Ted Lasso - Season 3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The therapist is shown to be too I to himself. He asked a couple to take a photo of him in a phone booth and then he is shown taking selfies. Michele saw another side of him in vacation and this relationship will end. Also, when therapist went to the bathroom at the diner, Michelle and Ted connected by laughing at each others comments. I think she is missing his sense of humor. I want more Dani and Jamie, hate the Jack/keeley storyline so happy to see that ending (I hope). Still not sure how the cute hostess ended up with creepy Nate.

I never found Nate creepy, just hurt and angry. I think the hostess is teaching him about love and self-acceptance.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have anything against Jack and Keeley getting together as such. It’s just how it was handled. Jack is Keeley’s main funder, but they didn’t meet before Keeley’s company was already stood up? Jack turns out to be a total beyatch and that didn’t seem necessary, they could have broken up for other reasons, like Keeley realizes she loves Roy/Jamie and Jack is really gracious about it. And so on. I should be a screenwriter….

[Anonymous]

Some hot takes:

- I do not think they are setting up for Keely and Roy to get back together. His response to the video leak was not a small thing -- she was so vulnerable in that moment and then he barely comforted her before expressing jealousy over who she sent that video too. Keely was VERY hurt by this response. Even if he did it because he wants to blame Jaime for the leak, it was a very self-centered response when she really needed support.

- I love the Nate story arc. I loved Ted/Beard/Ted's son going to his name, and watching Nate struggle with that. You can see him feeling the pull of Ted and Richmond, missing that camaraderie (trying to create his own Diamond Dogs) and recognizing that the healthy behaviors at Richmond are important for him to be a functional person, to be the person he'd like to be with Jade. But also the pressure to be a certain kind of person for Rupert. I'm am interested to see where they go with it and like that they aren't trying to paint him as a villain, but as a wounded person who is struggling with who he wants to be. I think it's the best executed storyline this season.

- Very hard to deal with the Ted/Michelle/Jake storyline because I can't get passed the fact that Jake was their marriage counselor. I'm really glad Jake and Michelle didn't get engaged because I am already so mad about this situation and can't even contemplate how Ted was able to have a meal with them or interact with Jake in any way normally. I don't think I could do that -- the betrayal is really deep and I don't get how Michelle can trust someone who would do something his unethical. The whole storyline pisses me off and I simply hope that Jake goes away. It doesn't matter to me if Ted and Michelle get back together, I just think Jake needs to be disappeared.

- When Ted went looking for change to give his son, he found a green matchbook in his pocket. Just like Rebecca had that green matchbook, which the fortune teller predicted. It means something, I don't know what yet. Rebecca was also really kind and supportive of Ted about the Michelle/Jake situation, and she really does right by him by reminding him to go enjoy his time with his son instead of focusing on what he's lost with Michelle. Rebecca was all around amazing this week, for Keeley and Ted.

- I liked the extra scenes at the pub, it's fun to see the main cast interacting with the people there.

[Anonymous]

I am over it. I liked the scenes with the Dutch dude in the canal boat, when that happened but otherwise I've totally tuned out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jamie & Keeley 4ever!

Ah, a misstep from showing Jamie’s smarter than we thought (“it’s hypocritical, not ironic) to using password “with two S’s” as his email password, which is dumb. Great episode (even tho I felt the Jack arc was too fast and too forced)

I agree the Jack arc felt forced and too fast. You can almost hear the writers saying, “help, we need to write something for Keely for 4 episodes before we get her back together with X, so what can we shoehorn in?”

I’m betting they’ll get Keely back together with Roy. Jamie has a good character arc so far, but there’s nothing else going on with Roy this season.

It was such a weird story arc. She obviously has to get back together with Roy - but we've seen nothing of him all season, and nothing of them all season. Jamie was the one who actually showed up for her with the video hack. I don't see them getting back together - even though he's clearly in love with her - but. I don't know. I trust the show to make it happen the right way, but I really hated the Keely and Jack thing. It just seemed like it was on a different show. (This is not a complaint against gay plotlines or bi characters! I'm in favor of both!!)

What do we think of Isaac finding out about Colin? I think it'll turn out to be a healing moment - it's Ted Lasso. Curious to see how.

I want more Dani this season, too.

In short, I didn't love this last episode even though overall I've really loved this season.

DP. Re: Isaac finding out Colin is gay, I think we've seen several times that Isaac is a really good person. The latest example of that is him having all the players delete any sexual pictures/emails, etc. That was a very mature and kind thing to do. I think he will be a good friend to Colin and not say anything at all about it - he'll leave it to Colin to come out (or not).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The therapist is shown to be too I to himself. He asked a couple to take a photo of him in a phone booth and then he is shown taking selfies. Michele saw another side of him in vacation and this relationship will end. Also, when therapist went to the bathroom at the diner, Michelle and Ted connected by laughing at each others comments. I think she is missing his sense of humor. I want more Dani and Jamie, hate the Jack/keeley storyline so happy to see that ending (I hope). Still not sure how the cute hostess ended up with creepy Nate.

I never found Nate creepy, just hurt and angry. I think the hostess is teaching him about love and self-acceptance.

+1
I actually did find him to be revolting when he first went through his hateful "transformation," but it's clear what a hurt soul he is and that he knows he does not want to be that version of himself.
DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have anything against Jack and Keeley getting together as such. It’s just how it was handled. Jack is Keeley’s main funder, but they didn’t meet before Keeley’s company was already stood up? Jack turns out to be a total beyatch and that didn’t seem necessary, they could have broken up for other reasons, like Keeley realizes she loves Roy/Jamie and Jack is really gracious about it. And so on. I should be a screenwriter….

I agree with most of this, but disagree about Jack being a B. She's actually been quite lovely and gracious to Keely throughout all of this. She admits that the lawyer's statement was a bunch of BS, and seems apologetic about it, but I can't really blame her for not wanting to be dragged down by this. She's doing everything she can to help Keely manage a bad situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some hot takes:

- I do not think they are setting up for Keely and Roy to get back together. His response to the video leak was not a small thing -- she was so vulnerable in that moment and then he barely comforted her before expressing jealousy over who she sent that video too. Keely was VERY hurt by this response. Even if he did it because he wants to blame Jaime for the leak, it was a very self-centered response when she really needed support.

- I love the Nate story arc. I loved Ted/Beard/Ted's son going to his name, and watching Nate struggle with that. You can see him feeling the pull of Ted and Richmond, missing that camaraderie (trying to create his own Diamond Dogs) and recognizing that the healthy behaviors at Richmond are important for him to be a functional person, to be the person he'd like to be with Jade. But also the pressure to be a certain kind of person for Rupert. I'm am interested to see where they go with it and like that they aren't trying to paint him as a villain, but as a wounded person who is struggling with who he wants to be. I think it's the best executed storyline this season.

- Very hard to deal with the Ted/Michelle/Jake storyline because I can't get passed the fact that Jake was their marriage counselor. I'm really glad Jake and Michelle didn't get engaged because I am already so mad about this situation and can't even contemplate how Ted was able to have a meal with them or interact with Jake in any way normally. I don't think I could do that -- the betrayal is really deep and I don't get how Michelle can trust someone who would do something his unethical. The whole storyline pisses me off and I simply hope that Jake goes away. It doesn't matter to me if Ted and Michelle get back together, I just think Jake needs to be disappeared.

- When Ted went looking for change to give his son, he found a green matchbook in his pocket. Just like Rebecca had that green matchbook, which the fortune teller predicted. It means something, I don't know what yet. Rebecca was also really kind and supportive of Ted about the Michelle/Jake situation, and she really does right by him by reminding him to go enjoy his time with his son instead of focusing on what he's lost with Michelle. Rebecca was all around amazing this week, for Keeley and Ted.

- I liked the extra scenes at the pub, it's fun to see the main cast interacting with the people there.

I agree with all your hot takes! Especially the part about Nate. I liked the way he couldn't help smiling to himself when he saw the picture of Ted, Henry, and Beard cheering at his game. He was touched and delighted that they came, even though I'm sure he wouldn't admit that to himself. He clearly misses all of them. The actor who plays Nate is so believable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have anything against Jack and Keeley getting together as such. It’s just how it was handled. Jack is Keeley’s main funder, but they didn’t meet before Keeley’s company was already stood up? Jack turns out to be a total beyatch and that didn’t seem necessary, they could have broken up for other reasons, like Keeley realizes she loves Roy/Jamie and Jack is really gracious about it. And so on. I should be a screenwriter….

I agree with most of this, but disagree about Jack being a B. She's actually been quite lovely and gracious to Keely throughout all of this. She admits that the lawyer's statement was a bunch of BS, and seems apologetic about it, but I can't really blame her for not wanting to be dragged down by this. She's doing everything she can to help Keely manage a bad situation.

I disagree about Jack. The love bombing seemed aggressive. Jack made decisions without consulting Keeley (we’re going to a polo match, no I pulled us out of the polo match). Jack OK’d the original statement and insisted on the softened statement even though Keeley still wasn’t comfortable with it. Yes, Jack always apologized.

I guess I think the writers could have brought them together and then broken them up without showing Jack behaving badly so often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have anything against Jack and Keeley getting together as such. It’s just how it was handled. Jack is Keeley’s main funder, but they didn’t meet before Keeley’s company was already stood up? Jack turns out to be a total beyatch and that didn’t seem necessary, they could have broken up for other reasons, like Keeley realizes she loves Roy/Jamie and Jack is really gracious about it. And so on. I should be a screenwriter….

I agree with most of this, but disagree about Jack being a B. She's actually been quite lovely and gracious to Keely throughout all of this. She admits that the lawyer's statement was a bunch of BS, and seems apologetic about it, but I can't really blame her for not wanting to be dragged down by this. She's doing everything she can to help Keely manage a bad situation.

Eh not really. She's doing what she can to help HERSELF through Keely's situation. Keely would never, ever issue an apology for something she has no need to apologize for, like this. She did not do anything wrong, and she knows that - and Jack should know that.

Someone on the TL pointed out - correctly, I think - that it's also not a very 2023 sort of statement to issue. It feels very dated, and inappropriate, in today's climate. Don't know if we are supposed to think that, and have it give us pause as to whether this investor group knows what it's doing or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have anything against Jack and Keeley getting together as such. It’s just how it was handled. Jack is Keeley’s main funder, but they didn’t meet before Keeley’s company was already stood up? Jack turns out to be a total beyatch and that didn’t seem necessary, they could have broken up for other reasons, like Keeley realizes she loves Roy/Jamie and Jack is really gracious about it. And so on. I should be a screenwriter….

I agree with most of this, but disagree about Jack being a B. She's actually been quite lovely and gracious to Keely throughout all of this. She admits that the lawyer's statement was a bunch of BS, and seems apologetic about it, but I can't really blame her for not wanting to be dragged down by this. She's doing everything she can to help Keely manage a bad situation.

Eh not really. She's doing what she can to help HERSELF through Keely's situation. Keely would never, ever issue an apology for something she has no need to apologize for, like this. She did not do anything wrong, and she knows that - and Jack should know that.

Someone on the TL pointed out - correctly, I think - that it's also not a very 2023 sort of statement to issue. It feels very dated, and inappropriate, in today's climate. Don't know if we are supposed to think that, and have it give us pause as to whether this investor group knows what it's doing or not.

Jack also introduced Keely as her friend, not her girlfriend. So either she’s closeted or embarrassed about the video. And she definitely cancelled attending the event because she was embarrassed about the video, not because she felt Keely would be uncomfortable.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if one thing they are exploring this season is about how it's not so much about a person's individual intentions, or their inherent "goodness" or "badness". It's about power dynamics and how they can disrupt healthy relationships and lead to bad unintended consequences. Just a few of the very uneven power dynamics at play this season:

- Jake dating Michelle after being Michelle/Ted's marriage counselor. It's a really uneasy situation because Ted feels (rightfully) so exposed by it. he no doubt confided sensitive things in therapy that now his ex-wife's boyfriend knows. And this guy is hanging around his son, too. Not to mention of course that what Michelle confided in him during therapy is now a tool he can use in their relationship. That's so exploitative.

- Nat's relationship with Rupert, where Rupert is clearly just using Nate to exact revenge on Rebecca and Richmond. And at first Nate is also angry at Richmond and is totally on board. And Rupert's money and gifts feel empowering to Nate at first (like the car Rupert gave him). But now we are seeing how being indebted to Rupert in this way is disrupting Nate's ability to repair his relationship with Ted, and become a more balanced, healthy individual. Rupert's money and position over Nate, his power over him, is stunting him. Whereas neither Rebecca nor Ted ever penned Nate in like that, even though he was employed by them as well.

- Keeley's relationship with Jack, who is her investor and mentor. Plus even if she wasn't, Jack is much wealthier than Keeley and is used to using her wealth to maintain power in relationships (as we saw with the "love bombing" and we even saw how Rebecca drew parallels between Jack and Rupert in this respect). And then we saw that come to a head when Jack used her position of authority in their relationship to try and get Keeley to do something she was very uncomfortable with, and when Keeley said no, Jack left. You can paint that as Jack simply trying to help, but the very uneven power dynamics in their relationship make it more nefarious than that (and makes me admire Keeley's strength in standing up to it, in a way Nate was unable to with Rupert in the last episode).

- And all of this is paralleled by the team. First with the introduction of a super player who upends the team dynamics and becomes the overwhelming center of the team, and now with the introduction of a style of play in which NO ONE is the star or clear center of the team, and instead the designated leader (Jaime) is facilitating the success of teammates by using his skills to make them succeed, and thus making the enter team successful. Which is basically the Ted Lasso Way, right? Ted is the classic leader as facilitator, setting aside his ego to help others achieve their goals, and in so doing successfully leading.

This season has felt scattered at times but thinking of it this way, I am starting to see how it all comes together and plays into themes that have been present on the show since the start. The show is not really about being "nice" and corny, though Ted comes off this way. It's really about what it really means to have mutually respectful and empowered relationships, instead of hierarchical relationships based on fear. How by respecting each other and sharing power and authority, we can achieve more success than by controlling one another. It's actually a kind of radical philosophy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if one thing they are exploring this season is about how it's not so much about a person's individual intentions, or their inherent "goodness" or "badness". It's about power dynamics and how they can disrupt healthy relationships and lead to bad unintended consequences. Just a few of the very uneven power dynamics at play this season:

- Jake dating Michelle after being Michelle/Ted's marriage counselor. It's a really uneasy situation because Ted feels (rightfully) so exposed by it. he no doubt confided sensitive things in therapy that now his ex-wife's boyfriend knows. And this guy is hanging around his son, too. Not to mention of course that what Michelle confided in him during therapy is now a tool he can use in their relationship. That's so exploitative.

- Nat's relationship with Rupert, where Rupert is clearly just using Nate to exact revenge on Rebecca and Richmond. And at first Nate is also angry at Richmond and is totally on board. And Rupert's money and gifts feel empowering to Nate at first (like the car Rupert gave him). But now we are seeing how being indebted to Rupert in this way is disrupting Nate's ability to repair his relationship with Ted, and become a more balanced, healthy individual. Rupert's money and position over Nate, his power over him, is stunting him. Whereas neither Rebecca nor Ted ever penned Nate in like that, even though he was employed by them as well.

- Keeley's relationship with Jack, who is her investor and mentor. Plus even if she wasn't, Jack is much wealthier than Keeley and is used to using her wealth to maintain power in relationships (as we saw with the "love bombing" and we even saw how Rebecca drew parallels between Jack and Rupert in this respect). And then we saw that come to a head when Jack used her position of authority in their relationship to try and get Keeley to do something she was very uncomfortable with, and when Keeley said no, Jack left. You can paint that as Jack simply trying to help, but the very uneven power dynamics in their relationship make it more nefarious than that (and makes me admire Keeley's strength in standing up to it, in a way Nate was unable to with Rupert in the last episode).

- And all of this is paralleled by the team. First with the introduction of a super player who upends the team dynamics and becomes the overwhelming center of the team, and now with the introduction of a style of play in which NO ONE is the star or clear center of the team, and instead the designated leader (Jaime) is facilitating the success of teammates by using his skills to make them succeed, and thus making the enter team successful. Which is basically the Ted Lasso Way, right? Ted is the classic leader as facilitator, setting aside his ego to help others achieve their goals, and in so doing successfully leading.

This season has felt scattered at times but thinking of it this way, I am starting to see how it all comes together and plays into themes that have been present on the show since the start. The show is not really about being "nice" and corny, though Ted comes off this way. It's really about what it really means to have mutually respectful and empowered relationships, instead of hierarchical relationships based on fear. How by respecting each other and sharing power and authority, we can achieve more success than by controlling one another. It's actually a kind of radical philosophy.

I like this analysis. A whole season of critical theory, in a very entertaining package!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if one thing they are exploring this season is about how it's not so much about a person's individual intentions, or their inherent "goodness" or "badness". It's about power dynamics and how they can disrupt healthy relationships and lead to bad unintended consequences. Just a few of the very uneven power dynamics at play this season:

- Jake dating Michelle after being Michelle/Ted's marriage counselor. It's a really uneasy situation because Ted feels (rightfully) so exposed by it. he no doubt confided sensitive things in therapy that now his ex-wife's boyfriend knows. And this guy is hanging around his son, too. Not to mention of course that what Michelle confided in him during therapy is now a tool he can use in their relationship. That's so exploitative.

- Nat's relationship with Rupert, where Rupert is clearly just using Nate to exact revenge on Rebecca and Richmond. And at first Nate is also angry at Richmond and is totally on board. And Rupert's money and gifts feel empowering to Nate at first (like the car Rupert gave him). But now we are seeing how being indebted to Rupert in this way is disrupting Nate's ability to repair his relationship with Ted, and become a more balanced, healthy individual. Rupert's money and position over Nate, his power over him, is stunting him. Whereas neither Rebecca nor Ted ever penned Nate in like that, even though he was employed by them as well.

- Keeley's relationship with Jack, who is her investor and mentor. Plus even if she wasn't, Jack is much wealthier than Keeley and is used to using her wealth to maintain power in relationships (as we saw with the "love bombing" and we even saw how Rebecca drew parallels between Jack and Rupert in this respect). And then we saw that come to a head when Jack used her position of authority in their relationship to try and get Keeley to do something she was very uncomfortable with, and when Keeley said no, Jack left. You can paint that as Jack simply trying to help, but the very uneven power dynamics in their relationship make it more nefarious than that (and makes me admire Keeley's strength in standing up to it, in a way Nate was unable to with Rupert in the last episode).

- And all of this is paralleled by the team. First with the introduction of a super player who upends the team dynamics and becomes the overwhelming center of the team, and now with the introduction of a style of play in which NO ONE is the star or clear center of the team, and instead the designated leader (Jaime) is facilitating the success of teammates by using his skills to make them succeed, and thus making the enter team successful. Which is basically the Ted Lasso Way, right? Ted is the classic leader as facilitator, setting aside his ego to help others achieve their goals, and in so doing successfully leading.

This season has felt scattered at times but thinking of it this way, I am starting to see how it all comes together and plays into themes that have been present on the show since the start. The show is not really about being "nice" and corny, though Ted comes off this way. It's really about what it really means to have mutually respectful and empowered relationships, instead of hierarchical relationships based on fear. How by respecting each other and sharing power and authority, we can achieve more success than by controlling one another. It's actually a kind of radical philosophy.

I like this analysis. A whole season of critical theory, in a very entertaining package!

Yes, I love this comment -- very insightful!!

[Anonymous]

The Rebecca/Sam relationship also had very uneven power dynamics.