Two Aces
Ted tries to hide his distress over his impending divorce, but Beard and Nate immediately notice that he is struggling. Rebecca informs Ted that Manchester City have asked about terminating Jamie's loan, but Ted tells her to let them know that he is not planning to bench Jamie. Jamie attempts a power play against Ted by refusing to practice, claiming to be injured. The plan backfires as Ted finally loses his temper with Jamie, angrily lecturing him in front of the rest of the team and destroying any influence Jamie still had over them. Ted, Beard, and Nate plan to whip Jamie into shape by filling his striker spot with a new player, Dani Rojas, who joined the team at the start of the season but has been out with an injury ever since. To everyone's surprise and delight, Dani turns out to be every bit as talented as Jamie, with the added bonus of being much friendlier and more supportive of his teammates. Meanwhile, Keeley alerts Rebecca that Rupert is now dating Bex, the young woman he left the charity gala with, and the press are now referring to Rebecca as "Old Rebecca".
After training, Jamie practices bouncing the ball off the goalposts. Dani joins him in the exercise and cheers him on as the two get into a friendly competition; Jamie loses, but is nevertheless begrudgingly won over by Dani's kindness and positivity. As Dani practices by himself later, however, he trips over nothing and re-injures his knee. Nate claims that this happened because Dani went into the treatment room before training that day, and according to team superstition, the training room is cursed. Ted gathers the team, minus Jamie, at The Crown and Anchor, where Mae and Higgins tell them the history of the training room: in 1914, hundreds of young men were convinced to enlist in the army after being lured to Nelson Road Stadium by the promise of open tryouts for AFC Richmond. After enlisting, their physical exams were performed in the stadium's treatment room. Most of the men who enlisted that day were killed in the war. Ted tells the team that they need to honor those men's sacrifice by each giving up something that they truly value, and that they will gather in the treatment room at midnight to perform the sacrifice. Jamie, having been filled in on the plan, tells Keeley about it and claims that he's not going to participate. Keeley tells him that he needs to stop fighting the people who want to help him. Sam invites Rebecca to the sacrifice, telling her that she is part of the team and the ceremony won't work unless the whole team is there. Rebecca acquiesces.
At midnight, the team gathers in the treatment room along with Ted, Beard, Nate, Higgins, and Rebecca, but without Jamie. Everyone steps forward and explains their sacrifice before placing it in a metal drum to be burned. Jamie arrives at the end of the ceremony and says that he would like to make a sacrifice, too: a pair of cleats given to him by his mother, who cared more about him being a good person than a good footballer. He confesses that he developed his tough, egotistical attitude because his father would mock him for being "soft" if he didn't aggressively dominate as an athlete. The team brings the drum full of sacrifices out onto the pitch to be burned, where Ted asks the spirits for a sign that the curse has been lifted. He is answered by the arrival of Dani, whose injury proved to be mild and will not prevent him from playing. Ted reveals to Rebecca that he actually knew that Dani was fine hours ago, but Higgins suggested waiting until after the ceremony to tell the players; Rebecca is annoyed at Higgins for supporting the team when he's supposed to be helping her undermine them. The entire team, finally united, celebrates together around the fire, but Rebecca declines to join them and leaves alone.
In the morning, Ted arrives at work overjoyed at having finally brought the team together, only to be informed by Beard that Jamie is gone. Ted angrily confronts Rebecca, who claims that Man City recalled Jamie and she was powerless to stop them. Despondent at having lost Jamie just after getting through to him, Ted returns to his office, where Dani comfortingly reminds him that "football is life."
Tropes featured in "Two Aces" include:
- Actually Pretty Funny: The press are on board with Ted and his silly jokes.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: After Ted's long, babbling explanation of how he walked to work and then putting on his sweater backward, Nate asks if Ted's all right. Beard's response? Laughing with a Big "NO!".
- Auto Erotica: It's mentioned that Keeley and Jamie used to have sex quite often in his car.
- Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: Ted's son Henry employs this sort of language when he throws a tantrum, and Ted threatens to copy him if the Richmond team doesn't stop speaking cryptically around him.
- Blatant Lies:
- Ted arrives at the ground late and insists that he's fine, but it's clear from his behavior (culminating in suggesting that he, Beard, and Nate start using pet names like "honey" for one another) that he's barely holding it together. Humorously, Nate still has to ask Beard whether Ted is okay, to which Beard replies with a chortled, "No?!"
- Roy doesn't believe that the training room is cursed, and he certainly isn't afraid of any spirits that reside there. Not that he's going to go inside the training room.
- Jamie's not fooling anyone when he says he's hurt and has to miss practice, least of all Ted.
- Brick Joke: At the start of the episode, Ted (still reeling from his divorce) suggests that he, Beard, and Nate can start calling each other pet names like "honey". At the end of the episode, he enters his office and greets Beard with a cheerful "Good morning, honey bunch!"
- Call-Back: Higgins adds his cat's collar to the bin; she finally died.
- Didn't Think This Through: During the bonfire ritual to get rid of the ghosts in the treatment room, Colin decides to give up the keys to his Lamborghini—as in, the car he drives to work. A baffled Coach Beard asks Colin how he's going to get home, and the look on Colin's face clearly shows he hadn't thought that far ahead.
- Disapproving Look: Rebecca's face when Richard emotionally offers his supermodel sex sand to the sacrifice pile speaks volumes. Given the fact that she was married to a football official that constantly cheated on her with models, it's understandable.
- Double Meaning: When the team start arguing which of Martin Scorsese's films is the best, Roy ends the discussion by shouting "Silence!". Depending on how you interpret it, Roy is either telling the others to be quiet, or he's taking part in the argument by suggesting another of Scorsese's films.
- Dutch Angle: Used when Ted finally loses his temper at Jamie, both to illustrate how disconcerting it is to see Ted angry and to make Ted loom over Jamie.
- Establishing Character Moment: Dani Rojas comes running onto the field enthusiastically chanting his own name, high fives all of the other players, thanks the coaches for the opportunity to play and follows their instructions without hesitation, expertly dribbles, passes, and moves on the pitch before scoring a goal, and celebrates his goal by complimenting Sam on the excellent set up pass he made. This shows that he's a threat to Jamie because he's The Pollyanna and just as talented.
- Family of Choice: Ted continues to build this with the ceremonial bonfire to cleanse the training room. Even Rebecca gets into it, in a two steps forward, one step back kind of way.
- Foreshadowing: Nate taking joy in Jamie's humiliation foreshadows his dark Face–Heel Turn.
- Gilligan Cut: Ted, Beard, and Nate worry that latecomer Dani Rojas will be overwhelmed joining the team. Cut to Dani sprinting onto the field, chanting his own name and thrilled beyond belief to be there.
- Girly Girl: Keeley bought herself a notebook with "My Adventures as a Unicorn" written on the cover. When Rebecca calls her on it, Keeley tells her to "Fuck off, it's adorable!".
- Handwave: When Ted asks how he's only now learning that the team's treatment room is supposedly cursed after weeks of coaching the club, Sam says it's because everyone is embarrassed to admit that they believe in such superstitions.
- Haunted Headquarters: The club's treatment room is considered cursed, so players do their best to avoid going inside. Ted eventually leads a ceremony to pacify any spirits within.
- Heel Realization: Rebecca has a small one when Sam appeals to her, saying the de-haunting will only work if the whole team is there and "it's your team". It's not enough to stop her from cancelling Jamie's loan deal.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: When Dani enthusiastically greets his new teammates, Jamie dismissively says that "chipper dickheads" like Dani don't have any real talent on the pitch. The very next scene shows that despite his overly upbeat attitude, Dani is definitely a talented player.
- Internal Reveal: In his fury over Rebecca cancelling Jamie's loan deal, Ted blurts out that he's been making her morning biscuits all along.
- Jerkass Has a Point: When the other players start snickering as Roy recounts how scared he was about joining the Sunderland academy, Roy angrily reminds them he was nine years old when this happened and it's normal behavior for someone that age.
- Jerkass Realization: Between Ted berating and humiliating him in front of the whole team, and Keeley telling him that he needs to stop fighting people who are only trying to help him, Jamie finally seems to realise that he has an attitude problem and admits that his mother wouldn't have been proud of his recent behavior.
- Mood Whiplash: Ted finally gets through to Jamie and comes in the next morning full of enthusiasm, only to be told that Jamie has returned to Manchester City.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Rebecca has a very brief moment after Ted chews her out for letting Man City call him back, and he hands her her morning biscuits yelling "I finally cracked the recipe!".
- Not So Above It All: Despite claiming he doesn't believe in curses, Roy refuses to enter the haunted training room when Ted asks him to accompany him in there to break the curse.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ted snaps and shouts at Jamie when the latter tries to get out of training with the rest of the team by claiming to be injured, which is very jarring considering the supportive and fatherly approach Ted normally takes towards coaching. It's like seeing a puppy brutalize a kitten.
- Ted gets angry twice more in the episode: once when the players start speaking cryptically about the treatment room (though it's more frustration at being Locked Out of the Loop than anger), and once when he learns that Manchester City terminated Jamie's loan deal after he'd finally gotten through to him. It really hammers home just how much his divorce is affecting him.
- Jamie finally opens up to his teammates at the curse-breaking ceremony, sharing that he loves to play because his mum loved how happy it made him, and that he became a dick because his dad loved how much he won. What he burns aren't his first boots, but they're the oldest boots he has and he burns them because he wants his mum to be happy.
- Prized Possession Giveaway: For the curse to get lifted, Ted has each team member incinerate an item with deep personal meaning. It becomes obvious that everyone interpreted the assignment differently, and the offerings range from prized childhood memorabilia to car foofaraw and women's panties.
- Punny Name: Higgins' cat (now sadly deceased) is named Cindy Clawford.
- Rage Breaking Point: Happens to Ted twice:
- After the events of episode 5 (Jamie is benched and Ted and his wife agree to divorce) Jamie claims he cannot practice because he is injured. Ted becomes visibly angry for the first time ever on the show, to the shock of everyone. That said, their shock is less important than their agreement. They're sick of Jamie's bullshit.
- When Ted learns that Rebecca got rid of Jamie after Ted finally got through to him, he is absolutely furious and struggles to stop himself from berating her. He's still willing to give her his home-made biscuits, but he's really upset about it.
Ted: I FINALLY NAILED THE RECIPE! - Rule of Symbolism: The episode opens with Ted taking off his wedding ring and dropping it in a jewelry box. When he finally gets to work, he puts on a team sweater backward while babbling about walking to work.
- Security Blanket: Roy's offering to the sacrifice pyre is a blanket he brought with him when his early football career first brought him away from his family.
- Serious Business: The team recognizes that Ted asking Jamie to set out the cones as a second teamer is an insult.
- Shout-Out: Ted's "practice" rant towards Jamie is taken from a famous press conference by Allen Iverson. For those familiar with Iverson's conference, it serves to make Jamie look even more childish: Iverson was dismissive of practice (and furious at the reporters who kept asking him about it) because of the recent passing of his best friend, while Jamie was simply because he got benched in their previous game. Iverson missed because of something more important than practice, while Jamie was doing so because he thought he was better than Ted/the team.
- Sidetracked by the Analogy: Ted tries to convince the team that they can end the curse on the treatment room just like Martin Scorsese ended his own "curse" of not winning any Oscars, but when he mentions that The Departed isn't necessarily the director's best work, the whole group starts getting into a debate over which of Scorsese's films is his best.
- Stereotype Reaction Gag: Discussed. When Sam tries to convince Rebecca to attend the curse-lifting ceremony, he remarks that people always assume he's into magic and superstitions because he's from Africa. When Rebecca guesses that he isn't, Sam enthusiastically replies that he is, but it's because he's a Harry Potter fan, not because he's African.
- Superstition Episode: The episode revolves around the team lifting a curse from the stadium's treatment room. Even Roy gets in on it.Ted: Okay, then you and me, we're gonna go look in that room.
Roy: No.
Ted: Why not?
Roy: Because... no. - Take That!:
- While trying to inspire the team that they can end the treatment room curse as Martin Scorsese ended his losing streak at the Oscars, Ted gets off track and notes that The Departed is far from the director's best work. Everyone starts listing his films, disagreeing about his best.
- During his conversation with Rebecca, Sam praises J. K. Rowling for becoming wealthy through her creations that she gave to the world, unlike Queen Elizabeth who is only wealthy because she was born into the royal family.
- Tempting Fate: After helping to lift the curse, Jamie joins the other players in chanting "We're Richmond 'til we die, we're Richmond 'til we die", only to end up back at Manchester City the following day.
- Tragic Keepsake: The Security Blanket Roy offers for the sacrifice pyre was given to him by his grandfather as a way to comfort him while he was away from their family attending the Sunderland academy. It wound up being the last gift Roy ever received from him as his grandfather died before he could return home during break.Roy: I was fucking nine! Say something.
- Yank the Dog's Chain:
- Ted seems to have finally gotten through to Jamie, only for Jamie to suddenly be recalled back to Manchester City.
- Subverted with Dani Rojas. It's mentioned that he's spent months on the sidelines due to injury and has only just been able to start training with the team... and then, as a result of the curse, he immediately gets injured again. Fortunately, it's not serious and he's back up and running (literally) by the end of the episode.
