I'm doing a rewatch and I freaking love this show so much! I was just thinking after watching Dani Rojas run into the field how these are actors acting out soccer.

I haven't looked up if any of the actors in this actually play soccer but this show is so good that it feels like you're watching people actually playing!

Futbol is life!

Is there any significance to this guy sitting behind the bench? Who is he?

When Sam and Rebecca are talking on Bantr, before they know who they are, Sam's username is LDN152.

What do you think that means?

Anybody else noticed and wondered why?

1. New sport would be fun to watch. It would be a new challenge and make sense as to not ruin the ending of S3
2. Ted's relationship with his son would be fun to explore
3. Some cameos from the UK would still be nice, but not strictly necessary. It would also alleviate the scheduling conflicts

I'm on my 4th watch and I'm incredibly unsure about Jade. When she's first there, she's incredibly cold and blunt, which I can excuse because service worker being hit on defaults to neutral. Then after seeing him on a date and getting rejected, she's suddenly into him and instantly acting like they're in love and she's being super supportive and kind.

They never really had any real interaction between him initially asking her out and being told she's picky to her eventually saying yes, it's just this sudden switch like she saw something but the only change we see his him dating a hot model and him looking like a wounded puppy. If she were just shallow and into him because he's the head coach of a premiere team, then she wouldn't be so caring after he quits but there's nothing the audience sees with her realizing he's a great person.

It feels more like they wanted to give Nate a happy ending with someone and they didn't have enough time to setup a rewarding relationship from scratch so they reused Jade and rushed it.

Anyone here thinks s4 will focus on the uefa champions league, which best teams of europe will play since they finish top 2 they qualify and they will finally be crowned as the best, much better than trying to win premiere league title in my opinion

the ‘Oscar’ decoy play and the first reference to Nate as a genius in the series takes place during Ted’s day out with Trent Crimm from The Independent. Now, guess the only person present during its iconic callback in the finale who was a not a part of the team when it was first conceived : TRENT CRIMM, THE INDEPENDENT. ( who was also writing ‘The Richmond Way’ )

I disagree with critics of Nate's redemption storyline, finding it compelling and identifiable. As someone who struggles with introversion and low self-confidence, I grasped Nate's reasoning, if not his methods. After experiencing a substantial confidence surge, his pursuit of success was misguided. Nevertheless, I believe Nate's departure from Richmond was justified, considering his coaching talent, and Ted may have even assisted his move to a managerial position elsewhere.

I thought that after seeing the video of nate tearing believe poster, the players would be angry and score some goals. But, the outcome was totally unexpected. The voilence by Richmond players was something that i thought i would never see from them. I was watching it a 1am and even wakes my mother sleeping in room next to me.

And he is hilarious in it, guaranteed to win you over in the first episode LOL!

Full episodes available on the official Taskmaster YouTube!!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRWvNQVqAeWL-7a_WW4Z39sNvq12z7mVS&si=uwHUJ3_gln3CziuD

I just find myself randomly saying this during the day and can't stop.

Help.

I have a degree in musicology, and I’m currently rewatching the show with my partner (their first time).

And while it is amazing seeing all the little moments of foreshadowing, not just the big ones, the one that sticks with me the most as I’m watching the series is the use of Father and Son by Cat Stevens as the closing montage. On its face, the lyrics “I have to go away” seem poignant enough to be in your face.

But while I’m rewatching, the choice of that particular song is much deeper and more intentional. Ted Lasso is praised as a show about healthy masculinity. To do that, it shows us many healthy and unhealthy examples of it.

But centering in that central theme is a theme of fatherhood. Those we are born to, and those who shape us that we choose. Most of our central cast has father relationships that shaped them or they have to younger people they are shaping.

It is because of who Jamie’s dad is that he is the way he is at the start of the series; and it is the subtle gentle coaching (parenting) of Ted and the tough but loving parental relationship that Jamie develops with Roy that shaped him into the character he becomes.

Roy begins his journey into football itself by his relationship to his grandfather, and it’s hinted in subtext to me that Roy’s grandfather was making every sacrifice to make sure Roy had a better life and used his talents to the fullest. Additionally, Roy’s journey into leadership and coaching begins while he is reading A Wrinkle in Time to Phoebe, his niece. In my opinion, Roy is most shaped by that relationship in the series. He learns what parenting looks like through his relationship to Phoebe. Him hugging Jamie after Jamie’s dad verbally abuses him in front of the team is from those catalyst moments with Phoebe; Roy may dislike some of Jamie’s attitude, but he does love him.

Sam’s character arc in season 2 is kickstarted by his dad being disappointed in him for agreeing to advertise for a subsidiary of a company ruining his home country’s environment.

Then there’s Ted. Who was shaped first by the trauma of finding his father. Through therapy, he is able to acknowledge that pain, but also recognize that his dad was pretty good, pretty loving, and definitely needed to hear more that he was a good dad.

Ted’s refusal to quit on anyone he is coaching (parenting) stems from that trauma. We don’t see much of Ted with his own son, but what we do see is love dealing with the challenge of distance. But we see Ted’s brand of fatherhood, very similar to Uncle Iroh’s from ATLA, bleed into every conversation he has, especially with the team and Nate. He works hard to instill healthy masculinity, through example. Even movie night and the choreographed dances with the team is all to build a sense of camaraderie and vulnerability. Consistently, Ted demonstrates his own vulnerability and how to recognize your own privilege.

Rebecca too, was shaped by her father, who we barely meet. Knowing he cheated on her mother constantly shaped her view of men, and likely led her to Rupert, a man whose cheating tendencies were just like her father’s. In deconstructing that with her mother and seeing the positive masculinity Ted fosters that she is able to see her self worth as a “boss ass bitch”. Alongside her own parental relationship to her goddaughter Nora.

In a Diamond Dog meeting about Ted’s son, Higgins says “fathers and sons, so tricky, they should really write songs about it.” The show foreshadows in that moment it plans to close the show with the Cat (Yusuf) Stevens song.

And how could it close with anything else? So many of the lyrics hit on deep themes that permeate the entire show. It’s not just “I have to go away.” It’s all the little moments of fatherhood and parenthood more broadly that the series is about and the lyrics reflect.

I’ll break down a few of my favorite lines from the song and how I think the show reflects them:

“You’re still young, that’s your fault, there’s so much have to know.”

This line reflective so many of the players in the start of the show. They are early 20 somethings, whose entire life has been football. And now they’re working professionals, still living football, but must learn about life and being complete as people. Most reflective to me here is Jamie, who has to learn that while he “has a golden foot and may be one in a million” he must also learn “he’s only one of eleven” and that there is more to life than football.

“For you will still be here tomorrow but your dreams may not.”

This screams Roy to me. His entire life has been the game. At the start of the series, he’s well past his prime, to the point where he probably should have retired before the show starts. Through Ted’s gentle coaxing, he is able to learn that his dreams of playing are over, and that’s okay. New challenges and journeys in coaching are proven to be rewarding for him as well.

To a lesser extent, I also see Sam’s character arc in this lyric. While he does fulfill his dream of playing for the Nigerian national team, he also learns about community that is around him, and expands his dream to being a role model, and opening a restaurant to bring a taste of home to a new audience.

“From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen.”

Is there anything this reflects more than Jamie’s relationship to his biological father? The minute his father knew Jamie was a football prodigy, his father made Jamie’s talents about him. And everything Jamie did wrong was a slight Jamie was forced to listen to.

The use of the song is about some of the most important themes and relationships in the show. “I have to go away” barely scratches the surface of what the song is as a song on its own. Diving a bit into the structure of the song itself:

“Father and Son” is framed as a conversation between a son and his father.

Stevens uses the low register of his voice to represent the father’s voice, and the music is calm, the lyrics are not simple idiomatic wisdom, but words spoken from love, experience, and pain he doesn’t want to see his son learn lessons the hard way. The father is saying to slow down, that where you’re at now may seem like the biggest thing, but life moves in ways you don’t expect.

The son, conversely, is sung in Stevens’s high register, it is for the tempo, faster lyrics, and is speaking from a place of youth. Wanting to go out and make mistakes that his father is warning about. He wants to go on his own and make those mistakes for himself, though he doesn’t yet know they will be.

Ted Lasso is a show about various father figures preparing those sons to make those mistakes and not be torn apart by them. To learn “it’s all poopy”, and life continues. Things change. As a coach (parent) the best Ted can hope for is that the job he’s done will make the players not just good at the game, but at adapting for the challenges of life.

When Richmond finally win against Man City, and Ted and Pep have a short conversation at the end, Pep tells Ted 'I don't care about wins or losses, I just want these men to be the best they can on and off the field' or something along those lines

I took that to mean that Pep read Trent's article about Ted from season 1, and felt inspired by Ted and everything he had achieved up to that point.

Another person said it was basically showing that Ted is a great coach who shares a similar philisophy to another great coach, which is like giving credit to Ted's philisophy.

I personally prefer my theory of the S1 connection.

How do you all feel?

Don’t know how I missed this subtle detail after so many rewatches.

This question is to the British watchers of the show. Do you not feel there are way too many American references in the show?? To me (a Canadian) I feel like the characters, mainly the British characters reference way too many American celebrities— I have a hard time believing, For example Jamie Tartts character not only naming his military man after Ted Danson but then going on to reference both Julia Dreyfus and Dave Grohl , especially in the same sentence. Then there is Roy going about how Jamie couldn’t build Jeff Brydges… Jamie is supposed to be 23 years old, give or take and you’re telling me he knows who Ted Danson is…. The Brit’s have so so many celebrities of their own and yet they are never ever referenced. I feel like that dialogue was meant purely for an American audience, which is too bad and inauthentic

So last night it hit me. Of course in the middle of the night you know like one of those nights you just can’t sleep and start thinking stupid shit. Well, this may have been mentioned before but when Rebecca meets the pilot she really did Feel like when she met him *she was struck by lightening”. I’m so happy for her.

Anyone noticed the kit numbers aren’t really traditional (with a few exceptions ie Jamie wears 9 and the full back wears 2 and zava wears 10) like Sam plays as a winger and wears 24, dani is a striker and wears 14, zorouex is the starting keeper and wears 81 id love to have seen if the less traditional numbers had stories behind them like in real football ie Bruno G and his dads taxi number.

of the good pieces as I can

Jamie teaching Roy to ride a bike! Jamie was so non judge mental and Roy was so willing to learn from him! The character development 😭🥹 on top of everything, it was also so adorable and wholesome!

The final two episodes basically killed me, thank you Ted Lasso for showing up in a time I needed you the most!

Hello Ted Lasso fans! I have a couple tickets to Brett at Red Rocks tonight that I won’t be able to use. I’ll give them away, in exchange for pics to make me jealous!

EDIT: tickets have been claimed…that was fast!

I still get teary eyed watching the last episode when they all pull out their piece of Believe. I would love to see more but I don’t want season 4 to ruin this emotional feeling I still have for the show.

I bawled like a baby on the last episode :,)