The Signal
Since adding Roy to the coaching staff, Richmond has been on a 4-game winning streak, which commentators term "the Roy Kent effect." However, the effect will soon be tested in an FA Cup quarterfinal against Tottenham Hotspur, a Premier League team far more talented than Richmond. During training, Roy proves to be a helpful coach to most of the team, but he ignores Jamie's requests for feedback. Jamie confronts Roy, who says that Jamie's problem is that Ted's attitude makeover has been too effective—Jamie's old obnoxious behavior helped him score goals and get in the other teams' heads, and he loses that edge when he tries to be a team player. Roy tells Jamie that the coaches will give him a signal to let him know when he should start acting like a prick during a game.
While chatting with her anonymous Bantr match, Rebecca's morning after with a man she met on a different dating app is ruined by the unexpected arrival of her mother, Deborah, who has just left Rebecca's father, Paul. Beard is having his own romantic upheaval, as his on-again-off-again relationship with Jane is once again back on. Higgins expresses to Ted and Nate that he doesn't feel Beard and Jane's relationship is healthy, but Ted and Nate tell him you should never tell a friend that you don't approve of their relationship. Keeley and Ted go to lunch with Rebecca and Deborah, where Rebecca tells them that her parents have a habit of splitting up every few years only to get back together. During the quarterfinal match the next day, Rebecca, Higgins, and Keeley discuss Jane and Beard. Like Ted and Nate, Rebecca urges Higgins not to say anything. She reveals that the first time Deborah left Paul, Rebecca congratulated her and told her she deserved better, which resulted in Deborah not speaking to her for nine months after she and Paul got back together. Higgins disagrees and expresses the belief that if you care about someone, you should keep trying to reach them in the hopes that one day you'll get through.
Out on the pitch, Jamie's lack of aggression is causing problems for Richmond. The coaches agree that it's time to give Jamie "the signal": all four of them flipping him off in perfect unison. Jamie quickly begins trash-talking one of the Tottenham players, goading him into a foul that earns Richmond a free kick, which Jamie uses to score the first goal of the match. Watching Jamie act like his old self, Ted remembers witnessing Jamie's abuse at his father's hands and his son Henry's admiration of Jamie, and has a panic attack. Mumbling an excuse about his stomach, Ted sprints off the field. Rebecca, concerned, tries to follow him, but Ted is nowhere to be found. The distraction of Ted leaving provides Spurs the opportunity to score. While Beard and Roy scramble for a strategy, Nate confidently takes charge, devising a risky strategy that allows Richmond to score a game-winning goal. In a post-game interview, Nate is complimented for his strategy. He tries to downplay the praise, saying that it's not like he's some kind of wunderkind... but he mispronounces it as "wonder kid," which the press quickly begins using as a nickname for him, much to his embarrassment.
Higgins brings up his concerns to Beard, telling him that he's a great man and asking if Jane makes him greater. Beard is reluctant to listen to him, but the two nevertheless part on good terms even though Beard does not break up with Jane. Inspired by Higgins, Rebecca plans to once again try to talk to her mother about why she deserves better, but when she gets home, she discovers that Deborah has already gone back to Paul. Rebecca invites over Luca, the man she slept with the other night, not seeing a notification from her Bantr match suggesting that the two of them meet. Her Bantr match is revealed to be Sam. Dr. Sharon enters her office and is startled to see Ted on her couch. Ted, still suffering the aftereffects of his panic attack, tells her that he would like to make an appointment.
Tropes featured in "The Signal" include:
- Bait-and-Switch: During Ted and Keeley's lunch meeting with Rebecca and Deborah, the three regulars are shouting at the TV. It sounds like they're watching a football match and ridiculing the players, but when Deborah asks Mae to tell them to knock it off, she reveals that they're actually watching The Great British Bake Off and ridiculing the contestants.
- Batman Gambit:
- Part of the Richmond strategy is to lean into Jamie's natural assholery. Jamie provokes an opposing player, knowing he'll retaliate and earn Jamie a free kick, which Jamie manages to score with.
- Nate's "park the bus" strategy works like this, too. While Roy and Beard focus on the fact that Richmond need a goal, Nate realises that Tottenham need a goal too, and that if they lure Tottenham into all-out attack, they'll eventually make a mistake that Richmond can capitalise upon to score the winner (which is exactly what happens).
- Black Comedy Burst: Beard casually mentions that his mother is heavily invested in the QAnon conspiracy theory.
- Call-Back: We're finally introduced to Laughing Liam.
- Flipping the Bird: The middle finger is used by the coaching staff as the signal for Jamie to unleash his inner jerkass against Tottenham.
- Foreshadowing: Two big ones for Nate's impending Face–Heel Turn:
- When Colin misses a free kick during training, Roy (abrasive as he normally is) gives him actual constructive feedback, whereas Nate just insults him.
- While the rest of the team celebrate the win, Nate is alone in his office, scrolling through Twitter posts about himself.
- Gone Horribly Right: Roy points out to Ted and Jamie that Ted's plan to make Jamie a team player worked too well, as Jamie has started passing the ball to the other players even in situations where him keeping possession and shooting would be more beneficial to the team.
- Heroic B So D: Ted runs off the pitch with a panic attack. Nate saves the day while Rebecca walks the club looking for Ted. Doc Sharon finds him in her (Higgins's) office hours later, and he asks for an appointment.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Higgins rejects everyone's advice and tells Beard he's concerned about the latter's relationship with Jane. At first it looks like Beard is pissed, but instead he rejected Higgins's handshake so he could give the man a hug, understanding where he was coming from even if he didn't agree.
- It's All About Me: Foreshadowing his eventual turn, instead of celebrating with the team, Nate's alone in his office scrolling twitter posts about himself.
- I've Heard of That — What Is It?: Ted pretends to know what Higgins means by "flaneur by nature" only to turn to Coach and ask him what "flaneur" means.
- Letting the Air out of the Band: During the scene of the players in training, the background music swells inspirationally only to peter out when Colin completely misses the goal.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Beard says this after hugging Higgins out of appreciation for his advice.
- Malaproper: Nate tries to play it cool for his first on-screen live interview, saying, "It's not as if people are calling me a 'wonder kid' or anything." The interviewer immediately asks if he means "wunderkind", much to Nate's chagrin.
- Naked First Impression: Rebecca's booty call is naked in her kitchen, and both her mother and her cleaner meet him like that.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: As Ted leaves the field during a critical match against the superior club, Tottenham. The action then follows Rebecca looking for Ted. You can hear the progress of the game in the background as TVs and radios play the announcer commentary, until Rebecca is surprised by the team entering the locker room in jubilant victory.
- Oh, Crap!: Rebecca's the only person apart from Ted who knows that he's had a panic attack, so she's the only one who knows why he's really running off the field. She immediately goes after him.
- Real Men Wear Pink:
- The boys of Nelson Road wear pink boots when they need to.
- The Pub Regulars watch ''The Great British Bake Off" with a similar attitude and passion to watching football.
- Relationship Revolving Door: Rebecca’s parents are revealed to be this. Her mother first left her father when she was at university and Rebecca was glad because she knew her mother deserved better. However, her parents got back together only for this to repeat multiple times over the years. The same happens at the end of the episode: Rebecca finds a note from her mother saying that her father apologized and gave her a new Tesla, and that they’re one again back together.
- The Reveal: It turns out Rebecca's eloquent mystery man is Sam.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Roy immediately leaves rather than participate in the Diamond Dogs.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: Downplayed. Roy points out to Ted and Jamie that turning Jamie into a team player has actually been detrimental to the club, as Jamie is most useful to them by being selfish and scoring goals instead of passing the ball all the time. But he also clarifies that Jamie should only be his old self during matches, as no one could stand his selfish behavior when he was off the pitch.
