Recap / Ted Lasso S3E07 "The Strings That Bind Us"

Ted Lasso — Season 3
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The Strings That Bind Us

Written by: Phoebe Walsh
Directed by: Matt Lipsey
Air date: 26 April 2023

Sam checks in on his restaurant staff and asks the hostess to clear a table for Friday night because his father is coming to visit. The conversation is interrupted by the chef, Simi, swearing at a news story about the UK Home Secretary, Brinda Barot, wanting to send away a boat of refugees. During that day's training, Ted, Beard, and Roy inform the team that they'll be switching to the Total Football tactic effective immediately. Ted tells the team that there are four aspects to Total Football: conditioning, versatility, awareness, and a fourth thing he hasn't figured out yet. The players run through multiple training exercises meant to reinforce each of the first three aspects.

Meanwhile, Keeley finds herself overwhelmed by Jack's constant, over-the-top gifts and struggles to keep their relationship a secret at work. Jack assures her that she doesn't care if their coworkers know and announces to the office that she and Keeley are dating. Keeley has dinner with Rebecca, who suggests that Jack might be love bombing her and warns her to be on the lookout for red flags. When they try to pay the bill, the waitress tells them that Jack already took care of it. The next day, Keeley tells Jack that she doesn't want to feel like she's being swept off her feet every time they hang out. Jack agrees to let Keeley take her to dinner instead. They go to A Taste of Athens, where Jack jokingly calls Keeley a love bomber.

Jade, the hostess at A Taste of Athens, is friendlier than usual to Nate, who tries to figure out if Jade likes him or is just being nice. At his sister Nicole's birthday dinner, he asks his mother and Nicole for advice. They tell him to just ask her out and show him a map that Nate and Nicole's father made to ask out their mother for their first date. Inspired, Nate makes a diorama of himself asking Jade for a date, but on his way to deliver it, he drops it in the street, where it gets run over by a car. Undeterred, Nate asks out Jade anyway, and she accepts.

At Sam's restaurant, Simi shows Sam a video of the refugee boat being sent away and Brinda Barot saying that "Britain is closed." Sam suggests that Barot may just be misguided and tweets that he hopes she'll change her mind. However, Barot responds that "Footballers should leave the politics to us and just shut up and dribble." The next morning, Sam finds that his restaurant has been broken into and trashed, with the words "shut up and dribble" spray-painted on the wall. Sam arrives at training enraged, only to break down crying when he sees that his father, the restaurant's namesake Ola, has arrived. Ola encourages Sam to reopen the restaurant and let go of his anger, telling him, "Don't fight back. Fight forward."

During Richmond's match against Arsenal, they find themselves struggling with Total Football and end up down 3-0 at halftime. In the locker room, the team criticizes Jamie for not staying up front to score goals. Jamie tells the team that he's not playing Total Football wrong, they are—they need to stop treating him like a striker and let him be in the center to help connect everyone else's passes. Back on the pitch, Richmond adopts Jamie's suggestion and score a goal via a series of beautiful, creative passes between Jamie and the rest of the team, although they still lose the match. Trent elatedly realizes that Total Football is going to work for Richmond because Ted hasn't just switched to the tactic in a week, but has in fact been slowly working towards it for three seasons by building a culture of trust and support among the team. After the match, Sam brings Ola to his restaurant, only to find the rest of the team already there repairing the damage. Sam is grateful for their help, but decides to keep the cracked mirrors as a reminder that not everything has to be perfect. The team enjoys a dinner prepared by Sam, Ola, and Simi.

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Tropes featured in "The Strings That Bind Us" include:

• Actually Pretty Funny: When Coach Beard includes Jamie's time at Man City and his quitting the club to star on Lust Conquers All in his presentation on Total Football, Jamie laughs along while jokingly reminding the others he was "robbed" when he was voted off the show.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Zigzagged. When Mr. Obisanya meets Rebecca during the game, he's a bit awkward around her (what with her being his son's ex who dumped him and all). He's much smoother around Simi, but Sam (who is there) is still embarrassed.
• Broken Glass Penalty: Isaac takes a corner kick that Dani normally handles, and isn't used to doing so. He kicks the ball way too hard, and it crashes into Higgins' office just as Higgins is sitting down to have a cup of hot tea. It doesn't completely break the window, but the sudden unexpected noise makes Higgins spill the tea all over himself.
• Call-Back:
  • Rebecca describes how Rupert love-bombed her by buying her an expensive car on their second date, which is also what he did to Nate at the beginning of this season.
  • Jan Maas once again corrects someone on the pronunciation of Johan Cruijff's name. However, in this case it's Coach Beard and, unknown to Jan, he actually does know the proper pronunciation.
  • Jamie’s time playing at Manchester City is once again brought up, as is his quitting City to go on a reality TV show.
  • When Jamie has a suggestion about how to fix their strategy, but doesn't want to say it because he fears everyone will think he's a prick. Cue the entire dressing room, including a discreet Trent, Flipping the Bird, which is the signal that Roy came up with to give him permission to be a dick in "The Signal".
    • When he does present his idea, he rearranges the strategy board to bring other players up front while he moves back, referring back to when Zava rearranged the board to bring himself forward while everyone moved back in "4-5-1".
  • Roy continues to yell "whistle!" during the team's drills, with Jeremy surmising that he doesn't use an actual whistle due to a metal allergy.
  • Nate fancies up a box with crafts to hold his diorama like he did for the suggestion box back in the first season.
• Character Check: It's revealed Nate has set up his phone so that Siri calls him "Wunderkind" rather than his name. This serves as a reminder that, as Endearingly Dorky as Nate has been over the past few episodes, he still has a fragile ego and Self-Serving Memory.
• Character Development:
  • Jamie's continues nicely. First he is confused and a bit hurt about being the only member of the club to not switch places with another player, and then he comes up with the strategy that allows Richmond to score their only goal in their match with Arsenal, even if it means not being the one to actually score the goal.
    Dani: And there it is. Numero quatro. Sacrifice. Putting aside personal glory on behalf of the team.
  • Nate also gets some. He works up the courage to ask Jade out on a proper date, he doesn't spit on his reflection when he panics about it, and he takes the destruction of his display for her in stride.
    • Notably, both Jamie and Nate - two characters who've struggled with underlying issues impacting their personal images - have a chance to show their character development in this episode: both shaking off moments that might previously have humiliated them (Jamie laughing off his stint on ''Love is Blind'', Nate shrugging off falling flat on his face in front of a street full of people).
  • After Baz, Jeremy, and Paul get to sit in and watch Richmond's training for the week, they take Ted's lessons to the heart and are a lot more patient and understanding with the club during their match against Arsenal.
• Defrosting Ice King: Downplayed. Trent has long since warmed up to Ted and Richmond F.C., but his delighted talk with Ted (see Leaning on the Fourth Wall) is the most animated we've ever seen him.
• Did Not Think This Through: Once the "played tied together by their genitalia" exercise is put into effect, Ted and Beard realize it probably wasn't a good idea and won't let Roy run the drill again when he suggests it.
• Establishing Character Moment: Mr. Obisanya is as shocked as anyone by Sam's outburst, but when his son runs to him for a hug and starts crying, he immediately hugs him back and tells him that it's okay.
• Facial Scruff: Ted talks about how good ideas can sometimes come after bad ones, and uses a previous facial hair style he had as an example. He has Beard recount how he described it.
  Beard: Your goatee makes it look like you ate out Bigfoot's butthole.
• Food End: The team has an impromptu party after they fix the restaurant, and Sam's dad (with Sam and Simi) cooks for them. The last shot of the episode has Sam and his dad dance as they cook.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The team's water bottle routine (passing a bottle amongst themselves before finally putting it in Will's basket) is how they score their sole goal in the Arsenal match. The camera even focuses on the basket as Will leaves the dressing room.
  • Following the string exercise, Roy proposes new version with multiple people tied to one person. The formation that Jamie proposes is effectively the same thing: him in the center connecting the moves of the other players. Just without the dick strings.
  • When Keeley mentions all the gifts Jack has been giving her, Rebecca describes it as love-bombing and cautions that Rupert did the same thing to her. While she notes that Jack might not be like Rupert, and Jack does back off when Keeley confronts her about it, it's the first warning sign that Keeley and Jack's relationship isn't as healthy as it seems.
• Four Is Death: When Jamie rearranges the team's tactic to place himself as the central playmaker rather than the target man up front, Dani realises that this is the fourth aspect of Total Football: sacrifice. In this case, it's a metaphorical death - the sacrifice of Jamie's personal glory in favor of the whole team - rather than actual one. Subverted immediately, however, when Ted clarifies that this isn't the fourth aspect.
• The Gadfly: Ted tries to instill camaraderie amongst the team by tying players together in pairs and having them work together as a unit, basing it off of a Japanese belief that soulmates are tied together by a mythical string tied around their pinkie fingers. Roy puts his own twist on it by forcing everyone to tie the string around their penises, and he's clearly enjoying himself while watching the mishaps that ensue.
• Got Me Doing It: Roy makes a couple of Ted-like asides during Ted's half-time speech, and he is not happy.
  Roy: Make it stop.
• Grand Romantic Gesture: Jack gives Keeley a lot of these, making her increasingly uncomfortable as it's all a bit too much too quickly.
• Groin Attack: To get the team to work together, Roy has the team tie themselves together by their groins so that any time they spread out too far apart it will result in this.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Bumbercatch doesn't just knit. He's also pretty good at fixing neon signs.
  • Mr. Shelley, Nate's father, isn't entirely humorless as depicted in previous appearances. Thanks to some badgering from Nicole, Mrs. Shelley reveals that her husband made a specialized map for her when he first asked her out.
• Innocently Insensitive: When Sam arrives late to training because of the restaurant vandalism, Isaac, not knowing what has happened yet, reprimands him for being late and tells him to pay the £100 fine. This results in Sam shoving Isaac, at which point he realizes something is seriously wrong.
• It Amused Me: Roy has a little bit too much fun watching the penis tie exercise, and even tries to make it even more horrifying for the next time they run the drill, but his colleagues agree that the exercise was one-time deal and has served its purpose.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Jamie's assessment of "I'm not playing it wrong, you are" - he quickly explains what he means, and adjusts Richmond's formation accordingly.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Trent's delighted exchange with Ted sums up a huge part of the show.
  Trent: By slowly but surely building a club-wide culture of trust and support through thousands of imperceptible moments, all leading to their inevitable conclusion: Total Football.
• Literal-Minded: When Ted instructs Dani and Isaac to swap places, both men promptly start impersonating the other.
• Meaningful Echo: Earlier in the season, Zava rearranged Richmond's formation around himself, with the whole purpose being to get the ball to him so he could score; here, Jamie rearranges Richmond's formation around himself, but with the intent of Jamie being an anchor point that the rest of the team play through so he can direct the ball to their best attacking options at that time.
• Meaningful Name: It was previously revealed that Sam had named his restaurant "Ola's" though the reason why had not be given. It isn't until Sam's father meets Simi and introduces himself that we learn the restaurant is named after him.
• Meaningful Rename: The episode was originally titled "Boxes," as in the boxes that various people had been put in. A good title, thematic for the episode, but at some point the title was changed to reference a... memorable scene.
• Never My Fault: The Richmond players initially pin the blame on each other for their failing to properly implement the Total Football methodology; Jamie sums it up as "I’m not playing it wrong, you are" before elaborating that they’re all playing it wrong and adjusting their formation.
• Nice Guy: We finally meet Sam's dad, and he's every bit as warm and kind as his son.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: The UK Home Secretary in the show's universe is named Brinda Barot, but her attitude toward refugees and combativeness on social media brings Suella Braverman to mind.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Sam showing support for a group of African refugees seeking asylum in the UK results in racist detractors vandalizing and destroying his restaurant.
• No. Just... No: Paul is given some red strings, and he wants to know if any of the other spectators wants to, ahem, mimic the team. He gets absolutely no takers.
• Not So Above It All: Jan Maas has acclimated himself to the team's behaviour, and he's fully bonded with them, but he's still generally quite stoic. When the team flips off Jamie, he flashes a big grin and flips him off with both hands where everyone but Beard only uses one.
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • Rebecca advises Keeley that Jack's behavior is very similar to how Rupert acted when Rebecca first started dating him so she needs to be careful.
  • Upon hearing Nate express his self doubts about Jade, his mother and sister remark that he's just like his father when he was courting his mother.
• No Such Thing as H.R.: Roy's "tie players together by the penis" exercise does not result in any of the players filing a complaint or any of the coaches facing disciplinary consequences.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Coach Beard uses the English pronunciation of Johan Cruijff's name, as he doesn't want Jan Maas knowing that he knows how to speak Dutch.
• Odd Reaction Out: During the string training exercise, when Jamie's dick string is accidentally pulled off, everyone stares in fear and shock, worried that Jamie has damaged his penis... except for Roy, who is grinning like it's the happiest day of his life. Reversed a moment later when Jamie and Dani confirm Jamie's penis is okay. Everyone smiles and sighs in relief, except for Roy, who now looks disappointed.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Sam is arguably the calmest and most gentle member of Richmond F.C., but even he has his limits (such as his restaurant being trashed, with graffiti telling him to just play football). When he has an angry outburst over his restaurant being vandalized after he showed support for African refugees, the entire team is taken aback, as is the coaching staff.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: While Richmond winds up losing to Arsenal 3-1, their improved play in the second half of the match suggests that the team has gotten the hang of the Total Football strategy and it's going to work in future matches.
• Red String of Fate: Referenced in both the episode's title and the episode itself; Ted uses the concept of the Japanese belief in the red string of fate as a team-building exercise where the members of the team are tied to each other in pairs with red strings, so they can work together as a unit. Roy, however, takes it further by having the team train while tied together with red strings attached to their penises.
• Relationship Reveal: Jack tells Keeley's employees that she and Keeley are dating. Barbara already had an idea, because Keeley is a Bad Liar.
• The Reveal: Sam named his restaurant after his father, Ola. To reinforce this, immediately after Ola reveals his first name, Bumbercatch gets the restaurant's neon sign working and Ola is visibly stunned to realise what the restaurant is called.
• Ripped from the Headlines:
  • Sam being told to "Shut up and dribble" and not to provide any political commentary is something that happened to LeBron James after he provided political commentary critical of the Trump presidency in 2018. In turn, this was an echo of people telling the Dixie Chicks to shut up and sing when they criticized the Bush presidency in the 2000s.
  • Sam's comments in the locker room, specifically noting that that bigoted fans will turn on him for missing a penalty, is a direct reference to the racist abuse suffered by Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka following their missed penalties in the Euro 2020 final.
• Rule of Symbolism: The players all rally together and utilize their individual strengths and resources in the necessary areas to repair Sam's restaurant, just as the Total Football strategy utilizes their individual skills to come together on the pitch. Lampshaded when Jamie remarks that the players asked themselves, "What does this situation need?", one of the core principles of the strategy.
• Share the Male Pain: Ultimately played straight. Step 3 of the Total Football training involves the team training with red strings tied on their penises... with the other end tied to another player's penis. We are treated to a montage of unintended pain (well, unintended by everyone but a delighted Roy), climaxing in Jamie getting his string pulled straight off his dick, much to the horror of everyone - though Jamie winds up being fine.
• Shout-Out:
  • To You've Got Mail. In the film, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan go to work as the city stores open up, and "Dreams" by The Cranberries plays. The episode opens the same way, but with Roy and Jamie training while Nate walks past A Taste of Athens hoping to see Jade.
  • After Isaac accidentally kicks the ball too hard and into Higgins' office, Baz shouts out "Juuuuuuust a bit outside."
  • Roy's laugh during the red string drills is identical to Ernie's from Sesame Street.
• So Proud of You: Ola assures Sam that he's proud of the way Richmond played, even though they lost.
• Soft Glass: Averted. The ball Isaac kicked put a very large crack in Higgins' office window, and a few pieces do fall inside, but the ball bounces off of the window.
• Stating the Simple Solution: As Roy continues to yell "Whistle!" at practice, Ted points out they could just get Roy a whistle made of plastic so he won't get mouth hives.
• Swapped Roles: As Richmond falls behind to Arsenal 3-0, Mae starts freaking out and complaining the team will be relegated again while the Pub Trio, having sat in training all week, implore her to be patient and trust the club. Mae is taken aback by their change in behavior.
• Technologically Blind Elders: A Freeze-Frame Bonus of Nate's previous texts with his mother shows that she's not too adept at untangling problems with her devices.
  Mum: Cheeky, the internet is out. (shows a photograph of the back of her router)
  Nate: Mum, it is unplugged.
• This Is My Chair: After the training session where the team switches places, Will sits in Beard's seat with his feet up on the desk and reads a book, just like the real Beard. Who then walks in.
  Beard: Get the fuck out of my chair.
  Will: Yeah, no, of course, sorry.
• True Companions: The team comes together as one to fix Sam's restaurant.
• Unseen No More: Sam's father Ola finally makes an appearance in person, after spending previous episodes only being The Voice during conversations with Sam over the phone.
• Visual Pun: To help demonstrate the whole "switching places" concept, Ted has Beard take over the kitman role while Will steps in as assistant coach... complete with sunglasses and a fake beard made of duct tape.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: The team gets worked so hard that some of them vomit.
  Jeremy: This is some of the best puking I've ever seen.
  Paul: Yeah, me too. And we spend most of our lives at the pub!

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