The Hope that Kills You
Teleplay written by: Brendan Hunt
Directed by: MJ Delaney
Air date: 2 October 2020
Nate arrives at the club one morning only to find all of his job duties being done by someone named Will, who claims to be the new kit man. Believing he's been fired, Nate begins to get angry until Ted and Rebecca reveal that he's actually been promoted to assistant coach. The whole team celebrates Nate's promotion together. Roy tells Ted that he needs to pick a new team captain, as he'll be on the bench during the final. Ted refuses, telling Roy that he needs to pick his own successor. To get the team fired up against Manchester City, Nate shows them a video of Jamie insulting them in an interview; it works too well, and Isaac breaks the TV out of anger, which Roy approves of. Meanwhile, Jamie is similarly perturbed by an interview clip—specifically, a video of Ted saying that he's always rooting for Jamie despite his split from Richmond, which Jamie assumes is Ted trying to play mind games with him.
Ted, Beard, and Nate are desperate for a strategy that could help them beat Man City and avoid relegation; Nate and Beard are pessimistic about their chances. Ted tells Rebecca that if Richmond loses the final match, she should fire him and replace him with a real soccer coach. Rebecca suggests that Ted use his ignorance of the sport to his advantage and focus on confusing the opponents, which inspires Ted to come up with a strategy based on heavy use of trick plays.
The final match arrives. In the locker room, Roy names Isaac the new captain while Ted inspires the team to be optimistic about their chances. Richmond holds out surprisingly well in the first half thanks to Ted's strategy and their strong defense. Roy is put in the starting lineup for the second half. Man City scores on a penalty kick, bringing the score to 1-0; Jamie almost scores a second goal for City, but Roy manages to chase him down and tackle him. In the process, Roy badly injures his knee, signaling the likely end of his career. He limps off the field as the fans cheer for him and goes to the locker room, where Keeley comforts him. Back out in the stadium, the fans' phones light up with the news that Crystal Palace has beaten Norwich 6-0, meaning Richmond only needs a tie in order to avoid relegation. The team plays a "Lasso Special," a gridiron football scrimmage that confuses Man City enough to allow Richmond to score with less than a minute left. As Richmond celebrates their apparent draw, Jamie goes back on the attack, bringing the ball back down the pitch and passing it to a teammate who scores in the final seconds of the match. Final score: 2-1, Man City win.
As Ted heads back to the locker room, he sees Jamie sitting seemingly by himself in a side room. Ted almost goes to talk to him, but is prevented from doing so by Jamie's father throwing a shoe at Jamie's head and screaming at him for passing the ball instead of making the game-winning shot himself. In the locker room, Richmond mourns their relegation, but Ted comforts the team by telling them how well they played and that, while they may be sad, they have each other to lean on. As Jamie boards the Man City team bus, Beard gives him an envelope from Ted containing a toy soldier and a note congratulating him on making the extra pass. Ted brings Rebecca his letter of resignation so she doesn't have to fire him, but instead she tells him that she plans to keep him as a coach. Ted resolves that next season, Richmond will get promoted back to the Premier League, and after that they will "win the whole fuckin' thing."
Tropes featured in "The Hope that Kills You" include:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Roy normally hates wisecracks about his age, but is visibly amused when Ted praises him for having "chased down his own grandson" (referring to Jamie).
- An Aesop: Don't come unglued in the face of a crippling defeat.
- Artistic License – Sports: AFC Richmond's final game of the season is shown taking place at night; in reality, whilst Premier League fixtures are played during evenings over the course of the season, this is not the case on the final day of the season as every game kicks off at the same time on a Sunday afternoon in May, with the fixtures being played entirely in daylight.
- Brick Joke: In the second episode, when asked by Trent Crimm if he knew what the offside rule is, Ted replied that he would know an offside when he saw one. In this episode, Richmond have a player flagged for a blatant offside, and Ted is genuinely baffled. Coach Beard ends up having to explain the rule to him.
- Call-Back:
- Roy's injury on the pitch plays out almost exactly like Sam's in "Tan Lines", but with a few key differences that show how the team has evolved and highlight the seriousness of Roy's injury. When Sam got hurt, no one went to check on him except Roy, who paused to give him advice on playing to the crowd by exaggerating how much pain he's in before helping him up. This time around, Roy gets hurt and several of his teammates immediately rush to help him, and Sam pauses to tell Roy to listen to the crowd cheering for him one last time before pulling him to his feet.
- In "Biscuits", Ted's son sent him a bag of green plastic army men to keep him safe, and Ted gave some to Rebecca and Sam for the same reason. After witnessing Jamie's abuse by his father after the game, Ted slips him an envelope with an encouraging note and another plastic army man to show that he's still looking out for Jamie.
- Arlo and Chris have the same conversation about the pronunciation of Zoreaux's surname that Zoreaux himself had with Ted.
- Ted's difficulty with bubble water gives Rebecca a face-full of spit up bubble water.
- Career-Ending Injury: Roy has had a great career, but he's now old and slow, and everyone knows his days of pro soccer are coming to an end. In this episode he busts his knee during a tackle and has to limp off the field, with the commentators noting that it's an injury he probably won't recover from.
- Chekhov's Gun: Of the various trick plays discussed before the match, two get put into practice: Dani's "Sandman" technique (a series of short dummy passes played from a corner, followed by a sudden long-range strike that almost catches City out), and Ted's own "Lasso Special" (an honest-to-goodness American football play that baffles the hell out of everyone and does catch City out).
- Confusion Fu: The final match has Richmond utilizing new, unorthodox strategies to confuse their opponents. They even use a trick play called "the Lasso Special" which uses some maneuvers from American football.
- Continuity Nod: Ted writes his resignation letter on the back of an Indian takeout menu, implying that he has continued to eat Indian food after being introduced to it in "Trent Crimm, The Independent".
- Crazy Enough to Work: The team desperately needs a tie in order to avoid relegation and decides to run the "Lasso Special" which involves the players forming an American Football line of scrimmage with Zoreaux acting as quarterback. The pattern is so loud and disorienting that Richmond is able to take advantage of the opposing team's confusion and score the equaliser.
- Down to the Last Play: When the other game results come through, it becomes clear that a tie will keep Richmond in the Premier League. After a save by Roy that might have resulted in a Career-Ending Injury, Richmond pulls off a trick play that allows them to score the tie. However, it's subverted when they become so elated in their accomplishment they forget that the play is not yet over and in the remaining seconds, Manchester rallies to score an additional point sending Richmond into relegation.
- Downer Ending: Richmond gets relegated after a game against the much better Manchester City, Roy suffers a potentially career-ending injury, and Jamie doesn't even get to enjoy getting revenge on Richmond as he gets screamed at by his father for making the extra pass to win the game instead of trying to score the goal himself.
- First-Name Basis: Rebecca calls Higgins by his first name - Leslie - for the first time in the series, showing just how much she has softened after letting go of her revenge scheme.
- Foil: Jamie serves as one to AFC Richmond. Richmond may have lost and ultimately been relegated from the Premier League, but they are at the very least together; Jamie may have triumphed, but he's subject to his father's abuse and shown alone amongst the rest of Manchester City's squad.
- Foreshadowing: There are a few hints at the meaner, more resentful aspects of Nate's personality that come to the forefront in Season 2. When the team promotes Nate to coach, he misinterprets it as him getting fired and is hostile and angry. Then when Ted presents him with his new coach's whistle, he uses Ted claiming it's "never been blown" as an opportunity to make a joke about Colin's sex life.
- Hope Is Scary: When Ted calls out the pub regulars on acting like Richmond already lost the final match and asks why they don't have a little hope, Mae tells Ted that "it's the hope that kills you". Indeed when it seems that Richmond has pulled off a Miracle Rally to achieve a draw and avoid relegation and everyone celebrates, they wind up losing at the last second and everyone feels worse than they did earlier.
- Hope Spot: Happens when they realize that Crystal Palace has pulled off a win that means that Richmond only needs to tie Manchester City to avoid relegation, and Richmond score, tying the game. However, they allow themselves to become distracted with the celebration of their recent goal and, with the clock still running, Manchester City rallies to score again, resulting in Richmond's relegation.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: In the dying minutes, with Richmond looking to tie the game, Richard is fouled and theatrically rolls across the pitch to make sure a free kick is awarded. He stays down long enough for one of the commentators to remark that he might actually be injured... whereupon he immediately jumps to his feet, perfectly fine.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Ted and Rebecca discuss their plans for "next season" in the final scene, they're talking about the In-Universe football league seasons, but also laying out the arc for the next season of the show.
- Malaproper: In his pre-game interview, Jamie comes out with this gem regarding Richmond's dire situation:Jamie: It'll be good to be the final nail in the ashes. Instant caramel.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: When Rebecca meets Higgins' very large family:Rebecca: How many kids do you have, Higgins?! Jesus Christ!
Higgins: ...And this is our eldest, Lindsay!
Rebecca: Forgive me, Father. - Precision F-Strike: Ted's unending politeness makes the moment he does curse all the more powerful.Ted: So, then next year we get ourselves a promotion - which looks good on any resume - and then we come back to this league and do something no one believes we could ever do: win the whole fucking thing.
- Sequel Hook: The first season ends with two of them. Roy's future as a player uncertain after his injury in the final match. Meanwhile, Rebecca refuses to accept Ted's resignation as manager and the two of them agreeing to win promotion back to the Premier League the next season, then win it all once the team is back.
- So Proud of You:
- Played for Laughs when Isaac throws his chair at the TV as the team watches an interview where Jamie talks about wanting to be relegate Richmond, as Roy immediately praises his action.
- Ted pulls this on Jamie for passing to his teammate, even though it cost Richmond the game and relegation. Jamie is visibly touched.
- Take a Third Option: Jamie visits Keeley and brings her coffee, not knowing that Roy is there and has already made her a coffee. Rather than choose one over the other, Keeley diplomatically pours Jamie's coffee into Roy's, mixing them together.
- Take That!: When the Richmond players ask Ted what happens to the poor performing teams in American sports leagues if there's no relegation, Ted explains that they just play out the rest of their games with half-empty stadiums and half-hearted performances by the players since they don't actually mean anything. Coach Beard then admits to the team it's a very dumb concept.
- Tantrum Throwing: After Nate shows Richmond a clip of Jamie Tartt insulting both the team and Ted as a way to motivate them before the match, Isaac throws his chair at the TV.
- Tragic Mistake: Rebecca's decision to trade Jamie back to Manchester ends up costing the team everything, as Jamie sets up the goal that gets Richmond relegated. Heartbreakingly, it happens just as she admits to truly caring about the team and wanting them to win.
- Truth in Television: The situation Richmond find themselves in - needing a victory to avoid relegation, with a draw sufficing if other results go their way - is very much one that has played out in the Premier League before.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Richmond are down 1-0 when everyone learns that Crystal Palace has managed to defeat Norwich City by enough goals to force a scenario where Richmond can avoid relegation with a draw. The team quickly uses the "Ted Lasso Special" trick before stoppage time runs out and Dani manages to score the equalising goal. Unfortunately, while everyone is celebrating the goal, Manchester City quickly kicks off and takes advantage of the distracted Richmond team to score a last second goal that gives them the win and dooms Richmond to relegation.
- You Are Not Alone: When Ted speaks to the team in the locker room after being relegated:"Now, look, this is a sad moment right here. For all of us. And there ain't nothing I can say, standing in front of you right now, that can take that away. But please do me this favor, will you? Lift your heads up and look around this locker room. Yeah? Look at everybody else in here. And I want you to be grateful that you're going through this sad moment with all these other folks. Because I promise you, there is something worse out there than being sad, and that is being alone and being sad. Ain't nobody in this room alone."
