S03 E06 Sunflowers

gezellig!

Many of us felt the season turn a corner at the end of last episode. Did it ever. This was a top-3 episode for me, right below Rainbow, and maybe above Diamond Dogs. The Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast has a feature called “pop culture serotonin” in which they highlight things that make them feel good. This ep is going in my Crappy Day Toolkit for sure.

Spoilers below the image!

We were right to trust they would steward Colin’s story well and take care of our sweetie. I love that they’re letting things breathe. That’s often how coming out works, isn’t it? A few people at a time.

Trent Crimm is a freaking legend. THOSE BOOTS

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Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt both adore Amsterdam, having spent a number of years there doing improv, and healing from various emotional wounds. Seriously, check out their conversation on Brene Brown’s podcast from a few years back, especially Brendan’s discussion of gezellig. This was a total valentine for the city they loved, and having visited Amsterdam just a little bit, I couldn’t get enough.

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Speaking of gezellig, I saw some confusion about whether Rebecca and Boat Man slept together (his “did we… we did.”) There is absolutely no way he had blackout sex with her. It would violate the spirit of gezellig, which we’re clearly meant to see as a sincere concept and not a pickup line. But also, remember this is the Ted Lasso universe, a mystical place where men do not prey on women, with the exception of Rupert.

I get it though—I felt unsettled during those scenes because in the world and in pop culture, they rarely end well. Remember Tish the psychic’s “you’re drenched but you’re safe.” That “you’re safe” was for our benefit as much as Rebecca’s.

Anyway, I interpreted “we did” as “we made a connection.” I am equal parts satisfied that Boat Man helped Rebecca get her groove back, never to be seen again, and desperate to see these two find their way back to one another.

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It’s a bit of a false dichotomy, but some shows are more character driven, others more plot driven. (One of the issues the fandom had with LOST is that people thought it was a plot-driven mystery box show, but it was a character show at its heart.) Ted Lasso is a character-driven show. On one level, very little “happened” during this night in Amsterdam—it was a lot of conversations and hanging out—but that’s most of life, eh? I could have watched it for hours.

And one of the things people haven’t enjoyed as much this season is that our loveys aren’t really interacting as much with one another, in favor of detours like psychics and John Wingsnight and KJPR and even Zava. This week though, we were given wonderful combos of characters. How did we not see Will and Higgins coming? Those two are peas in a pod. Goofy, earnest, easily underestimated.

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One pilgrim alone is a zealot, two pilgrims together is a pilgrimage. All the smiles.

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EQ Warriors Alert

The triangle! That most stable yet potentially problematic relationship shape. Family systems friends, let’s chew on this in the comments.

I felt my stock in Team Stays dip even further though (Michelle, Henry, and Ted? Although whither Dr. Jacob?) But then at the end we had Ted, Beard, and Rebecca in the back, a beautiful triangle. Was Ted’s sudden loneliness for Rebecca via text (what Gabi on Shrinking calls “‘you up’ energy”) a sign that he might end up staying? Or another headfake?

Speaking of:

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Headfake Watch

We got our training montage, but once again they both subvert and exceed our expectations. Jamie teaching Roy to ride a bike to the tune of Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head (Butch Cassidy reference) was the thing we needed our whole lives and didn’t know it.

Also, Phil Dunster should record walking tours for Rick Steves as Jamie. He would make BANK.

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Loved the way they showed Lasso the Tactician come to life. It’s so much more plausible to have him discover a football tactic that already existed than suddenly have savant-like abilities in this area. Especially since he brought the strategy over from a basketball game.

This is a more mature expression of what Rebecca said in season one about how Ted sees the game differently. At the time that meant trick plays (set pieces). The Lasso strategy isn’t a gimmick; it operates on a deeper level.

BTW, Roy has called Colin a chameleon, and I predict he will thrive in this more improvisational approach. Can’t wait.

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Cross-Promotion Alert

“It didn’t happen to me, it happened for me” is the kind of hard-won wisdom that a person can come to on their own through a lot of sincere self-reflection, but it’s straight-up toxic positivity when imposed on someone else. I wrote about this topic for paid subscribers on Monday.

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