‘Ted Lasso’ recap: midnight train to Royston

A review of this week Ted lasso, “Midnight Train to Royston”, coming as soon as you make my brows less crazy…

In the middle of “Midnight Train to Royston”, Rebecca walks into Ted’s office to tell him about her affair with Sam. After Ted makes it compulsory Cheers to joke

, he advises her to follow both her heart and her instincts on the matter, then observes that it was around the same time last year when she came into the same room to confess her true motive for hiring him to coach the team. “See you next year,” Rebecca says before walking through the door. Pedantic alert: This is a technically incorrect joke, since theCheers

Sam and Rebecca have never been a couple

, even though they’ve slept together a few times and briefly planned to have a child together. The exchange aims to draw a parallel between the arcs of season one and season two, and perhaps as a meta-commentary on how TV shows often repeat themselves. But by inviting us to consider where things stand in this season’s penultimate installment versus the last, the scene marks the first time I’ve found the comparison unflattering to the new episodes. Rather than rehashing the original of the series Major league the plot – or, worse, try to recreate the plot of

Major League II – showrunner Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis and the company have instead chosen to do something different and exciting with the new season. With everyone on the same page and no obvious external villains, this year has been devoted to soul-searching and internal struggles, all testing the limits of Ted Lasso’s philosophy of the power of positivity. Dr. Sharon forced Ted to confront the memories of his father’s suicide; Roy struggled to find direction in retired life; Nate tried to assert himself more and instead turned into an asshole; again and again. It’s been an emotionally richer, and often more fun, season, and the creative team should be commended for trying something new. But it’s also been a narratively messy season, and not always in a way that feels intentional. The characters and arcs in the story suddenly appear and disappear. Dr. Sharon essentially corrected Jamie’s entire personality in one off-screen session; then he was largely absent until the Man City game, then as a bogus obstacle in Keeley and Roy’s relationship. (More on that in a moment.) The show sometimes leaned into the idea of ​​Nate’s dark side; to others, he treated him like the same endearing, clumsy outsider he was when he had Will’s job. Sam’s protest against Dubai Air ended up having no negative consequences for anyone, which lessens the stake that he spoke in the first place. Looking back, it just happened to create a romantic tension between Sam and Rebecca, which the show generally didn’t handle well. The writers seem very uninterested in exploring why it’s unfair for someone as powerful as Rebecca to date a young subordinate like Sam. Much of what happens in “Midnight Train to Royston” illustrates this very danger, but Rebecca’s attempt to manipulate Sam into preventing him from seizing this life-changing opportunity – courtesy of Ghanaian billionaire Edwin Okufu, successfully played by

Toheeb Jimoh and Sam Richardson

Colin Hutton / Apple TV + And boy, is the Keeley and Roy drama this week a problem. It all starts with Nate, whose fragile ego can’t stand the hypothetical idea that Ted takes credit for his latest tactical brainstorm, and who has come to resent people for mentioning that Ted bought him his gray suit. stylish for Rebecca’s fundraiser last season. As a result, he asks Keeley to help him buy a new costume that will be his own. But drunk on both whiskey and anxiety, he misinterprets Keeley’s upbeat and uplifting mood as an invitation to a romantic opening and kisses her. Realizing how badly he has misinterpreted the situation, he retreats into the dressing room and – as he has done throughout the season when dealing with his darkest impulses – spits in the mirror. Keeley agrees to take Nate shopping in part because she needs a killer costume herself, for a

Vanity Show

photo shoot celebrating her work as a young businesswoman. This is both an exciting and terrifying opportunity, as she recognizes her for more than her looks, but leaves her open to being judged for something more important than her looks. When Keeley admits to Roy his fears that people will really judge her, he says the perfect thing (as he does so often): “The real you is fucking amazing. And now the whole world will be able to see it. You’re Keeley fucking Jones, the independent woman. You are going to kill him. A few minutes later, when she tells him about Nate’s kiss, her response is even better, focusing entirely on how embarrassing it must have been for her rather than expressing her anger at Nate for trying to date her. girlfriend. Between the two answers, it’s no better to see how unbreakable the foundation of Keeley and Roy’s relationship is, even if the surface aspects, like Roy’s eyebrows, sometimes take some work.

But then Roy has a confession himself, about the three hours he spent chatting with Phoebe’s teacher – not even really flirting, though it might have felt that way for Miss Bowen – and how, when she asked him if he was married, he said no. and did not elaborate to mention his resident girlfriend. That, in turn, prompts Keeley to belatedly tell Roy what Jamie told her at the funeral, and all of a sudden we’re supposed to view their relationship as anything but solid. This is, to be frank, nonsense. As Roy himself seems to understand, it’s not Keeley’s fault or responsibility that Nate kissed her impulsively. But it’s also not her fault that her ex-boyfriend is still hanging on to her. The fact that she didn’t immediately tell Roy about the conversation surely has less to do with any lingering feelings she might have for Jamie than with the fact that she doesn’t want to upset the chemistry of the team. , especially so soon after Roy and Jamie’s memorable embrace in the Wembley locker room. And, again, Roy Kent has been written throughout the series as a man who is both enlightened and safe enough not to feel threatened by it all. So one of two things is going on here: 1) The series is set to separate Keeley and Roy despite overwhelming evidence that things should be okay between them; or 2) The show tries to ignite a bogus conflict at the end of the season that will be resolved in the finale, once everyone remembers that they’re not stupid people and that they deeply understand each other. Neither option looks good, and the story in general feels iconic for some of the shortcuts the show has taken this season. Nate’s story ends up weaving into the episode’s most successful subplot. Ted has prepared an elaborate farewell party for Sharon, including devoting precious training time – when the team is one win away from earning a promotion to the EPL, no less – to getting players to master the game. NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” dance. When he finds out that Sharon left earlier, all of Ted’s abandonment issues arise and he goes to confront her at his corporate apartment. In a charming scene, Sharon insists she’s terrible at saying goodbye and begs an indignant (and, at the time, extremely childish) Ted to read the letter she wrote him. Ted, already disarmed by his recognition that he made her a better therapist by forcing her to recognize the value of expressing her vulnerabilities to her patients, finally opens the letter and is almost instantly overwhelmed by the feelings expressed in it. . It’s a really nice touch that we don’t actually see or hear what she wrote, because the way Jason Sudeikis plays Ted’s reaction – and, just as importantly, the way Sarah Niles plays Dr. Sharon

watching Ted reacts to the words she wrote – says everything we’ll ever need to know how important these two have become to each other. Ted and Sharon end up having a fun evening together at Mae’s pub, before Ted turns the tables on Sharon and slips away as she is distracted by the three Richmond fanboys. But on his way home, he discovers that the lesson he taught Sharon on expressing vulnerabilities can have professional consequences. Trent Krimm from

The independent texts to warn him of a scoop he is posting about Ted’s panic attack at the end of the Tottenham game. And, without asking he then adds that Nate was his source.