Accidental Aesop: Nate's character development sees him start off as a shy and down-trodden kit man, who is eventually promoted all the way up to becoming a coach once he reveals his tactical acumen. His withdrawn personality is the result of neglectful parenting from his father, who admits in the third season that he didn't know how to raise a genius. This storyline gives two unintentional lessons; that shy people may be hiding a hypercompetent side, and that they are only introverted in the first place because they carry emotional baggage.
Did Dubai Air pick Sam to be their spokesperson because they considered him the most marketable Richmond player due to his rising stardom? Or did they pick him because they believed having a Nigerian player would help take any heat they might face for what they've been doing to the country?
Nate's arc in seasons 2 and 3 draws a lot of debate:
Did Nate become a jerk because he's let his new position and media accolades go to his head? Or has Nate secretly always been a jerk and simply lacked the confidence and authority to be vocal about it? Notably, his very first scene has him yelling at Ted and Coach Beard to get off the pitch only to become meek once he realizes they're the new coaches.
Is Nate so hostile to Will in particular because he serves a reminder of what Nate's life was like before he became a coach? Or is he jealous that Will gets treated with much more respect and friendliness than Nate did when he was kit manager? Or is Nate taking out his insecurities (chiefly fuelled by his father’s withholding of validation) on the person with whom he can get away with it? Or does he genuinely believe that delivering intense pressure and harsh feedback will make Will get better at his job?
Does Nate deliver his "The Reason You Suck" Speech specifically to Colin because the insecure footballer is an easy target? Or because he holds lingering resentment for Colin's long-time harassment of him in (and pre-) Season 1? Or is it both—he still resents the bullying he received in Season 1, but Colin is the only perpetrator he feels comfortable taking it out on (as he doesn't do the same to Jamie or Isaac)?
Does Nate act as Drill Sergeant Nasty to the footballers because he's gone Drunk with Power? Or does he genuinely believe that intense pressure and lack of approbation encourages people to perform at their best - just as his father is shown to have raised him?
Is Mr. Shelley just a stern man, or an Abusive Parent? On the face of it, his sterner moments onscreen seem justified (being annoyed at Nate whistling him and his wife to a table in a restaurant and advising Nate not to get too big of an ego following his success at the FA Cup quarter-final). However, the fact that he cannot be bothered to congratulate Nate at all for his success, and that Nate remembers a time when as an eight-year-old child, his father told his then-girlfriend that she could do better in front of them both (and said the same to Nate about her), indicates that his unpleasant treatment of Nate has directly contributed to some of Nate's issues.
The fact that in Season 3 the entire Shelley family knows Lloyd would freak out if Nate saw the sweet romantic gesture he'd made to ask out his wife indicates that Lloyd has his own fears of appearing vulnerable or foolish. Which, sadly, he seems to have passed along to his son.
Ultimately he does finally have a legitimate heart to heart with Nate with Nate telling him outright how terrified his demeanor often made him, with his father admitting to his own failures in parenting him due to how brilliant Nate was.
Why did Trent Crimm write the article about Ted's panic attack? Was it because it was a juicy story, his friendship with Ted be damned? Or did Trent believe if he didn't write it, Nate would go to another journalist to get the story published and he decided writing it himself would be the best way to help Ted control the narrative? Though it’s hard to see, the article seems to point to the latter. Note that he didn't include Ted in the article or ask for a quote until after the article was released, which is not standard procedure for journalists. The suggestion is that Trent ultimately knew he was doing something shitty and wanted to avoid the moment of confrontation with Ted until the last possible moment. His actor's post-season 3 interview where he states he played Crimm as though Crimm had a crush on Ted, which could have biased journalistic ethics.
Did Jamie give up the penalty kick opportunity during the final match to Dani because he felt Dani had a better chance of converting it? Or did he want to give Dani a chance at redemption for the penalty kick incident earlier in the season?
Was Keeley really fucking with Rebecca when she talked about them having a lesbian weekend, or was she taking her shot and back-pedaling when Rebecca shot her down? Considering she starts up a relationship with her own financier Jack, another woman this may be murkier than first thought.
The reveal in Season 3 that Michelle is now dating her and Ted's former marriage counselor Dr. Bryanson brings up several questions:
Was Ted's previous discomfort with therapy just him being paranoid and bitter because of how his marriage ended or was Bryanson actually railroading and manipulating him so that Ted and Michelle would divorce and he could swoop in to begin a relationship with her himself.
With Michelle herself, while she has generally been positioned as the amicable ex-wife, who simply fell out of love with Ted and felt terrible about it, she also pushed the divorce through quite quickly after officially separating from Ted, while Ted was in the middle of his stressful first season as Richmond coach. In addition, Hannah Waddingham once said she considered Michelle's behavior to Ted to be toxic. The reveal of her current relationship with Dr. Jacob calls into question — did she really just fall out of love with Ted and need to move on, was she being manipulated by her therapist, or did she push for the divorce because she was already in love with Dr. Jacob?
Is Roy's anger and grumpiness due to being in a period of extreme transition, what with the end of the career that had completely shaped his life since he was nine and the start/end of an important romantic relationship, and thus to be expected? Or are his anger issues and violent outbursts genuinely alarming and unacceptable, on top of being completely unprofessional? His tendency to break things, loud threats of physical violence that result in his coworkers having to hold him back, headbutting Jamie, screaming at a team of nine year old girls, and amusement at tying all the players together by their penises for a training exercise all could be argued to suggest the latter.
In "International Break", was the Nigerian government's decision to snub Sam from the national team's roster solely because of Akufo's bribery. Or did they also want to punish Sam for his previous protest of them turning a blind eye to Ceritheum Oil polluting parts of the country.
"Mom City" has all of the Richmond players suddenly deciding to forgive Nate for everything he did to them and ask Ted to bring him back to the coaching staff without any explanation for why they suddenly changed their opinions of him—aside from his apology gesture to Will and him leaving West Ham—after his previous mistreatment of them, culminating in the violent reaction they had to learning he destroyed the "Believe" sign.
From the same episode, the reveal that Coach Beard is an ex-convict who would have been sent back to prison for violating his parole were it not for Ted saving him. As it raises several questions about the character, such as how he was able to obtain UK work status or why his frequent drug use is tolerated despite his previous meth addiction and arrest, it comes across as the writers ignoring previously established facts in order to shoehorn in a justification as to why Nate deserves to be Easily Forgiven.
Awesome Music: A surprisingly excellent soundtrack. Highlights include:
"God Save the Queen" in the opening scene of the pilot.
Cam Cole rocking the house with "Mama" in "For the Children."
"Forever" by Mumford & Sons during the final scene of "Tan Lines". Doubles as a tearjerker.
Rebecca's rendition of "Let It Go" in "Make Rebecca Great Again".
Dani Rojas's entrance, set to "Jerk it Out" by the Caesars.
"Harmony Hall" by Vampire Weekend (also a tearjerker).
"American Football" by Marcus Mumford. The song is played when Richmond scores the equalizer against Man City. It starts with slow, then gradually building up to a crescendo of excitement, which climaxes with a burst of euphoria and triumph. It has to be played to be believed.
Marcus Mumford's cover of "You'll Never Walk Alone" after Richmond is relegated from the Premier League.
"Anarchy in the UK" playing when Roy's preparing for his pundit job in "Lavender".
Rebecca, Ted, and the rest of the team, aided by a few buskers, singing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" in "Carol Of The Bells".
"She's a Rainbow" during the final scene of "Rainbow" when Roy decides to accept Ted's coaching offer and returns to Nelson Road.
For all its weirdness, "Beard After Hours" has a killer list of tunes:
Jeff Tweedy's acoustic cover of the theme song is integrated seamlessly into the intro to signify the episode's Formula-Breaking Episode approach.
The pub trio's triumphant lap around Nelson Road receives a well deserved "We Are the Champions".
The episode's plot concludes with Beard and Jane dancing to "Hello" by Martin Solveig and Dragonette.
The sheer Soundtrack Dissonance of singing Rick Astley's memetic hit "Never Gonna Give You Up" a capella during a funeral makes it even more memorable. Somehow doubles as a Tear Jerker.
Trent Crimm’s entrance to the Richmond facility in "(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea" is set to the perfectly-fitting "A Well-Respected Man" by The Kinks. He gets another moment in "4-5-1" with Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows" when he's leaving Sam's restaurant and spots Colin making out with his boyfriend Michael in an alleyway.
The street performance of The Beatles' "Hey Jude" is made even better by Beard explaining the songs' message to Henry and later joining in.
"La Locker Room Aux Folles", the episode in which Colin comes out to the team., concludes with the epic, affirming "I Am What I Am" from La Cage aux folles.
"Fat-Bottomed Girls" plays after the team wins in "Mom City", connected to an anecdote Rebecca shared earlier in the episode about Freddie Mercury owning Richmond and wanting to make the song Richmond's official anthem.
In the finale, the Richmond players sing "So Long, Farewell" to Ted and Beard after their final practice. Complete with Dani Rojas taking little Gretel's part.
Base-Breaking Character: Nate's character arc managed to split the fandom fairly evenly between those who think his actions are unforgivable, and those who believe him just as deserving of a redemption arc as other characters like Rebecca and Jamie. Fans chose to wait for the next season to find out where the ball lands on that one. It didn't help that it took half of Season 2 for it to become clear Nate was deliberately being written as a jerk, rather than just being Unintentionally Unsympathetic. Season 3 delivers on this by devoting a major subplot to Nate's character development that feeds both sides of the debate; his success managing West Ham United is undercut by his egotism and the way he bullies his players, yet his insecurities are given more focus as he slowly learns to overcome them without needing to overcompensate or rely on fame.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: During "Rainbow", the action suddenly pauses to allow an elderly couple to directly address the camera and talk about how they met and fell in love before mentioning that one of their friends used the story for Titanic (1997) and they've been embroiled in decades of litigation ever since. It is a sudden break for a show that usually keeps the plot moving and rarely leans too heavily on the fourth wall. Though since it’s a clear homage to When Harry Met Sally... in an episode whose whole schtick has been referencing romcoms in its dialogue and visuals, it’s only really a BLAM for any viewers who happen not to know the reference point.
Bizarro Episode: "Beard After Hours", the ninth episode of Season 2, is a trippy homage to After Hours in which Coach Beard suffers all sorts of misadventures on the night after the Man City match. It features a completely nonsense plot, bizarre situations and new characters, doesn't have appearances of the main cast until the very end and, besides giving major insight on the previously Out of Focus Coach Beard's character and motivation, it adds very little to the plot of the season.
Broken Aesop: In "The Diamond Dogs," Ted humiliates Rupert at darts by beating him while giving a speech about how people have always judged him instead of being curious, and if Rupert had been a bit less judgmental and more curious he would have asked if Ted could play darts instead of smugly assuming he would win. The problem is that not only did Ted intentionally start out playing with his non-dominant right hand in order to hustle Rupert, Rupert did ask if Ted liked darts, but Ted avoided the question. While Rupert is a Jerkass who's constantly rude to Ted and outright cruel to Rebecca, he didn't lose because he was judgmental instead of curious, he lost because Ted was conning him. The "don't judge a book by its cover" Aesop doesn't really work when the "judgement" is only wrong because the other person is intentionally trying to trick you.
"Beard After Hours" is easily the most divisive episode in the series with fans. Some dislike it for having a surreal tone, featuring none of the main cast aside from Coach Beard, and being so detached from the season's main plot. Others like it for being something different from the typical episode as well as the fact it gives major insight into Coach Beard, who had been Out of Focus compared to the other characters.
Nate's arc in Season 3. Many appreciated that Nate ultimately wound up in a good place mentally and back at Richmond after his previous struggles and that it kept in touch with the show's themes of forgiveness and helping people to grow as individuals and overcome their flaws. Others feel that the developments that led to Nate coming to terms with his mental health issues, leaving West Ham, and returning to Richmond were contrived, that the arc still failed to address some of his character flaws like his casual misogyny, and that Ted instantly forgiving Nate without acknowledging that Nate hurt him with his previous actions, unlike the treatment Ted gave his mother in Mom City even though her actions were far less actively malicious, was a case of Ted (and by extension the show) embracing the same kind of toxic positivity that he had spent Seasons 2 and 3 trying to grow past.
The “penis-tying drill” in "The Strings That Bind Us" has sharply divided the fandom, with one half finding it hilarious Crosses the Line Twice comedy and the other considering it too horrifying to be funny and a low point for Roy’s character for subjecting the players to it.
Whether the show should continue past three seasons and without Jason Sudeikis as Ted. One camp feels that the strength of the other characters and developments in the Season 3 finale provide more than enough material for the show to continue. Others feel that Season 3 was already showing signs of the show running out of steam creatively and that ending it leaves the series off on a relatively high note before the Seasonal Rot possibly gets worse and tarnishes its reputation.
Given what a vile, abusive and unpleasant man he is, watching Jamie punch his dad to the ground and Coach Beard drag him out and deliberately knock his head against the door while doing so, without breaking his stoic facade, is enormously gratifying to see.
George Cartrick has zero redeeming features as a character, so any time Rebecca or Roy tell him off is pretty satisfying.
Other Hate Sink Rupert Mannion's fall from grace across the third season is very satisfying to watch. Especially since part of it involves a crucial interaction with Cartrick.
The show has a reputation among the general public for being a very upbeat and positive show. The truth is that, while it does contain a lot of warmth and positivity, it also features a lot of darker issues and tragedy. In just the first season we have: Ted's marriage falling apart, Rebecca's bullying from her ex-husband, Roy suffering a Career-Ending Injury, and Richmond getting relegated and that relegation being part of Rebecca trying to destroy the club from the inside. The second adds to this with Ted's mental health deteriorating, Nate's slow Face–Heel Turn, Jamie dealing with his abusive father, Beard's relationship with Jane becoming clearly toxic, and Roy and Keeley's relationship growing strained, making for an overall darker tone than promotional materials would let on.
According to unsubstantiated reports, season 3 went through a lot of rewrites and reshoots, which spread throughout the fandom. In reality, according to Brendan Hunt, they only reshot two scenes in the entire season - one of the locker room scenes (apparently because of a continuity issue) and Zava's bicycle kick - and there were no more "rewrites" than there had previously been in the last two seasons. The only noticeable incidents were two pauses in shooting; Jason Sudekis, Brendan Hunt, and Brett Goldstein were spending so much time in front of the camera that they had less time to check episodes as they were written, so shooting had to pause so the episodes could be finalized when they had the time.
Season 2 opens with Dani accidentally killing Richmond's mascot while taking a penalty. Horrific, but then the episode just keeps rubbing it in deeper and deeper until it becomes funny.
In "Lavender", Jamie's agent has this line:
Jamie, you know you're Like a Son to Me. Now you're like a dead son, which means I love you even more.
In "Man City", Jamie is lost in thought over his father calling while he's spotting for Colin at the bench press, leading to Colin dropping the barbell on his neck. Isaac shoos Jamie away and takes over... only to also become distracted by Sam asking for a haircut, and Colin drops the barbell again.
Akufo's tantrum in "Inverting the Pyramid of Success" has him threatening to buy Sam's family's house, crap in every room before burning the place down, then crap again on the ashes.
In "Smells Like Mean Spirit", Keeley reveals to Rebecca her new office space previously belonged to a business owner who was sued for sexually harassing his female employees. She then shows off the workplace's features, which include a remote control that completely shutters the windows of the man's former personal office.
Rebecca: Yikes. But also very cool.
In "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea", the arrival of legendary player Zava causes Dani drop this pitch-black gem:
I haven't been this nervous to play in front of someone since I was in El Chapo's youth league!
In "Signs", Higgins reads off a particularly nasty message ("Even with Zava, Richmond eats more arse then your mum") from his phone. When Beard advises him to stay away from Twitter, Higgins clarifies that it was a text from his father.
Also from "Signs", when the Richmond staff believes Henry is being bullied at school, Roy gives Ted some advice on how to deal with it:
Roy: Best thing you can do with bullies is ignore them. Then you sneak into their house at 4:00 a.m., which, statistically speaking, is the hour people are least prepared to defend themselves. And once you're standing over them, as they sleep in their bed, you start to beat them. With a thick, heavy rope soaked in red paint. Pummeling them over and over until they wake, confusing the paint for their own blood. When they beg you to stop, you laugh as loud as you can, for as long as you can. And then you start to beat them again. Ted: ...Mmm. Yeah. You know, I may just hold off on anything like that until I connect with Michelle and just get the details, see what actually happened.
In "The Strings That Bind Us", Ted decides to use 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 and properly space themselves on the pitch. Roy, however, decides to up the ante and drive the message home by tying the players together by their genitalia. The resulting montage of the players' resulting pain, climaxing in Jamie getting his string pulled straight off, is both hilarious and horrifying.
Roy can occasionally veer into this territory, especially in Season 3, when he defaults to violent methods in situations where it clearly isn't necessary, such as the red string drill. It gives the impression that the only reason he isn't enacting even more violence than he already does is that the people around him stop him from doing so.
Ted himself can often slide into this role, despite his absolutely immense aura of positivity and sage advice. Far too often, he lets his personal issues override his ability to coach the team and while most are accepting of his mental health struggles, there are definite points where he lets what's going on away from the pitch distract from his job. As Beard points out in Season 1 (though not in direct relation to this), everyone here are professionals and the team needs to perform well or they're at risk of losing jobs. It can be argued early Season 3 was this at Ted's worst due to finding out Michelle was dating their Marriage Counselor which sent him straight to the bottle and he barely coaches most of the first half of the season which is saved by the team having Zava so he could afford to go on auto-pilot while the team won anyway. He does work his way out of this though.
Draco in Leather Pants: In spite of having some ardent haters, Nate has a lot of fans who still defend him after his Face–Heel Turn. They claim that his mental health issues excuse his behavior or that the previous misdeeds and redemptions of Rebecca and Jamie prove he deserves forgiveness. However, these fans also have a tendency to downplay the seriousness of his transgressions, which by definition include workplace verbal abuse and sexual misconduct. Even Nick Mohammed has admitted that whatever mental health problems Nate has, his misdeeds have still crossed some serious lines that cannot be reasonably justified.
Dani Rojas is loved for being an excellent player who's bursting at the seams with infectious, joyful energy. His Catchphrase "Fútbol is life!" has also caught in big with fans as well, as has his use of Pokémon Speak.
Trent Crimm is quite beloved for being much more nuanced and likable than the mean spirited snob he first seems to be, exemplified by him continually sticking up for Ted. The hair and Verbal Business Card also help. LGBTQ+ fans also recognized him as one of their own before it was confirmed in Season 3 and he is immensely popular in the fandom as a result.
Colin Hughes' hilarious stupidity, Hidden Depths, and marked personalgrowth have made him popular with fans. It helps that he's among the few confirmed LGBTQ+ characters in a show with many queer fans.
Isaac's character development from The Bully to team captain has made him popular with the fans, as has his development into something of a Renaissance Man (film buff, fashion plate, hairdresser...)
Will has a small fanbase due to being a genuinely sweet guy who never stops being friendly and Adorkable, despite the treatment he gets from Nate.
Disco, the assistant coach at West Ham, gained a small fanbase from his first scene after reminding the Hammers that just because his name is Disco, "it doesn’t meant we’re here to party".
Ola Obisanya is beloved by the show's fans for being one of the few examples of Good Parents on the show and a textbook example of Big Fun.
Edwin Akufo is loved for being a hilariously dickish Psychopathic Manchild, to the point his actor Sam Richardson won an Emmy for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy for his performance.
Fans began calling Nate "Nate the Not So Great" after he Took a Level in Jerkass in Season 2 and ultimately pulls a Face–Heel Turn. Since his reformation arc in Season 3, as a way of saying that Nate has moved on from his sweet but insecure Season 1 personality, fans have taken to calling him "Nate 2.0".
It’s not uncommon to see the Richmond team as a whole referred to as “The Himbos” due to their collective Dumb Jock tendencies.
Baz, Jeremy and Paul, the three Richmond fans who frequently hang out at the Crown & Anchor, are collectively referred to as "the Pub Trio".
Shortly after his appearance, fans came up with the name "Rani Dojas" for the abrasive persona Dani takes on while playing for the Mexican national team during international break, as a Call-Back to Ted's evil alter ego, "Led Tasso".
Fan-Preferred Couple: Ted/Rebecca is by far the most popular ship for most fans, thanks to their deep, heartwarming friendship, and Rebecca's fantastic Character Development that was kickstarted by her growing affection for Ted. This ship is generally preferred over Rebecca's romance with Sam, because in the eyes of many they simply lack the chemistry that Rebecca has with Ted, and their age gap bothers some.
Ted's endless supply of chipper and goofy quotes have seen quite a bit of repeating. The fact that a lot of these humorous quotes are genuinely good pieces of advice only adds to it.
Roy Kent's many endearing uses of profanity and blunt insults has earned him this status as well.
There is a lot of crossover with fans of this show and fans of The West Wing, due to both being intelligently-written, idealistic shows featuring a Family of Choice of colleagues accomplishing greatness, guided by a charismatic, inspiring leader.
Also with fans of Scrubs since creator Bill Lawrence co-created Ted Lasso, giving both a similar style of heartwarming comedy that can pivot to drama on a dime.
After the first few episodes of season 2 attracted criticism for being too saccharine and lacking conflict, The Onion mocked the show's gentle, uplifting reputation with an article called "Critically Acclaimed ‘Ted Lasso’ Episode Just Stock Photos Of People Hugging Each Other". Within a few episodes of the article's publication, the show took a hard turn into drama, with storylines including Nate's Face–Heel Turn due to his reliance on external validation, the team taking a humiliating beating in an important game, Ted having an emotional breakdown in part due to the unaddressed trauma of his father's suicide, and Jamie struggling to handle his abusive, demanding father. To say the article aged badly is an understatement.
A lot of Nate's more comical moments in Season 1 (yelling at Ted and Beard to get off the pitch before he realizes who they are, motivating the team with a roast of Inspirational Insults, making an out of nowhere joke about Colin's sex life during his promotion ceremony) become much harsher following the events of Season 2 and come across as Foreshadowing of his mean streak that eventually leads to his Face–Heel Turn.
Nate's out-of-nowhere joke about Colin's sex life in season 1, even though Nate had every right to rib Colin after the way Colin had treated him, is made worse with the revelation that as a closeted gay man, Colin likely was having relationships, just none that he could tell his team about.
One funny moment in Season 1 has Colin mention that after Cardiff City was relegated when he was a member, his grandmother refused to speak to him again until the day she died. Season 2 then reveals that Colin actually suffers from a lot of self-esteem issues, making his grandmother's treatment come across as a lot harsher.
On that note, Colin's implied self-esteem issues and his need to constantly tell himself he's "a strong and capable man" in Season 2 become even worse when Season 3 confirms Colin is a closeted gay man who keeps his sexuality a secret because of his fears of how it will be received in the extremely heteronormative environment of professional football.
The already sad arc concerning Ted's faltering marriage becomes even worse when a few months later Jason Sudeikis and longtime fiancée Olivia Wilde announced their separation.
And even worse in Season 3 when it was revealed Michelle was now dating hers and Ted's former marriage counselor, who was her individual counselor first.
During Dani's entrance in Season 1, he runs down the line of players and enthusiastically high-fives each of them, save for Jamie who sharply pulls away. At the time, this is commented on by Ted and Beard as Jamie's pride being hurt over the new player, but after seeing his encounters with his father in 1.10 and 2.08, it's just as easy to see him pulling back, expecting to be hit.
Ted's delighted befuddlement over the efficiency of the British healthcare system when he picks up Sharon after her bike accident has aged poorly, since, after years of budget cuts and staff shortages, the NHS has fallen into a deep crisis over the Pandemic.
Jamie discomfort over being bid on by a much older woman during the charity auction in season one becomes very uncomfortable when, in season three, he reveals to Roy that his father took him to Amsterdam to lose his virginity in the red light district...when he was fourteen.
Ted's quip in "The Signal" about how he loves meeting people's moms because "it's like reading an instruction manual as to why they're nuts" is less humorous after "Mom City" shows that Ted himself has a lot of unresolved issues from his own mother adopting a Stepford Smiler attitude after Ted's father's suicide.
Jason Sudeikis' performance has been getting this reaction from many. Already putting his proven comedic talents to use, he also nails the dramatic scenes, with highlights including when Ted realizes his marriage has to end and the scene where he has a truly frightening panic attack. The awards bodies took notice with him winning a Golden Globe, SAG award, and an Emmy.
Brett Goldstein was such a little known actor that he wasn't even considered to play Roy despite already being involved in the show. Once he stepped in, he wowed everyone with perfect comedic timing and later wowed them again with his excellent dramatic chops.
Hannah Waddingham was always regarded as an excellent stage performer, but her onscreen roles were minor parts that didn't let the actress truly spread her wings. That's not the case here where she gets a huge showcase that's both hilarious and heartbreaking and she completely steps up to the challenge. And for anyone unfamiliar with her musical background, they'll likely be as blown away as the audience by her singing.
Upon seeing Roy hiding from everyone by refusing to come out of the wheelie bin Richmond uses for ice baths, Ted remarks that he looks like a brunet Oscar the Grouch. Brett Goldstein would later make an appearance on Sesame Street alongside Oscar — a promo for the episode showed Roy in Oscar's trash bin and Oscar in the wheelie bin.
In the Season 2 finale, Richmond wins promotion to the Premier League at the expense of Brentford FC. In real life, Brentford won the 2021 EFL Championship play-off Final and got promoted to the Premier League.
In the Season 3 premiere, it's stated that all of the pundits have West Ham finishing in the Top 4. Whilst this would seem reasonable based off West Ham finishing sixth in 20/21 and seventh in 21/22, at the time of the episode's premiere during the 22/23 season, West Ham were seventeenth and just one place away from the relegation zone.
The Season 1 episode "For the Children" centers around a children's fundraiser, where the characters often say they're doing something "for the children" (when they likely aren't). Five months after the episode premiered, the second episode of WandaVision also featured the Arc Words "for the children", but with a much creepier tone as the enchanted citizens of Westview say the words frequently in unison.
The show's premise is that an American unfamiliar with soccer comes to an English club in the doldrums and helps revitalize it. Welcome to Wrexham follows the real-life efforts of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who are both unfamiliar with soccer, in revitalizing Wrexham AFC after years of poor management. Jason Sudeikis is even spotted on camera at a Wrexham match.
During a press conference, Ted makes a joke about Trent Crimm being from The Daily Planet, the newspaper Superman famously works for as a civilian. In Episode 8 of My Adventures with Superman (which aired in 2023, a few months after Ted Lasso ended), one reporter at the Planetlooks a lot like Trent.
Ho Yay: Ted and Trent Crimm. Trent starts out only seeing Ted as a story and is very pessimistic about his attempts to coach a football club, but is quickly won over by his personality and the two men end up unlikely friends. The show could have stopped there, but then in the final episodes of season 2, it is shown that Trent's admiration of Ted has become so great that he outs Nate as the anonymous source who leaked Ted's mental health issues to him, followed by him outing HIMSELF as leaking his anonymous source to his boss so that he could be fired and no longer have to write about Ted. Trent waits around after a game to tell Ted all of this, and is so eager to see him that he accidentally locks himself out of his car. It really doesn't hurt that James Lance later confirmed that he did play Trent as if he had a crush on Ted.
Several fans guessed that Ted's father committed suicide when he was younger.
There was also a popular theory that Nate would betray Ted by revealing his panic attack at the FA Cup to the press as part of a power play. Those viewers turned out to be right.
The second Rupert gifted his minority shares to Rebecca, fans concluded this was solely for selfish legal purposes, as it would allow him to buy a new club.. In the season 2 finale, he becomes the new owner of West Ham United.
A number of people wondered if Colin was gay starting in Season 2, based on his Grindr comment in "Do the Right-est Thing" (since Grindr is geared towards gay and bisexual men). Colin's sexuality was confirmed in "4-5-1", showing he was in a committed relationship with another man but was not out to the team.
More than a few fans guessed that Isaac's subdued reaction to learning that Colin is gay was not out of homophobia, but because he was hurt at being kept in the dark by his closest friend. A shot in the Season 3 trailer of Sam wearing the captain's armband had fans guessing that Isaac would be red-carded in a game for some reason, which they then assumed would be for rushing into the stands to attack a spectator spewing homophobic slurs at the team. All of this comes to pass in "La Locker Room Aux Folles".
Many fans speculated that the unnamed doctor who treated Sharon at the hospital in "Man City" was Roy's sister/Phoebe's mother. "International Break" confirmed that to be the case.
Most viewers speculated that the series would end with Ted deciding to leave AFC Richmond and return to Kansas so he can be closer to Henry. The finale ultimately proved them right.
In "The Diamond Dogs," Roy had been miffed specifically because Keeley admitted to sleeping with Jamie just to get back at Roy due to her own overthinking; though she apologizes, it's understandable that he would be upset. Nevertheless, when he receives an impromptu advice session from the episode's titular support group, his position is framed only as feeling jealous that Keeley had a history with another man when they weren't dating, and he's summarily told to get over it. While it would be justified wrongness if that were as deep as his frustration went, the episode seems to forget the main reason he was upset in the first place.
In "Do the Right-est Thing", Isaac cites Jamie getting Richmond relegated as one of the reasons the players don't like having him back. The thing is, while it's true Jamie was partly responsible for the goal that led to Man City beating Richmond and relegating them, the goal was also a result of Richmond celebrating as though the match was over when there were still a few seconds left. All Jamie (and his Man City teammates) did was continue playing until the final whistle like professional athletes are supposed to do.
Rebecca is determined to destroy AFC Richmond, even though it would be screwing over many people who did nothing wrong, and she sets up the completely innocent Ted to take the fall. While getting revenge against her cheating husband does not justify this, it's still clear that Rupert's many affairs have horribly affected Rebecca's sense of self-worth, and she's clearly in great pain because of this. The fact that her bastard ex and the sexist media continue to mercilessly humiliate her only adds to this.
Roy Kent might be enormously angry and easily disagreeable, but he's also hurting from having to continue to play with a mediocre team despite his previously promising career. The fact that he's on the last legs of said career only adds to this.
Jamie Tartt is a self-obsessed grade A prick who belittles practically everyone around him, but it's also obvious that his bad attitude comes from a horrible father who still abuses him as an adult over a matter as trivial as passing instead of making the winning shot. He's even considered one In-Universe, as when the other players get to see his father's abuse in person, the looks on their faces make it clear they completely understand why Jamie turned out the way he did.
Nate in Season 2 has become a Jerkass who bullies Will and enjoys the acclaim he gets for his coaching far beyond reason, but his reactions to his father's presence and seeing a negative tweet about him suggests that even after becoming a coach he suffers from some major insecurity issues.
Lloyd Shelley turns out to be one. He is responsible for a lot of Nate's self-esteem issues thanks to his stern personality and reluctance to shower praise. However, Season 3 shows that a lot of his attitude stems from coming from a poorer background where he didn't have the same opportunities his children had and that he has a lot of his own vulnerabilities that he's afraid of showing in public. Not helping matters was that he recognized his son had great potential early on in his life, but his inexperience left him with absolutely no idea how to properly nurture and grow his talents and led to their poor relationship.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: While Rupert and Nate were primary antagonists (Nate in parts of seasons 2 and 3, Rupert for all 3) both of them fall squarely under Love to Hate thanks to Rupert's smug charisma and Nate's deep psychological complexities making them interesting and entertaining characters to watch. Instead, the most hated character by the fandom by far is Dr. Jacob Bryanson, Ted and Michelle's former marriage counselor who has swooped in and started dating Michelle following their divorce, thus committing a huge breach of ethics for professional psychologists and raising several questions about how he conducted Ted and Michelle's marriage therapy sessions.
Les Yay: Keeley lavishes praises on a paparazzi photo taken while Rebecca was sunbathing topless, says she would kiss her lips if she could reach high enough, and later jokes (to disconcert a bellboy) that they're going to have sex in their shared hotel suite.
Originally a character people just loved, Nate moved into this territory in Season 2. He's become an absolutely enormous asshole, but he's still regarded as an excellent and engaging character nonetheless, with Nick Mohammed truly selling his villainous turn.
Edwin Akufo is such a psychopathic manchild that he ends up making Rupert look positively saintly when they share a room, and he relishes in screwing with Sam at every possible opportunity, abusing his vast wealth to do so. That being said, he's SUCH a cartoon character that he slides back towards being hilarious in his few appearances. Try watching his appearances, and you'll have a nasty scowl at his actions, before gut-busting laughter when he dives into how he did said actions.
"He's here, he's there, he's every fucking where! Roy Kent!"note Primarily used when viewers see Brett Goldstein appear in other works.
Roy Kent is CGInote A popular joke online is that Roy is actually a CGI created character due to Brett Goldstein's performance being so natural as well as the fact he looks similar to a character model in the FIFA Soccer video game series.
Ted isn't exactly the most ringing endorsement for American soccer. Nonetheless, the character and the show has proven to be extremely popular with American soccer fans and players like Alex Morgan. US Soccer has gone so far as to partner with Jason Sudeikis in-character to do social media posts for both the men's and women's national teams.
European fans also responded very positively the way their football culture got portrayed through the lens of the mostly American showrunners. Even high-profile Premier League managers like Liverpool's Jürgen Klopp or Arsenal's Mikel Arteta have come out as big fans. By the end of Season 2, the Premier League itself came to embrace the show by striking a deal to allow the creators to use its trademarks and footage for Season 3. Pep Guardiola, one of the most famous coaches in the Premier League (if not the world) even makes an appearance in "Mom City".
Misaimed Fandom: For such a heartwarming show, large swathes of fans directed a disproportionate amount of vitriol at both Nate’s character and actor after his downfall in Season 2. Some of the showrunners went public with how surprised they were at the level of anger being directed at Nate's character, and how they felt the hatred was unwarranted. Even worse, Nick Mohammed even had to go on Twitter to ask the audience to stop holding him accountable for a fictional character's actions. For a show that's all about kindness and understanding when people screw up, it wasn't a good look.
Narm: Rupert's Significant Wardrobe Shift in Season 3 sees him wearing black suits and a flowing, cloak-like black coat, not to mention his all-black office. While he's always been a bad guy, he starts resembling a Star Wars villain more than the owner of a football club, making it hard to take him seriously.
Never Live It Down: Nate's detractors commonly cite him calling Rebecca a “shrew” when he mistakenly believes she's fired him in “The Hope That Kills You” and the fact that he leaked Ted's mental health issues to the press as reasons why they don’t like him. It doesn’t help that unlike his other misdeeds, the show doesn't actually address the fact that he did these things, instead fixating on his bullying of Will and the players, lashing out at Ted in the locker room, and destroying the “Believe” sign.
One-Scene Wonder: Cam Cole's awesome performance at the charity ball is certainly quite memorable.
Only the Creator Does It Right: Season 3 is the only season that didn’t have Bill Lawrence as a show-runner, as he left the show to work on Shrinking. It’s also agreed to be the weakest of the show’s seasons, thanks to a dip in the writing quality.
Padding: Apple unexpectedly gave two extra episodes to Season 2. Rather than alter their plans for the season's pacing, the crew simply added two new stories from scratch with no effect on the rest ("Carol of the Bells" and "Beard After Hours").
OT3: Roy/Keeley/Jamie gets a lot of fan love, due to Keeley's relationships with both of them and Roy and Jamie's chemistry-laden rivalry
Realism-Induced Horror: Both of Sam's major plots in Season 3 are full of this. In "The Strings That Bind Us", he becomes a target for a bigoted politician and her racist supporters just because he shows support for a group of African refugees on social media and it culminates in his restaurant being vandalized. Then "International Break" has him have to deal with Edwin Akufo actively using his vast fortune and influence to ruin his life all because he had inadvertently offended the guy the previous year. Both are frightening demonstrations of how bad people can be extremely petty in the real world and that even the most innocuous acts can incur their wrath.
Jamie Tartt was always regarded as a well written and performed character, but he was the least popular member of the main cast in Season 1, due to being a huge dick who never fully Takes a Level in Kindness after being forcibly Put on a Bus. Season 2 sees him return to the team and greatly advances his Character Development, helping to further illustrate why he was such a jerk and showing him grow and makes amends with his previous enemies, becoming a true team player and Nice Guy. Safe to say, the fanbase loved him by the end of Season 2.
An interesting example with Nate: who after spending Season 1 as an incredibly sweet guy who's much more than an ordinary kitman started to be viewed as The Scrappy by some of the fanbase during his Face–Heel Turn in Season 2 (although many fans also enjoyed Nick Mohammed's portrayal of Nate as an excellent and nuanced villain once they realised he wasn't just Unintentionally Unsympathetic). Then in Season 3 Nate fell under this category for real: with many fans rooting for his Character Development as he learned to let go of his self-destructive patterns and grow in confidence in a positive manner. By the time he rejected Rupert and apologised to Will for his previous actions, the fans were rooting for him again.
Ron the Death Eater: In contrast to the fans who lionize Nate, a significant portion of the fandom has showed incredibly vitriolic hate towards him during his downward spiral in Season 2. This is despite the fact that Rebecca and Jamie both caused similar damage during their own downward spirals, and Nate's bad behaviour has clearly been portrayed as stemming from his mental health problems and abuse in both the workplace and at home. Word of God even said that the writers were surprised at how much backlash Nate's character got.
Rooting for the Empire: Some fans were perfectly happy for Nate to stay in his villain era at West Ham. Some because Nick Mohammed did an excellent job selling Nate as a conflicted villain, some because they felt sorry for Nate's lack of recognition in the past two seasons - and some just because they enjoyed seeing Nick Mohammed's black-suited silver fox look.
Salvaged Story: Some critics and viewers criticized the Dubai Air protest plot in Season 2 for the fact that there was no significant consequences for Sam's and the team's actions, making it appear that their activism really didn't carry any big risk and wasn't so brave after all. Season 3 remedies this by having Sam continue his activism and actually having to face negative consequences and blowback for it. In this case, his support for a group of African refugees attempting to enter the UK results in his Nigerian restaurant being vandalized by racist detractors.
Seasonal Rot: While Season 3 had a mostly positive reception, most critics and many viewers agree that it was a step down compared to the near universally acclaimed previous seasons, with the the large number of meandering plots that went nowhere, underutilized characters, contrived plot developments, and instances of inconsistent characterization commonly cited as reasons. Tellingly, Season 3 is the only one of the show's seasons to fail to win any awards at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
Season 2 ends with an extreme close-up of Nate's face, allowing viewers to see the seam where Nick Mohamed's wig meets his face.
None of the matches are shot on location for practical reasons. While home matches at the Racetrack are fairly well rendered, Season 3's away matches look very artificial with mismatched lighting, halos around actors, and characters looking like they're floating in front of backgrounds.
Despite Cristo Fernández being Promoted to Opening Titles in Season 3, Dani doesn't get any major story arcs during the season and largely retains the same Plucky Comic Relief role he had during the the first two seasons. Making it more bizarre is that the other three player characters whose actors were promoted to main billing (Sam, Isaac, and Colin) do get greater focus, so it's strange that Dani doesn't as well.
Many feel this way about Zava. A lot of critics and viewers found that his superstar skills coupled with his Big Ego, Hidden Depths and Cloudcuckoolander personality made him a fascinating and entertaining character. Despite this, the show just uses him as a plot device to kickstart Jamie's Season 3 arc and justify AFC Richmond getting off to a good start before the first match against West Ham. He also hardly interacts with Ted during his time on the show, despite the fact that he is a father himself and could've easily been used as someone for Ted to discuss his concerns about living so far from his son with.
One could argue that they wasted a perfectly good character arc with Nate. While Season 2 set up him to become a rival to ted and Richmond, by extension, this side is hardly explored. While he lobbies a few insults in the first episode of Season 3, there is nothing after that. For that matter, despite his team's success, there is little to no focus on his coaching, making his skills come off as an Informed Ability.note It's even lampshaded by George Cartrick, who argues that Rupert is the reason West Ham made it to second place.
Season 2 in general glosses over the implications of AFC Richmond being relegated and having to compete in the EFL Championship instead of the Premier League. While the opening episode has Higgins mention having to pay the players Premier League salaries on Championship revenue (which is a case of Artistic License – Sports), at no other point during the season are the financial implications of being relegated demonstrated.
A big complaint about the team's protest against Dubai Air is that there is no significant fallout from the team's actions, despite the fact that a professional team openly turning against their major sponsor would realistically have major publicity, financial, and legal ramifications. Bantr, the dating website Keeley was promoting, simply takes over the role of kit sponsor between episodes and the protest is only occasionally mentioned in subsequent episodes, always in positive terms. Some critics noted this severely underplays the bravery the initial act was portrayed with, as they way things play out makes it appear that apparently they weren't taking any kind of big risk after all.
Many fans have argued that for a show that has focused a lot on accountability, both the damage Rebecca could have done to Ted and to Richmond in Season 1 and the damage of the team's bullying to Nate has largely been glossed over so far. Considering the show's tendency to refer back to past arcs, however, this might be touched on later.
When Ted first goes to Dr. Sharon and explains why he doesn't like therapists, he complains that therapists charge for an hour of work but only talk to their patients for 50 minutes. This would've been the perfect opportunity for her to explain why that is (that last 10 minutes is for the therapist to take notes on the session, thereby preparing them for the next, mentally reset for their next patient, and take a bathroom break), but she never does. For a series that focuses so much on mental health, it can seem odd to bring up this common question and simply leave it unanswered.
Many viewers and critics were frustrated at the fact that, outside of the first and, to a lesser extent, the fourth episode of Season 3, very little is seen of Nate on the job as manager of West Ham. Given that the previous season portrayed him as someone who was so fixated on the fact that managers get most of the credit for a team’s success and took so much pride in his strategy abilities that he failed to realize he was lacking several other key coaching skills, it would have been interesting to see him have to navigate the additional responsibilities and drawbacks of the manager role or deal with situations that weren't his job as an assistant at Richmond.
Rather than exploring the rationale and ramifications of the team's violent reaction to learning that Nate had torn up the locker room Believe sign, the show skips ahead several weeks to the point after which all the Richmond players' suspensions for their red cards are up. This avoids any exploration of the team's guilt or lack thereof for the physical violence; any feelings they may have towards Ted for keeping Nate's actions a secret from them; how Nate might view it as an extension of their previous behaviour towards him; or how Zava might consider the behaviour alarmingly over the top, and presents the events of the game as nothing more than self sabotage. The fact that the next time the team encounters Nate is when they have decided to forgive Nate and ask him to return to Richmond, makes the lack of a follow up to and exploration of their reaction all the more baffling, as their actions indicated that they would not be so easily forgiving of him and makes their sudden change in attitude very jarring. The plot is also given no follow up during the Richmond-West Ham rematch, with the West Ham players showing no signs of resentment or wanting revenge for the previous dirty play despite such feelings being fairly common in soccer matches.
Edwin Akufo's proposed a super league that could harm smaller, locally significant teams and make tickets to games even less accessible to working class fans would have been a perfect story for development for Sam, who has a history of social consciousness and activism (his Dubai Air protest and conflict with a bigoted home secretary), acknowledgement and appreciation of ordinary people (his appreciation for the workers in his restaurant, the gala photographers, and the children wearing his jersey that convinced him to stay at Richmond), and personal conflict with Akufo, who had spent the rest of the episode ruining Sam's life. Instead, Sam has no role in the resolution at all, and the league is stopped in the boardroom thanks to Rebecca, who unlike Sam is never shown having real or positive interactions with working class people outside of the world of football and rarely even seems to care about football as a sport rather than a mechanism through which she can beat Rupert, making a pretty speech to a roomful of billionaires. This is especially egregious because the European Super League did get owners signing on, and was stopped through a mass movement of players and working class fans pressuring the founding clubs into withdrawing their support, not the benevolence of an owner.
This is a major criticism of Season 3 in general, as several significant plot developments over the season such as Nate quitting West Ham, the Richmond players deciding to forgive Nate and ask the coaches to bring him back, Ted telling Rebecca he plans to leave Richmond, Ted subsequently breaking the news to the team, etc., all occur offscreen with screen time instead being given to unrelated subplots that aren't as relevant to the main plot.
Trapped by Mountain Lions: Many fans feel this way about Keeley's arc of running her own public relations firm and dealing with her new employees and boss in Season 3, as they dislike how the plot results in her having less screen time with most of the main characters aside from Rebecca and feel the new characters she does interact with just aren't as interesting and fun to watch as everyone at AFC Richmond. It certainly doesn't help that the plot has taken up much of Season 3's running time, with the arc being a major plot in six of the season's first eight episodes. There was at least some hope by fans that the repercussions of this arc would come back around towards the end of the season, tying everything up in a bow, especially once Jack and Keeley broke up, leading to Jack pulling out of financing the firm. It doesn't. By the end of the Season, Keeley is kinda back to where she was at the start, though without being as ultra busy. The only actual differences are Rebecca is now her financier, and the firm is downsized due to everyone but Barbara leaving previously. While Keeley does get some mild Character Development over the course of the season, it doesn't really justify how much the plotline ate up screentime.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Nate's continually greying hair. At first it looks natural, but as it continues to increase at a startlingly rapid rate, it's obvious that he's dyeing it. And the more he does so, the more it creepily clashes with his youthful face.
Nate in Season 3. The show clearly wants viewers to root for him as he adapts to his new job and navigates his relationship with Jade. However, many point out that the fact he’s shown bullying most of the players and staff at West Ham just as he did at Richmond makes it difficult to feel any sympathy for him. Even when Nate finally decides to leave West Ham after Rupert tries to get him to cheat on Jade and begins his Heel–Face Turn, it’s not very cathartic as it was shown that Nate was aware of Rupert fooling around with Ms. Kakes despite being married. This makes it comes across as Nate rejecting Rupert, not for any moral reasons, but because Rupert’s actions are now affecting him personally.
Keeley is another case. Viewers are supposed to sympathize with her struggles of running her own business as well as the ultimate near shutdown of it after Jack breaks up with her. However, it's shown that a lot of Keeley's struggles are a result of her ignoring the advice of those around her such as Rebecca and Barbara. Additionally, despite witnessing firsthand the previous season why employer/employee relationships are a bad idea, she jumps into a relationship with Jack without hesitation, which bites her in the ass when they breakup and Jack retaliates by pulling KJPR’s funding. While the business is saved at the end thanks to Rebecca, it feels unearned since it was a result of Keeley's rich friend bailing her out rather than anything she did herself as CEO.
Ted is as nice as they come, but that doesn't stop him from being set up to be a major failure who will inspire hatred for nothing worse than incompetence, if even that at times. While he takes all this in stride, he's not so successful when it comes to his deteriorating marriage to a woman he still loves. Nowhere is this exemplified more than when he has a panic attack over signing his divorce papers. Season 2 has him struggle with other issues as well, particularly when it's revealed that he has a lot of trauma from his father committing suicide when he was 16. Then in Season 3, shortly after he's shown struggling with his long-distance relationship with his son even more than ever, he learns his ex-wife is now dating their former marriage counselor.
In Season 1, Nate is a sweet guy who's spent his employment at Richmond either being completely ignored or bullied. His treatment there was so bad that he's utterly shocked at the mere notion of Ted treating him with decency. Season 2 sees him become a Jerkass Woobie after he Took a Level in Jerkass.
Higgins is repeatedly abused by Rebecca for covering up Rupert's affairs, something that he himself is greatly ashamed of. Adding on to this is he's initially forced to stand by her and watch as she tries to dismantle the team he works for and genuinely loves.
Dani is one for most of Season 2's first episode after he accidentally kills Richmond's greyhound mascot during a penalty kick. The poor guy is so traumatized by what happened that he completely loses his usual cheery demeanor and his kicking skills.
Will is repeatedly verbally abused by Nate even though he's shown to be a friendly guy who does a great job as kit manager following Nate's promotion.
Colin is shown to be in therapy for self-worth issues, to the point he has to repeatedly tell himself he is "a strong and capable man". Not helping this is that Nate repeatedly singles him out and unfavorably compares his skill to that of his teammates, even going so far as giving him an undeserved "The Reason You Suck" Speech when Colin asks why Nate has been so short with him. Then in Season 3 it's revealed that he's actually gay and has to keep his loving relationship with his boyfriend secret due to the heteronormative culture of professional football.
where he states he played Crimm as though Crimm had a crush on Ted, which could have biased journalistic ethics.