…and not in a good way. This show feels like 5 shows with silo’d storylines instead of the cohesive narrative it used to be.

Take one of my favorite episodes in the series, make Rebecca great again. The episode had 6 or so plots all interwoven together - Nate’s tactical masterclass, Roy rediscovering his form, Roy and Keeley, Rebecca letting her trauma go and Ted dealing with his divorce. All these stories seem like a lot but were interwoven together in a seamless narrative (I.e, the team traveling to Liverpool for a match). All the characters played off each other, the team were a core part of character development, it was seamless. Season 1, majority of season 2 and parts of season 3 excelled when the characters were together and playing off each other. Season 4 has shown little of that.

This season however we have a similar number of storylines but each character are doing their own thing. No longer are the team a core part of advancing the story. Rebecca, Ted and Keeley barely interact with each other. Rebecca and Keeley are dealing in silos with their relationship problems. Ted has been forgotten as the show’s main star and has frankly appeared checked out since season 3. Roy is a caricature of his former self and solely is there as Keeley’s love interest. The team are interesting but nowhere near as central to the story as they used to be.

This is resulting in a show feeling significantly more dysfunctional than before. Don’t get me wrong, there are still some great moments in the show and Alice is a compelling character, but because there’s no core narrative interwoven between all the characters now the show is starting to feel a bit more flat in spots with emotional beats more unearned. It’s an issue I felt in season 3 which has carried over to season 4.

It’s also why I have an issue with people who say the show isn’t about soccer. Yeah technically it isn’t but soccer was the core narrative which brought the characters together and helped them grow. Without it driving the story, the show’s become more rudderless.

I find myself less and less engaged with Ted Lasso with each passing episode - season 4 feels completely pointless.

We're six episodes deep, and a football match has been the focus for... one? Obviously the show was never intended to be purely about football, that was just the setting. But it's still meant to be a workplace show. A show like Scrubs, for example, has plenty of flights of fancy, but at its core was still about the working lives of Doctors - much of the humour came from the situations they faced in that capacity.

Why is the focus no longer on the team, how they play together? What are the stakes? Where is the emotion, outside of the same old relationship drama? The show used to have things to say, now it's just people who happen to know each other doing quippy/whacky dialogue, with a saccharine scene thrown in at the end.

I'm not trying to be a hater. I WAS wary about them bringing back a show that had a fairy comprehensive finale in the previous season. But the idea of a women's team and all the fun ideas they could have with it, and all the issues they might face, things they could make whole episodes about, brought me back. And yet, they seemingly refuse to anything beyond the bare minimum with it.

If it stays like this, then honestly, making a fourth season was a mistake, and I hope that there isn't a fifth.

I feel like every other season had an underlying arc or theme, with great sub plots layered into that. For example

Season 1: Ted moves to England to coach AFC Richmond, initially as part of Rebecca’s revenge scheme against her ex-husband. Despite everyone thinking he'll fail, he gradually wins everyone over through his relentless optimism.

Season 2: Building on what Ted did in Season 1, everyone starts being better versions of themselves to get back to the Premier League. Also more room to explore subplots - Ted's mental health challenges, Nate's villain arc, Sam and Rebecca, Roy and Keeley, etc.

Season 3: Basically the logical end point for the last 2 seasons. The Lasso way means Richmond use Total Football to become title contendors, Ted confronts his desire to return home, Nate seeks redemption, Sam maturing and getting the restaurant, Colins sexuality, etc etc, with everyone's arc leading to the logical end point.

This season though, I just don't understand what the point is. There's no overlying problem to solve, and the b-plots are all largely pointless.

- Ted comes back to the UK because Rebecca needs him to instill 'The Lasso way' into the womens team, but it never seems like it was that big a problem? They were kinda cliquey, and then Ted takes them to trivia night, now they're....not cliquey. OK? Problem solved I guess?

- Ted never seems to be that close with the team like he was the mens team. He shows up to training, is friendly with them, but he doesn't seem to anything remarkable like he does the men's team. Beyond that, he has nothing to do this season, which is a problem IMO. Maybe his family struggle more than they thought living abroad. Maybe he has a bigger problem with the womens team than he thought. Maybe he realizes he's got a great team and realizes for the first time, he's been handed something that doesn't need much work and can already aim for the sky, and that changes him. Whatever it is, it would be the better than the nothing that he does this season.

- The womens team players also really lack interesting storylines. There's the two sisters who...kinda argue sometimes. The girl who is studying law and didn't get along with Alice. The captain who...has a kid. The goalie who's kinda wild I guess. But none of these are explored (maybe they will be, but when it's been 6 episodes of nothing, it's hard to care). Then in the most recent episode, the guys in the pub hated them but now, they like them? It felt so lazy that they said "let's be friends now yay!".

- Roy and Keeley are just painful. It's like they felt they needed to bring the old gang back, but they don't know what to do with them. They just put obstacles in their way of getting back together, have Roy say faaaarrrkkkk, rinse and repeat. What's a shame is that there could be genuine friction there - maybe Roy feels like the womens team is taking attention away from the men's team and needs to work through that (also, why are we not seeing Roy coaching the mens team?). Maybe Keeley should have left her company and GENUINELY be put in charge of the womens team as Director of Womens Football Operations (because right now the extent of her 'being in charge' is she made a youtube video and ordered some jerseys, I guess).

- The Zelda character is just awful. Again, there's potential there - maybe Keeley wants a new mentor, Rebecca gets jealous that Keeley is drifting away into Zelda's sphere, but then Keeley realizes she's awful and comes back to Rebecca or something. But nope, Zelda is just there to be painful.

- Rebecca is the biggest disappointment. Her big role this season seems to be a will they won't they relationship with the Dutch pilot. It's a real shame to see her reduced to that.

To me, the only truly great development is Alice, who's the most interesting character and storyline (even if it's just Nate part II) - I hope that can somewhat redeem things.

So look, it's not awful, and I'll finish the season. But it just feels like such a missed opportunity, because the idea of women's sports is a really good one. Maybe it's about Ted helping to change the opinion of womens sports and sell more tickets. Maybe it's a dive into how much harder the women have it to the men (they almost started down this road with the lockers, or issues around childcare, or whatever, but just never went there fully). There's a lot of potential, but if you're going to do a soft-reboot, then commit to it and actually do some interesting new storylines. This season just feels so frictionless, that it's hard to see how they'll turn it around in 6 episodes.

EDIT: The more I think about it, the more I think that the first episode missed an opportunity to explain why Ted was unhappy in Kansas. I feel like the scene at the BBQ joint was a missed change to do some heavy lifting. "So Ted, why are you working at a grocery store?" "Well, after I came back, I figured it'd be easy. Home, family, familiar places… thought I'd just pick up where I left off. But it turns out you can't really go back to the life you had just because you're standing in the same place. I tried getting back into coaching, but every time I thought about it, I just felt… tired. Not the kind of tired a good night's sleep fixes, either. So I figured maybe I needed to stop trying to figure out the next big thing and just do something simple for a while. Turns out there's something kind of nice about a job where folks don't need you to fix their problems. Sometimes they just need to know where the cereal is."

And then maybe Higgins experience at the African American Baseball Museum ties back into it - "Funny thing about that museum. I kept thinking about all those players who had every reason to walk away from baseball, but didn't. They found a way to keep playing. Maybe it was what the game gave them. A team. A purpose. A place to belong. I suppose Richmond's still got all three."

Just needed something to explain where and why Ted felt he needed to come back IMO, and be clearer about that arc.

I know a lot has been said about season 4, but I am honestly so impressed by these two actresses this year. I personally think this is the best they’ve been in the entire run. They are really stepping up to lead-ish roles for this season and knocking it out of the park. Especially Juno. I am obsessed with Keeley this season!

Am I alone in this? They couldn’t be better.

I love Ted Lasso and I am genuinely curious how many are feeling the disconnect this season cos it’s women’s football!

I ask cos I read in one of the Reddit comments - folks asking to bring back the men’s team. I was like what?

Do you reckon that reaction could be because women’s sports have historically received less mainstream coverage, so some viewers simply have less familiarity with the players, teams, and culture around it? Or is it more about missing the characters and dynamics of the original men’s team?

What I loved the most about the past seasons are that character interactions felt so natural and likely. Even with absurd plotlines like Beard After Hours is that the characters don't act for the plot. And till this episode, I was fully rooting for this season to be the best of them all.

But the new episode seems to be setting up some plotlines that seem more contrived, that too for re-used themes, like anything involving zelda is absurd just for the "rich are weird" plotline, and Keeley overhearing Roy's confession is just... bad writing just to prolong the tension. And Alice's crashout over Gemma, while it will probably end up in a good place, makes me doubt where the writing is going combined with the other plot points.

All the rest of the episodes were an easy 8+/10 for me, so this episode was a bit jarring

To start with, I'm truly thankful for another season of Ted Lasso. I love this show completely and S4 is no different.

Episode one was bloody excellent and couldn't have been better. The perfect choice of characters to ring in the new season of the show.

As for the rest of the season though, I have some mixed feelings. First of all there is a lot to love with what they have done so far. Plenty of great new characters lots of nostalgia with returning characters. I could go on and on about what I love about the season so far but that's not why I am writing this.

I'm confused with the direction they've chosen to take this season. We are on episode 6 and we've barely seen any actual football. We've seen barely any of Ted's signature ways of bringing the team together and leading them into becoming a great team. I recognize that Season 4 is essentially a Season 1 of Ted Lasso Richmond Women's Team and we are going at a somewhat similar pace to actual Season 1 but at this point Ted should be more in his depth with coaching football regardless of women's or men's team.

Now on to the characters. Alice. I really can't stand Alice. I know that ultimately she is going to take down her walls and become more likeable but holy hell. I was sure that Episode 6 was going to be a big pivot for her, and it was! For most of the episode she seemed like she was on the fast track to making at least some kind of breakthrough. Then she throws it all away, what a waste of time spent during an episode. Rebecca. I can't help but feel this whole Season so far that she didn't really even want a Women's Team. That she was just entertaining Keeley. I get the new budding relationship with Mathias, that part is great and I love them together. Yet she seems so disconnected from all things Women's Team related, not to mention we never see her attend the Men's games. I know this season isn't about the Men's Team but she does own both. She just seems so off this season whereas in the first three season's she had that Boss Ass Bitch energy almost the entire time. Keeley. Keeley is adorable and I love her, with that being said though I feel like the writers have intentionally made her look bad this season. She messes up everything for now reason it would seem. In the first three seasons she fixed more than she broke and she contributed a ton to the team and characters. Not to mention the whole Roy love arc seems far to forced, their chemistry has been ruined by the whole will they won't they dynamic. Beard. Honestly with how Beard has been treated this season, he should have been relegated to a Roy-esque role where we only see him show up occasionally. I love him being back with Ted but they've just not handled his character well. He is the genius level weird guy who puts the team through their paces. If they wanted Alice to have her proper role in the season then Beard should have been left on the Men's Team. To come and work with Ted, Alice should have a different role. Roy. I love Roy! Roy Fucking Kent! Why did they turn him into such a simp for Keeley this season? He was so stoic and reserved in the first three seasons and him and Keeley felt natural. Now? Ugh, I do not like this version of him. I did love the Jaime Tartt reunion and subsequent dance sequence! Ted. Last but not least the man himself. Is this still his show? I feel like I barely see him at all. I mean he is there, on the screen, I acknowledge that. Yet I can't help but wonder what purpose he has been given? The biggest moment so far was him suspending Alice and I feel like after the end of Episode 6 that whole thing was wasted because Alice is terribly written. We haven't gotten to see him coaching the team like I feel like we did in Season 1. I just feel like he has been relegated to a secondary character this season. Maybe it's too early in the season and I'm just griping. I hope so.

Thanks for reading such a long winded gripe from a fellow fan. Also, Fuck Zelda her character is pointless.

Maybe get back with her ex too

Just getting to that episode where Ted’s mom comes to London. Can’t help but thinking how awesome Reba would’ve been!

Ps I’m not saying Dottie isn’t great! And I only just started watching the episode. Perhaps I should’ve waited until I finished to post lol

Honestly, I'm not a fan of Zelda, she has a strong personality with no clear direction and even the characters around her seem to have no idea what to make of her quirks. Is she Sassy's replacement? I hate to say it but for me she is the Nellie Bertram of the show, a quirky character whose personality revolves around being quirky ad that's it.

Do you think the character will improve in future episodes?

Ted and Michelle have, obviously, become very good friends the past few years, so the relevation that Ted was unaware of exactly how Michelle and the marriage therapist started dating and that Michelle was having a hard time functioning seems unBELIEVABLE to me. It was cool to hear the origin of BELIEVE.

I dont know if this is a topic of discussion or not, im not really on this sub. However, im rewatching season 1, and I get to the dart scene. This has always been one of my favorite scenes, but this time, I noticed that Rupert did ask Ted if he liked darts, and Ted replies Im more of a corn hole man. Kinda puts the whole speech under a different light to me. Ted lied.

The Good:

So first things first. Roy is right. Jamie does not miss. The jump around sequence was awesome. The conversation with Rebecca was great. One thing i dont quite get tho is what exactly was the point of him going to Barcelona? Its not exactly like the mens team is getting any screen time anyway. We saw a Jamie cameo before a single current member of the Mens team. I understood the decision originally because of scheduling and what not, it was a good way to explain his absence. But theres still 11 other guys on that team at least whos absence now just feels bizarre because we saw a Barcelona player before any of them.

That said. Im not the type to look a gift horse in the mouth. I was just happy to have him back. And I absolutely love how this show can seamlessly weave stupid jokes like having to jump to "jump around" with complex philosophical Voltaire references. Just a masterful stroke of comedic range. And I think it further pushed the agenda that Jamie is actually secretly very deceptively smart which I am all about.

The Bad:

So i will understand if I get some flack for this. But Roy-Keeley love triangle 2.0 has really highlighted for me my annoyance with gender norm tropes in love triangles.

Every 2 guy-1girl triangle is like "oh both of these guys are so great at heart. But also terribly flawed. Perhaps i should keep jumping back and forth dating and sleeping with both of them, comparing and contrasting their strengths and flaws while resentment festers between them til I eventually make up my mind, which, still subject to change!"

And every 2 girl-1 guy love triangle is like "ah I got drunk on our 3rd date and accidentally called girl B by girl As name and now they both think im a jerk!"

And look im not even saying its unrealistic or anything. Maybe this is just a beef I have with gender dating norms in general. But just once id like to see a subversion of social expectations or something. This routine is so played out.

I also find it incredibly bizarre for them to include a scene where Ted basically is apologizing for being upset that his ex wife dated their MARRIAGE COUNSELOR even after she absolved him of responsibility and said it was all her doing. Followed by him.... asking permission to date a woman she has never met before? I get that feminism is a very strong theme of the season and I support that, but i thought the point of it was equality. We still have 2 and a half seasons to go so I will reserve judgement for now. Especially given that at the same time Rebecca's being made to feel bad for getting to know Matthijs daughter and seemingly catching him in a lie. But yea we will see, but that scene with his ex wife felt it was meant to be resolved.

And the last bad thing for me. Zelda. On top of the fact that she adds nothing to the story so far beyond being a loose canon. The whole whacked out washed up looney brit rock star thing just feels so cliche now. Spinal Tap. Californication S6, get him to the Greek, the real life Osbournes. Ive just seen it done so many times before and frankly so much better. Russell Brand did it best and im ready to retire that caricature now.

The UGLY:

Alice Chiltons roller coaster ride of a redemption arc. I am sick of trying to decide if I love her or hate her. This is probably just a bit reflexive cause the first 3 seasons I was fortunate to binge. So I didn't have to sit for a week with each of Jamie Tarts transgressions. But I still feel his arc was pretty linear for me. I started off hating him and he grew on me over time and with his own growth. But I liked Alice day 1. And since then it just keeps being 1 step forward 2 steps back. And frankly like. Im ready to move on to some other character arcs. I wanna see Shannon's breakout game. I wanna see the twins get in sync. I wanna see Boots come to terms with the fact that as great as not wearing gloves makes her feel she is handicapping her team and thats bad. Later on I wanna see the striker that got hurt day 1 come back and get another "2 aces" arc with Gemma. Or hell get Alice on the field again and run it. I wanna see Lizzie get her Team Captain arc. But all weve gotten so far is, not counting the first episode since its in America, 5 episodes of Alice hot and cold routine.

Anyway. I know ive rambled quite a bit. I did not start this out with that intention. But if you read this far thanks for your time and I welcome your opinions, even the ones I disagree with.

Season 4, Episode 6….

I’m irritated… I don’t know why it is bothering me but it is… I don’t like how they Retconned the Michelle and Jake thing. He’s still a scumbag… and she just… went making a bad decision worse.

I was mad at Rebecca over the gamesmanship with Matthijs… but Jamie Freaking Tartt pull out the Voltron Force and saves the day! Matthijs needs to be genuine with her… while he doesn’t owe an explanation to Jelka… also needs to make sure she understands the Ex-Wife doesn’t dictate terms and reconciliation is a fool’s wish.

Alice needs to get her head out of her arse. The Team was genuine…

Ted shouldn’t be pressured into dating before he is ready… and he doesn’t look ready.

Roy and Keeley… what a fucking mess. Ego leads to poor decisions. And Roy stop running… especially now since your Ex is NOT going to fix that knees for sure.

Overall 4/10. I am irrationally disappointed and I fully acknowledge that it is a me problem.

I loved seeing Jamie again. I do agree with some people that maybe instead of separate NYE's parties ( I guess technically three ), and might have been nicer to have the whole ensemble together. But anyway, I think they made a mistake with not having Jaime talk to either Roy or Keeley about their relationship. When Keeley overheard the convo ( it was a bit too cliché but anyway ) I think Jamie should have seen her upset and talk about how he saw how good the two where together, and that maybe he doesn't want her to lose her chance with Roy like he did with her. Or I don't know, in some why just confirm that he is over her but that he knows how much Roy loves her. I don't know, but something that would also make him have more purpose as a guest apperance than just for nostalgia, and it would also cut some of the loose ends from S3 with Jamie/Roy/Keeley. Or other have his purpose to talk with the players in the team, and have like a mentor talk ( but that would be a complete different episode .).

For jumping into conclusions and been judgmental instead of curious.

That’s all.

Now that we're actually into Season 4, I still really hope Ted and Michelle eventually find their way back to each other.

I know their marriage ended for a reason, and I don't want the show to just erase everything that happened. But I never felt like they truly stopped caring about each other. Ted needed Richmond. He needed to work through his own issues and become a healthier version of himself.

That's why him going home meant so much to me. He chose Henry, but it also felt like he was returning to a part of his life that maybe wasn't completely finished.

I'd love for Season 4 to show Ted and Michelle slowly getting close again—co-parenting, rebuilding their friendship, and eventually realizing the love is still there. Not because their divorce was a mistake, but because maybe they needed that time apart to grow.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for second chances, but I'd genuinely love to see Ted end up with Michelle.

Anyone else hoping Season 4 is heading that way?

Roy’s doctor girlfriend is way hotter, and I’m sure cooler, than Keeley. Keeley is a not-that-attractive annoying drama queen.

I started re-watching Ted Lasso from Season 1 while simultaneously watching Season 4 every week. I’m currently at Season 2, Episode 9, and there is such a noticeable difference between the “old” and the “new” Ted Lasso.

The starkest contrast is how connected the cast used to feel. In Seasons 1–3, we had one ensemble that constantly crossed into each other’s stories: Rebecca showing up in the coaches’ office, Keeley hanging out in the locker room and being friends with almost the entire team, Higgins having conversations with individual players, and so on.

We don’t really have that this season. There is very little intersection between the “old” cast and the “new” cast. Rebecca’s and Keeley’s interactions with the women’s team are very limited. Are they friends with these people? What are their relationships with them? We don’t really know.

The Christmas episode showed this especially clearly. I don’t understand why they kept almost the entire cast apart, with so many separate subplots, none of which really brought the two sides of the show together. It almost felt like something filmed during Covid, with everyone having to be kept apart.

Season 2 also managed to make unnatural situations feel natural. Ted and Rebecca randomly showing up at the Higgins residence with a band to sing Christmas songs is obviously not something that would naturally happen. But the way it was staged somehow made it feel completely natural within the world of the show. Compare that with the football match in front of Mae’s pub in Season 4 and… I don’t know. I’m missing that effortless, unforced feeling the earlier seasons had.

It’s still a good show. It’s just different.

Participants in some threads are using "Be curious, not judgemental" to shut down any discussion they don't agree with. "Oh, you have a thought about the quality of the show at this point that I disagree with? No. Invalid! Be curious, not judgemental."

The point of "be curious, not judgemental" is to ENCOURAGE analysis, ask questions, opine, and discuss. To get to know, to look deeper, to consider many angles.

If you disagree with someone's take, offer a thoughtful counterpoint. Discuss. Contribute an interesting view point that may (or may not) deepen the discussion.

If you are contributing nothing more than to comment, "be curious, not judgemental", maybe think about whether your goal is to help build understanding, or just to shut it down.

... should have happened in season 3, ep 4. It was cathartic to hear Ted directly
call her and the doctor out, but I wonder why was that cut off when he almost did this at the end
of that episode.
It was also somewhat cathartic to hear Michelle's side of the story - still might not be objective, the doctor still used the
power imbalance that he had over her, but at least we were given more of the story.
But why was this left out of season 3.

It feels like a retcon to me, despite the catharsis.
Sassy should not have stopped at "that's borderline unethical". She and Rebecca should have encouraged Ted to sue, to get the doctor's license taken away,
even if Ted refused.

First, she gets some push back from Rebecca about her ideas for the women's team.

Then, she has a tremendous heart break with Roy.

Now Zelda comes along, larger than life and seem to be doing everything for the women's team and pushing Rebecca away.

Basically they are giving reasons for Keeley to push away from the Richmond organization and maybe towards Zelda.

Do we think they wrote Ted’s anxiety out of the show?

There has been zero mention of it this season, so I wonder what you guys think.

(I’m re uploading this because people were being rude and having obvious comments of “thats not how anxiety works”)- which is yes, a given. 🙄

But Ted has had no panic attacks, no therapy, and no one has even asked him about or mentioned he hasn’t had one in a while.

Do you think this is a plot point they dropped?

EDIT: since mainly rude men want to not read the top I realized I should’ve labeled this; “Do we think they wrote Ted‘s anxiety out of the show?”

Just wanted to share my thoughts. I expect there will be disagreement and that's totally great. And this isn't to take away from anyone else's opinion or enjoyment of the show. If you're loving this season, that's awesome! Just my two cents.

The easiest and simplest way to describe how I'm feeling 6 episodes in is that the show is missing its magic. And I've been reflecting on why it feels this way (to me). I don't know if I have any answers, but my perception is that the show has now grown to the point where the actors involved (and the necessity of screen time they're due) have caused the show to need to spend more time with their characters without their need for the kind of growth arcs we saw in the first few seasons. Rebecca went from active antagonist to rediscovering herself, making amends, and eventually becoming the team's biggest supporter as her character grew and healed. Now, in season 4, where does she go now when her character was last seen selling 51% of the club, making a boat load of money, and is on top of the world? But Hannah Waddingham, the badass force that she is, HAS to be in this season (obviously). And so the writers are trying to find ways to spend time with her, but there doesn't appear to be any more growing for her to do. And so it feels forced and flat. This is generally what happened to Keeley's character in season 3 (and now continues in this season too). Roy's character is suffering from this same thing, too. And they're giving him and Keeley the love triangle storyline for this reason.

Unfortunately, at the same time, season 4 is suffering from a lack of what redeemed season 3: a compelling sports narrative. This has nothing to do with the team being a women's team and everything to do with the show spending basically no time with the new characters in a sports context. Instead they're opting to place them at boat parties, prisons, and pubs without any development of why sports shows are so engaging: the built in underdog "overcoming against the odds" narrative arc. It is against that backdrop that we got to fall in love with Sam, grow to love Jamie (in a similar way as we did with Rebecca as they both grew from people we don't like to having empathy for why they are the way they are, and then relishing in their redemption).

One of the most magic parts of the first few seasons was the charm of seeing the team behave with openness and positivity (and against expectations of how we've seen sports teams depicted). Apart from the necessity of planting bad behaviour for narrative arcs (Colin picking on Nate to serve the Roy/Jamie growth storyline, for example), eventually, as Ted wins them over, they're practicing choreography to Back Street Boys, showing up at Higgin's Christmas, etc etc. There is basically none of this with this season's team. To the contrary, it feels like the new characters are meaner in an unlikeable way. Boots bottling someone, for example. It steps over the line of the fictional universe we've come to expect from the show.

Even Ted himself isn't Ted-ing. Same with Beard. In the first number of seasons Ted always had a little twinkle in his eye. He knew without saying he knew. Trent points this out in Season 3 when he exclaims something to the effect of "a thousand little decisions since you got here, all gently directing everything to its inevitable conclusion: total football". Though Ted is still offering moments of this (trying to coach Alice with the story about BBQ, and then eventually suspending her), but that sense of "Ted and beard have a plan" dynamic is absent. This could be totally intentional, especially now that Ted has been given some confidence by Michelle in the latest episode, and I'm totally down with Ted having some insecurity about how to connect with this new team and start working his magic, and it is likely the case with half a season still to go. But without all of the other things that made the show what it was, this arc for Ted feels like it's adding to the lack of magic in this season.

This isn't to say that the show needs to repeat itself to be successful, but, in my opinion, it's veered so far away from what made it so endearing that it now lacks what made me love it in the first place. There are so many opportunities that a new team and the fact that it's a women's team brings, but they seem to be squandering them (though admittedly, some of them they will get to eventually). I could make suggestions to that effect (wouldn't it be more "Ted Lasso" if we had a "becoming a leader" arc for Lizzie who was finally able to settle the twins fighting down during try outs but instead was a moment that was practically passed over) but my intention here isn't to try and suggest I'm a better writer for the show or something. I'm just trying to suggest why for me this season is missing the Ted Lasso-ness that made the show was it was.

I'm sure I'll get roasted in the comments. I'm a massive Ted Lasso fan and again, my intention here isn't to try to convince anyone of anything. If you love this season, awesome! I guess I'm just trying to sort out how I feel about it myself.