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Spoilers Ted Lasso Season 3 Discussion

I thought that was an awful final to the series. It was unfortunately everything I expected it to be. Everyone is happy, everyone got their fair share of moments to say sorry or goodbye then we have Rupert going full pantomime villain in front of everyone showing his true colors. Season 3 is when these characters stopped growing and being real and just became perfect, happy, happy people. It's a real shame because I really did feel something in the previous two seasons, scenes and moments did hit me emotionally whether they were happy or sad. But now I just feel like I ate too much chocolate cake and the sweetness of it is making me nauseous. It even looked like that Ted might be moving back in with his family and his ex-wife's partner is nowhere to be seen in those last scenes.
 
It was funny, sad and sweet, which is what I've always found this show to be. Maybe it didn't stick the landing perfectly, but honestly, I like that everyone, if not perfectly happy in the end, was, at least content. Except for Rupert. He got what he deserved.

And Richmond still has a way to go. They didn't finish on top, so there's still work to be done. Kind of like between Major League and Major League 2.

I've loved just about every minute of this show and hope they find a way to keep it going in some form or fashion. But if it's truly done and dusted, a well done job indeed.
 
Funny thing for me: I watched it all this year. So I have zero COVID associations. I only mention this because I see so many... Well, they're not all criticisms. But mentions? that season 3 doesn't carry the weight that the first one or two did because we're not in quarantine.

There are still great big chunks of 3 that are awesome. And people will forget that. Because there is a gaping hole in the middle of the season and that's what people seem to focus on.

At the end of the day the Keeley stories went nowhere. Which was a shame and disservice to Keeley, to Barbara, and even to Shandy. (Sorry, but the less said about Jack the better.)

They almost saved it by giving us that wonderful buddy comedy (can a buddy comedy have three?) with Keeley, Jamie, and Roy. The biggest success of the bud-three comedy was that it nearly managed to get out from under "Who will she choose?" and just had fun with the three of them.

Also, I think people (me) had very different expectations about the Nate story. Looking back, I have to say I kind of loved it. Nate was never a supervillain. He had to figure things out. What's more Ted Lasso than that? Probably my favorite thing about Nate, maybe my favorite thing this season, was that he figured out to get the hell away from Rupert on his own. And as we left the series, nobody knew that he did it.

Ted: "It's not about me. It never was." Poetry.
 
I never understood why Nate was so hated to begin with. His insecurities overtook him for awhile and he acted out. But we know why he did that and that coming from the issues he had with his dad and a basic lack of respect in his life. So it's easy to see not only why he would return to his more ethical core but why Ted forgave him so easily.
 
His bullying and power-tripping really got excessive in season 2 ("personal and weird" was, I think, how Beard described it), and while it never got back to the maximum extent in season 3 (I wonder if the writers thought they'd gone too far and thought the best solution was to just ignore how toxic he got), he was still being short with people he perceived as beneath him socially (like when he snaps at Jade for mispronouncing his name when he thinks she's a delivery person, or the short sofa and chair he put in his office so people would have to practically sit on the floor in meetings with him), and it never really got address. There was no point where he got called on it and actually listened, no moment of clarity where he realized that, hey, bullying people isn't what makes big-shots big-shots, it's just what makes assholes assholes. It just gradually tapered off, but it was all because of context; I'm sure he's stopped spitting at the mirror to feed off his own self-loathing, but there's no real reason to think he won't bully a relative stranger again, that he understands how he was reacting badly to being given authority and modeling toxic traits.

Maybe that all just went away off-screen, or maybe they were leaving themselves a problem to solve if the series continues in some form.
 
But he didn't become a bully because of being given authority. It was because of massive insecurity and also someone who likely came to even believe he wasn't worthy. Ted might have been one of the first people to believe in him and give him some actual respect and he put Ted on such a pedestal that when he let him down because Ted is a human with problems of his own he ended up snapping and feeling betrayed. He was still very much like a child or man with arrested development because never got the support he needed while growing up.
 
I never understood why Nate was so hated to begin with. His insecurities overtook him for awhile and he acted out. But we know why he did that and that coming from the issues he had with his dad and a basic lack of respect in his life. So it's easy to see not only why he would return to his more ethical core but why Ted forgave him so easily.
That was something that was underplayed (for the good). Ted was hurt, but Ted didn't really think there was anything to forgive. Nate needed to be forgiven by Ted. Ted didn't need to forgive Nate. Ted was fine.

This show didn't usually do subtle. But the scene (FINALLY) with Ted and Nate alone was (for Ted Lasso) pretty subtle.
 
His bullying and power-tripping really got excessive in season 2 ("personal and weird" was, I think, how Beard described it), and while it never got back to the maximum extent in season 3 (I wonder if the writers thought they'd gone too far and thought the best solution was to just ignore how toxic he got), he was still being short with people he perceived as beneath him socially (like when he snaps at Jade for mispronouncing his name when he thinks she's a delivery person, or the short sofa and chair he put in his office so people would have to practically sit on the floor in meetings with him), and it never really got address. There was no point where he got called on it and actually listened, no moment of clarity where he realized that, hey, bullying people isn't what makes big-shots big-shots, it's just what makes assholes assholes. It just gradually tapered off, but it was all because of context; I'm sure he's stopped spitting at the mirror to feed off his own self-loathing, but there's no real reason to think he won't bully a relative stranger again, that he understands how he was reacting badly to being given authority and modeling toxic traits.

Maybe that all just went away off-screen, or maybe they were leaving themselves a problem to solve if the series continues in some form.
This. If he had exaggerated a little more with Ted and the others it would have been a psychotic episode. He wasn't just rude and ungrateful, he invented his own world where he was the victim and Ted was the perpetrator. I get that Ted is the nicest, most understanding person on the planet (and probably a couple next to it) and he didn't need to forgive him, but any human being would ask "What the hell happened man? Was there some misunderstanding?". It doesn't seem to me that a little self-analysis would have been enough to remedy what he did. He would need some serious professional help.
 
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Funny thing for me: I watched it all this year. So I have zero COVID associations. I only mention this because I see so many... Well, they're not all criticisms. But mentions? that season 3 doesn't carry the weight that the first one or two did because we're not in quarantine.

There are still great big chunks of 3 that are awesome. And people will forget that. Because there is a gaping hole in the middle of the season and that's what people seem to focus on.

At the end of the day the Keeley stories went nowhere. Which was a shame and disservice to Keeley, to Barbara, and even to Shandy. (Sorry, but the less said about Jack the better.)

They almost saved it by giving us that wonderful buddy comedy (can a buddy comedy have three?) with Keeley, Jamie, and Roy. The biggest success of the bud-three comedy was that it nearly managed to get out from under "Who will she choose?" and just had fun with the three of them.

Also, I think people (me) had very different expectations about the Nate story. Looking back, I have to say I kind of loved it. Nate was never a supervillain. He had to figure things out. What's more Ted Lasso than that? Probably my favorite thing about Nate, maybe my favorite thing this season, was that he figured out to get the hell away from Rupert on his own. And as we left the series, nobody knew that he did it.

Ted: "It's not about me. It never was." Poetry.

Very well said and i completely agree. As to Keeley i wondered near the end what her entire storyline was about because she seemed to end up right where she started the season with little, if no progress made but when she kicked out both men she made that final step to becoming truly independent and for that she needed that arc to set out on her own with success and failure combined.

I don't think season 3 didn't carry its weight, especially after the Amsterdam episode or that it was due to Covid. The series as written could have happened years earlier and would have still been a great success because of the writing, theme, characters and the actors playing them. It just had the "fortune" to be released at a time when the entire world needed some positive things in their life and Ted Lasso provided that in spades.

This will be a show that won't ever age due to its themes and i can see it being rewatched for a very long time.

And now something that has been released only a few hours, grab some tissues because my eyes are very misty at the moment:

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We watched the Amsterdam episode last night. I think that was one of the most lovely and perfect episodes of anything I've ever seen. Loved Jaime and Roy SO MUCH! And the pillow fight! And Higgins at the jazz club! All of it was just beautiful. I think this may be my go-to episode when I feel the world sucks.
 
Thank you for reminding me that I don't actually hate Anthony Head.

It is a sign of a good actor/actress who can make you hate their character while personally being a good person, Lena Headey/Cersei and Jack Gleeson/Joffrey from Game of Thrones are other examples of this - both of them really nice people outside of their role. I couldn't reconcile seeing him at first and remembering him from his Buffy days and seeing him now as a villain, he was so good in Ted Lasso :)
 
Thank you for reminding me that I don't actually hate Anthony Head.

having just seen Buffy The Vampire Slayer both before Ted Lasso and rewatching before season 3, I can’t hate Anthony Head. However I think Buffy Season 6 Rupert and Lasso Rupert could get together and take notes. Didn’t like Giles in Season 6 for Abandoning Buffy the way he did.
 
Didn’t like Giles in Season 6 for Abandoning Buffy the way he did.
He did it for Buffy's own good. Rupert never did ANYTHING for anybody's own good.

Thinking on it a few days, I'm a little disappointed that Rupert not only lost his marbles but that he actually had the "punishment" for it. I think Rebecca's story finishes stronger when we honestly don't care what happens to Rupert. Or at least she doesn't.

OTOH, Cartrick's response to Rupert's "Sweep the leg" moment was note perfect for the show and the character.
 
He did it for Buffy's own good. Rupert never did ANYTHING for anybody's own good.

Was it really for her own good though? She had just died, and when she came back, she was not the same Buffy. That seemed like a really bad time to leave her for her own good. As we saw from the rest of the season, it was.
 
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