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“Ted Lasso” is apolitical by design. Jokes about the Prime Minister or the US President are prohibited for the same reason that the script does not recognize the pandemic: Like its main character, the series appeals to people. Fulfilling its role as a place of pure uplifting in a time out, it does everything it can to levitate above the quagmire of negativity that is 2021, reality edition.
And yet, one cannot ignore the fact that he is also the product of a time crushed into a crystal shredded by a petulant authoritarian whose sociopathy is attributed to a distant father and the aggressive prejudices he never could. satisfied.
Jason Sudeikis may not have thought of this particular moron when he wrote the season two finale, “Inverting the Pyramid of Success,” or charted the stories that led up to it. But if he and the show’s writers had bullies in their brains when they sat down to interrupt the season, maybe it’s because we’ve been living with one for half a decade.
Anyway, now we know what the cast meant when they hinted this season was inspired by “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back”. They weren’t talking about the rebels suffering a setback; Given that AFC Richmond was already relegated and lost their team’s mascot in the premiere, the only way to go was to climb. Which they did in the last episode, going from relegation to promotion.
Also, people don’t remember “Empire Strikes Back” as the story of the team that was ahead. “No Luke – I’m your father” – that’s what we remember. “Empire” may begin as the story of the fleeing rebels, but ultimately it is about an abandoned son whose father finds him. Unfortunately for this son, his father is one of the meanest men in the galaxy. And with those words, Luke Skywalker has the choice of either inheriting that sinister mantle or leaping into the unknown.
Either way, it’s a better benchmark than calling the final episodes the season Daddy Issues, even though examining the relationship between fathers and their children is a natural extension of the series’ mission. refute toxic masculinity.
Other more obvious parallels to “Star Wars” have appeared in the relationship between Ted (Sudeikis) and Nate (Nick Mohammed), the former kit man Ted has elevated to assistant coach in recognition of his natural talent. strategist. But Ted isn’t Dark for Nate’s Luke – he’s Obi Wan for the young man’s Anakin. A mentor, not a father.
And Anakin never had an emotionally distant father like the one we meet in “Rainbow” and “Headspace,” who never affirmed his son’s accomplishments and only amplified his insecurities.
Ted’s endless positivity and willingness to choose understanding over punishment are Sudeikis and his co-creator’s main antidote to macho aggression – but, as we saw with Nate’s heel turn and the backlash against the series’ unapologetic cuteness in Sreason 2, light and joy can only reach so much.
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We needed Ted’s vision in 2020, to ride with a guy who hadn’t been knocked down but all along the ocean. There was something noble and magnificent about Ted’s insistence on healing everyone before himself, on ensuring that anything is possible if people just believe.
It has always been a stopgap, not a solution – and “Ted Lasso” recognizes that, I believe. During the first season, a few keen-eyed viewers noticed, as the rest of us floated on pink clouds, that Ted might not be perfect. If he’s so wonderful, why did his wife want a divorce? His “Empire Strikes Back” arc, so to speak, was to head to the darkest place in the swamp and face the part of him that hates it.
Still, there is healing to be done – on Ted’s side, and on almost everyone’s side as well. AFC Richmond is a crew of beloved sons and daughters alongside surviving fathers, some whose fathers were just flawed and others who were raised by very selfish, abusive and worthless assholes – like the thug who beat Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster) into a champion and an emotionally stunted sting.
Team owner and devoted den mother Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) is only beginning to heal from the psychological wounds inflicted on her by an unfaithful father who did not care about his feelings or those of his mother.
All we know about the man who fathered Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), according to Roy, is that he is racist. But Roy puts so much passion into being a solid father figure for his niece and a perfect mate for Keeley Jones (Juno Temple), that it presumably makes up for some kind of parental damage inflicted. And his inability to allow Keeley to harness his power is a sign that even great men have to be work in progress.
Tellingly, Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh) has a romantic relationship with his father. Witnessing his connection to Sam is what prompts Ted to welcome Jamie back from exile; he explains to Beard that Jamie’s problem is that he never had a decent father figure. (What no one expects is Roy fulfills this role.)
Then there’s Ted, a man who offers nothing but kindness and good humor to the world and is ready to fit in with his friends’ issues, but almost blows up when Dr.Sharon Fieldstone (Sarah Niles) correctly deduces that her eagerness to do well is like a shield preventing people from seeing her weakness. But it manifests in the form of panic attacks, one to one pivotal game.
So when Nate betrays Ted’s trust and tells the story of Ted having such an episode to The Independent, hoping to break the upbeat and forgiving nature that is at the heart of The Lasso Way, he is stunned when it happens. turns against him. Coach Beard (co-creator Brendan Hunt) and even his fellow assistant coach Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) know that Nate has turned on Ted and almost expects Ted to, well, retaliate.
Ted’s refusal to do so is an even bigger insult to Nate than Roy not caring about kissing Roy’s girlfriend Keeley (Juno Temple). So halfway through a match that Richmond seems on the verge of losing, Nate lashes out on Ted.
“You made me feel like I was the most important person in the world, and then you left me. Like you put out a light, just like that,” Nate spat at Ted, tears in his eyes. “And I worked hard, trying to get your attention back. To prove myself to you, to make you love me again. But the more I did, the less you care. It’s like I’m fucking invisible. “
Ted didn’t do any of those things, of course – and we see that Nate isn’t yelling at his boss or friend. He yells at the father who refuses to see him.
Ted’s father, the one who took him to play darts and inspired him to be curious, also died by suicide. Ted’s panic attacks come from a place where he has failed to come to terms with the idea that the same man who taught him to be gracious and kind could also have suffered as much as he chose to put. end of his life and let his son find his body. .
The overt message of these episodes is to promote mental health and well-being, while endorsing the value and virtue of being in touch with one’s emotions. As always, however, this season of “Ted Lasso” speaks to us on a level that goes beyond just making us feel good or asking us to come into contact with our vulnerability. It reminds us that just as good fathers and men make us #believe and desire to be our best, wickedness is a choice.
It was the epiphany of Luke Skywalker after surviving the events of “Empire,” and it’s the one that Nate plays, only on the dark side of the team as the silver-haired Sith, working under the direction of the ‘ex Rupert of Rebecca (Anthony Head).
It is also a truth with which we struggle nationally and globally. The gap widens between people who see compromise and collaboration for the common good as the only winning strategy against loss and decline, and those who don’t appreciate being asked to contribute instead of being. applauded to stand out.
Then again, Sudeikis would probably shrug his shoulders like he did with the previous season and just pretend he was telling a story – not a story about a former world leader who had a crooked father and shows no signs of breaking up. of this cycle.
“Ted Lasso” comforted us his first season. It is beyond debate. But maybe his second is meant to wake us up from that respite and remind us that all is not well while making sure that with effort we can be well.
And if it is indeed “Episode V”, it is good news for Ted and the AFC Richmond because in the next film, the good enlightened ones win. . . but not before bringing a lost soul back to the dark side.
All episodes of “Ted Lasso” are now airing on Apple TV +.
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