By Maya Bourne
Ted Lasso is a one-in-a-million TV show that somehow melds both a tremendously humorous and deeply emotional watching experience. I have seen this show more times than I can count, and every time I sit down with a bowl of popcorn and sparkling water, I always find myself marveling at the stroke of genius this show is. With its complex characters, peak humor, and surprisingly emotional storylines, Ted Lasso has truly cemented itself as one of the best TV shows of this decade.
To understand Ted Lasso as a show, it is first important to understand Ted himself. Ted is a regular guy from Kansas who Rebecca Welton hires to coach AFC Richmond, a professional English football team. Within the first five minutes of the first episode, Ted’s tenaciously positive attitude jumps out as he constantly cracks jokes and asks his new coworkers whacky questions. Also prevalent in this episode, is Ted’s incredible love and care towards everyone, even people he barely knows. Ted bakes and brings Rebecca cookies every single morning for the entire series; he has weekly sandwich lunches with his friend and colleague, Coach Beard; he includes the kit man, Nate, in their coaching sessions, eventually leading him to coach at Richmond and another football team later in the series. Ted is such a lovable and unique character throughout this entire series, and season 2 really brings his complexity to the surface. With the introduction of Dr. Sharon, the team psychologist, Ted’s real feelings under his unwaveringly cheerful demeanor are exposed. He deals with his childhood trauma, as well as his current marriage troubles, and the show does a great job of highlighting his mental growth throughout the series. Ted learns to actually address a problem when he has one instead of glossing it over with a joke. He learns to have genuine conversations with people and open up about his own trauma. Ted’s growth is a central part of the story, and the lessons he learns reflect on the show and are recurring themes in later episodes.
Now, Ted is a very large part of the show Ted Lasso, but there are countless other characters, each with their own layers and complexity, who make this entire show come to life. One of the best examples of a beautifully written character is Jamie Tartt. Jamie starts season one as an arrogant superstar. He is easily the best on the team and knows it, so he doesn’t try. He is harsh on the rest of his team, degrading them for their mistakes and never making the extra pass. Throughout the series, we slowly start to peel back the layers of Jamie’s personality. We learn that he is the way he is because of his dad’s constant pressure to be better. We see the growth of his friendship with Roy Kent, another amazing character in the show. We see him go from a ball-hogging idiot to a selfless teammate. One example of this is when Jamie wears his teammate Sam’s jersey number to the World Cup after Sam was unable to play for his own country. Season one Jamie would never have done that, but season three Jamie has grown as a person and understands the impact that a supportive friend can have on someone. Jamie is an amazingly written character who encompasses many of the show’s themes of second chances and the opportunity for growth for everyone. Overall, Ted Lasso is an amazing show that teaches incredibly valuable lessons to people of all ages about the importance of friendship, connection, and growth. It is a show about a football team, but it is also a show about moving on and healing from past relationships, facing childhood trauma, handling change, and accepting who you are. This show is fantastic, and if this article hasn’t convinced you to immediately go watch it, I will leave you with one quote from the man himself, Ted Lasso: “Just listen to your gut, and on the way down to your gut, check in with your heart. Between those two things, they’ll let you know what’s what.”