Have people seen Hannah Gadsby's one-woman show Nanette? It was going through my mind during Ted's press conference. It highlights how complicated and problematic it can be to make oneself the butt of the joke. There is some self-loathing in it. The jokes about his panic attacks, for example. Humor can de-stigmatize, but it can also be cruel. He would never make jokes about someone else's struggles, but he will joke about himself. Partly because he puts everyone else first, always.
The story about the janitor seems like a throw-away thing, but it's central to Ted's character. The janitor gives him money, but Ted uses it to buy the janitor something instead? Just accept the kind gesture! That's a pathology--not being able to receive gifts from others.
In fact... OMG. What if THAT is Ted's mission in England? Not to win the whole thing, or not solely that. But also to learn how, when appropriate, to put himself first.
Thank you for your analysis and observations, really solid. A few more things that jumped out for me:
*Jamie stepping up as leader in the locker room, telling the team that Nate's comments are poopay and you have to let it flow. Mirrors Season 1 when Ted doesn't intervene in discord in the locker room and gives space for Roy to step up. This time, Ted was eager to go fix and Beard and Roy held him back.
*When Roy is working on strategy and talking about the film Hoosiers, Beard is reading "The Miracle of Castel di Sangro (and as we know, Beard's books aren't random. They're always intentional clues). The synopsis on Amazon:
"Master storyteller Joe McGinniss travels to Italy to cover the unlikely success of a ragtag minor league soccer team--and delivers a brilliant and utterly unforgettable story of life in an off-the-beaten-track Italian village.
When Joe McGinniss sets out for the remote Italian village of Castel di Sangro one summer, he merely intends to spend a season with the village's soccer team, which only weeks before had, miraculously, reached the second-highest-ranking professional league in the land. But soon he finds himself embroiled with an absurd yet irresistible cast of characters, including the team's owner, described by the New York Times as "straight out of a Mario Puzo novel," and coach Osvaldo Jaconi, whose only English word is the one he uses to describe himself: "bulldozer."
As the riotous, edge-of-your-seat season unfolds, McGinniss develops a deepening bond with the team, their village and its people, and their country."
Sounds familiar, eh? lol
* The "Hoosiers" reference. Foreshadowing or confirmation of what we already strongly expect: AFC Richmond is going to have a perfect or winning season and face the giant West Ham in the championship. Also Roy asks, "What's a hoosier?" Hoosier is an inhabitant of Indiana but the name comes from the American South and implies that one is uncouth....which is how AFC is being viewed by the UK sports world and Nate who calls Ted a shitty coach.
* Language is always key in this show and it was interesting that the traditional cuss words we expected to hear from Jamie or Phoebe (being Roy's niece) were benign: poopay and stupid (Phoebe asked Roy if she could say a bad word) whereas Nate who previously never cussed, calls Ted "shitty"
*The Paddington reference was very funny--that Paddington gave them 0 marmalade sandwiches on Twitter and Dani discovering that someone else writes Paddington's tweets. Ted Lasso is very much a Paddington type character, especially with the biscuits he brings Rebecca.
*Also the talk about underdogs, top dogs...AFC Richmond are of course the hounds. And West Ham United, which is a real team, has a log of two hammers--iron work, ship building history--West Hammers. Rupert and Nate are trying to hammer, slam, dominate, beat Ted, Rebecca and AFC Richmond.
Fascinating observations here! Definitely noticing the light/dark themes. Definitely getting the Star Wars vibe, in which fathers and sisters and the force (#believe) are important. Nate has gone to the dark side, hair is white like a Storm Trooper. Ted starts off looking really bedraggled, and then tends that mustache, trying to get it together. Rebecca continues to conflate the team with Rupert. Him/They. And oh gosh, when the Super Hero toy was a gift from "mommy's friend" Jake. Oof.
If this hews close to Star Wars, and this is Return of the Jedi, I am betting the team will have some fun Ewok moments... playful underdogs who band together to defeat the empire. I agree that winning "the whole thing" will mean life, not just the league. It's pretty obvious that we'll see Ted face some of his demons and eventually there will be a squaring off between Rebecca and Rupert. The Keeley/Roy part (Han/Leia) is less obvious to me. And how about this for a weird turn: Rebecca and Ted getting together? They BOTH learn to forgive their past and, badabing, a romance? I am not 100% for that but I could see it.
Mar 16, 2023·edited Mar 16, 2023Liked by MaryAnn McKibben Dana
The Times critic Christopher Orr noted “Any scene ever shot in a sewer anywhere in Europe is automatically a reference to “The Third Man,” one of the greatest films of all time. The last shot is probably my favorite in the history of cinema. If you haven’t seen it — or even if you have — do yourself a favor.” And since I binged on movies prior to the Oscar’s and I’m still wanting to focus on movies for awhile I’m going to check this movie out and see who “sewered” best.
My favorite part was the major role the kids played (and those laugh out loud parenting nuggets - the legos 💀). The beauty of the child-like wisdom! I’m hoping it’s a preview into the adults tending to their inner-child. Healing of wounds. Listening deeply to their needs. The light and dark offices might have been too on the nose, but the light wardrobe of the women and their offices... mixed with Nate’s Death Star office... it made a loud point. Perhaps Keely’s dark eye makeup on the light colored shirts is a nod to this as well.
Loved it all. Laughed a lot. Smiled on the inside. Bring on season 3!
I think what we’re seeing is a lot of what happens after a group/community goes their own individual ways for a time. It’s good, it’s healthy, but it also means some work needs to be done to get back on the common page - made all the more distanced by external factors (Rebecca still processing the influence of Rupert on her life, Ted figuring out what his ultimate role/purpose is in England, etc etc). This distancing was particularly evident in Rebecca being unhappy with Ted’s coaching style (which had brought them to this point and foo so far).
I guess I didn’t take it that Ted and Rebecca have lost anything in their relationship. I saw Rebecca just learning that her team is placed last while her ex’s team is favored for the top spot. I saw her acting out on this news, but she certainly seemed back on Ted’s team at the end of the show and buying into the belief still running rampant in the show “to let Ted be Ted.”
I have rewatched season 2 after watching Wednesday and find myself feeling quite bothered by the ways that Ted simply allows people to behave badly with no consequences. Especially being oblivious to Nate’s cruelty to Will over and over. Sassy didn’t let Rebecca off so easily but Ted gives her a hug and they move on. Even when she revisited her drunken plotting her first Christmas after the divorce, there’s an uncomfortable silence and then they move on. I am really hoping that there is a reckoning of bad behavior in this season. At present I’m feeling like Ted’s leadership is lacking in accountability and I’m hoping for more from him this season.
There’s a whole lot about Ted’s arc that parallels my own life over the last couple of years, which is really weird. And lovely...
Both Ted and Nate will need to learn how to truly own their worth to inhabit the leadership roles they are in- coping skills that save your bacon today will fry your ass eventually.
Definitely not buying the end of Roy-Keeley.
Rebecca and Ted need to find the both-and of what success looks like with internal and external measures.
OK so...Why did Rebecca say "Stand up to him, Ted!"? Ted is the white knight player in darts when Rupert is a real ass. What happened to Ted and Rebecca over the summer that they no longer have this rapport?
I deeply appreciate that the way Ted stands up to Nate is to (mostly) be self-deprecating. That seems consistent with who he is, and also the high road. What was his first comment in the press room about Nate? I can't remember now but I'm pretty sure it was almost a little zinger, right?
Also, the devastation of Jason S. toward his ex, Olivia Wilde, makes me wonder if this famous "Jake" who gives out toys is going to look like Harry Styles.
Have people seen Hannah Gadsby's one-woman show Nanette? It was going through my mind during Ted's press conference. It highlights how complicated and problematic it can be to make oneself the butt of the joke. There is some self-loathing in it. The jokes about his panic attacks, for example. Humor can de-stigmatize, but it can also be cruel. He would never make jokes about someone else's struggles, but he will joke about himself. Partly because he puts everyone else first, always.
The story about the janitor seems like a throw-away thing, but it's central to Ted's character. The janitor gives him money, but Ted uses it to buy the janitor something instead? Just accept the kind gesture! That's a pathology--not being able to receive gifts from others.
In fact... OMG. What if THAT is Ted's mission in England? Not to win the whole thing, or not solely that. But also to learn how, when appropriate, to put himself first.
Really good first episode of the new season. I've watched it twice. Here's a fun article I read on Rupert's office: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ted-lasso-modeled-ruperts-office-230928761.html
Also, I thought this CNN opinion piece on the villain being "the past" was spot on: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/15/opinions/ted-lasso-season-three-new-villain-perry-gabriele-ctrp/index.html
Thank you for your analysis and observations, really solid. A few more things that jumped out for me:
*Jamie stepping up as leader in the locker room, telling the team that Nate's comments are poopay and you have to let it flow. Mirrors Season 1 when Ted doesn't intervene in discord in the locker room and gives space for Roy to step up. This time, Ted was eager to go fix and Beard and Roy held him back.
*When Roy is working on strategy and talking about the film Hoosiers, Beard is reading "The Miracle of Castel di Sangro (and as we know, Beard's books aren't random. They're always intentional clues). The synopsis on Amazon:
"Master storyteller Joe McGinniss travels to Italy to cover the unlikely success of a ragtag minor league soccer team--and delivers a brilliant and utterly unforgettable story of life in an off-the-beaten-track Italian village.
When Joe McGinniss sets out for the remote Italian village of Castel di Sangro one summer, he merely intends to spend a season with the village's soccer team, which only weeks before had, miraculously, reached the second-highest-ranking professional league in the land. But soon he finds himself embroiled with an absurd yet irresistible cast of characters, including the team's owner, described by the New York Times as "straight out of a Mario Puzo novel," and coach Osvaldo Jaconi, whose only English word is the one he uses to describe himself: "bulldozer."
As the riotous, edge-of-your-seat season unfolds, McGinniss develops a deepening bond with the team, their village and its people, and their country."
Sounds familiar, eh? lol
* The "Hoosiers" reference. Foreshadowing or confirmation of what we already strongly expect: AFC Richmond is going to have a perfect or winning season and face the giant West Ham in the championship. Also Roy asks, "What's a hoosier?" Hoosier is an inhabitant of Indiana but the name comes from the American South and implies that one is uncouth....which is how AFC is being viewed by the UK sports world and Nate who calls Ted a shitty coach.
* Language is always key in this show and it was interesting that the traditional cuss words we expected to hear from Jamie or Phoebe (being Roy's niece) were benign: poopay and stupid (Phoebe asked Roy if she could say a bad word) whereas Nate who previously never cussed, calls Ted "shitty"
*The Paddington reference was very funny--that Paddington gave them 0 marmalade sandwiches on Twitter and Dani discovering that someone else writes Paddington's tweets. Ted Lasso is very much a Paddington type character, especially with the biscuits he brings Rebecca.
*Also the talk about underdogs, top dogs...AFC Richmond are of course the hounds. And West Ham United, which is a real team, has a log of two hammers--iron work, ship building history--West Hammers. Rupert and Nate are trying to hammer, slam, dominate, beat Ted, Rebecca and AFC Richmond.
Fascinating observations here! Definitely noticing the light/dark themes. Definitely getting the Star Wars vibe, in which fathers and sisters and the force (#believe) are important. Nate has gone to the dark side, hair is white like a Storm Trooper. Ted starts off looking really bedraggled, and then tends that mustache, trying to get it together. Rebecca continues to conflate the team with Rupert. Him/They. And oh gosh, when the Super Hero toy was a gift from "mommy's friend" Jake. Oof.
If this hews close to Star Wars, and this is Return of the Jedi, I am betting the team will have some fun Ewok moments... playful underdogs who band together to defeat the empire. I agree that winning "the whole thing" will mean life, not just the league. It's pretty obvious that we'll see Ted face some of his demons and eventually there will be a squaring off between Rebecca and Rupert. The Keeley/Roy part (Han/Leia) is less obvious to me. And how about this for a weird turn: Rebecca and Ted getting together? They BOTH learn to forgive their past and, badabing, a romance? I am not 100% for that but I could see it.
The Times critic Christopher Orr noted “Any scene ever shot in a sewer anywhere in Europe is automatically a reference to “The Third Man,” one of the greatest films of all time. The last shot is probably my favorite in the history of cinema. If you haven’t seen it — or even if you have — do yourself a favor.” And since I binged on movies prior to the Oscar’s and I’m still wanting to focus on movies for awhile I’m going to check this movie out and see who “sewered” best.
My favorite part was the major role the kids played (and those laugh out loud parenting nuggets - the legos 💀). The beauty of the child-like wisdom! I’m hoping it’s a preview into the adults tending to their inner-child. Healing of wounds. Listening deeply to their needs. The light and dark offices might have been too on the nose, but the light wardrobe of the women and their offices... mixed with Nate’s Death Star office... it made a loud point. Perhaps Keely’s dark eye makeup on the light colored shirts is a nod to this as well.
Loved it all. Laughed a lot. Smiled on the inside. Bring on season 3!
I think what we’re seeing is a lot of what happens after a group/community goes their own individual ways for a time. It’s good, it’s healthy, but it also means some work needs to be done to get back on the common page - made all the more distanced by external factors (Rebecca still processing the influence of Rupert on her life, Ted figuring out what his ultimate role/purpose is in England, etc etc). This distancing was particularly evident in Rebecca being unhappy with Ted’s coaching style (which had brought them to this point and foo so far).
I guess I didn’t take it that Ted and Rebecca have lost anything in their relationship. I saw Rebecca just learning that her team is placed last while her ex’s team is favored for the top spot. I saw her acting out on this news, but she certainly seemed back on Ted’s team at the end of the show and buying into the belief still running rampant in the show “to let Ted be Ted.”
I have rewatched season 2 after watching Wednesday and find myself feeling quite bothered by the ways that Ted simply allows people to behave badly with no consequences. Especially being oblivious to Nate’s cruelty to Will over and over. Sassy didn’t let Rebecca off so easily but Ted gives her a hug and they move on. Even when she revisited her drunken plotting her first Christmas after the divorce, there’s an uncomfortable silence and then they move on. I am really hoping that there is a reckoning of bad behavior in this season. At present I’m feeling like Ted’s leadership is lacking in accountability and I’m hoping for more from him this season.
There’s a whole lot about Ted’s arc that parallels my own life over the last couple of years, which is really weird. And lovely...
Both Ted and Nate will need to learn how to truly own their worth to inhabit the leadership roles they are in- coping skills that save your bacon today will fry your ass eventually.
Definitely not buying the end of Roy-Keeley.
Rebecca and Ted need to find the both-and of what success looks like with internal and external measures.
Where is Trent Krimm?
OK so...Why did Rebecca say "Stand up to him, Ted!"? Ted is the white knight player in darts when Rupert is a real ass. What happened to Ted and Rebecca over the summer that they no longer have this rapport?
I deeply appreciate that the way Ted stands up to Nate is to (mostly) be self-deprecating. That seems consistent with who he is, and also the high road. What was his first comment in the press room about Nate? I can't remember now but I'm pretty sure it was almost a little zinger, right?
Also, the devastation of Jason S. toward his ex, Olivia Wilde, makes me wonder if this famous "Jake" who gives out toys is going to look like Harry Styles.
Had Brett staring me in the face this morning with my Sunday NYTimes and it was lovely. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/11/arts/television/brett-goldstein-ted-lasso-hercules.html