Ted Lasso Season 2 Discussion (Includes Spoilers)

Nate's idea of power and responsibility comes from being bullied for years -- at work, probably growing up at school, and clearly at home there is some emotional abuse and neglect coming from his father. He's been on the business end of that for so long that when he gets a taste of power, he reverts to what he knows from his life experience. At some point, Ted will help him through that. But that point won't be now, I suspect.

Ted has been more pragmatic this season -- e.g. bringing back Jamie despite the potential effect on Sam, realizing that his staff needed Roy back to pull it all together. So, I think he knows how much he needs Nate for a final match. I reckon that Ted levels with his team about the panic attack -- which, as his speeches usually do, leads to players sharing their own thoughts and experiences. The players rally around him and earn promotion — although it wouldn’t be out of the question for Richmond to be promoted with a draw.

(Bottom line: The Greyhounds have 85 points, which puts them in playoff position. So, if they lost, they'd have to play at least two more matches. A playoff doesn't mesh well with the show's style of having each episode deal with no more than a single match/week. And then there is the fact that it seems like each season will end with the final match -- note Rebecca having her big reveal to Ted in the next-to-last episode, just like the previous season. Patterns and callbacks are part of the show's DNA. Further, in the Premier League era, the average second-place team in the Championship has finished with 86.9 points. That said, the episode description for Episode 12 of Season 2 refers to Richmond getting its “final chance to win promotion,” so it’s possible that they skip past the final match of the season and the playoff and go right to Wembley. On the other hand, Apple has promoted the episode with a picture of the team on matchday — you can tell by the kits worn by some players — and the players all touching the sign in the Nelson Road locker room that reads, “BELIEVE” as Ted and Beard look on. So, I think it’s all about the 46th matchday.)

Then, after the match, Ted tells Nate he knows about him being the source, and that while he loves him like a son, a team can't have someone who betrays what Higgins calls the "inner sanctum" in their midst. Reluctantly, he fires him. (Although it will probably take a prod from Beard and Roy, both of whom will probably want to murder Nate. They will surely tell Ted about Nate's treatment of Will.)

As we know, this is not a happy-ending show. In life, your wins and losses often happen concurrently. (It's straight out of the Ron Shelton playbook.) In Season 1, Ted won in building a club into a family and getting everyone to buy in, but lost on the field. In Season 2, it seems like it's pointing to a win on the field, but the loss of someone who was like a son to him. (As Ted has always said, it's not about the wins and losses on the field.)

And Trent revealing Nate ... is it unprofessional? Yes. But Trent made it clear in Season 1 how much he came to respect Ted. And in seeing Ted's impact on Roy from the day they spent together, he understands Ted's impact on the team's increasing success -- probably more than anyone else outside the AFC Richmond inner sanctum. We will probably learn two things about Nate in Season 3, especially if he goes to another club: 1) How much Nate needs the environment fostered by Ted. If he's a manager, he will be England's Josh McDaniels. 2) How much Ted's staff needs Nate's tactical acumen.

 

Not sure about that. They went to a pub for beers after he read the letter.

 

It was something alcohol. They set up an entire moment in her pad when he sees the many empty bottles and looks concerned. She saw him looking at those bottles, obviously embarrassed, and didn't have an answer and let the moment slide. Not for nothing but she does get around on her bike, which she did crash, even if it was accidental so maybe she's not allowed to drive because of DUI's. It's possible that one of Sharon's loved ones -- mom? dad? -- was an alcoholic, who maybe died from liver disease. Or, something much more dark.

The toy soldier reappeared too. Was it the same toy soldier he gave Jamie who then gave it back when they were having a pint at the bar? Lasso could given her the toy any other way. But he dropped it into a pint glass full of beer. So her deepest darkest conflict and battle revolved around booze.

Either way it was a very Lost in Translation move ...

 

This may spoil exactly what happens (soccer-wise) in this week's episode:

Spoiler: questions about Season 1 / 2

https://9to5mac.com/2021/10/04/ted-lasso-english-premiere-league/

But also, now I need to go back and rewatch Season 1. Obviously, all the exterior shots were at their "home" stadium, so we've already seen the Premier League embrace the show by allowing them to film at Wembley this year. But I can't remember if any specific logos, kits, etc. have been used up to this point.

In real life news, today was Nick Mohammad, aka Nate's, birthday!

 

Trent Crimm's journalistic ethics on 'Ted Lasso' cause uproar among real reporters

 

When I pointed out to my wife that there's no way that would happen like that in real life, she said, "So? How much of this show do you think is actually realistic?"

 

It's obviously a cheat to accomplish two things: 1) to show Trent Crimm—the Independent—is only kind of douchey by printing the tip and they will need him to talk with Ted later to sort something else out and 2) they need the leaker exposed and this was the quicker way to do it rather than wasting time in the finale trying to accomplish what they took 10 seconds doing.

It still bugs me that they used what has been established as a pretty good and ethical journalist to break journalistic rules as a cheat.

 

Is it odd to anyone else that we have yet to actually see AFC Richmond win on the pitch? I think we’ve seen some post-match handshakes and celebration, but I don’t think they’ve shown any significant game action from any of their victories.

I think I understand why they’re doing that, but they’ve had a fair number of victories this season and, as viewers, we haven’t gotten to enjoy that.

 

We saw quite a bit of their first win in Season 1, when Ted's wife and son were in town.

 

Didn’t we see action in the FA Cup win over Spurs?

 

I think that the action on the field generally looks very phony (small pitch, Jamie scoring an FK where the keeper is standing 10 yards out of position) so less is more. Plus there may have been Covid restrictions with respect to extras.

I read a great speculation of the final episode playing off of the rom-com tropes. Richmond win and are promoted. Sam decides to go to Morocco and Ted quits to go back to the US. Rebecca runs through the airport to convince someone to stay, but we don’t know who it is.

 

Re: The extras. I read something and/or saw a video about the crowd scenes saying almost all of the people in the stands are computer generated.