Television Ted Lasso

[Kal-El814]

11 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I can’t get over the fact that I agree with this very detailed breakdown of the season while having the glaring mistake that we had never met the teacher.

 

Really ruined a great post.

 

I completely forgot about that lol, I thought they were different teachers. I suppose my point stands but only for me.

 

8 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I was thinking over why this season just hasn’t done it for me the way season 1 did, and I think it comes down to season 1 being a comedy with some dramatic elements and season 2 trying to be a drama with some comedic elements. It takes a lot to invert the genre well…and I don’t think they do here.

 

Agreed.

 

At the risk of having missed something else obvious, stuff feels disconnected, like when Ted is in Sharon’s apartment after her bike accident and we see him react to a bunch of alcohol empties spread out, then in this episode they end up in a bar, drinking for their goodbye.

 

[Brian]

10 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I can’t get over the fact that I agree with this very detailed breakdown of the season while having the glaring mistake that we had never met the teacher.

 

Really ruined a great post.

That’s a bit harsh to say it ruined the post. She is a forgettable character that the show spent little time on, but decided to use her to cause turmoil in Royley.  #Royley4ever

[SuperSpreader]

I feel like this season is setting up a longer conflict since season 1 was very "one off"

[Kamusha]

I liked season 1 a lot but I feel like it was too light to keep being compelling for much longer. Ted seems more like a real person in this season. I don’t know if I would have liked another season of him being all positive all of the time.

[Brian]

Fuck Nate. 

[Kal-El814]

More thoughts later, but… what on earth was that? What a strange way to end this season.

[TheLeon]

Love that they pulled an Ozark and ended the season on an RTJ track. 
 

 

[Mercury33]

17 hours ago, Kal-El814 said:

More thoughts later, but… what on earth was that? What a strange way to end this season.

I thought the multiple “x time later” jumps were def a bit odd. But other than that I didn’t find much odd. I thought it was a fantastic way to set up next season and end this one. 
 

I NEED an explanation for how fast Nate’s hair is greying!

[EternallDarkness]

1 hour ago, Mercury33 said:

 

I NEED an explanation for how fast Nate’s hair is greying!

stress 

[SuperSpreader]

12 hours ago, Mercury33 said:

I thought the multiple “x time later” jumps were def a bit odd. But other than that I didn’t find much odd. I thought it was a fantastic way to set up next season and end this one. 
 

I NEED an explanation for how fast Nate’s hair is greying!

Puberty

[Oberon]

When was he ignoring Nate? 

 

I honestly don't remember that at all

[Kal-El814]

So I do really like this show.  I think the things I appreciate about it most, in no particular order...

 

The characters are generally well meaning and try to better themselves

The characters like one another and treat one another well

Characters without obvious mental health issues go to and benefit from therapy

 

That said I don't believe that this show really knows what it wants to say.

 

There was a lot of time spent setting up Ted's issues with avoidance. He addressed the issue of his father's suicide with Dr. Sharon, but... he ignored Beard's relationship issues other than a quick check in during the finale (more on that later), he ignored learning about soccer, he ignored the prospect of coaching the team before a critical match to teach them dance moves, etc. Ted just gets a pass on everything. This didn't happen last season, even, when Beard rightfully gave Ted shit about not caring about winning now that they're coaching a professional team. Beard says nothing to Ted about what's happening with Nate until the last possible moment even though he's seen it all season and seen it continue after his one attempt at course correction.

 

And this is the issue with this season in a nutshell, almost everything is kneecapped. With the exception of Nate (more on that in a moment as well), everything is handwashed away, deflated, or ignored. Sam talked shit about his club's main sponsor and called out his home government as corrupt? They have a new sponsor immediately and there are no consequences for him nor the team. Sam rejects Edwin's offer to come to back to Africa to play? Turns out he's an unhinged lunatic and working with him would have been a huge mistake. Beard and Jane said I love you to one another after we spent a whole episode with Beard and know the emotional and physical toll that relationship takes on him? They're still breaking up and making up in the finale and it's handled with the grace of a fart joke. Roy was smothering Keeley, then they worked that out? And he learned to appreciate her strength as an individual after looking at the magazine article? Nope, he's offering to take her on a 6 week vacation as she's trying to start a company, making him seem like he's learned nothing. But that's okay because they smooch and leave the tickets behind. Rebecca was really conflicted about the power dynamics and appropriateness of her relationship with Sam. So concerned that she does almost nothing and lets him make the decision to end things on his own.

 

I don't know what show they thought they were making. Dani making the final PK is a callback to his issues in the first episode, but... he's been fine since his session with Dr. Sharon (aside from the goofy notion that a young, rich, Catholic man doesn't have dress shoes that fit him for church...). Jamie giving him the ball would have been a moment if season 2 Jamie hadn't ditched his selfishness to the point where he needed to be told to play aggressively. That bookend and the one from the second to last episode where they're trying to draw connections between the pilot and the finale / Rebecca's two confessions to Ted are just bizarre.

 

And the Nate stuff is just... bad. We spent so much time with him this season, him trying to get into Ted's line of sight, seeing how his family makes him feel small, how he behaves around women to compensate for that, trying to get Roy to punch him... But then his rant to Ted is so bananas it's hard to believe that Ted being present would have solved anything anyway. And at the end he's got platinum hair and he's mugging for the camera? What the fuck was that? Besides, don't we know how Ted is going to handle this? Jamie treated his teammates like shit in season 1, got sold when Rebecca was trying to tank the team, took Ted's advice about passing to the point that he got Richmond relegated... and Ted welcomed him back to the fold without hesitation. There's so much they could have said about how power intersects with toxic masculinity in sports and we get everything short of Nate twirling an invisible mustache. Yes, Nate knows more about soccer than Ted. The rest of the stuff is bananas to the point that it doesn't seem like any amount of attention would have caused Nate to feel better, especially when the baseline is Ted apparently making Nate feel like the most important person in the world, which is... a stretch.

 

So I don't know. I like the characters, I like the show, I like the vibe. I don't think the show is bad, I still like it quite a bit. But I think it COULD be special. It seems like it wants to be but it doesn't know how to get there.

 

EDIT - thinking about it more in relation to season 1... We saw what it cost Jamie with his dad to pass the ball as Richmond got relegated. We saw that he cared what Ted thought. We saw that Ted cared when he made sure Jamie got his letter / army man. We saw Ted lament that Jamie got sold by Rebecca before he had the chance to mend his relationship with the team. We get NONE of that with Nate. We get platinum hair and a smirk. If the show cannot be bothered to show that Ted (who DOES like Nate, even if that didn't manifest in a way that Nate wanted) or the team (who were supportive of Nate throughout the season) give a single fuck that he left, and if they only show Beard eager to headbutt him... why should I care?

 

22 minutes ago, Oberon said:

When was he ignoring Nate? 

 

I honestly don't remember that at all

 

Nate called himself a big dog and Ted laughed at him, he didn't consult Nate when he hired Roy, etc.

 

Some of Nate's beefs are legitimate, Nate projecting all of his issues with his father onto Ted and the notion that Ted made Nate feel like the specialist man in the land are goofy.

[Kamusha]

I've been a big defender of this season but this finale didn't provide the catharsis I was looking for. It felt more like a set-up for the next season, which is find I guess. Apparently the third season will be the last though which is probably for the best, even though I've been loving the new episodes. Always quit while you're ahead.

[brucoe]

Ted Lasso (if hyped like The Batman)

 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

So I binged the whole second season this weekend and loved it. People have a problem with how the season ended??? I thought everything built up and made sense  Glad they're only doing one more season... end on a high note.

[skillzdadirecta]

On 10/9/2021 at 4:15 PM, Oberon said:

When was he ignoring Nate? 

 

I honestly don't remember that at all

He didn't. Nate is projecting his issues with his father onto Ted.

[SuperSpreader]

5 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

He didn't. Nate is projecting his issues with his father onto Ted.

That's what I thought too, my wife said outloud "he's talking to his dad" when he said it. He's projecting the rejection from his father onto Ted because at that moment Ted didn't go with Nate's plan. Nate can't confront his dad so he's blaming Ted. 

[Mercury33]

Also just tossing it in but they made a point of showing the picture Nate gave Ted is hanging in Ted’s apartment 

 

I really hope they don’t with some shitty League of their Own ending where somehow Ted let’s Nate’s team win the championship. Richmond needs to win. 

[Guest]

I don't think they developed Nate's relationship with his father enough to meaningfully transfer those feelings onto Ted. And that is really my issue with the season as a whole, it isn't good drama. The show was much better as a comedy with dramatic moments than it was in it's second season as a drama with comedic elements.

[Mercury33]

I don’t think the show came even close to switching from a comedy to a drama with comedic elements. 

[Kal-El814]

9 minutes ago, Mercury33 said:

I really hope they don’t with some shitty League of their Own ending where somehow Ted let’s Nate’s team win the championship. Richmond needs to win. 

 

No viewer should care about Richmond's success. Ted barely cared about it this season, there had to be < 5 minutes of actual sport shown this whole season. It doesn't matter and if that's what they hang the drama of the 3rd season on, woof, they're in trouble. Again Ted went from being motivated to "win the whole fucking thing" at the end of season 1 to not learning how offsides is called.

 

10 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I don't think they developed Nate's relationship with his father enough to meaningfully transfer those feelings onto Ted. And that is really my issue with the season as a whole, it isn't good drama. The show was much better as a comedy with dramatic moments than it was in it's second season as a drama with comedic elements.

 

This is it, right here. Every possible avenue for meaningful drama is undercut or resolved with such incredible speed and the only thing that's lingering is Nate's daddy issues.

 

1 minute ago, Mercury33 said:

I don’t think the show came even close to switching from a comedy to a drama with comedic elements. 

 

It could be because jokes about rom-communism just don't land and are bad.

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, Mercury33 said:

I don’t think the show came even close to switching from a comedy to a drama with comedic elements. 

What plot lines are based around comedy? The entire basis of the first season is a comedic notion of a goofy American football coach becoming a top level English soccer coach.

 

I think a good example of this is Sam’s entire arc. There is really one solely comedic moment in it, and it is super awkward as a result, which is when he tells the billionaire no and the guy loses his mind and pretends to poop of Sam’s body.

 

The whole season is replete with that sort of thing where the majority of a character or characters arc is is dramatic in substance and then spelled very sparingly with comedy.

[Kal-El814]

8 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

The whole season is replete with that sort of thing where the majority of a character or characters arc is is dramatic in substance and then spelled very sparingly with comedy.

 

Beard's relationship with Jane and how it gets referenced in the last episode of the season is a good example of this. Doubly so, since it turns the actual relationship and Ted reaching out to Beard about it after being avoidant earlier in the season into another break up / make up "gag."

[skillzdadirecta]

2 hours ago, Mercury33 said:

I don’t think the show came even close to switching from a comedy to a drama with comedic elements. 

Me neither... it was still a comedy. A very funny one in fact... the episode with the niece and the bad breath literally had my laughing out loud. I don't see how this show became a drama all of a sudden. I'm so disconnected from some of the takes on this board... must be me 

[Mercury33]

The lines 

 

“No viewer should care about Richmond”

and 

“What plot lines are based around comedy”

 

LOL you guys continue to kill me.

[Kal-El814]

7 minutes ago, Mercury33 said:

The lines 

 

“No viewer should care about Richmond”

and 

“What plot lines are based around comedy”

 

LOL you guys continue to kill me.

 

If the show cared about the sport they’d have bothered to show literally any of it, and they’d bothered to have them being promoted make sense or adhere to the IRL rules for promotion.  But hey, Ted and the producers not bothering to learn the sport at least keeps the brand consistent!

 

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Mercury33 said:

The lines 

 

“No viewer should care about Richmond”

and 

“What plot lines are based around comedy”

 

LOL you guys continue to kill me.

So you can’t answer a basic question about what plot lines a supposed comedy have that are based around comedy?

[Mercury33]

1 hour ago, Kal-El814 said:

 

If the show cared about the sport they’d have bothered to show literally any of it, and they’d bothered to have them being promoted make sense or adhere to the IRL rules for promotion.  But hey, Ted and the producers not bothering to learn the sport at least keeps the brand consistent!

 

 

you know what genre makes sense to not really have to adhere to super serious rules or realistic portrayal of the sport? Comedy. 

[Mercury33]

25 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

So you can’t answer a basic question about what plot lines a supposed comedy have that are based around comedy?

Lol no because that’s an asinine way to judge a comedy. So in order for something to be a comedy it must have full arcs that are based exclusively on the premise of only being funny? Any show that manages to do both simultaneously is now a drama?  Lol if you say so. 

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, Mercury33 said:

Lol no because that’s an asinine way to judge a comedy. So in order for something to be a comedy it must have full arcs that are based exclusively on the premise of only being funny? Any show that manages to do both simultaneously is now a drama?  Lol if you say so. 

I didn’t say exclusively. At least be decent enough to address what I actually wrote.

 

It is incredibly telling that you can’t name a meaningful comedic arc of the season. Because there isn’t one as it fully embraced being a drama.

[Mercury33]

7 hours ago, sblfilms said:

I didn’t say exclusively. At least be decent enough to address what I actually wrote.

 

It is incredibly telling that you can’t name a meaningful comedic arc of the season. Because there isn’t one as it fully embraced being a drama.

And it’s also telling you didn’t bother to read fully through mine. I said the show uses arcs that’s are simultaneously built for both comedy and drama. There are also scenes that are built exclusively for humor. There’s no arcing story to them but they exist as standalone scenes. But you seem to think a show needs arcs built only for comedy to define it as a comedy. So next season there should be a running gag about Ted shitting his pants to requalify as comedy?

 

What genre do you put Schitts Creek in?

[Spork3245]

I eagerly await S3 and hope they follow through with these ideas:

 

 

[Kal-El814]

On 10/19/2021 at 8:00 AM, Mercury33 said:

And it’s also telling you didn’t bother to read fully through mine. I said the show uses arcs that’s are simultaneously built for both comedy and drama. There are also scenes that are built exclusively for humor. There’s no arcing story to them but they exist as standalone scenes. But you seem to think a show needs arcs built only for comedy to define it as a comedy. So next season there should be a running gag about Ted shitting his pants to requalify as comedy?

 

What genre do you put Schitts Creek in?

 

The “genre” discussion is kind of a red herring. Ted Lasso is a sitcom even if the second season has more of a dramatic bent than the first one.

 

But if you’re going to make a comparison to something like Schitt’s Creek, there’s nothing on Ted Lasso that approaches Alexis’s relationship with Twyla, or Moira’s relationship with Jocelyn, or even the entire Rose’s family’s relationship with the town. Those things all remain comedic throughout the show, they all have punchlines throughout the show, but none of them hobble the possibility of character development like dedicating an episode to the Beard / Jane relationship and then dismissing it with a throwaway joke in the finale.

 

None of this makes the show BAD, I still really like it a lot, but I think it does (so far) prevent Ted Lasso from landing as much as something like Schitt’s Creek did. This season had Rebecca reacting to Ted and his mental health getting dragged in the press by texting him to ignore the haters. That shit is weak, David’s anxiety about his driver’s test was handled with more care on Schitt’s Creek and that was the premise for one episode and not a throughput to the whole show like Ted’s anxiety.

[EternallDarkness]

I don't care what genre you call it...the show is damn entertaining end of story!

[Kal-El814]

2 minutes ago, EternallDarkness said:

I don't care what genre you call it...the show is damn entertaining end of story!

 

I am entertained by the show