Ted Lasso – So Long, Farewell

By starrymag | June 5, 2023

By: Kelly Kearney

 

 

Ted Lasso’s story is wrapping up, but is this goodbye forever? It’s hard to say. AppleTV lists the finale as a season and not a series. And creator and star Jason Sudeikis isn’t exactly dispelling the rumors of a possible spin-off in the future. As you’ll see in this episode, there are many avenues viewers would like to explore. What we do know is that after last week’s cliffhanger, Ted has big changes heading his way in the final hour of his story, and it puts a nice big bow on the gift this show has been to the fans. As for living up to the finale hype, the end will always bring out the naysayers and critics because if a show isn’t loved, would people even care to complain? Fans care about Ted and his little football family across the pond, so no matter what you think about where he should’ve ended up and with whom, at the very least, we can all agree that this little feel-good comedy injected a certain kindness into the world when it needed it most, and isn’t that the Lasso way? To swoop in where Coach is needed and call a time-out when the lessons have been learned and the game is won? The Richmond club, Rebecca, Beard, and everyone who was lucky enough to stand in Ted’s radiant good vibes will be forever touched by his unwavering belief in human kindness and the perseverance to be the best versions of ourselves we could be.

 

Truth Bombs and The Yellow Brick Road

We open with sports pundits discussing Richmond’s rise from regulation to the Championship League match. If the Greyhounds can beat West Ham in their final matchup and #1 team Man City struggles to dominate Liverpool’s club, Ted Lasso’s team will win the Premier League title and blow everyone’s low expectations for the U.S. coach, right out of the Thames. In her robe and sipping her morning tea at her kitchen counter, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) watches the as the on-air personality mentions Rupert (Anthony Head) and his newly announced divorce from Rebecca (Bex) #2. Apparently, word got out about his illicit affairs and it sent both his wife and assistant to her doorstep last week for advice. Enter Ted (Jason Sudeikis), who wanders in with bedhead and an awkward look on his face. He asks if Rebecca wants to talk about it and, if you are a Tedbecca shipper, hold your gasp, it’s not what you think. It seems that Ted, Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) and Jane (Phoebe Walsh) all spent the night after there were reports of a gas leak in their neighborhood. The awkward vibes aren’t coming from Ted and Rebecca but from the thong-wearing Beard and his loud sexual escapades with Jane that kept the other two awake. Rebecca was nice enough to open her home to all three after learning the American coaches were leaving London to return to America. That was Ted’s truth bomb from last week, Ted is going home to Henry, and Rebecca can’t face that truth just yet.

Over in the Greyhound’s locker room Isaac (Kola Bokinni) is presiding over a mock trial where he fines each player for mishaps over the season. The money is for an end-of-the-season party and everyone is expected to anti-up. We see Nate (Nick Mohammed) is also back.  William (Charlie Hiscock) has returend to Assistant Kitman because the former West Ham coach has to pay his dues and work to earn the respect of the players he previously stabbed in the back. For crimes such as being late to training and falling asleep during team meditation, Nate – who is fined the most for missing all their games up until this week – walks around with one of his handmade boxes for everyone to fill with cash. Jamie (Phil Dunster) ends up putting more than his share in and, with that, Sam (Toheeb Jimoh) the mock treasurer, announces they finally have enough for an open bar. The party is about to kick off and everyone is excited, but it’s not the end of the season yet; they still have to play West Ham and prove to the league that they’re the champions their coaches know they are.

Outside in the car park we see Keeley (Juno Temple) arriving just in time for Roy (Brett Goldstein) to scare her half to death. After her jump scare she seems happy to see him and can’t help but check him out as he heads into a meeting with Rebecca. She isn’t the only one with mixed feelings about her ex, Ted gets a text from Michelle (Andrea Anders) about how excited Henry is now that his dad is moving back home but Beard doesn’t share Henry’s enthusiasm. Jane shredded his passport in protest of him leaving and we can tell Ted’s oldest friend and partner is leaving more behind than a football team. Enter Trent Crimm (James Lance) who hands them both copies of the first draft of his book and asks the two men to read it and give him notes. Right away Beard starts hacking away at the content and Trent cannot stick around for the critical slaughtering of a red editing pen. That’s when Roy shows up looking for advice, which is new for him. Apparently, after their encounter in the car park, he can’t tell if Keeley is into him and asks everyone in the office to fill him in on how to know when a woman likes him. This seems like a topic for the Diamond Dogs but, once again, Roy declines their barking help. Besides, Keeley wasn’t there to see him, she came for Rebecca. The two are talking about business and Ted’s abrupt departure and neither woman really wants to think about it too deeply. What Rebecca does want to consider is the entire fate of the team now that Ted is leaving. When Higgins (Jeremy Swift) enters her office with news that Richmond’s worth is at an all-time high, two billion and counting, Rebecca starts to wonder if it’s time to sell and leave it, along with Rupert, in the past. She took over this team as a way to hurt him, and now it seems he is doing that just fine on his own. Without the revenge angle and no more Ted for biscuits and girl talk, sticking around the club seems pointless to her. Keeley is shocked her friend is even considering this but two billion pounds is a lot of consideration!

Down on the pitch Ted asks Roy to call the end of practice in a sign the ex-football star will be taking over in his absence. Ted says he didn’t want to make a big deal out of this being their last practice together but the team isn’t going to allow him to walk off into the Kansas sunset without a proper goodbye. Cue the music and a team-choreographed number from The Sound of Music. “So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye…” they sing and each teammate nails their solos. Coach Lasso keeps his composure, a trend that feels a bit out of character throughout the episode. Ted is an emotional guy, so his unshakable demeanor is strange and can only be explained by his readiness to leave. This chapter is over for Ted and any unleashing of emotions could put that decision at risk.

 

Throuple Trouble

After stopping by Ted’s office to give him his going away gift, Keeley runs into Jamie in the hallway and the two discuss an opportunity to go to Brazil for a Nike advertisement. Keeley agrees to tag along and hugs Jamie excitedly while Roy watches the whole scene unfold from a distance. He catches up with Jamie afterward and asks him to grab a beer–no doubt to gauge his relationship with the woman they both love.

Speaking of pubs, Rebecca meets her mother, Deborah (Harriet Walter), at Mae’s (Annette Badland), and the two chat about possibly selling the club. Her mother is all for it and encourages her daughter to take the money and travel the world. The woman loves a good risk, that’s why she’s learning to skateboard and planning her first tattoo. Across the bar the two women listen in on the Richmond fanboys/pub flies arguing over their exceedingly large bill until they find out the owner of their favorite football club paid it in full. They thank her and compare her to football’s matriarch, and they are just happy to get a taste of her love…but mostly that free beer.

Back at the Richmond offices Trent keeps circling Ted as he reads through his rough draft. A smirk from the coach feels like the validation he was hoping for, but it’s the first smile he’s seen in forty-three pages and now he is panicking. He just wants Ted to like it and, so far, it seems like he does but he isn’t finished yet. While Trent and most of the team clear out for the night, we find Ted watching Nate stare at the empty wall where the “BELIEVE” sign used to hang. Nate sees this as his cue to apologize to the man who always had his back, even when he never realized it. The two hug and Nate breaks down in tears but Ted forgave him a while ago and once again he holds back his emotions and just allows Nate to feel what he needs to feel. Later, he holds back his tears as the two embrace. Next, he runs into Rebecca who takes a seat next to him in the stadium and says she is finally ready to talk about the subject she keeps avoiding. She practically begs bribes, and orders Ted to stay in Richmond, even coming up with the idea that he could move his whole family to London, just so she can have him near her and the team. Ted never utters a word.In fact, he doesn’t even look at her and she can tell his mind is made up. She tells him she’s thinking of selling the team, “If you go, I go,” and it’s the last ultimatum she has. Again, the silent Ted doesn’t budge. It’s a tough scene and no matter what you think of these two and their relationship, Ted’s lack of emotion just doesn’t feel right for him, even if we understand why he does it.

Over at the bar, Jamie and Roy grab that beer and, of course, the conversation lands on Keeley. Roy is hesitant to come right out and ask Jamie to leave Keeley alone, but he does let him know they recently hooked up so things between the two seem to be back on track–nothing official yet though. Their conversation goes off the rails when Jamie says he won’t be backing off because Roy and Keeley are not official, and besides, that viral video of hers was meant for him. The look on Roy’s face says it all, and later the two show up on Keeley’s doorstep beaten and bruised from a fight over which one of them belongs with her. The only way to settle this once and for all is to make Keeley choose, but their juvenile antics are too much for her and she winds up choosing herself and kicking both out the door.

 

Game Day

Game day has arrived and everyone is packing into the stadium to see hometown Richmond take on the top team, West Ham, for a chance to play in the championship game. We see Colin’s (Billy Harris) boyfriend, Michael (Sam Liu), has his ticket and even Dr. Sharon Fieldstone (Sarah Niles) is watching. Over in America the channel is tuned to the game as Henry (Gus Turner), Michelle and the less-than-enthused Dr. Jake (Mike O’Gorman) are watching, too. It’s all everyone is talking about; the underdogs coming back from regulation to possibly bring home season gold is the comeback story Ted promised Rebecca in season two and now it looks like Coach might deliver. Before the game can start, the coaches gather around for another meeting of the Diamond Dogs now that original member Nate is back in the mix. Roy, having assumed he screwed up his last chance with Keeley, finally agrees to join the barking crew and opens up about how he spent the last year trying to be a better person for Keeley, but when it came down to it, he just isn’t. He wonders if humans can change or if we are all just fooling ourselves into thinking we are better than who we are. Trent thinks people don’t change, they just become comfortable with who they are, and Ted points out that nobody is perfect and all you can do is keep asking for help and trying to get better. If change takes effort then Rupert hasn’t put in enough work to make a dent in his bad behavior because now he is in danger of losing West Ham thanks to those swirling acquisitions about his sexual impropriety in the workplace. The news has gone public and it’s made the club owner look like the villain he is. When he runs into Sassy (Ellie Taylor) and Rebecca, the two women can’t help but rub that truth in his face–although Sassy is the one who gets the most pleasure out of watching Rupert squirm.

As the fans get ready for the game to start, down in the locker room star goalie Van Damme (Moe Jeudy-Lamour) gets a new face mask as an apology gift from Dani (Cristo Fernández) for breaking his nose. It’s superhero-like and it is much cooler than the plastic one he was sporting before. All is good between the two friends now and the new look prompts Van Damme to finally embrace his well-suited nickname, “You can call me Zorro,” after the masked film hero with the same name. With that out of the way, Ted heads into the locker room for his usual pre-game pep talk but this week it’s a bit different. He shows them a video of clips from past games and practices and by the end the entire team is crying – Roy Kent too! Instead of their moods holding them back, it seems to inspire them to play the best they can. Zorro is a beast at the goal, blocking every attempt West Ham makes to score until they manage to get one by the masked goalie just as everyone gets the notification that Man City also scored against rival Liverpool. Now the heat is on Richmond to answer back but their attempts fail and they allow the opposition to score another goal, making it 2-0 at the half. Back in the locker room Ted tells the team it’s been an honor to coach them and watch them grow to be the champions he knows they are. He asks them to believe in themselves and that’s when Sam pulls out a torn yellow piece of paper and places it on the locker room’s bench. One by one the players pull out their yellow scraps of hope until the camera pulls away and we see the patched-together BELIEVE poster. “There it is,” Ted says – number four on his list of lessons. He always said he would know what it was when he saw it, and now they all know.

The second half finds Richmond refreshed and ready to win. After a few missed goals Jamie manages to kick one in and everyone – even Henry back home, cheers for the star striker. West Ham follows that goal by sticking close to Tartt until one player knocks him down and Jamie sells it for the penalty. Richmond is up for the foul shot and Jamie hands the ball to Dani, who then hands it to Isaac, who’s never kicked a penalty shot in his entire career. The captain is unsure of himself, but with Ted’s number four lesson in his head and heart, he takes the shot. At first it looks like he misses, but when the referees blow the whistle to further investigate, they see Isaac did not miss, he kicked the ball so hard it tore through the net and bloodied the face of Rebecca’s clout chasing date, John Wingsnight (Patrick Baladi), from earlier in the series! Now that guy will really have a story to tell whoever he can trap in a conversation. It’s 2-2, the score for Richmond. While they call a timeout to replace the net, Rupert storms down to the pitch and viciously reprimands Richmond’s former coach and new West Ham leader, George (Bill Fellows), to hurt Jamie and take him out of the game. George is a lot of things, but he’s not going to play dirty. He refuses his boss and Rupert does not take it well. In front of the entire stadium the unhinged manager pushes George and he falls–genitals out, to the ground in front of everyone’s shocked gasps. His aggression forces the referees to throw him out of the game and as he marches off the pitch the crowd all  jeers “WANKER!” When the game restarts, West Ham scores a goal but Ted isn’t too worried because it’s the first time he’s calling an offside – the goal is no good. The ball goes back to Richmond and, in a tense moment, Ted uses Nate and some hand signals to call a play. With a bit of good luck whispers almost like a prayer from Kansas City, Ted says “barbecue sauce” and then Sam winds up scoring the winning goal! The stadium erupts in cheers and they pour out of the stands and down onto the pitch to celebrate with their team. Colin finally gets his moment to kiss his fella and Ted does the running man dance surrounded by his team. It looks like the former perennial losers are now heading to the premiere title match.

 

“For you’ll Still Be Here Tomorrow But Your Dreams May Not…”

In a surprising series of twists, we jump ahead into the future and find Ted buying a newspaper at the airport. The cover is a photo of Rebecca and the headline says she sold 49% of the Richmond team to the fans, the ones she always said owned it all along. He runs into that same fan, Tommy (Bill Skinner), from his first day in London – the one who asks for an “ussie” – and then offers his condolences for the lost championship game. It’s a shame, but the glory isn’t always in winning; it can also be in finding what matters most. As he makes his way to the terminal he spots Rebecca waiting to say goodbye and even he can’t deny this looks like a “classic rom-com meet cute” ending if he ever saw one – and he has almost the entirety of Meg Ryan’s filmography, so he knows what he’s talking about. Rebecca bought herself a plane ticket but it’s not to fly to Kansas with her friend, it’s just so she can be the last to say goodbye and maybe even give it one last shot to convince him into staying. Unable to hold back her tears, she knows Ted ran to London to escape his failed marriage, disappointing Henry and how all of it was tied to his past and his own father. Ted isn’t running anymore. Dr. Fieldstone helped him realize you can’t run from your past when your present needs you now more than ever. Henry is his present and his future and it’s why Rebecca holds him tightly before bidding him farewell. This isn’t a goodbye hug but a thank you for changing my life for the better and both of them feel that gratitude in full.

On board the plane Ted is starting to doubt his choice in leaving and Beard admits he doesn’t want to go. He only agreed out of loyalty to Ted and their partnership, but he loves Jane and leaving her is driving him to insomnia. Ted tells his friend to follow his heart and he follows it right down to the plane’s floor screaming about his made-up appendix pain so the flight staff will open the hatch and let him off the plane. With his best friend sprinting toward happiness, Ted buckles his belt and gets ready for takeoff. Cat Stevens’ famous tear-jerker of a song “Father and Son” pipes in and that’s when we see Rebeca leaving the airport and running right into a little girl and her Dutch boatman (Matteo van der Grign) father – who also happens to be a pilot! It looks like that psychic wasn’t a flake at all and Rebecca’s future actually was foretold although I still can’t figure out the army man and matchbook.

In a series of clips we see all the characters becoming the best versions of themselves. Trent’s book is published but at Ted’s request it doesn’t bear his name because the story was never about him. It was always The Richmond Way. We catch up with Keeley, who has re-established her PR firm with the help of Rebecca’s wallet and Barbra’s (Katy Wix) keen eye for finance. Later we see her pitch Rebecca another idea, a deal to start a women’s football club, and her best friend is screaming excited about it. She never does choose which man is right for her and that’s fine because Roy is still working on himself with the help of Dr. Fieldstone. He is also named Head Coach of Richmond, along with Beard and Nate and all three honor Ted by rehanging the BELIEVE sign above the office door. Speaking of football, star Sam gets his wish and lands a spot on the Nigerian national team while his friend and teammate Jamie gets his wish too, as he is reunited with his healthy father. We also see Jamie happy with friends Keeley and Roy, as they meet up with the team for an outdoor party at Higgins’ home. We check in at the pub where Mae and the football fans are gleaming over their team shareholder certificate, but nobody is beaming brighter than Beard and a pregnant Jayne on their wedding day. Then there is Ted, who lands in Kansas and into the running arms of Henry. He spends his time coaching little league soccer and inspiring “goldfish” wisdom in a boy who looks at him like he’s a superhero. It’s the homecoming his father never gave him, but maybe in Henry, he can right those wrongs and believe he can be the man his son needs. The camera fades out to a smirking Ted, and we can assume he is happy now that he’s where he’s needed again. This was always the story of a man– not a coach, and the unending possibilities of kindness and hope. So goodbye, Ted, but don’t take that hope with you, because the fans want a Women’s League spin-off and we wouldn’t hate a cameo by the mustachioed football expert with a touch of Southern American charm.