By: Kelly Kearney
The final match of the season is approaching, and Richmond still has a few surprises up their sleeve. The newly promoted Greyhounds want to go out with a bang and sell out Nelson Road in honor of Mae Green’s “life is too short not to embrace every moment” motto. Between a scorpion’s betrayal, a surprise proposal, and some long-overdue personal growth, Ted and the gang say goodbye to their number one fan while fighting to save the club she loved from a hostile takeover. Along the way, they confront difficult truths about their pasts and what that means for their future. It’s an out with the old and in with the new season finale that will shake things up next season.
An Irish Goodbye for an English Rose
After pulling off a comeback win against Bristol, the team and their coaches are back in Richmond at the Crown & Anchor for Mae Green’s (Annette Badland) wake. Everyone in town is there, even the guys from quiz night, who are dressed in their Sunday best to raise a farewell pint to the woman who served as the maternal figure many of them never had. Michelle (Andrea Anders) and Beard (Brendan Hunt) are also there, sitting at a table with Ted (Jason Sudeikis) and Henry (Grant Feely) as they discuss how Beard lost his tan out of respect for Mae but still kept those new earrings and that floppy haircut. The coach is going through some things. Most of which his ex and that play of hers are largely responsible for.
As the Harrigan twins, Niamh (Aisling Sharkey) and Siobhan (Rex Hayes), pass around Guinness, their fellow teammates discuss a proper send-off for the team’s biggest fan, assuming Mae was Irish. Mae wasn’t Irish, but the twins are, so everyone is doing this goodbye right. Across the bar, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) and Higgins (Jeremy Swift) share a toast in Mae’s honor, just as they’re interrupted by a phone call. It’s HR, so Higgins steps outside to take it. With the upcoming shareholders’ meeting and the recent sell-off of shares shaking things up, Higgins has plenty to focus on.
Then we cut to Roy (Brett Goldstein) and Keeley (Juno Temple), who made a quick exit from the memorial thanks to the dreaded morning sickness. Keeley runs toward their bathroom while Roy gets a call from his sleazy agent. The coach and father-to-be dismiss him as Keeley tosses up her lunch. When she’s finished, she hugs Roy and wonders if he has anything he’d like to purge himself of. He admits he’s worried Mae’s death is somehow their fault because of the pregnancy. It’s that whole, when one goes, another enters the scene, kind of thing, and it’s bothering him. With that off his chest, Roy asks if she’s feeling the need to purge her thoughts. She admits it’s the realization that anything can change in a moment that makes her feel unsteady. Change is something that latches onto us even when we buck and try to resist it. Roy starts to promise he isn’t changing anytime soon, but then his agent calls again, and this time he answers. Chelsea’s very own Hall of Fame legend has been offered the head coaching position at the club! It’s a lifelong dream to coach the team that helped make Roy a household name. The news couldn’t come at a funnier time. After just telling his baby mama that things aren’t changing, Keeley is smiling as Roy is now the one running to the bathroom to vomit.
Back at the pub, Ted notices Henry is struggling with Mae’s death but trying to hide it under a brave face. The two got to know each other as she spent a lot of time showing him the ropes of pub ownership. Anyone with eyes can see he’s choking back some tears as he wonders aloud about the pub and their flat. Will they have to move if someone else takes over the pub? Ted isn’t sure of either answer, and that uncertainty must makes Henry uncomfortable. Rather than face that, he gets up from the table and joins Paul (Kevin Garry), Baz (Adam Colborne) and Jeremy (Bronson Webb) for a game of darts.
“Good Night and Joy Be to You All”
Next, we see Alice (Tanya Reynolds) and Gemma (Abbie Hern) at the bar, talking about the picture they took with Mae on the team’s bus. Alice had it framed and hung on the pub wall. Just then, the door opens, and Jane walks in dressed in red. Beard makes a beeline for her, wondering why she’s there when she barely knows Mae. Not true, Jane claims. “Meg” was her best friend. If they were so close, you’d think she’d know the woman’s name. When Beard points this out, she fires back that he shouldn’t grief-shame her. She’s there to stir him up, and since she’s succeeded, she announces she’s leaving to concentrate on the opening of her West End play. She puts her hand to his face in a goodbye gesture, but her glove gets caught in his dangling earring. Rather than be gentle, she rips it right out of his ear and takes it, along with his pain, as her souvenir.
As she leaves, Higgins walks in with news he needs to share with Rebecca. She holds him off for a few minutes as the Harrigan twins ask for everyone’s attention. They’re going to sing the traditional Irish mourning song that speaks to the welcoming spirit embodied by Mae. As they harmonize through a song that brings tears and a toast to the woman who changed their lives, Henry slips out of the memorial and heads upstairs to Ted’s flat. Ted follows him and sees his son wiping tears from his eyes. He’s struggling with the loss and wishes Mae were there to help him with his homework one last time. She wasn’t just their landlord or Ted’s biggest fan. She was also Henry’s babysitter and someone they all considered extended family. Trying to understand the impact of this loss, Henry asks Ted about how his father died. He’s never talked about it, and Ted’s instinct is to evade the truth by sticking with the lie he’s held onto for so long. His dad died after falling down a flight of stairs, he tells Henry. We can see Ted is physically uncomfortable lying about this, but he must not think the boy can handle any more bad news.
The next day, while walking into the office, Ted reflects on his choice to lie to Henry. He asks Beard if a lie is okay when you’re protecting someone. Beard thinks it is, unless the person you’re lying to protect is yourself. Whatever has Ted worried, Beard assumes he made the right call, but did he? The look on Ted’s face says he isn’t so sure.
Next, we catch up with Lizzie (Faye Marsay) and her useless ex (Simon Lipkin), who bails on kid duty with Archie (Orion Ginsburg Chan) and Sean (North Ginsburg Chan) for a gig with his band. He ranks his music above Lizzie’s football career and their kids. Even though it’s the last match of the season, he refuses to help and instead blames her for pursuing a career when she has two kids. Never mind the fact that he’s doing the same thing, but now we know why Lizzie practically spits whenever she mentions him. She’s left without a sitter for either child and has to drag them to her game, hoping their presence won’t interfere with her obligations to the team.
Diamond Dogs, Cat People, and the Greyhounds’ Final Game Day
Upstairs in Rebecca’s office, she and Higgins discuss the shareholders’ meeting and how they have no idea who will show up holding all those recently sold shares. Rebecca says she isn’t going; she has no interest in watching Rupert brag. Zelda (Tracey Ullman) listens in from across the room, and agrees with Rebecca, offering her moral support. Rebecca doesn’t need it but thanks her nonetheless. Higgins then runs through his list of topics and updates the boss lady on the final match of the season at Nelson Road. They’re determined to sell out the arena and make Keeley’s dreams come true, but ticket sales still need a boost. Their win against Bristol helped, but they’re still far from a sellout.
Enter a refreshed and focused Keeley, who has been at home working on just the boost they need. After cutting that commercial after the female players landed in jail, she segued that material into a full-blown ad hyping up the players to get fans excited. She hopes it goes viral and generates more sales, especially the clip of drunk Rebecca she edited in. It’s fun, outrageous and pure Keeley. What’s not to love? We see the commercial explode online, and everyone from the lads down at the pub to our old friend Nate Shelley (Nick Mohammed) and his family are quoting and singing along to the video. It’s as big as Game of Thrones, Mady (Annelise Heywood) tells Shannon (Shannon Hayes) in the locker room as they get ready for their final game of the season. Nobody can stop talking about drunk Rebecca. Margy (Mercedes Assad) might even dress up as her for Halloween. All this chatter is exactly what they needed to get the fans excited enough to buy tickets. They also need their team captain for the final game, and Boots (Jude Mack) notices she’s missing.
Also missing from the last game is Keeley, who is sending Roy in her place while she stays calm and watches from home on the couch.
In the coaches’ office, Ted once again settles into a suspiciously low chair just as he mentions he has a new lineup for the final game. Why is his seat always so low? He adjusts it every day, yet when he returns, it’s as if he’s a kid at the grown-ups’ table. He’s practically kneeling, while Beard and Alice have chairs set to the perfect height. Higgins interrupts their haunted-chair discourse to let the coaches know they have a visitor. It’s “Nate the Great!” Ted excitedly cheers before running to give his former assistant coach, now head coach of the Polish national team, a Lasso’d hug. We learn Nate is married with a newborn baby, and while things have changed in his life, nothing has changed about the Diamond Dogs’ bond. When Roy walks in with a problem, they mount up with howling, barking, spinning in chairs, and climbing on top of the furniture, leaving Alice completely lost. It’s their “collective… conglomerate… council, maybe?” Beard rambles. “Coven… cabal?” Ted interjects, explaining that it’s their nonjudgmental group for discussing life’s problems, which for some reason always begins with a communal “woof.” To Alice, it sounds more ridiculous than it is, but she wants it. She chooses to represent the cat people in this dog world, and as everyone barks and howls, she meows at Roy, who eventually shares the news that Keeley is pregnant. Yay! He also worries he won’t make a good father. Boo! Kids are hard, and he isn’t trying to screw this kid up, but what if he does? When Ted points out how great Roy is with Phoebe, Roy admits that when she gets annoying, he sends her home to his sister. Those are the perks of being a part-time uncle. How can he be sure he’ll make a good full-time dad? He needs reassurance that everything will work out, but none of the men have a play-by-play on fatherhood. Beard wishes he had Roy’s problem after that fake-baby fiasco with Jane. Nate thinks he should lead with love. Ted is still trying to figure it out after 11 years, and Higgins followed his dad’s advice: “If you drop your kids, and you will, pick them up as quick as you can.” The cat people chime in with their own advice: never lie to your kids about the delicious taste of green beans. According to Alice, they’re awful, so it’s best to tell the truth and earn the kid’s trust. Expert advice from the Diamond Dog Daddies and the no-kittens Cat People have Roy feeling more confident.
The Gang’s All Here
In the locker room, there is still no sign of Lizzie until her kids come running in, screaming and chasing one another. Lizzie rushes in behind them, apologizing for being late and explaining that she was stuck with two wild kids and had no choice. Cue the ever-helpful and always-present June (Remi Shorunke-Samuel), who offers to give Lizzie a hand. She could use some help folding towels, and the mom agrees to put the kids’ competitive sibling rivalry to good use. Boots checks in with Lizzie about how she’s feeling, and the exhausted woman admits she’s going to kick that ball as if the goal were between her ex’s legs. That’s exactly the kind of intensity Boots wanted to hear.
In Rebecca’s office, she is preparing for the game when Matthijs (Matteo van der Grijn) calls to say he’s sorry he has to miss it. He’s working, and Rebecca understands. She has plenty on her own work plate to juggle, too. They say their goodbyes just as Zelda saunters in, asking how her “husband” is doing. Rebecca corrects her, explaining that they aren’t married, and Zelda points out that she’s smart. If she’s happy, why risk it? Before Rebecca can reply, Higgins rushes in with bad news: the Milk sisters have sold their shares. Zelda gasps, and Rebecca holds back her tears. It looks like she’s about to lose the club.
In the locker room, June lets Lizzie know her kids are working on a surprise for her, but when Lizzie asks what it’s about, June runs out of the room rather than answer. Beard walks in to reveal the starting lineup for the game, and we see Shannon is included. After scoring the winning goal against Bristol, it’s only right that she starts for the team. Ted delivers a trademark inspirational speech reminding them of who they’re playing for and hopes heaven’s pubs have Wi-Fi so Mae can cheer them on.
The team comes out of the tunnel with its captain, Lizzie, escorted by her two kids. She and Boots joke around with them as everyone makes their way onto the pitch. They look out at the sold-out crowd at Nelson Road, and Boots, the toughest member of the team, almost sheds a tear at the amazing sight. Keeley promised every seat would be filled, and with the help of that video, they are! Even Elaine Pinter (Helen Schlesinger) is there to cheer on the Lady Greyhounds in their final match. The score doesn’t matter. The team has already won the applause of the football fans, including some old friends from the men’s championship team: Isaac (Kola Bokinni), Dani (Cristo Fernández), Richard (Stephen Manas), Thierry (Moe Jeudy-Lamour), Colin (Billy Harris), along with Sam (Toheeb Jimoh) are all there to cheer the women on. Roy asks Sam, still wearing green, for all you Becca/Sam fans to ponder, if he regrets leaving Richmond for Manchester United. Like Dorothy–his aunt who left her uncle, and not Gale on her way to meet the Wizard, he had to leave to realize where home really was.
Speaking of following their hearts, Keeley is all heart when it comes to her team. So when Roy gets a text from her and finds her in the team’s locker room, promising to stay calm but letting him know she cannot miss this final game, he can’t say no. He escorts her into the stands to see her dream come true. Nelson Road is sold out, and her smile radiates pride and accomplishment. It quickly turns into a screaming “F.U.!” over a bad referee call, forcing Roy to eject her from the stands to protect her from a blood pressure spike.
Also in the stands, deep in her feelings, is Rebecca, who has just learned she might have lost the team. There’s a bittersweet look on her face when the announcers tell viewers that Richmond is in good hands with her at the helm. We never see the outcome of the game, and it doesn’t matter. The team accomplished what it set out to do. They’ve been promoted, and they sold out Nelson Road. The rest is just icing on the cake.
Scorpions Sting, But They Cannot Poison a Frog’s Good Nature
After the game we cut to the shareholders’ meeting, where the conference hall is filled with empty chairs except for the ones Paul, Baz and Jeremy are sitting in. Higgins opens the meeting for comments, and that’s when Zelda walks in with news she hopes will shake the very foundation of Richmond football. It wasn’t Rupert buying up the shares, it was her. She had Hugo convince people to sell so she could take over Richmond’s men’s team. She calls them both “gullible little babies” and takes a victory lap like the scorpion she is. So much for women helping women. Zelda admits she is helping women, namely herself. She has no plans to mess with the Lady Greyhounds, she’s after the men’s team. She spent years trying to gain the respect of the male owners, and now, by leading the men’s team, they won’t be able to ignore her. Rebecca tears into Higgins, blaming him for allowing this to happen.
While Rebecca is yelling at her right-hand man, Ted is at home offering to help Henry with his math homework. When the boy turns him down, his father reaches for the bottle to pour himself a drink, then second-guesses himself and puts it back. He is ready to tackle the lie he told Henry while sober and without liquid courage. That small move alone shows growth in Ted, who often took a drink before facing any uncomfortable or triggering truth about his father. He sits down to talk and starts with an apology for missing so many of Henry’s games. He promises he’ll work things out for next season so that doesn’t happen. Then he gets to the truth that’s been bothering him about the lie he told on the day of Mae’s wake. We don’t hear exactly what he says, but we know he admits his father didn’t die in an accident. Now that his son is growing up, it’s time for Ted to face that truth for the both of them.
Back to shareholders’ meeting, and Rebecca is still barking at Higgins and blaming him for her losing the club. It’s an award-worthy performance, and that’s all it is: an act. Just as Zelda starts relishing the sight of the two turning on each other, Higgins flips the script and announces that the Milk sisters didn’t sell their shares to Hugo on Zelda’s behalf, they sold them to him, with Hugo’s help! Apparently, there are only so many times your bestie can call you horrible before you prove her right. Hugo (Alex Blake) saunters in and admits he didn’t much like the attitude Zelda brought to every request, so he took back his power and stabbed her in the back. After all, he’s a scorpion, too. Zelda points out that even with the Milk sisters’ shares, they’re still tied at 49%. Cue Elaine Pinter, CEO of Pinter and Sons, on the stage’s screen. Her company executed Mae Green’s will, and the woman left the pub to the three lads, which explains why they’re sitting in the audience. The pub matron makes them promise not to “F*** it up” and they are thrilled. The second part of her halts Zelda’s plan to steal AFC Richmond when Elaine announces Mae left her 2% stake in the football club, to Rebecca Welton. These 2 points pull Rebecca ahead of Zellda and save AFC Richmond from a hostile takeover attempt. Rebecca wins, and she even forgives Zelda. She might be a scorpion with a natural instinct to sting, but Rebecca’s natural instinct is to save, no matter how many times she’s been stung. “Why would I change my nature just because of scorpions?” she smirks. Then she reaches out to shake Zelda’s hand and says she looks forward to seeing her at the next shareholders’ meeting.
Zelda leaves with Hugo, now more attracted to him than ever after he stabbed her in the back, just as Higgins asks Rebecca why she’s keeping Zelda on board. It’s better to keep your enemies close.
Taking Risks
After getting a photo reminder from Michelle of a young Henry, Ted gets ready for work with a big decision he’s made that will make a few people happy.
In the funniest moment of the episode, Roy walks into Rebecca’s office to discuss the offer Chelsea put on the table, but she thinks he’s talking about the baby. She congratulates him, and he’s surprised Keeley told her first. Rebecca rolls right over that to announce that even though she isn’t technically family, she still insists on being called Auntie Supreme. All jokes aside, she’s thrilled for them both and can hardly contain her tears of joy for the grump and her little dreamer.
With the baby topic out of the way, Roy wants to discuss the offer he got from Chelsea. He’s taking it, and cue Auntie Supreme’s meltdown as Rebecca goes from calm, caring and composed to trash-talking freak-out mode the second she realizes she’s losing her head coach. F-bombs fly, drinks are poured, and a grouchy eyebrow imitation of Roy really seals the deal on how angry she is about him leaving. After the way Chelsea treated him, and after all Rebecca did to welcome him to Richmond afterward, she is ticked off! The back-and-forth between these two is a pleasure to watch. The more hysterical Rebecca gets, the calmer and more introspective Roy becomes. He’s the ice in her coffee, the cool to her extra-hot temper. When she tells him he’s taking a massive risk, he says that’s the point. She was the one who told him he deserved good things to happen in his life, and he loves her for that. She believed in him when he couldn’t believe in himself, and beyond the woman they both love who connects them, there’s genuine mutual respect, with a dash of sibling-rivalry energy between these two that makes them so fun to watch. Her meltdown leads to Roy mocking her back in a high-pitched voice: “Get out of your own way, man. The whole woe-is-me thing you’re doing is f***ing ponderous,” as he stirs a cup of imaginary tea and reminds her of what she said. Rebecca refuses to admit that sounds like her, but it’s all in good fun. She finally relents. He’s right, he does deserve a chance. She offers Roy a congratulatory hug, along with a promise that he can always come back to Richmond if he wants to.
When Roy leaves with Auntie Supreme’s best wishes, Ted walks in behind him, armed with a pink box of biscuits and hopes that she has time to chat about the new manager position. Is Ted going back to the men’s team? Not exactly.
She rips the box of shortbread out of his hands, takes a deep inhale of the sweet baked goodness and starts rambling about Mae dying while doing what she loved. She takes a hearty bite of biscuit and gets to the point: Mae lived life to the fullest. Roy is taking risks, and Keeley is making her dreams come true. Maybe it’s time Rebecca grabs hold of life before it’s all too late. The camera zooms in on the multitude of emotions radiating from Rebecca’s face until they seem to settle into determined happiness. Ted watches the whole thing unfold with a smile, happy to witness the boss lady’s personal growth. But he did have something to talk about, and we never hear what that is as we cut to Beard, who is reading about Jane’s hit West End play starring Emma Stone and Richard Schiff. Mady and Margy stop by to tell him they saw the play and that Schiff makes him out to be a genuinely likable guy. That’s when Matthijs shows up, and the two have a conversation in Dutch, because Beard is a multilingual sports and film genius. It’s about his new look, with the contacts and earrings missing from his face. Beard admits he’s trying to make fewer mistakes, so he took them out, but Matthijs points out that he’s still sporting a guinea pig of a hairstyle. His bluntness– a Dutch cultural trait, delights rather than insults Beard, who laughs as Matthijs heads toward Rebecca’s office. He brought her flowers, and she, inspired by Roy and riding a shortbread-fueled sugar rush, takes the roses and the risk and asks the pilot to marry her. She can’t get down on one knee because she’s practically poured into her pencil skirt, so Matthijs bends the knee and agrees to marry her. It’s a cute, impromptu engagement, with the hope that Rebecca, like Roy, is finally getting out of her own way to grab hold of her happiness. After years of pain thanks to Rupert and the trauma of that divorce, Rebecca is ready to try again, and that’s a risk Matthijs is willing to take with her.
As we hear Mae recite Mary Oliver’s poem “When Death Comes,” we see the life that has grown from her loss. The lads are thriving as the new owners of the Crown & Anchor, always under Mae’s watchful smile from that photo on the team bus. Beard goes to Isaac for one of his special haircuts. He’s ready to move on from the Jane-induced crisis and try something new. Roy clears out his office and says goodbye to the home he found, then hello to the one he once knew and loved. The last thing on his desk is a letter from Ted that reads, “You’re gonna be a great dad,” with one of Ted’s signature little green army men tucked inside the envelope. Roy leaves hand in hand with Keeley, while Caroline (Lauren Hendrick) mourns the view. In Rebecca’s office, she and her fiancé dance. Downstairs, Gemma packs up for the season as Alice heads into the office to work. She adds a Post-it note to the Believe sign, counting down the days, 112 to be exact, until the Greyhounds’ next game. Then she heads into the office, lowers Ted’s chair and gets down to work. She was behind the prank the whole time. His chair isn’t haunted or broken. It was Alice! Ted walks in, and before he takes a seat, he hands her the gift he meant to give her before she was suspended. She nervously takes it as Higgins and Rebecca walk in smiling, everyone waiting for her to open it. She does and instantly hugs Ted, holding back tears. “Congrats,” he says as she shakes Higgins’ and Rebecca’s hands. A bald Beard rushes in, realizing he missed the big event, but then smiles and says, “Change is good.” The change isn’t Ted returning to the men’s team now that they’re without a coach. It’s him finally prioritizing Henry’s needs and the team’s future over his own. Alice is named head coach, and Ted is her assistant. Mae would be proud of him for not just supporting the women on the team but realizing that includes the coaches, and the optics too. Coach Chilton then hands out copies of the playbook she’s been working on, and Ted takes a seat that’s practically on the floor. Alice smiles as she walks out the door, and we see the names in bold letters: Alice Chilton, Manager; Willis Beard, Assistant Manager; and last but not least, the man who will have more time with his kid while still coaching the sport he’s fallen in love with, Assistant Manager Ted Lasso.