Ted Lasso

[watervole]

 Having zero interest in football, I never would have tried a comedy series based around an American football coach working for an English soccer team...

But 'Replyhazy' suggested I try it while I have Apple TV, and I absolutely love it!  It's funny, it's warm-hearted and it has some great characters.

It may not be realistic, but most of the characters are really thoughtful about their relationships - men actually listen to what their girlfriends are telling them and act maturely.

Friendships are built that really have meaning.  Villains are relatively few, but they make up for it by being delightfully over the top.  Anthony Head, as the football club owner's ex-husband, does a wonderful job as a charming, womanising scumbag!

I think my favourite character is actually Trent Crimm, the newspaper reporter. acted by James Lance.  He starts as a minor character, only in some episodes, and is a full-time regular by the end of series 3.

But there are lots of great characters who you grow to love and appreciate.

I even enjoyed watching the football....

Comments

[replyhazy]

So glad you like it. It's sort of crazily relatable to me because I know exactly nothing about the game of football (aka in US, soccer) other than what I learned in school decades ago, worlds away from professional teams. So Ted Lasso's sort of good natured blundering is perhaps less exasperating than it might be to someone who knows all about it.

And yes, I'm very fond of Trent Crimm (the Independent). I feel like he's having a secret, slow personality transformation (in comparison to what Jamie Tartt and Roy Kent are going through, anyway).

I have to pick it back up again. I got down towards the end of season 2 and got distracted because my husband demanded a Murderbot rewatch.

[greenwoodside]

The casting in that show was a wonderful thing. I tended to feel quite torn about the the writing which seemed to zoom between knock-out brilliance and a level of sentimentality that would appal the Victorians, but the casting and acting were so note-perfect that I mostly just had to surrender to it. I still sometimes think about Dani Rojas's first scene and start smiling.

[watervole]

I think Crimm's personality was always there - there's definitely a sense of humour, even early on. It's just that he becomes a Lasso convert over time. Not through a change of personality, but because he can see what Ted's trying to achieve - and because he likes him.

He gets a really good story progression in season 3 - you'll like it.

[watervole]

I even like the sentimentality. A group of tough men crying over an old rom-com? That's just part of the humour of the series.

'Football is life!'

I love the range of characters - including the fact that some are gay, some bi, and some monogamous heterosexuals.
I'm still hoping that season 4 might bring a poly relationship - there's such an obvious triad. But I'm not holding my breath...

[coth]

We enjoyed it all episode by episode, but at the end of S3 and on reflection two things soured it for us...spoiler space follows...










- The fact that the sexual relationship between the middle aged club owner and the footballer who must have been twenty years younger is completely inappropriate and wrong. We are meant to be sympathetic to both characters, and we are, but it should have been acknowledged and addressed as an ethical violation.

- The absolutely appallingly racist characterisation of the African billionaire and his team.

[watervole]

I think it was more the fact that she was his boss was the ethical issue. Rebecca did mention that as a concern of hers, though it wasn't her main reason for breaking up.

I do agree that she should not have started the affair because of their working relationship.

I find I can't object to the age difference, simply because I knew a happily married couple where the woman was about 20 years older.
Tragically, he died before she did - heart attack out of the blue. They bonded over a shared love of birds and nature.

I'm inclined to forgive them the African billionaire, simply because the series takes the mick out of every nationality. And given the number of African characters that are really positively drawn, why can't there be an African villain who is nasty as Rupert?

I didn't see the portrayal as racist particularly. He used food as a power play in the same way an English character might have done - just different kinds of food.

What did you feel was especially racist about it?

[msilverstar]

I love teams being super competent and so this was a huge pleasure for me too!

There is some amazing fanfic

[vilakins]

I loved that! Ted is lovely, but I'm particularly fond of Roy Kent. He makes me laugh with his growls.

I hear there's another season to come with the women's team.

[watervole]

I've no idea if the actors are professional footballers, or well trained or if they used doubles, but Jamie Tartt's footwork is amazing.

Any particular fanfic recs?

[coth]

Yes, the working relationship should have stopped her. The show could have made that clear and that it happened anyway, but it was treated in complete isolation, it was never mentioned, and there were no consequences within the team nor legally. In my view that was cheating (wishful thinking) by the storytellers and an ethical failing of the showrunners.

It wasn't a problem that the African billionaire was evil. It was a problem for me that he was caricatured, and it got worse as the season went on. I don't remember the details, but I remember reacting to the final board meeting as cringeworthy and it nearly made me switch off.