Anonymous wrote:I hated the bit with the opposing West Ham coach and his crotch shot when Rupert pushed him down. What a crass joke in the midst of real dramatic tension.

The crotch shot was a callback to the first episode when Rebecca fired him.

Given how weird the finale was getting, I was so afraid when Ted pulled that snow globe out of the bag, we were going to get a St. Elsewhere ending. Even before the present was opened, I had been thinking, “boy, I hope we don’t find out that this was all happening on a snow globe”

Anonymous wrote:I hated the bit with the opposing West Ham coach and his crotch shot when Rupert pushed him down. What a crass joke in the midst of real dramatic tension.

That whole sequence was tonally really weird. I think part of what they were doing there was trying to show that Rupert is still Rupert, but also to show that to some degree he's playing a role that is a response to how others view him and expect him to act. They definitely made an effort to create some empathy for him as the crowd starts changing "wanker" at him -- they cut to Ted and Rebecca both looking uncomfortable and probably recognizing how hard that would feel. But then with the joke about the coach's junk hanging out of his shorts and quickly returning to play, they didn't quite pull it off.

I feel like they were trying to flesh out Rupert's character all season in this way, showing him sometimes being kind to Rebecca, or helping Nate find some confidence. But obviously he is also shown doing terrible things to both of them, and others. I think it was an interesting idea but not quite fully executed, which is how I feel about a bunch of stuff on the show this season. It's like they needed a few more episodes, honestly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The episode prior to the finale, Ted told Rebecca they needed to talk. We knew/assumed it was to tell her he's quitting.

Some people would have preferred to see it, rather than just have it implied. When you are invested in characters, it's a lot less fun or interesting to simply be told later "yup, that's what they decided."

It was the same when Nate quit -- many viewers were frustrated that the show didn't bother include a pivotal scene between two important characters.

If you have time for a 5 minute musical number and multiple locker room speeches, you have time to show us two characters experiencing in real time a really significant moment in their lives.

This season wasted so much time on weird stuff (like Keely's entire relationship with Jack, for starters) but then glossed right over a bunch of central plot lines. I don't get it.

DP. That’s because they assumed the audience was smart enough not to need a literal play-by-play.

lol. It’s not about smarts. It’s about enjoying the growth, the experience, the development along the way. Would you have valued it more if Nate had just told someone random Aw Jamie put in extra money this time and a few years ago he just chucked in his gum!
Nope.
Seeing it and enjoying it as a part of the show is part of why you watch it. The show really suffered without bill Lawrence who knew that the big emotional payout needs to be seen to be…. BELIEVED.
That said I loved it all and will miss it! Even with its flaws.

This. I'm the PP above who was told I needed too much handholding. It's not that I need everything explained, it's that I had invested years in these characters and wanted to actually see them experience these things, not just hear about it later. It's a testament to the characters and the show that I was invested enough to be disappointed about all the stuff they randomly decided to have happen off screen this season.

I'll never quite understand the time devoted to Jack, specifically. Just a whole character and relationship they decided to devote significant screen time to over multiple episodes, only to get rid of quickly and have her barely referenced again, much less playing a role in the way the Keeley's storyline wrapped up. She was 100% a plot device.

I would have loved to simply find out via exposition that Keely's investor had pulled funding inexplicably and she was devastated, and then still get the stuff with her restarting up with funding from Rebecca and working with Barbara, which are the aspects of that story that were funny and interesting. And then there would have been time to maybe show Ted in therapy a bit, or show Ted and Beard discussing Ted wanting to go home or feeling conflicted about it.

I hated the bit with the opposing West Ham coach and his crotch shot when Rupert pushed him down. What a crass joke in the midst of real dramatic tension.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The episode prior to the finale, Ted told Rebecca they needed to talk. We knew/assumed it was to tell her he's quitting.

Some people would have preferred to see it, rather than just have it implied. When you are invested in characters, it's a lot less fun or interesting to simply be told later "yup, that's what they decided."

It was the same when Nate quit -- many viewers were frustrated that the show didn't bother include a pivotal scene between two important characters.

If you have time for a 5 minute musical number and multiple locker room speeches, you have time to show us two characters experiencing in real time a really significant moment in their lives.

This season wasted so much time on weird stuff (like Keely's entire relationship with Jack, for starters) but then glossed right over a bunch of central plot lines. I don't get it.

DP. That’s because they assumed the audience was smart enough not to need a literal play-by-play.

NP. There’s an obvious difference between “smart enough to understand the story” and “input on what would have made the story better from my standpoint as a viewer.” The writers made some unusual and slightly baffling choices this season, and it’s possible to enjoy the show/finale and still question some of those decisions.

Google Rolling Stone and Ted Lasso finale- they have take on season 3 that tracks what you say above

Heck yes!!! Sooooooo many missed opportunities to invite us in on these big plot twists- Roy and Keelah break up, Nate’s firing, being invited back to the club, sooooo much more. They blew it! And yes I still absolutely loved it. Both things can be true!! It’s not a game of thrones scorched earth scenario. It was still amaze.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The episode prior to the finale, Ted told Rebecca they needed to talk. We knew/assumed it was to tell her he's quitting.

Some people would have preferred to see it, rather than just have it implied. When you are invested in characters, it's a lot less fun or interesting to simply be told later "yup, that's what they decided."

It was the same when Nate quit -- many viewers were frustrated that the show didn't bother include a pivotal scene between two important characters.

If you have time for a 5 minute musical number and multiple locker room speeches, you have time to show us two characters experiencing in real time a really significant moment in their lives.

This season wasted so much time on weird stuff (like Keely's entire relationship with Jack, for starters) but then glossed right over a bunch of central plot lines. I don't get it.

DP. That’s because they assumed the audience was smart enough not to need a literal play-by-play.

lol. It’s not about smarts. It’s about enjoying the growth, the experience, the development along the way. Would you have valued it more if Nate had just told someone random Aw Jamie put in extra money this time and a few years ago he just chucked in his gum!
Nope.
Seeing it and enjoying it as a part of the show is part of why you watch it. The show really suffered without bill Lawrence who knew that the big emotional payout needs to be seen to be…. BELIEVED.
That said I loved it all and will miss it! Even with its flaws.

Sometimes there was enough information to know what happened without seeing it. (Nate officially quit off scene—but he unofficially quit at that bar). But sometime there wasn’t. I still have no idea why Roy broke up with Keely. He didn’t think he deserved her? She worked too much? There was some weirdness in season 2? He flirted with the teacher? He couldn’t express himself? He hates himself? I can’t root for them to get back together if I don’t understand what happened. At least we know why Keely broke up with Jamie and can see that Jamie is no longer that person.

Alcohol is also not allowed at your seats during Premier League games. Yes, there are reasons (tragedies) for this.

Do you think all the paid US youth travel soccer coaches are out there thinking, wow, I should be more like Ted Lasso?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay, minor point of annoyance in a great episode - why wasn't Jamie's mother at the game?? It was obviously in their town. Why did she have to watch it on TV? He would/could/should have gotten them tickets!

This occurred to me too and I think it must be because she was rooting for Jamie and his team and would have been heckled mercilessly if she had shown up at the hometown game rooting for a rival.

English Football is very strict about home fans and away fans seating. You cannot really buy a ticket in the general stadium and root for the away team...it is not done, or at your own risk. It's a tradition to have an "away section" where all the away fans sit, and those tickets are usually distributed through the club/season ticket holders. It may sound weird to us Americans but it's actually kind of cool. If you have some really pumped away fans, their songs in their small section can be heard all over the stadium and change the momentum of a match. Plus when the away team scores, if on the right side they will celebrate in front of their own fans. I think at the end of the match in the episode, you see the players celebrating in front of Richmond fans at the match. (Owners/VIPs are different obviously which is why Rebecca et al were in a box.)

Yes, we went to a Man City game at Etihad and part of the ticket deal is that you have to agree not to wear colors of the opposing team.

I loved the finale. I'm really glad Roy is the new head coach, I love him.

In my imagination Roy ends up with Keely and continues to try to change for the better including only using really bad language like the F word and the C word around adults.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The episode prior to the finale, Ted told Rebecca they needed to talk. We knew/assumed it was to tell her he's quitting.

Some people would have preferred to see it, rather than just have it implied. When you are invested in characters, it's a lot less fun or interesting to simply be told later "yup, that's what they decided."

It was the same when Nate quit -- many viewers were frustrated that the show didn't bother include a pivotal scene between two important characters.

If you have time for a 5 minute musical number and multiple locker room speeches, you have time to show us two characters experiencing in real time a really significant moment in their lives.

This season wasted so much time on weird stuff (like Keely's entire relationship with Jack, for starters) but then glossed right over a bunch of central plot lines. I don't get it.

DP. That’s because they assumed the audience was smart enough not to need a literal play-by-play.

NP. There’s an obvious difference between “smart enough to understand the story” and “input on what would have made the story better from my standpoint as a viewer.” The writers made some unusual and slightly baffling choices this season, and it’s possible to enjoy the show/finale and still question some of those decisions.

Google Rolling Stone and Ted Lasso finale- they have take on season 3 that tracks what you say above

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The episode prior to the finale, Ted told Rebecca they needed to talk. We knew/assumed it was to tell her he's quitting.

Some people would have preferred to see it, rather than just have it implied. When you are invested in characters, it's a lot less fun or interesting to simply be told later "yup, that's what they decided."

It was the same when Nate quit -- many viewers were frustrated that the show didn't bother include a pivotal scene between two important characters.

If you have time for a 5 minute musical number and multiple locker room speeches, you have time to show us two characters experiencing in real time a really significant moment in their lives.

This season wasted so much time on weird stuff (like Keely's entire relationship with Jack, for starters) but then glossed right over a bunch of central plot lines. I don't get it.

DP. That’s because they assumed the audience was smart enough not to need a literal play-by-play.

NP. There’s an obvious difference between “smart enough to understand the story” and “input on what would have made the story better from my standpoint as a viewer.” The writers made some unusual and slightly baffling choices this season, and it’s possible to enjoy the show/finale and still question some of those decisions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ted tells his mom he has been seeing the therapist. I don’t think we needed to see the details of the sessions this season for her to be included in the finale.

I also disagree that we don’t know why Ted went home. He went home to his son as fully explain in the episode with his mom, not his ex wife.

+1
Also, I believe in one of the last episodes, he tells Rebecca he has something to tell her. It’s very much implied that he will be telling her he’s leaving. We don’t have to have everything spelled out for us - in fact, I prefer it that way.

Side note - I didn’t realize Ted had been away for three years!! That’s a very long time to be separated from a young child, even with visits.

They were intentionally tricky about it though. In the penultimate episode, it ends with Rebecca coming to his office and saying "it's that time of year where I come and tell you something important, but I have nothing" and then Ted tells her he has something, and it's implied that he's going to say he's leaving but they don't show it.

Then the finale begins with Rebecca watching TV and Ted wandering in and you are supposed to go "wait, did they sleep together?" And then they reference him leaving without saying that's what it is ("are you ready to talk about it?") and then they dive into the episode where it's like everyone knows Ted AND Beard are leaving, though we never saw Ted tell Beard he wanted to go home or Beard express feelings about it one way or another.

I'm all for ambiguity and leaving some things to the imagination, but I think it's a problem when I don't even understand the sequence of events or how characters feel about it. Did he tell Beard first? Was Beard immediately like "ok, let's go" or was there a discussion. And when did he tell the team? They all know but it's unclear how.

I think it's weird how much they hid the ball on that one.

Oh my goodness. I feel exactly the opposite. I loved the opening scene where we’re supposed to think Rebecca and Ted slept together (wait, what?!?), only to have it turn hilarious with the revelation that there was merely a sleepover at Rebecca’s, Beard in a thong, etc. and then things proceed from there. I would have been so bored if every detail had been spelled out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The episode prior to the finale, Ted told Rebecca they needed to talk. We knew/assumed it was to tell her he's quitting.

Some people would have preferred to see it, rather than just have it implied. When you are invested in characters, it's a lot less fun or interesting to simply be told later "yup, that's what they decided."

It was the same when Nate quit -- many viewers were frustrated that the show didn't bother include a pivotal scene between two important characters.

If you have time for a 5 minute musical number and multiple locker room speeches, you have time to show us two characters experiencing in real time a really significant moment in their lives.

This season wasted so much time on weird stuff (like Keely's entire relationship with Jack, for starters) but then glossed right over a bunch of central plot lines. I don't get it.

DP. That’s because they assumed the audience was smart enough not to need a literal play-by-play.