Attenborough used to live on that green, in some kind of castle, basically. Every house and flat is worth squillions and squillions of pounds there.
posted by bookbook at 5:05 PM on June 1, 2023 [8 favorites]
BTW: that pub is rubbish (staff are nice though)
Squillionaires definitely drink in those pubs though. Richard Attenborough used to live on that green, in some kind of castle, basically. Every house and flat is worth squillions and squillions of pounds there.
posted by bookbook at 5:05 PM on June 1, 2023 [8 favorites]
S3 has removed all sense of pride I had in Richmond.
That's a lot of power for a television series.
posted by cooker girl at 6:34 PM on June 1, 2023 [7 favorites]
That's a lot of power for a television series.
posted by cooker girl at 6:34 PM on June 1, 2023 [7 favorites]
For me the glaring nonsense of "we're doing all the important story beats offscreen" was intensified by the fact that they doubled the lengths of the episodes. It happened over and over, so clearly it was a specific storytelling choice they made. I'm baffled by it, and it made the majority of the season an unfocused drag. The ending, alas, wasn't much different.
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:47 PM on June 1, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:47 PM on June 1, 2023 [4 favorites]
I think you mean Assistant to the Kit Man.
It’s not very funny, but I did enjoy the inversion of the old Office “Assistant Regional Manager / Assistant to the Regional Manager” bit
posted by Jon Mitchell at 9:26 PM on June 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
It’s not very funny, but I did enjoy the inversion of the old Office “Assistant Regional Manager / Assistant to the Regional Manager” bit
posted by Jon Mitchell at 9:26 PM on June 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
The only thing I disliked about S3 is the way the fans turned on it. It's like nothing would have satisfied them. I departed a Lasso Facebook group because of all the fans seeking ways to predict the show's downfall, ceaselessly analyzing the motivations of fictional characters and what they would do next to derail the show (the worst being those who said Trent would out Colin). I don't even know how to talk to people who didn't like the S2 Beard episode. I don't know how to talk to people who didn't like longer episodes. The show and the season? Loved it all from end to end. Especially the immortal words of the last Diamond Dogs speech from Higgins.
posted by 3.2.3 at 6:35 AM on June 2, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by 3.2.3 at 6:35 AM on June 2, 2023 [9 favorites]
I just saw someone point out that the first "Ted Lasso has lost its way" article appeared after S1E3.
“It’s truly shocking to me because it’s built around two things Americans hate: soccer and kindness.” - Jason Sudeikis on the success of Ted Lasso
posted by 3.2.3 at 7:08 AM on June 2, 2023 [6 favorites]
“It’s truly shocking to me because it’s built around two things Americans hate: soccer and kindness.” - Jason Sudeikis on the success of Ted Lasso
posted by 3.2.3 at 7:08 AM on June 2, 2023 [6 favorites]
I don't know how to talk to people who didn't like longer episodes.
For real? Like, you disagree with someone about one aspect of a show you both like, and you no longer know how to talk to them? (relevant Fanfare comment from ep11 discussion)
posted by LooseFilter at 8:02 AM on June 2, 2023
For real? Like, you disagree with someone about one aspect of a show you both like, and you no longer know how to talk to them? (relevant Fanfare comment from ep11 discussion)
posted by LooseFilter at 8:02 AM on June 2, 2023
"I don't know how to talk to people who think X about Y" = "I don't know how to have a productive discussion about Y with people who think X about Y"
posted by dfan at 8:46 AM on June 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by dfan at 8:46 AM on June 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
I went through a difficult phase with someone close to me as Game Of Thrones slowly ate itself over its final seasons. I didn't suddenly HATE what was going on. But it did feel like a formerly pristine hot rod had a wheel loose ... and it kept getting more obvious. But they (friend) didn't want to hear ANY of my negativity. So I shut up about it early on in the final season.
We're still good friends. I still don't ever bring up Game Of Thrones. It's strange but that's life among the humans.
posted by philip-random at 9:00 AM on June 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
We're still good friends. I still don't ever bring up Game Of Thrones. It's strange but that's life among the humans.
posted by philip-random at 9:00 AM on June 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
chalk full of some odious story-beats
Not sure what else to expect from a wonder kid.
posted by flabdablet at 9:44 AM on June 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
Not sure what else to expect from a wonder kid.
posted by flabdablet at 9:44 AM on June 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
I liked the picture of Geronimo in Mae's bar. She straightened it just like Sam did in the last episode of "Cheers".
(The picture had been in the dressing room of Nick Colasanto. When he died, they included it in the bar set of "Cheers". I really appreciated the reference in Ted Lasso!)
posted by dfm500 at 11:15 AM on June 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
(The picture had been in the dressing room of Nick Colasanto. When he died, they included it in the bar set of "Cheers". I really appreciated the reference in Ted Lasso!)
posted by dfm500 at 11:15 AM on June 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
Re: that last beat with Mae doing the callback to cheers -- FYI Cheers' "Norm" was the actor George Wendt, who is also Jason Sudeikis's uncle.
posted by BlahLaLa at 3:31 PM on June 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 3:31 PM on June 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
S3 has removed all sense of pride I had in Richmond.
That's a lot of power for a television series.
Well, I didn't give much of a shit about Richmond before Ted Lasso but to make you feel good about something and then take it all away and make it embarrassing it quite a power
posted by bookbook at 5:35 AM on June 3, 2023
That's a lot of power for a television series.
Well, I didn't give much of a shit about Richmond before Ted Lasso but to make you feel good about something and then take it all away and make it embarrassing it quite a power
posted by bookbook at 5:35 AM on June 3, 2023
Richmond isn't for me -- I'm happy to chant "wanker" at anyone from the incursion of Surrey into West London. :-P
The three-season arc of relegation, then restoration to the top flight of UK association football, then a third act where the team and football club AFC Richmond don't need Coach Lasso because they're autonomous and fully realized human beings, that made the show work for me.
I agree with the points about the loss of "hanging out with" for tell-over-show character development. The appearance of Lasso's mother, the decision of Beard to visit Nate, these beats were among a number of things that seemed catalysed if not obviously driven by being around Lasso and Beard.
Maybe a younger generation would say "therapy well duh" for resolving the stuck characters.
posted by k3ninho at 10:39 AM on June 4, 2023
The three-season arc of relegation, then restoration to the top flight of UK association football, then a third act where the team and football club AFC Richmond don't need Coach Lasso because they're autonomous and fully realized human beings, that made the show work for me.
I agree with the points about the loss of "hanging out with" for tell-over-show character development. The appearance of Lasso's mother, the decision of Beard to visit Nate, these beats were among a number of things that seemed catalysed if not obviously driven by being around Lasso and Beard.
Maybe a younger generation would say "therapy well duh" for resolving the stuck characters.
posted by k3ninho at 10:39 AM on June 4, 2023
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