Season One recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPm9rMVD_RE
Russell Davis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/veryfunnydoofus
Review and recap of #TedLasso season two on #AppleTV.
More Apple news: http://www.cultofmac.com
Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac
Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones
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0:00
Hello again. I'm DeKriven Jones with Cult of Mac, here, recapping Ted Lassow
0:08
seasons one and two out of our season three premiere this very week. I am joined, as last time
0:16
by my good pal, Russell Davis. Hi, I'm Russell Davis, not of Cult of Mac, but of Cult of Russ
0:24
I run my own cult. I'm a little like Jared Lido. We meet on an island once or twice every year
0:30
There are a massive... ...at our next retreat. Interesting. I wonder how much of that will make it into the final cut
0:40
Spoiler alert. Not very much. Maybe I'll leave this in, though, and just let it to your imaginations
0:48
It's Ted Lansel of Season 2, everybody. You can watch a recap of Season 1 somewhere
0:54
If you click around, you can find it. You're smart. Maybe it'll be right here or down there
0:59
or over there. Who knows where it'll be? That fits with our, I believe
1:04
I believe in your ability to find these buttons that Griffin is talking about
1:08
You can do it. With that being said, let's believe in ourselves
1:12
and talk about Ted Lassau. We both love season one. I've often described it to friends
1:18
as like a really tight like Gordian's knot of plot and character development
1:24
It's all intertwined. Not like a single line of dialogue is wasted really
1:29
It's just, just such a perfect season of television. Maybe not the best television ever, you know
1:37
but just a perfectly architected season. Yeah, no, for what it is
1:42
for the type of television show that it is, the type of story that it's trying to tell
1:46
I'm right there with you. I think season one is maybe some of the
1:50
just the tightest sitcom storytelling, you know, this side of Clone High or The Simpsons or, you know
1:57
anything I would say is mildly comparable. Season two is not that, in my opinion
2:02
No, I'm actually there with you. It took me a long time to figure out what exactly didn't stick the landing with season two
2:12
And I think I've nailed it down. In season one, from the architecture of the show that you have Ted versus Rebecca
2:20
and you have that sort of season-long structure as he gets them on his side
2:24
not for any malicious reason, but just to make them better people. It's an upward battle that they face
2:30
But where do you go from the top of the hill Without turning to standard sitcom Inconsequential
2:39
Problem of the Week territory Which I think season two Gets a little close to Yeah
2:50
I kind of agree with you I just want to say I still think season two
2:54
Is a pretty solid season of TV but I agree with you
2:59
I think it... Ted enters a room and everybody does that like standard sitcom
3:04
Oh, Ted. Like, are you surprised to see him? He works here
3:08
He's going to... It's not a party that he's shown up to here
3:11
I mean, the most obvious thing is there's an immediate darkness to season two
3:17
which it immediately and very quickly plays into with the obvious, you know
3:21
the killing of the dog in that first episode. Inadvertent accidental. But it just happens
3:27
And that's an immediate tone setter, as it should be, as it's meant to be
3:32
That unto itself is not a problem. You know, a tone shift is not inherently an issue
3:36
I do agree that I think season two, it definitely comes out you with a bit of a different vibe
3:41
It's definitely a different feel. It's definitely a different tone. It's most certainly trying to play a bit of a different game
3:49
So we start the season. Richmond has been relegated as well. If you're not familiar with the football tiers, it's basically as if
3:57
an NFL team has been kicked down to being a college team
4:02
Or sort of like a major league baseball team getting bumped down to a minor league
4:08
We open with Danny Rojas, killing their mascot dog, Earl. This gives Danny the yips, as it is known, in the sports
4:16
Yeah, in the sports industry. Yeah. Leading them to bring in a sports psychologist, Dr. Fieldstone
4:21
who brings a very interesting sort of dynamic to the show. In season one, we see Ted do his charming sort of work on the crew around us
4:31
And in Dr. Fieldstone, we see that fall flat on its face
4:35
They have a very sort of awkward introduction to each other. She is just not about his happy go lucky sort of nonsense
4:41
You know, Ted is kind of like the self-help book. You pick up at Barnes & Noble. Dr. Fieldstone's the actual therapist you go to and you want to start getting serious
4:50
So much of season one is about showing how big of a change a Ted last
4:55
so like attitude can have on your personal success. And I think season two is all about showing the limits of the Ted Lasso way
5:04
Ted himself we see throughout the show is clearly not 100% mentally healthy himself
5:13
You know, and that's not a judgment on Ted, just an observation. If season one is Ted offering help season two is about Ted asking for help Yeah Season two very much decontent constructs why Ted is the way that he is And Sharon Fieldstone is like the surrogate for that for the audience because he tries to pull the same charming trick he did on Rebecca
5:36
And she's like, interesting. You're using your humor to try and get me to open up
5:41
How does he use those to both better himself and better others
5:45
And then at the same time, in what ways are they detrimental to him? in what ways do they keep him from perhaps being even the best version
5:53
It sounds crazy to think there's a better version of Ted Lassow, and yet, you know, I think what season two is about is revealing that even Ted Lassau
6:01
has a better version of himself inside of him. Ted's conversations with Rebecca really highlight that
6:07
After initially meeting Dr. Fieldstone, we see how in episode one, how big of a difference Dr. Fieldstone's approach can have on the players
6:15
We cut to Ted and Rebecca having a very much season one-esque discussion where they don't really address their feelings or underlying issues at all, and they're not really being honest with each other
6:28
One of the things I think is most interesting about season two for me is watching, like you said, deconstruct him but still keep him intact
6:37
You know, it's not out to break him down necessarily. It's just out looking at the parts of the machine and knowing what each one does
6:45
guys in more detail. That's not the only new character, though. We have a new player on the team
6:51
His name is Jan Mas. I love how he's introduced as well. But I didn't make any mistakes
6:56
Only you played poorly. Oh, wow. Hey, guys, Jan Mas is not being rude
7:02
He's just being Dutch. And that's sort of his thing as a character
7:07
I think part of what makes this show, this show is that so much of it is just about watching
7:12
different types of people interact with each other. And really, I think Jan Ma's
7:15
is fun because Jan Moss is kind of like a rare rude character in this show, but who is still
7:21
loved even in spite of or even at times because of how blunt he can be, how matter of fact he is
7:27
Yeah, he has a really fun dynamic to the whole team. Cut to Roy Kent on his personal journey
7:34
He doesn't really know what he wants to do with himself. Keeley pushes him to go on this Sky Sports
7:40
program. So I believe the two talking heads that they have on there are the real people
7:45
on the show with the addition of, of course, the prior coach of Richmond that we saw, like, very
7:51
briefly in the first scene of season one. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a recurring bit of him, like, swearing on the show and not really fitting in
8:00
with their other hosts remotely. And I just love watching it so much
8:05
It's funny every single time they do it. Part of what I like about this show is that it's able to take that what I have to imagine is a pretty
8:13
specific sort of experience. you know, and making that more universal, more widely
8:19
something that we can all kind of talk about and relate to and understand. Cut to Jamie Tart
8:24
He's on a bit of a bend. He's going on reality TV shows
8:30
They don't want him back at Manchester City. But Richmond doesn't exactly take him back with open arms either
8:38
Bearden and Nate and Higgins are all very apprehensive bringing him back
8:42
Sam Obasanya, one of their lead kickers, finds out that they're, in talks of bringing him back
8:47
And he has a very frank conversation with Ted, where he sort of voices many of the other players on the team
8:53
and says that they would not very much appreciate the former bully of the team coming to play again
9:02
I think that conversation between Sam and Ted is kind of a watermark moment for the show
9:07
is kind of really important. Just really seeing someone like give it to Ted straight
9:11
that just, I think it takes major guts and major courage for Sam
9:15
at that point in the season to come and be that blunt about the fact that, like, we don't
9:19
we don't want Jamie back and we have good reason for that. And I think it's fascinating
9:24
I think a hugely fascinating part of the season is the fact that Ted doesn't listen to them
9:29
Yeah. What season two redefines as being the lasso way is that, yes, you hear everybody out and you hear their opinions
9:39
But he does ultimately bring Jamie back because it's the best for the team anyways
9:44
Even Ted Lasso, as much as he wants to be Mr. Lyssin, as much as he wants to be Mr. I hear everybody
9:50
But he has to put his foot down. And what I love about this show is that that's not the end of it
9:55
Like in the next episode, we see Sam and Jamie and Jamie is not fitting in
10:01
They take their time on this plot line. Cut to Nate, now an assistant coach of the team
10:06
We see a few little hints dropped in this first half of the season
10:10
There's a plot line where he is trying to get a table at a restaurant
10:14
for his parents on their anniversary. Yes. And like, you know, and like the first half of that episode is like very much like a classic
10:21
oh, hilarious, shy little Nate. But you're not cheering for him when he succeeds
10:26
No, no. You start to see what they're starting in season one
10:30
You know, you start to see that really start to pay off in season two. I think it's an important point in the season, though
10:35
that in the next episode, I believe they're at an FAA Cup championship game
10:39
As much as we see Nate personally fumble, and I think it's very important to remind the
10:44
audience that he is a good coach with good strategies as ted has a panic attack during the game and has to leave Nate takes control and his strategy scores the team a point
10:57
and they win the FAA Cup championship. A lot of shows, when they do this thing where they kind of show the decline of a character
11:03
it's just a very fast decline. But you see him take these pieces and these certain parts from Ted
11:09
and these certain pieces of advice and knowledge, but then you just see him kick other
11:15
to the curve very realistically, I say. And then, but he doesn't lose the ability to be a good coach
11:21
As a response to their lessening budget as being a relegated team, they take on a new sponsor
11:26
with banter, this dating app. Rebecca has been on banter. You've seen her sort of chatting up this mysterious individual throughout the season
11:35
But then it's revealed that it is Samo Basanya. This is the episode wherein they go on their first sort of date together
11:43
Let me just say, Sam is so dating. charming. He could probably get me to go on a date with him too. I love the Sam-Rebecca relationship
11:50
personally. I think they develop it well. I don't have a whole lot to say about it other than I'm
11:55
kind of all for it. Yeah, I like it. I think the Rebecca and Sam relationship is kind of an
12:00
interesting examination of sexual politics in the workplace. I think it's genuinely a little
12:05
bold and a little interesting to watch a sitcom that's that generally traffics and kind of the feel-good
12:10
nature of Ted Masso actually deal with something like this. And in the very same episode
12:15
We go back to the Ted and Sharon plotline as Dr. Fieldstone is hit by a car
12:20
She's put in the hospital. Ted goes to check up on her and pick her up and, you know, take her back to her apartment
12:26
And this is, I think, the turning point in their relationship as well, setting up their
12:30
relationship in the second half of the season. Dr. Fieldstone also has to realize that she needs to open up to Ted just as much as he
12:36
needs to open up to her. Dr. Fieldstone's plotline, I think, is maybe my favorite in the season
12:40
Season one had Rebecca as our main character who is a counter in a foil. Now, you know, she's on the same team as Ted more or less, and one of the things I like about Fieldstone is that she comes in and is a very similar role functionally, but a very different role personality-wise
12:57
You know, this is not, she's very much her own character and very much presents her own series of foils to Ted
13:03
Watching Ted, a man who you would think would be so into this whole idea of, like, talking your feelings out, right
13:11
Like that would probably be like right up his alley. Oh yeah, you sit down, you talk about things, you work through it
13:16
And then when you're done, you get to have a hug and drink some chocolate milk or something, right? Like that sounds like a very Ted Lassow type of mentality to have
13:23
So to learn as quickly as we do actually know he's highly skeptical of therapy
13:28
And then to learn further that that's because of his own singular experience with a therapist in the past being this, you know, the couples counseling
13:38
watching him develop, watching him evolve throughout the season. watching that relationship grow and change is one of my favorite aspects of it
13:45
And I'll be 100% honest, myself included. I've seen a therapist or two and have come out of at least one of them
13:53
not particularly feeling like it helped me that much. I think it's valuable to have a show on TV right now using its sense of humor to do stuff
14:00
in that realm and tell stories in that realm. Cut to in the very same episode, Jamie Tart
14:06
This is, of course, where in Richmond is going to play Man City
14:11
which Jamie used to play on. We see Jamie's dad come back. He's, of course, attending this game
14:17
wearing Man City gear, sitting in the Man City section. And we have this extremely powerful scene at the end
14:24
where Jamie's dad comes by into the locker room and he's harassing him, harassing the team
14:31
And what I love, especially about the scene, is that it's completely silent. There's no music
14:36
Everybody's just staring. Nobody knows how to react to this presence that he has
14:41
as he's just like tearing down his son in front of everybody
14:45
That scene is just heart-wrenching and one of the, like, hardest scenes in Ted Lass
14:51
So it's Beard who throws him out of the door and into the door as well
14:59
It's Roy who goes over and hugs Jamie in like the aftershock of that event
15:06
It's Ted who runs out of the room and calls Dr. Sharon
15:11
as it surely brings up some trauma in his past life with dealing with the loss of his father
15:16
who we learn committed suicide. So it's a great bit of character writing
15:21
And really remembering that, like, it's not a soccer show. Like, yes, it is that
15:25
But I think what sets Ted Lassow apart is that that's not really its crocs
15:30
It's about people. So we enter the second half of the season with a funeral episode
15:35
It is Rebecca's father who's died. A pretty comedic moment. We have the whole team deciding that they're going to go to the funeral as well
15:41
and they have this hilarious conversation about dress shoes. What do you get dress shoes
15:48
I don't have time to stand in line at midnight and wait till morning to buy new shoes
15:51
You don't have to do that for shoes like these, mate. Nobody wants them. Danny Rojas looks like he's been saran wrapped or something walking around in this suit
16:02
Rebecca reveals that she's dating Sam and in the same episode, she decides that she wants to go on a break with their relationship
16:08
as a way of wrapping up their storyline Winakufu is this billionaire from Ghana who would like to build a national team based in Africa He would like to buy Sam off of Richmond He takes him out for dinner They in a
16:21
museum. This is a way of making it explicit in the plot showing Sam and Rebecca's growth as
16:27
characters as you have this new plot thread that's trying to pull him away. We go back to Nate
16:33
and in this episode he's being prodded by Jan Mas about how he's still wearing a suit that Ted bought for him
16:38
last season, which leads him to go suit shopping of his own, so he goes with
16:42
Keely, which does instill him with the worst kind of confidence as he tries to kiss Keely
16:49
Going back to what I was saying about the Rebecca and Sam plotline, the extension of that to me
16:55
is kind of the Nate and Keely stuff, where we see Nate kind of start to hit on Keely
17:00
And I feel like we are seeing kind of the flip side to the Rebecca and Sam storyline
17:06
And one, you know, we're seeing a relationship that, yes, technically, professionally speaking, is not out of the clear as far as potential accusations of put pro quo are concerned
17:17
But, you know, we're given the context as an audience, like, they're both into it
17:21
Whereas Keely and Nate, obviously very different side of the same coin
17:26
Nate is inappropriately hitting on Keely and we see like there's murky at worst way to kind of do this inner office relationship thing
17:35
and there's a way to do this where it's just, it's creepy and gross and not cool in any way at all
17:41
Like, there's no debate there, which means it's a confidence born out of, you know, stupidity and arrogance as opposed to a confidence built out of any sort of genuine, interesting human characteristics
17:54
Writing off that, Nate feels like he's being kicked down everywhere he goes
17:58
So he leaks to Trent Crimm about the truth of Ted's panic attacks
18:03
Ted, of course, has been having, like, panic attacks at the funeral and all that. Some of those panic attack scenes are my absolute favorite scenes in the whole show, just in their depiction of a panic attack, as someone who has had to walk out of situations for various reasons, because I think it gets it really right
18:23
And I think it's, I think it's important that we have something like this on TV
18:27
It's a beautiful show. So we resolve the Sam and Rebecca Line, predictably, Sam declines Edwin Akufu's on
18:33
offer. I mean, we all knew what was going to happen. Akufu was really only there, just to show for
18:39
the audience how Sam has grown and how important Richmond is to him. Similar to a lot of stuff about
18:45
season two, I like exploring the idea of sponsorships, the ethics thereof, through the lens of Sam as a
18:52
character, and having that very personal kind of issue and conflict he has with Dubai Air and
18:59
like what they're doing and how they're hurting his home region. How do you take something that is
19:03
such like a personal issue with a gigantic corporation owned by this person
19:08
well, I have this professional obligation and I have this thing that I either want to sign on to do
19:13
or think might help me in my career. And then you have to juggle that with just, you know, your own personal morals and ethics
19:22
Some good does come out of it. It does inspire Sam to open up his own Nigerian restaurant in Richmond
19:27
Yeah, yeah, that too. Which will policy more of in season three. The Nate and Ted relationship boils up
19:33
over. Richmond is using Nate's strategy going into the final match of running a false nine
19:39
Nate is both upset when they tried doing it and he doesn't feel like the team is
19:44
pulling through on his idea. And he's upset when it does work as he feels like Ted's going to
19:49
take the credit. So we have this scene between Ted and Nate where Nate says
19:54
You made me feel like I was the most important person in the whole world
19:59
And then you abandoned me. as accurate as that may or may not be
20:05
watching Nate go through this throughout the season I don't think he was as relegated as he thinks he was
20:11
watching Nate go from this kind of unassuming character to this to this person who yes is more confident
20:17
in his own skin but at what cost you know at what point
20:21
you know at what point in season one did his shyness help him more than he thought it
20:27
yeah more than he knew that it was yeah because yeah once we see
20:32
that he feels more empowered to speak. We see him abuse that power, right? And it's framed as like a bit of a triumph even for Nate to like finally get this off his chest
20:41
The scene itself knows that Nate's not 100% in the right. It also just knows that he's earned it that one time
20:49
I think season two is kind of watching Nate come to the wrong conclusion and think that what that meant was not you get this free pass once, more you get this free pass every time
21:01
use it often and use it well. There have been hints of this throughout the season
21:06
Nate defects to Manchester United with Rupert, who has now purchased the team with him as the head coach
21:14
And that's where we leave off going into season three. This has been our summary of season two
21:20
I'm De Griffin Joe with Colton Mac. I've been joined by Russell Davis, but you can follow at Very Funny Dufus on Twitter
21:27
Follow me if you want. Don't if you don't. I'm kind of stupid. so you're not missing much
21:32
Nice talking with you, Griff. Nice talking with you, Russell
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