All Apologies
After Roy makes a number of errors on the pitch, Beard and Nate tell Ted that he needs to take Roy out of the starting lineup for the final game. Ted is reluctant to do so; while benching Roy would give the team a better chance of winning, it would also humiliate Roy and hurt his career.
Meanwhile, Keeley continues to pressure Rebecca to tell Ted the truth about the paparazzi photo, which Rebecca has been procrastinating. After a failed attempt at telling Ted the truth, Rebecca is paid a surprise visit by Rupert, who tells her that he and Bex are expecting a baby. Realizing that her efforts to hurt Rupert have had no effect, Rebecca confesses to Ted that she has been sabotaging him from the beginning. To her surprise, Ted instantly forgives her, as he understands that divorce makes you do crazy things. Rebecca also reconciles with Higgins and offers him his job back.
Ted brings up Nate and Beard's concerns to Roy, who angrily refuses to be benched and storms off. Roy admits to Keeley that he sees the prospect of being benched as yet another sign that his football career is rapidly approaching its end, and he doesn't know who he'll be without football. Keeley and Phoebe remind him that he's more than just a footballer. Ted tells Beard that he's decided not to bench Roy, because doing what's right for Roy is more important than winning. Beard loses his temper and shouts at Ted that they're now in charge of professional athletes, not college kids, and winning does matter.
Roy comes to see Ted and the two talk over tea in Ted's flat, where they both accept that Roy shouldn't start in the final. Ted offers Roy the option of faking an injury so no one has to know he was benched, but says that he hopes Roy doesn't take the offer. The next morning, Roy arrives at training and accepts his placement as a bench player. After everyone else has left the locker room, Roy reaches up and touches Ted's "BELIEVE" sign.
Tropes featured in "All Apologies" include:
- Bilingual Bonus: The song Dani sings in the Cold Open is the show's theme in Spanish.
- Call-Back: Ted's open peanut butter jar makes a comeback.
- In an earlier episode Ted hugs Rebecca after she offers a handshake, who uncomfortably and halfheartedly returned it. When Ted forgives her for her deception, he offers his hand and she glomps him.
- Casual Kink: Beard has never paid someone to bite him. He's been paid.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: A stealthy version. Dani sings the show's theme to himself, but he does so in Spanish and sings a verse that doesn't normally appear in the opening titles.
- Easily Forgiven: After Rebecca confesses to Ted about her attempts to sabotage the club, he forgives her instantly much to her irritation.Ted: I forgive you.
Rebecca: You. What? Why?!
Ted: Divorce is hard. - Excrement Statement: Keeley claims she once shit in a friend's locker when she was thirteen. To this day, she still doesn't know why she did it.
- Heel Realization: Rebecca has hers after learning from Rupert that Bex is pregnant and realizing that all of her efforts to sabotage the team have done absolutely nothing to hurt him or make her feel better.
- Internal Reveal: Rebecca comes clean to Ted about everything she’s done to undermine him and why she really hired him in the first place.
- Kick the Dog: Rupert to Rebecca, when he comes to tell her in person that Bex, his much younger fiancée, is pregnant. During their marriage, he had told Rebecca that he didn't want children; he tells her that this turned out not to be true, and that he just didn't want children with her.
- Leave the Camera Running: The end credits play over a single shot of the team getting ready for training and leaving the locker room.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: While lashing out toward Ted, Roy floats the idea of moving to Major League Soccer, noting that he'd dominate that league in spite of his age and slowing physical capabilities.
- "Not So Different" Remark: After Rebecca confesses to Ted that she hired him in an effort to sabotage the team and spite Rupert, Ted immediately forgives her and points out that marriage troubles cause people to do crazy things, like him deciding to move all the way to London and coach a professional soccer team.
- Oh, Crap!: Rupert once again surprises Rebecca, this time with news that he and New Bex are having a baby.Rupert: I do want a child. I suppose I just didn't want one with... before.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The usually taciturn and supportive Coach Beard when he yells at Ted over his refusal to bench Roy during the final game. Beard points out that Ted's "winning isn't how we measure success" philosophy isn't helpful when managing a Premier League sports team with professional players who will be deeply impacted if they don't aggressively focus on winning even if feelings get hurt.
- Passing the Torch: Keeley makes sure that Phoebe, Roy's six-year-old niece, comes to appreciate the finer points of music.
- The Reveal: After previously only being implied, it’s finally confirmed that Rebecca was the one who ended Jamie’s loan rather than Manchester City calling him back.
- Take That!: Ted calls out the Westboro Baptist Church as people who won't shut up.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Coach Beard vehemently points out to Ted that his "winning isn't how we measure success" philosophy, while positive and reaffirming back in the world of collegiate football, just doesn't apply anymore. They're now managing a Premier League sports team with professional, adult players who care a lot about winning as there are now serious consequences to losing such as relegation of the team and the impact it will have to their careers.
- "You're being a right floppy cock, Rebecca." Keeley holds Rebecca's feet to the fire about her long-term shitty behavior.
