Make Rebecca Great Again
Teleplay written by: Jason Sudeikis
Directed by: Declan Lowney
Air date: 11 September 2020
Since Jamie's return to Manchester City, Richmond has not scored a single goal. The team unenthusiastically heads to Liverpool for a match against Everton, whom they have not won against in 60 years. Rebecca brings Keeley to Liverpool with her. She admits that she is struggling because the next day is her wedding anniversary with Rupert, the first one since their divorce. Keeley comforts her, and they agree to enjoy the weekend and leave the past behind. The two of them are unexpectedly joined by Flo "Sassy" Collins, Rebecca's childhood best friend and the mother of Rebecca's goddaughter Nora, neither of whom Rebecca has spoken to in six years. The three women go to dinner, where Sassy tells Keeley that Rebecca's cold personality is an act, while the real Rebecca is warm, silly, and a beautiful singer.
Ted holds a movie night for the team, during which he talks strategy with Nate and Beard. He asks what Nate would tell the team if he were in Ted's shoes, but Nate is too timid to share his opinions with Ted. Before he can press Nate further, Ted is interrupted by a message from Michelle reminding him that he needs to sign and fax some paperwork she sent over in order to finalize their divorce. Ted goes to the front desk to ask if they have a fax machine, where he runs into Sassy. The two of them flirt, but do not realize that they both know Rebecca. In his room that night, Ted receives a text from Michelle's lawyer telling him that he can just scan the paperwork instead of faxing it. Nate writes down his thoughts on the team that Ted asked him for and tries to slip them under Ted's door, but Ted catches him and snaps at him to leave.
The next morning, Ted apologizes to Nate and says that the team needs to hear the things Nate wrote about them. To the players' surprise, Nate's pregame speech is actually a witty roast calling out their individual weaknesses, which fires them up and leads to them finally beating Everton. After the match, Rebecca, Sassy, and Keeley join the team in the locker room, where Ted and Sassy are delighted to see each other again. At Roy's urging, the entire team goes out to a karaoke bar to celebrate their victory. Sassy reveals to Rebecca that she deliberately tracked her down in order to support her on her wedding anniversary. Rebecca apologizes for abandoning her and Nora, blaming Rupert's influence; Sassy forgives her, but tells her that it wasn't just Rupert's fault and Rebecca made her own choices, too. Rebecca sings "Let It Go", dedicating the performance to Nora. During the song, Ted has a panic attack and flees the bar. Rebecca finds him outside and helps him calm down. Ted returns to the hotel and finally signs and scans the divorce paperwork.
After leaving the karaoke bar, Sassy, Nate, and most of the players head to a pub to keep the party going. Keeley offers to stay with Rebecca if she's still struggling with her anniversary, but Rebecca assures her that she is fine and encourages her to walk back to the hotel with Roy, who did not go to the pub with the rest of the team. Roy walks Keeley back to her room and the two passionately kiss. Roy then tells her goodnight and leaves, much to Keeley's confusion. Later, Ted hears a knock on his hotel room door and opens it to find Sassy, who wordlessly steps inside.
Tropes featured in "Make Rebecca Great Again" include:
- The Big Damn Kiss: Between Keeley and Roy after half a season of sexual tension, when they walk back to their hotel after the post-win karaoke celebration.
- Brick Joke: When Rebecca and Keeley are in their hotel room, it's revealed that Keeley did some tourism promos for Liverpool early on in her modeling career, which despite being several years old are still shown on the hotel's TVs. Later on, after Richmond wins the match against Everton, Keeley re-adopts the same mannerisms she had in the tourism promos to recommend that they all go out for karaoke to celebrate their win.
- Broken Win/Loss Streak: After going sixty years without beating Everton at their home ground in Liverpool, Richmond finally snaps the streak thanks to Roy's performance.
- Brutal Honesty: Nate's pregame talk is this to a T, from pointing out to Isaac that he relies too much on physical strength to intimidate opponents, to telling Roy to his face that he's too old to rely on speed and needs to harness his anger more. Ted admits that it's completely correct and the players need to hear it, but has Nate read it out because it's too brutal for his own coaching style. Nate's coaching style, on the other hand...
- Comedic Work, Serious Scene: Ted has a panic attack in the midst of the team celebrating their victory and Rebecca singing "Let it Go". He stumbles outside and cries.
- Family of Choice: Of everyone in the Richmond circle, it's Rebecca who follows Ted outside and comforts him during his panic attack after Richmond's victory.
- Foreshadowing:
- Ted signs the divorce papers with his left hand, which becomes very important in the next episode.
- Nate decides to inspire the team with a series of Inspirational Insults rather than a traditional Rousing Speech, hinting at how he doesn't have as much of a soft touch as Ted does when it comes to coaching. However, the fact that his roast actually works and inspires the team to victory also hints at just how well he'll succeed once he strikes out on his own.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: Invoked by Keeley when she tells a bellboy that she and Rebecca are going to have sex in their hotel suite, with her justification being that he'll treasure that mental image much more than a cash tip.
- Heel Realization: Rebecca starts to realize that she's not hurting Rupert with her treatment of the team, just the team, its staff, and the fans.
- Hidden Depths: The entire team recognizes and laughs at Nate's reference to Carrie Bradshaw.
- Inspirational Insult: Nate roasts various players' weaknesses in the locker room just before the match, which motivates them to play, leading to Richmond beating Everton for the first time in sixty years.
- Jerkass Has a Point: As Ted points out beforehand, Nate's roast of the Richmond team, harsh as it may be, is absolutely spot on, highlighting the genuine flaws in their performances. Dani outright admits that his was "harsh but fair", and the only person to object - Isaac - does so before Nate has a chance to elaborate on his criticism and backs off after Nate gives his reasoning.
- Manly Tears: At night, for entertainment, Ted plays The Iron Giant for the team in a hotel ballroom and asks Coach Beard to "Keep an eye on these guys, 'cause around the 74 minute mark, there's gonna be a room full of grown men crying." Later, the scene cuts back to the ballroom right at the moment of the Giant's Heroic Sacrifice and pans across the faces of Dani, Isaac, and Colin, all showing different degrees of tearing up. Even Roy is seen wiping his face in the background.
- Meaningful Background Event:
- After Isaac silently admonishes another player for checking his phone during The Iron Giant, the camera shifts focus to Roy sitting behind them, having watched the exchange. This serves to set up Roy naming Isaac his successor as captain in the season finale.
- While the team celebrates their win, Colin and Isaac can briefly be seen doing shots with Nate at the bar and carrying him out when he's too drunk to walk, showing that they have genuinely turned over a new leaf.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Richmond's match against Everton is completely skipped over, with the narrative jumping from Nate's pre-game "pep talk" to Richmond celebrating their improbable victory (and Roy's match-winning goal) in the locker room.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- The normally stoic Rebecca almost breaks down in tears admitting to Keeley that this is her first wedding anniversary since the divorce.
- The normally cheerful, kind Ted when he snaps at Nate. His normally carefully groomed coif is a mess and he's a few mini-bottles in. Turns out, he wasn't handling his divorce as well as he'd hoped.
- The team is at first stunned when shrinking violet Nate starts his roast, not realizing what he's doing, but then he and they lean into it, and it becomes awesome.
- Playing the Victim Card: Invoked by Sassy that this is what Rebecca is doing, but while she has a point on how bad Rupert was, Rebecca herself isn't blameless.Rebecca: That man took so much from me.Sassy: No. Rupert is a horrible man who built you an ivory tower to keep you captive in...But you climbed every single step of that tower on your own. You're the one who stopped coming home, stopped calling. You made a six-year-old girl wonder what she'd done wrong. I'll always be your biggest defender, but you have to own up to the part you played.
- Running Gag: Keeley’s Liverpool tourist ad pops up a couple times. Roy later tells Keeley that she was on his mind because he kept seeing the ad. Not long after that the pair recreate it to help the team decide where to celebrate.
- Ship Tease: Keeley indicates that she's going to walk back to the hotel with Roy rather than ride with Rebecca. Then Roy kisses her and doesn't go into her room... because he wants something more than a random football hookup.
- Shout-Out:
- The team watches The Iron Giant in the hotel ballroom the night before their match with Everton.
- When the team celebrates their win by going out for karaoke, Rebecca sings "Let It Go" from Frozen (2013).
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Higgins took a small stand against Rebecca in the previous episode, supporting the team and helping them with the de-cursing. Rebecca punishes him this episode, having him stay behind while the team goes to Liverpool, doing "work that doesn't matter".
- This Is Gonna Suck: When it's Sam's turn to get roasted by Nate, he lets out a pained "Oh, no". Inverted by Dani Rojas, who's just as enthusiastic about getting roasted as he is about everything else.Dani: Whoo! Roast me, amigo!
- Title Drop: This is the first episode to avert this by not having the title be spoken aloud in the episode.
- Ultimate Job Security: The waiter Rebecca hooks up with seems surprisingly confident about it, considering that sleeping with guests is a fireable offense in every respectable hotel.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Ted pushes past a vomiting bar patron while having his panic attack.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Ted pushes Nate to roast the team, giving them advice in a harsh way they need to hear, then Nate gives the team a roast that starts out shocking and ends up fun and loving.
