TL;DR – A Kansas City detour to set up the season.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this episode.

Ted Lasso Review Introduction

Well, it is time for some more Ted Lasso. Now, I am on the record as being very fond of the series, even the weird episodes of Season One, Season Two, and Season Three. But I, like many, thought we were doneski, so colour me shocked when Season Four appeared from the ether. But given the time and the landscape, can it recapture that joy? That is what we are looking at today.

So to set the scene, Ted (Jason Sudeikis) has spent the last few years being the best day he can be to his son Henry (Grant Feely). But instead of coaching football or soccer, Ted is an assistant manager at a local supermarket. But then one day a surprise arrives in town. Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), Leslie Higgins (Jeremy Swift), and Keeley Jones (Juno Temple) have arrived with a mission. They want Ted to come back and coach their new women’s football team. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Set Up Time

To get to the heart of this episode, it is all set up; we don’t dive fully into Ted as coach; instead, this episode is all build-up to that final decision. This does limit the episode a touch because you already know that he will take the job, or there would be no season to watch. So a lot of the will he/won’t he falls flat. It also falls into some of the odd indecision that Ted has as a character that does not always work for the show. It also has to carefully unravel the conclusion of So Long, Farewell while also leapfrogging from some of the plot threads set up in it. I am not sure they completely pulled it off, but it was not a complete disaster.  

Kansas City, Kansas/Missouri

One of the reasons why the episode works as well as it does is that for most of its runtime it is on a charm offensive. The first layer of that charm is the narrative; it is sheer power of optimism that is Keely. Then the next is the odder charm offensive Ted’s family uses when he starts backing out, even though they were the main reason he left London. Finally, there is the overwhelming charm that is baked into everything Midwest. It works because you are willing to go on a journey with the characters even if the journey is not so far this episode. Although there is only so much of a tourism ad that I am willing to sit through.    

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Ted Lasso? Well, oddly, I think this is an episode they needed to add from a production perspective to reorient the show and prime people who are not familiar or don’t remember. However, if you are familiar with the show and characters, then this will feel a lot of like padding that you have to get through until the interesting stuff next week. In the end, this is a holding episode, and does not shine a light on what to feel going forward. Have you seen Ted Lasso yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments below.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Ted Lasso
Directed by – Declan Lowney
Written by – Joe Kelly
Developed by – Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt & Joe Kelly
Based On – Format and characters from NBC Sports
Production/Distribution Companies – Ruby’s Tuna Inc., Doozer, Universal Television, Warner Bros. Television Studios & Apple TV+
Starring – Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Jeremy Swift, & Juno Temple
With – Andrea Anders, Grant Feely, Matteo Van Der Grijn, Suzanne Cryer, Scott Speiser, Milan Carter, Alex Weisman, James Earl, Hannah Ingle, Ira Amyx, & Becky Ann Baker
And – Fleur Bremmer, Elliana Caruthers, Wendy Thompson, Nedra Dixson, Tim Marks, Michelle Davidson, Amaris Kirby, Wesley Elder, Sam Moore, & Holland Smith