Ted Lasso Review: Season 4, Episodes 2 and 3

Welcome back to the Ted Lasso deep dives! As season 4 continues, we’re going episode by episode, reviewing and recapping all that has happened. This week’s article is dedicated to episodes 2 and 3 of Ted Lasso! Let’s get straight to it.

Ted Lasso is available to stream on AppleTV+

*Warning: This article contains spoilers for the 4th season of Ted Lasso*

EPISODE 2: “CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER!”

It’s fucking Roy Kent! In this episode of Season 4 of Ted Lasso, we get to meet some new characters, and revisit some regular favorites.

Ted is back where he needs to be, in England getting ready to coach the AFC Women’s team. Right as he returns, Coach Chilton, the female assistant coach, decides to resign from the position. She wanted to have the head coaching position, and with Rebecca having chose Ted, she thinks her time at Richmond is over. Ted, who is always unfathomably himself, sees her potential and greatness, and believes that she is a needed asset to the team. Just like he does, Ted wants to win her over (and he does).

With our side characters, the relationship between Roy and Keeley still remains elusive. The chemistry between the two of them is 100% there—the small scenes they do have together speak volumes. As an audience, we can tell that something fragile and romantic is flowering, regardless of how the two of them have chosen to be ‘really really good friends’. It’ll be something interesting to look out for as the season continues. I am curious to see what growth the two of them can have as individuals versus as as a pairing, that we didn’t already see in the first three seasons of Ted Lasso. With all Roy and Keeley have been through as a couple and as friends, it will be hard to top all of the tension that’s already been built.

Rebecca chooses this episode as a time of self-reflection. With the knowledge that Coach Chilton is resigning, and with it being pointed out that Rebecca never even considered hiring a female head coach, she is looking into what it means to be a feminist. As she tends to do when she realizes she could be wrong, Rebecca wants to convince herself, and everyone else, that she is a tried and true female supporter of all kinds. As she also tends to do, Rebecca gets a little carried away in her self-education.

By the end of the episode 2, we’ve got some fun things to look forward to! The budding relationship between Coach Chilton and Ted, with the addition of Beard who is back and ready to rumble; how Rebecca plans on leading and owning a team that has a high probability chance of failing, and thus for bringing down the Men’s football team with it; who is going to be the new starting striker for the women’s team?; and who else is going to make a surprise appearance this season?

EPISODE 3: “RICHMOND’S GOT TALENT”

Everyone’s back in England, getting ready for the first preliminary game of the Lady Greyhounds! The only problem is that the team is now down two strikers. Which means it’s time for new blood, and Coach Chilton has just the idea—open tryouts! Ted, Beard, and Chilton now have to weed out the weak players from the best ones with some simple drills and training. They think they’ve found the perfect girl when Dani Rojas’ sister, Maria, comes to the tryouts, but it turns out that Dani taught her everything but how to kick a football. Football is only a part of life, to Maria.

While the coaches are working on getting their team together, Keeley and Rebecca are putting out some fires. The Richmond’s Women’s team is predicted to not succeed, and it’s causing some heat to fall onto Richmond. Their main sponsor has even pulled out because they don’t want to be associated with a failing team. As Rebecca tries to convince their sponsor, she also struggles in her personal life. Matthijs is visiting, and despite how happy she is to have him there, Rebecca is so busy she keeps missing their dates.

Ted decides to invite two players from open tryouts to join the team; Shannon, who doesn’t have that much skill but lots of enthusiasm, and Lizzie, a working mom who never thought she would get this far. While their addition to the team can make them all stronger, Richmond is still missing a striker. They finally find that in Gemma—an old teammate of Coach Chilton who hates her guts. It’s a very similar dynamic to Roy and Jamie. Both Gemma and Coach Chilton have a lot of strong opinions, but at the end of the day, want the same success for the Lady Greyhounds.

Now that the team has been assembled, all they need is some proper uniforms . . .

LETS ASK THE IMPORTANT QUESTION: WHERE IS JAMIE TART?

The women’s team is going to face a lot of failure, I fear, before they start becoming successful in the eye of the general public. Personally, I feel like this season has been an incredibly accurate representation of what it is like to form together a women’s team. You face so much scrutiny and most of the time, the team is cancelled before they even get anywhere. Like Rebecca said, they just need a chance. While I hate to see how hard it is and how hard it is going to be for the Lady Greyhounds, I appreciate that the writers aren’t sugarcoating anything. We’ve got an uphill battle in store, but our ladies are ready to fight!

I’m really interested to see how Keeley grows this season in her confidence. At this point, she seems to not feel like the “Women of the Year” that she once was. But she fought her way to get into Vanity Fair, and I think she will fight even harder for the Lady Grey’s.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I am also very excited (and hopeful!) to see what else this season has in store for us! I do hope that we get to see some other cameos from previous characters we love! It would be amazing to get an update on Jamie (of course), or Nathan, or Trent Crimm.

I guess we’ll just have to see what’s in store for everyone at Richmond in episodes 4 and 5!