Ted Lasso (AppleTV)
After prompting from family members who have AppleTV, I downloaded a pirate copy of seasons 1+2 and binged the last few days with the wife. Most are likely aware, but the premise is a English woman goes through a divorce and from that she gains ownership of a minor league soccer team. As her ex-husband was a total dick, her aim is to ruin the club, so she hires Ted Lasso, NCAAF coach of Witchita State to be her coach. He brings no knowledge whatsoever of soccer, but he's got an unbeatable positive attitude and and assistant (Coach Beard...who has a beard). Ted takes the job as his wife has asked for 'space' in their marriage, so he went 4400 miles away, and speaks with his young son via internet periodically.
Season 1 was focused on Ted getting acclimated to England, overcoming cultural and personality differences to win over the players and attempt to keep them in the Premier (top division) league. Other characters in the mix are the club owner, Rebecca, who is a tall and busty woman who is both powerful and dealing with her own insecurities. I'll admit, I found her very attractive for her age, but her age, and found she is 5y younger than me. Fk I'm old. We have a team trainer, Nate, who is our Indi-Paki ghost of a human being with less than zero confidence who is often abused by the players. On the team, we have the young superstar, Jamie Tartt, on loan from another team but seemingly the only one who can score - as such he thinks the world of himself, and nothing of anyone else. We also have an old legend, Roy, who is in his professional decline but still leaned on to lead others despite his total 'fk off' attitude towards everyone and everything. Lastly of note is the hot girlfriend Jamie brings into the series. She's 30, and very bubbly attractive (except for her british teeth), as she oft seems light and superficial but expresses a tremendous heart and caring for others, and a bit more depth than you expect. Season 1 brings plenty of laughs, several moments of feeling, and generally a good ride, even for those who don't like soccer or know anything about it.
Season 2 is about trying to regain their earlier glory, but having lost Roy to injury (how does he handle post-playing?) and Tartt back to his home team. We add in a team psychologist for the season, to help various players with their issues, but it builds towards a major revelation and issue in Ted's life. While both seasons have a mix of good supporting players (both team and cast), one rises to more of a lead role in Season 2 as he faces a choice of moving on to great wealth vs staying with the club, and the relationships he's built there. I'll also state that my impression was that half way through season 2 it felt the writers had run out of steam and were grasping a bit. The overall show is still good, and sets for a season 3, but the back half was a mixed bag. For example, there is one episode titled 'Coach Beard after hours' which follows him walking home after a big loss. Up to this point Beard is somewhat enigmatic, speaking not a lot but generally to the point, and sharing of a wide (weird) mix of experiences. This episode follows him from the field, to a bar meeting up with some fans, out to clubs, through a few other adventures, and generally plays as 'weird'. Either one writer got his dream to write an episode on anyone and anything they want, or someone lost a bet and had to write an episode solely on Beard. Any way you slice it, the episode doesn't fit the flow of the series at all and is a diversion into an underdeveloped character at the expense of fans enjoying the overall show. As a second example, the issue Ted faces gets entwined with Rebecca coming to terms with her mother when her father dies and the two of them host the funeral for him. While being a significant dive into Rebecca's past and her issues, the filming begins chopping it up and intermixing it with Ted facing his similar father issues with the psychologist. This could be a well played bit of writing to tether Ted and Rebecca's issues in parallel, either to bring them closer to each other for the audience or to share with the audience that all people face such challenges. However, in my viewing, it was a bit clunky and overbearing with the heart strings.
I started to explain how season 3 is set up, but I'll keep that spoiler to myself. I'll watch it, in part because I like the overall theme and characters. But, I'm also watching to see if the writing that sabatoged the end of season 2 remains.
No nudity, a TON of swearing (particularly by Roy), and a lot of sexual references. Not for 12yo boys like my son who watched it as well, but still recommended for you lot. 6.5/10
