Ted Lasso – The Strings That Bind Us

By starrymag | May 1, 2023

By: Kelly Kearney

 

 

In this week’s epsiode the team learns the ins and outs of Ted’s new game strategy: Total Football, and in the process of trying something new, they find out that being supportive of each other works both on and off the field. They get a chance to prove that after a series of unfortunate events befall their teammate, Sam. It’s building bonds, trying new things, and revisiting the Ted Lasso effect, on this week’s episode of everyone’s favorite kindcore comedy.

 

New Ideas, Same Old Hate

We begin with Sam (Toheeb Jimoh) who is walking through his restaurant with pride on his face at how far his dream has come. When he walks into the kitchen he sees Chef SImi (Precious Mustapha) is radiating anger and fury over the latest news report about refugees possibly being blocked from coming into the country and this has the immigrant staff at Ola’s fuming and concerned. While this does seem bad, according to Sam, it’s way too early in the morning for all this anger. Especially when he has practice and a brand new strategy to learn. over in the Greyhounds locker room, Coach Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis)  gives the stage to Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) to explain “Total Football” who invented it and how it’s going to help Richmond win. Ted’s mushroom hallucination from last week was very inspiring and now those Total Football delusions are about to become a reality. Beard explains how this will work and it’s all about working as a team. Each player will be positionless and will have to relearn the game from all the white relying on each other to rush forward or fall back in a way that will confuse the opposing team and showcase Richmond’s talents. It might look like chaos on the pitch, but controlled chaos could pull them out of this losing streak. The team grumbles about changing things up so drastically in the middle of the season, and besides, they are in those positions for a reason: it’s where they do their best work…or so they thought. Roy (Brett Goldstein) shuts down their complaints and says that they’re going to practice this for a few months and then bring Total Football to the league. Ted and Beard have other ideas they plan on bringing Total Football to the game today and every day after until they win. That miscommunication between the coaches shocks Roy who now agrees with the team that this might be a dumb idea, but Ted has that gut feeling and he knows that if he can get the guys behind him, the Richmond team might see some results. Unfortunately, the first day of practice goes terribly, and after practice Ted and Beard head to the pub where Mae (Annette Badland) is saltier than ever because sales are down now that Richmond is losing. Ted is feeling the pressure from everyone even local pubgoers, Baz (Adam Colborne), Paul (Kevin Garry), and Jeremy (Bronson Webb), who cheered Ted on when he added Zava to the team but now they think they have gone too soft on him and that’s why the team is losing. The “wanker” nickname is back until he can pull the Greyhounds out of their slump. Instead of being attacked every time he goes to get a meal at the pub, Ted invites the guys to watch this week’s practice and says to a concerned Beard that it’s the fan’s team they’re just borrowing it for a bit. This at least squelches their fire because as much as they hate losing, they love the game and being close to their heroes more.  The following day the rabble-rousers are waiting in the stands for Ted and the team to hit the pitch and show them what they’ve got. and what they’ve got is a disaster on their hands.

 

The Four Tenets of Total Football

It’s their first try at Total Football and before they hit the pitch Ted explains his four rules for this new strategy.  Rule number one: Conditioning. Each player needs to be able to run up and down and back and forth on the pitch. Rule number two: Versatility. Each team member needs to be able to play the game for any position on the pitch. Number three: Awareness. They all need to know where to play and when. As for number four… Ted hasn’t really come up with that yet, but he knows it will come to him so he’s keeping his eye out for it. Today, they’re starting with rule number one and Roy barks out orders for the players to run from one side of the pitch to the other until basically they drop dead, and at least from looking at them, they want to when the day is over.

After practice, Sam goes back to the restaurant where his staff is huddled around a laptop in the kitchen and everyone is concerned over the growing tensions in the country over refugees. A raft carrying refugees from African nations was spotted off the shores of England and all the news is talking about whether or not they will be permitted into the country. Brinda Barot (Lucy Bayler), the head of The Home Office and the woman whose job it is to deal with immigration and domestic matters, is back in the news infuriating Simi with her anti-immigration talk. She announces that England is closed and anyone trying to enter the country will be sent away. This ideology is steeped in racism, fear, and hate, and Simi thinks this politician is taking the country down the wrong path. Sam, who seems to always believe in the good in people, thinks that maybe something can be done if he speaks up and shows support for the refugees. As a sports celebrity, oftentimes their word carries weight with fans and politicians, so he tweets about the crisis hoping his words reach open ears and minds. The message he sends to his followers doesn’t hold the level of rage that simmers in Simi, but it does offer hope that Ms. Barot can reconsider her position. Anything less puts their country in a bad light. He hits send and then doesn’t think much about the outcome because Sam has Ted Lasso’s Total Football training to get to, and lesson number two on versatility is what they’re covering in today’s practice. Ted passes out cards with new positions on them and everyone gets one except for Jamie (Phil Dunster)–who will remain the team’s striker. While he is ok with that he is also confused as to why he’s being singled out in the plans. There is a method to Ted’s madness and it will reveal itself soon enough but not at this practice or the next, because the guys are falling over each other and the pitch is in chaos. So much so, even Trent Crimm (James Lance) puts his pen down to question Ted on if this idea is really worth a try. Coach admits he has no idea if it will work and says it could go either way but he is willing to give it a try anyway.

On the fourth day of practice the team works on awareness, and leading the drills is Roy Kent’s twisted sense of humor. He has all the men tie red strings to their manhoods to teach them that if someone is running up the pitch, someone else needs to run back and cover the openings. The players need to not only work together but be mindful of where everyone is at all times and what better way to do that than getting a painful tug of a  reminder? As you can imagine, the practice is full of a lot of castrating screams and falling doubled over in pain. Even Jamie almost turns into a soprano singer after one particularly brutal mistake that has Roy utterly delighted by his and everyone else’s trauma. Unfortunately, not all entertaining tactics work out on the pitch, and even though Roy had more intensely painful ideas for the team’s genitals, he will just have to save them for his 4 AM training sessions with Jamie.

 

“Shut Up and Dribble”

Back in the locker room after the game, Sam grabs his phone to check his socials and sees his Tweet has blown up thanks to a rude response from the Home Office account. Barot tells Sam to worry less about the safety of the country and concentrate more on his mediocre performance and his losing team. Then she signs it #ShutUpAndDribble. Her response is insulting in many ways: it insults the team, Sam’s intelligence, his rights to express himself as a citizen, and his own immigrant identity. Apparently, he is good enough to entertain the people with his feet but not good enough to use his voice when something happens in the country he disagrees with. This infuriates the gentle Sam, who now sees why Simi was hot with rage over what this woman is doing. He decides to respond by saying he would “rather be a mediocre footballer than a world-class bigot,” and as you can imagine, it doesn’t go over well with her supporters. In today’s politically divided world, a Tweet like that can spark rage in the people searching for things to get enraged over and Sam learns this the hard way.

The following day, Sam stops by the restaurant before practice to drop off a box of cutlery and walks directly into a nightmare. His dream restaurant was broken into and trashed and everything was destroyed. Broken mirrors, bottles, tables, and chairs litter the floors, and spray paint covers the walls with, “SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE.” Sam is beside himself; he worked so hard to make Ola’s the hottest restaurant in town. With reservations booked out for weeks, his dreams were becoming a reality and now hateful people are trying to take it from him. He heads to practice where his usual demeanor takes a back seat to his anger and he slams his locker shut and turns on Isaac (Kola Bokinni) when he asks him what’s up. Sam cannot contain his rage and he yells about the world being full of evil people who do evil things while he has to “kick a little ball around” to entertain the same people who would turn that evil towards him if he didn’t give them a winning performance  It all seems so frivolous when there are bigger problems facing his community. While he is ranting, Sam’s father, Ola (Nonso Anozie), who came to watch the game and check out his son’s restaurant, walks in and is shocked by how his son is acting. Sam takes one look at his father and runs into his arms crying. The team gives father and son some time to talk and when asked what he plans to do about the restaurant, Sam admits he might give up, and not reopen. His father talks sense into him by reminding Sam why he opened this restaurant– to offer their people a taste of home. Ola thinks Sam owes it to them to try again. As for the people who destroyed his dream, the best revenge Ola can think of is forgiveness. We see why Sam is such a moral and kind person, he gets that from his father who guides his son to keep moving forward and away from the hate those people inspired in him. Ola’s advice is interrupted by Ted, who introduces himself to Ola and then lets Sam know he can sit out of practice–the kid has had a hard day. His father disagrees and tells Ted that Sam will be on the pitch doing what he does best and then the two men shake hands, both happy to meet the other.

Love Bombing

While the guys are learning the ropes of Total Football, Keeley (Juno Temple) is learning her relationship with Jack (Jodi Balfour) might be a bit too one-sided, at least when it comes to gifts and financial security. Jack is an extremely wealthy woman and shows her affection for Keeley with expensive signed first-edition books, surprise trips, and even filling her office with flowers. Over drinks, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) points out the similarities between Jack’s gift-giving and Rupert’s love-bombing, and while Keeley doesn’t immediately see the connection, she starts to catch on when the waiter says their bill has already been paid for. In that case, Rebecca orders a very posh French bottle of wine, because if this new girl is paying, then the girl who will always have Keeley’s back is drinking. Rebecca drops the Jack topic by warning Keeley to trust her gut because she learned the hard way how quickly shiny things can tarnish. Speaking of shiny and new, the two also discuss that mysteriously dazzling Dutchman who Rebecca admittedly regrets not getting naked with. Keeley is shocked too, what is celibate meet-cute when no human in their right mind would pass up the chance to be with her bestie. Rebecca says their run-in transcended sex, but she would’ve at least liked to see him naked, and that’s something Keeley can get behind. Later, when Keeley meets up with Jack for coffee, she tells her she is grateful for the gifts but she needs to allow her girlfriend to do things for her too. Jack is used to letting her wealth impress her paramours but Keeley isn’t about that life, and if they are going to work out, Jack has to take this seriously. Jack agrees, not that she loves the idea of letting Keeley take the lead but she understands why she wants to. She also squashes any office rumors about their romance by announcing to the entire group at KJ PR, that they are together. It puts a smile on Keeley’s face and a sigh of relief on Babara’s (Katy Wix) lips because she was hinting around at the impropriety of secrets.

The next day, best friends Keeley and Rebecca are together again for their weekly game watch, when the latter runs into Sam’s father and the two have a pleasant, if not very awkward, introduction. It is obvious Sam tells his father everything and that includes his romance with the team’s owner. Rebecca nervously guzzles down her drink as the man looks her over and seems both delighted and a bit confused by his son’s choice of lovers. Keeley steps in to save her friend from the embarrassing situation that is threatening to unfold and that’s when the game starts to kick off and it gives everyone a break from their real lives for a bit of Total Football fun. Unfortunately, fun isn’t what the team is having, as they fumble their way to the half, trailing 3-0. In the locker room, Beard wonders if it would be better to drop the new strategy and go back to the old ones, but Ted doesn’t want to do that, he knows in his gut this is the answer, they just have to find that thing, whatever number 4 is, that’s going to make it work. To inspire the team, Ted gives one of his little speeches but this time it’s about the history of his mustache and how it relates to the team going through a rough patch (Ted’s original bushy goatee) but that is only the first step in becoming Jeff Foxworthy looking winners. Apparently, that famous Lasso facial hair is courtesy of his love of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. While the players have no clue who or what that is, they do know a good Lasso pep talk when they hear one, and that’s why Jamie steps up with a plan to turn their shabby performance into a nicely trimmed new look! Everyone, including him, is playing Total Football wrong. He heads to the whiteboard and explains how the whole game should be going through him, not in the striker position but from the midfield. He shouldn’t be making the goals, he should be setting them up for the team, and as they rotate positions, they need to be ready to receive the ball from anywhere on the pitch. Jamie’s idea makes sense and in the second half, Ted’s magic mushroomed strategy pays off. The guys work as a team for the first time as they pass the ball back and forth up the pitch confusing their opponents into giving up a goal. They still lose the game but putting one point on the board boosts their morale and even the commentators are talking about how the Greyhounds got their groove back.

After the game, everybody is really excited about these new plays but nobody is as pumped as Trent is. The man has been sitting on the sidelines of the coach’s office hoping that Ted could find that spark that would light a flame under the team and now he knows Total Football is fire! The man can barely catch his breath. He’s so excited as he stops Ted out in the hallway of the locker rooms to let him know this plan is going to work and it’s all thanks to the marriage between Total Football and the Ted Lasso effect. He explains the Lasso Effect is something that he’s not only seen firsthand. Over the course of three seasons, the trust Ted has built up between the players through thousands of small imperceptible moments has a loyalty between the players and staff that is unmatched. Combining that and Total Football is going to be Ted Lasso’s Richmond legacy and Trent is just hyped up to witness it.

 

Love, Loyalty, and Trust Conquers All

 

When they get back to Richmond that loyalty and support is on full display when Sam’s father insists on seeing his son’s restaurant–broken windows and all. When they get there Sam is shocked to discover SImi let the entire team inside the restaurant to clean up the place. They’re painting walls and repairing windows to return Ola’s to its former glory and even manage to get the sign back up and running. Once it’s plugged in and his father sees his name in lights he smiles with pride but not as wide as he does when Sam introduces the man to Simi–who he says he’s heard a lot about. It seems Sam is moving on from his Rebecca heartbreak and his father looks pleased with this possible new woman and his boy’s life. As a thank you to everyone who poured love into fixing what hate broke, Ola and Sam, head into the kitchen to cook a meal for the entire team.

Speaking of food that brings people together, throughout the episode, we check in with Nate (Nick Mohammed) who is still smitten with Jade (Edyta Budnik) the hostess and trying to figure out if his feelings are mutual. at a party for his niece’s birthday where he gifts her one of his famous dioramas, he pumps his sister, Chloe (Mitra Djalili), and mother for tips on how to know if a woman likes you and both women give him the same advice: you can’t tell unless you ask them. Nate’s mother then goes into her closet and pulls out a map that his father made as a way to get her to date him. It highlighted the distances between their births, their upbringings, and the miles that led them to their union today. Nate’s mother thinks a display of love like that could land her some new grandkids, which is enough for Nate to take the suggestion under advisement. That night we see him making Jade one of his famous dioramas as a creative way to ask her out. It even includes little pop-up figures of himself and her. But when he tries to deliver it to her the next day he trips, sending the gift into traffic and underneath a fast-moving truck. All that hard work is squashed and Jade watches it all go down in front of her. Instead of bailing on his plans, Nate dusts himself off and goes the old-fashioned route and just straight up asks her out on a date. Jade agrees and later we see the two laughing over drinks and a meal that she didn’t have to serve him. Nate’s non-existent love life is starting to pick up, which is one of the reasons he was so self-conscious about his worth as an assistant coach under Lasso. It’s a shame he can’t find his way back to his friends at Richmond but at least there are still glimpses of that good guy Ted saw in him. Nate might have stabbed the Greyhounds in the back and acted like Rupert’s little attack dog but underneath all that anger and resentment exist a goatee just waiting to get that Ted Lasso trimmed look.