#✧ — �� v: ted lasso .

[hacash]

‘Nate hasn’t earned a redemption arc yet!’ my dude no-one on Ted Lasso ‘earned’ a redemption arc, that’s the whole damn point

‘redeem’ literally means to compensate for. to give something good in repayment for something bad, to ‘buy back’ the shit you’ve done. And Ted Lasso has never tried to do this. Rebecca didn’t ‘earn’ a redemption arc: she couldn’t unsay all the cruelties she’d said to Higgins, couldn’t bring Jamie back from Man City, couldn’t undo the damage that let to Richmond being regulated. Jamie couldn’t unsay his ageism to Roy or his snottiness to Ted. he couldn’t buy his way out of the bullying he’d imposed on the team – he tried, don’t get me wrong, and then Ted put the breaks on buying the team’s love because he knows how poorly that’s going to go down. earning redemption is an exhausting arc, and Ted Lasso’s been very clever in never really doing it.

what these characters did, however, is resolve to change.

Ted Lasso has never been about redemption: it’s been about reformation. reforming your life, and giving other people the space to acknowledge that and appreciate that. former ‘villains’ in Ted Lasso don’t abase themselves or spend episodes earning back people’s good opinion or their trust: they acknowledge that they’ve done something wrong, and they resolve to turn themselves around. and vitally, they can’t do that until they’ve escaped from the shit place they are in their lives, from their own personal dark forest. Rebecca can’t reform until she’s removed herself from the mental state of obsession with Rupert and instead finds herself in a place of community. Jamie can’t reform until he extracts himself from Man City and his desire to get his father’s approval. mentally, they have to be in a better place themselves before they can start being better for other people.

And then, crucially, I think the crux of a Ted Lasso reformation is a demonstration that you are now a safe space for others when before you weren’t, even if it means putting yourself in a position of vulnerability. for me Rebecca did this not just when she apologised to Ted, but when she offered him an out to share her whole story with the press – risking the press intrusion she so hates. Jamie did this when he joined a potentially risky protest against a prominent sponsor, risking further potential reputational damage (at a time when Jamie’s brand has never needed more of a boost) if it means being part of a team.

and because of that, I think it’s impossible to argue that Nate isn’t in the middle of his reform. He’s already extracted himself from his dark forest: he’s put Rupert behind him, he’s sorting his father issues, he’s proven himself to be less dependent on external validation while having greater confidence in himself. and he’s also starting to show that he’s a safe person to be around, even at the risk of vulnerability. he owns a humiliating nickname that we know carries a lot of painful baggage for him for the sake of conveying to Will that he was wrong, and I think for someone who’s had so many self-esteem issues as Nate, owning a name which he saw as minimising and infantilising and humiliating was a big gesture.

I don’t think that Nate’s arc is finished yet. but I think it’s impossible to claim that he isn’t ‘mid-turn’. and no, he hasn’t ‘earned’ redemption, but ma’am, this isn’t the earn your redemption on your hands and knees show, this is the make the changes to your life that are needed and accept other peoples’ grace if it comes to you show. And there’s a big difference between the two.

[wendybergmann]

the shot of nate being stopped in his tracks seeing ted and trent talk is making me mental because we as an audience know that nate leaked ted's mental health to trent. nate wanted to be an anonymous source so he probably didn't piece together that ted knows what he did because ted hasn't really confronted nate about it and not many people know the full story of what went down so it hasn't spread around (the team just now know about the sign being torn in half). nate couldn't make amends for his accidental slight in not shaking ted's hand because he couldn't face the deeper hurt he has caused to the man he looked up to, who was one of the first to see his potential

[lasshoe]

[samwpmarleau]

jude bellingham vs. jamie tartt

[rqgnarok]

Jamie and violet flower 💜 him and the reader talking about the future

violet: a daydream about the future / imma try second person for this one

Beard's wedding is a chaotic affair.

It's not that they don't like Jane, really, they just don't know her. Plus, the extravagant decorations, the odd locations, and the unknown guests dressed like they were meant to be at a rave left Jamie a little unsteady.

He's not gone to a lot of weddings, really. His mum rarely talks about her own to his father, and years after that Jamie had given her away in the little ceremony she and Simon had in their apartment, quiet and easy like her previous marriage had never been. Other than that, weddings aren't his strong suit.

He'd been an asshole almost as long as he's been a professional football player and whenever a teammate of his got married Jamie was either not invited or too smashed to retain any concrete memories of the evening.

You're in the car on your way back home, Jamie's hand on your leg as he drives through the country, the sun setting behind them and the city half an hour away still. "I think I'd like a spring wedding."

You've been running your nails up and down his arm thoughtlessly for the better part of the drive, and turn to look at him with curious eyes when he breaks the comfortable silence, some pop song playing quietly from the radio. "Yeah? In Richmond?"

"Maybe," he shrugs, concentrating on both the conversation and the drive, trying not to fall asleep under her gentle touch. "Manchester ain't really home anymore, I think. Mum has to be there, though."

"Of course," you say. Getting married without Jamie's mom present feels like a crime, an idea that's never popped into your mind when thinking about the future. "A friend of mine got married in Hawaii a couple of years ago, but it was such a hassle to get everyone there that I'd rather never do it again."

"No to a beach wedding, then," Jamie agrees, thinking of sticky heat and sand in places it shouldn't be. "If we do it in Richmond then we can get everyone to come. And spring is warm enough that no one's dyin' of heatstroke."

We, he says, and your heart sings happily in your chest. It's all hypothetical until it isn't, and this is the first mention of this imaginary wedding being as much yours as it is his.

"Who'd be your best man?"

"Keeley," he says immediately. "Is that weird? Maybe Roy. Sam's pretty up there, too."

"You can have as many as you want," you say soothingly. It's been a while since you've been able to deny him anything. "We might as well have the whole team up there with us, huh?"

"Don't think that'd be such a bad thing," he shrugs, just a slight twang of hesitation coloring his voice. You raise his hand to your mouth to kiss his knuckles, soothing it away. "Never thought I'd have a team that'd wanna go to me wedding. It's really nice, actually."

"Oh, the invite list is gonna be huge," you reason. "Both our families, your team, our friends, plus ones... All the people we love in one single room."

Jamie doesn't take his eyes off the road, but you can see his grin; soft and unguarded, the one he reserves just for you. "As long as you're there, you can invite whoever you want, angel."

[jicklet]

2.07 || 3.06

[coachbeards]

imagine what could've happened if ted lasso got a valentine's day episode

[incorrectgodolkinuniversity]

Emma: Sam, if you die, do you want to be buried or cremated? Like, if you were hit by a bus today, what do I do?

Sam: Go after the bus driver and make him pay for what he did to me. Avenge me, Emma. Avenge me!

[shewantsitall]

So we know that Jamie comes to AFC Richmond on loan from Man City, right? but like… what’s the story behind that?

We know Richmond needed him bc Dani was hurt, but was he getting minutes at Man City before he left?

ALSO. Where was he playing before he went to Man City? Was he, like… a rec league kid? Man City academy? Man United academy???

Did Jamie Tartt end up at Richmond bc Man City didn’t think he was good enough?

[gremlinshipper]

Read all the Colin Hughes/Michael fic that exists in the Ted lasso fandom and apparently the consensus is that they met on an app or Colin almost hit Michael w his car and Michael was immediately down bad for one of the primo starting 11 himbos.

[worfianism]

Okay I've been thinking about James Tartt Sr. And how he was shown to be trying to do better and Jamie forgave him and. James Sr isn't being "redeemed" by them showing him going to rehab and cheering Jamie on. Its showing that we have to be prepared for the people that made our lives miserable and horrible to be different for other people and at different points in their lives. People are capable of change, even the worst of the worst sort of people are capable of change and you have to be ready to accept that without spiraling and without it fucking with your head. It's really hard to accept that from someone you were meant to trust but you have to be able to because You can't ask why weren't they like this for me? Because that eventually becomes why didn't they love me? And then Whats wrong with me??

Jamie reaching out and forgiving his father and letting go of his hurt at that time was perfect from the writers because if James Tartt does become a better man one day, Jamie will be able to face that without it destroying him

[kvetchinglyneurotic]

Hi would you ever consider writing more autistic jamie fics cause you write it so well when the boys were so gentle with him and turned the lights off so he was les overwhelmed I cried

Thanks for the ask! That scene was, unusually for me, completely unplanned, but ended up being one of my favourites in the fic so far. The awful thing about meltdowns is that on top of the experience itself, people expect you to be able to explain what's going on, so I did find it kind of cathartic to write about a scenario where someone else recognizes what's happening and knows how to help without having to be told.

As for your question, the answer is yes! While I'm sure this was unintentional on the part of the writers, Jamie does just kind of read as autistic to me — most noticeably with the stimming (his little hand tuck in his shirts, the whole boot room scene in 3x11) but also because the way he sometimes misinterprets social cues is quite similar to the way that I misinterpret them (I would also assume someone telling me I'm easy to break up with was a genuine complement, for instance) — so that will probably always be at least implied in the way I characterize him. In terms of more overt depictions, I do have kind of an amorphous blob of an idea about someday writing a fic specifically about Jamie realizing he's autistic and having a crisis about it, though I'm not sure when/if I'll actually get around to that.

[lasshoe]

harriet walter popping up on a show to give her daughters mommy issues is so cunty of her

[everything-written-down]

I think I knew deep down in my gut shortly into s3 that Ted/Rebecca wasn't going to happen (maybe mid-s2 if I'm honest), but it still makes me feel absolutely insane every time I remember that he texted her like 16 times in a row in Amsterdam and the show never contextualized or elaborated upon this in any way, I just simply-

[fagrackham]

Ive had class from 9:40-6:20 today if my fucking roommate is in im gonna kill somebody

[jicklet]

Oh no I forgot you ship Ted/Becca.

😆 Hi anon! I hope this doesn't ruin your day or anything, whomstever you are. If you don't ship it or ship something opposing or whatever's your bag, I'm sure we can still be friends, or whatever we are.

But I've been mulling this all over since the finale, and this is a good excuse to get my thoughts out. Because I come from ye old timey shipping days of "the idea of them together is cool, regardless of whether it happens or not." so that wasn't really my problem with the ending.

Here are the things that are true:

I really like themes and parallels. I like connecting dots and finding connections and all that jazz

The number of themes and parallels they set up between Ted and Rebecca was delicious and very fun for me.

My reaction to the finale is less upset than it is frustrated and confused.

My frustration isn't purely 'they didn't get together romantically so it sucks.' I had started making peace early S3 with realizing it probably wasn't gonna happen

I am frustrated because I wanted all those bits of cool narrative shit they laid out to Do Something

I am frustrated because it feels like Ted and Rebecca have had very few emotionally connected scenes since season one, and what's the point of parallel journeys and soulmateism if their journeys are going to stay so parallel and not join up more, and then just apparently diverge completely

And on the apparent diverging, I don't love it but it would have sucked less if their lines just matched up more in the middle! That could be poignant! But as is, it's more disappointing than tragic, because whatever potential was there wasn't almost realized and then lost, but instead just... never really approached. It feels wasted.

The show did not owe us them getting together, but what it did give us, I found unsatisfying. That's just a bummer, man.

Forgive me this metaphor but I cannot find a better way to put it: I am frustrated because I feel like I got ridden for 3 seasons while they went 'just wait it'll feel so good' and then they were like 'are you ready?' and then just hopped off and left.

I am confused because at the end of their story, I cannot figure out what I am meant to be feeling about it.

Again, I didn't need them to get together romantically, they totally could've found some other way to make it satisfying! But. Ted and Rebecca getting together romantically would have also tied it up in a lot of ways that worked and made the narrative satisfying.

Having a romance arc that works with their character arcs and the themes they've built on is just really cool as a story.

Obviously all that parallel journey stuff would've actually been leading them somewhere, ie to each other, yay woo

And not to each other just because they've been through similar shit, but because, as that last post said, among a lot of other reasons, they've been set up well to be what the other person needs.

Romance is not the be all, end all. But:

Ted and Rebecca both want to be in love with someone, someday.

Here is someone who already understands and balances and supports them.

Like, that's awesome. Is that not the qualities you want for them in a future romantic partner?

I can't see how it diminishes their friendship if it caries on very similar to it has been, just like, sometimes they smooch. Maybe I'm just too demisexual for this idk

Boat guy. I like boat guy, but he's a chiller version of Ted. I can't find that post that points out all the parallels there, but that episode by the time we got to Kenny Rogers I was like. Uh. Hm.

It's confusing to have boat guy have a beautifully intimate evening with Rebecca, all the while having so many specific details similar to Ted, and then just act like romantic Tedbecca is a wild, character-ruining concept.

Because the show ends with Ted leaving and Rebecca miserably walking out of the airport and straight into proxy-Ted. I have no idea how to feel about that.

I could keep going, but I'm about out for now, so uh. Woe, wasted Tedbecca potential be upon ye~