#ted lasso 2x2

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

2x2 | 3x10

[sweettarttt]

keeley wanking to roy crying in his retirement video will always be the funniest and realist thing she did in all three seasons

[chainofclovers]

Ted Lasso 2x2 Thoughts

Having watched the first two episodes of the second season of Ted Lasso, I exist in two mindsets simultaneously:

I enjoy watching episodes of this situational comedy! It is fun.

I have watched one-sixth of a gut-wrenching film about mental health. I would like to finish the film, but I have no choice but to accomplish this in small increments over the next ten weeks.

I’ve only watched 2x2 one time, but this week is bonkers and I’m not sure I’ll be able to rewatch before 2x3 airs, so here are my impressions.

I am very, very obsessed with how Jamie just found out George Harrison died (or so he says) and is clearly going to be part of a whole father-son journey with his own dad and Ted and Ted’s own dad and Henry and Sam and Sam’s dad...and Ted's actual son is a small child who still believes all the Beatles are alive.

I am also obsessed with every single exchange between Ted and Sharon, which are so fraught, so full of detail, so well-executed. I know a lot of people were pretty bummed that Ted said his favorite book was The Fountainhead, but I don’t think Ted or Sharon were being entirely honest about their favorite books. To me it felt like they were using book titles to...not play a game, exactly, but circle around each other a bit. By claiming The Fountainhead, which he admits is a curveball, Ted’s saying he’s independent and committed to his methods, even if all evidence points to some struggles on that front. By claiming Prince of Tides, Sharon’s asking Ted to think more about therapy and psychology and its place in his personal and professional relationships. I don’t think either of them are setting out to maliciously lie to each other about books; I actually think that by speaking in this veiled way, they end the episode more open to each other.

I also found it really interesting that (to my memory) we’ve never seen Ted obsess over video games, so his whole speech to Sharon about choosing not to deny himself (unlike how she denies herself sugar) also felt like an example he was trying to come up with to prove a point without having to talk about the really core issues in his life. Obviously there are plenty of people who love video games and music, but Ted uses music and music history and trivia and musicals to drive conversations all the time, and it’s genuine. Practically half of his conversations with Beard revolve around music, and when he uses his disarming get-to-know-you tactics on Rebecca last season, it feels (and is) genuine because the first thing he wants to talk about is music. It’s totally possible that video games are a big thing with him, but it feels like he’s doling out very second- or third-tier examples and metaphors in this psychologist-gaffer relationship that he’s still so cautious about.

Ted panics and tries to give Rebecca’s biscuits away! The triangulation continues! I love Rebecca’s little indignation.

I also love her face when she deletes the word “filthy” in front of Keeley. The best face. It’s such a funny moment.

Can I just say that I really liked all the Keeley and Roy stuff...mostly because I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen a character (especially a female character) realistically masturbate within the context of a character arc on an adorable TV comedy and for this to lead to some realistic embarrassment but also some realistic discussion about a relationship? It’s pretty lovely, and it made me happy. I continue to feel like the writers on this show are doing a particularly interesting job creating a whole lived-in atmosphere for these characters, and moments like that contribute to that feeling.

Taking a dramatic pivot back to the whole parenthood/fatherhood theme, oof. Ted’s individual conversations with Jamie and with Sam are both really moving, and it’s very “all people are different people” to get confirmation that Ted’s father wasn’t necessarily abusive towards Ted the way that Jamie’s father abuses him, but that Ted’s dad had a whole different thing going with himself. I think it’s important that Sam has a supportive father, Jamie has an abusive father, and Ted had a self-abusive (presumably) father as Ted has to deal with his own absence from Henry. And I’m so interested to see how it all plays out with Jamie returning to the team. I didn’t get the impression that anyone upstairs (Rebecca, Keeley, Higgins) were surprised; they all would have known Jamie’s return was happening. I haven’t decided how I feel about the team yet--if they were surprised in some way, or more just in a continued state of feeling stunned about Ted’s decision. Either way, it’s a great setup for all the issues with decision-making Ted’s already had and will likely continue to have as things get more difficult for him personally. I’ve been a little surprised by some fan reactions to this choice, because it seems to me that this is VERY clearly a decision that will hurt Sam in particular and the team as a whole, and also very clearly a decision that wasn’t done lightly, and also a decision colored by fatherhood-obligation feelings (help the person with the worst dad!), and yeah...it’s just complicated. I’ve seen a few reactions on here that indicate that this is somehow the first time Ted’s ever made a mistake and he’s ruined now, and that just doesn’t jive with the flawed, loving, complicated character I’ve been watching for twelve episodes now. Characters on this show don’t make mistakes or grey-area decisions for the heck of it or because it creates drama that will be interesting to watch; they make mistakes and grey-area decisions because people regularly do that, especially when they’re struggling.

Ted and Keeley being delighted by Sharon’s bike was great. The two most enthusiastic characters having a shared enthusiastic reaction to something is awesome.

Rebecca is the real Chaos Hammer! The water bottle gift basket?!? Her face when Keeley points out that there are lots of foods without sugar?!? The way she genuinely seems glad to meet Sharon and totally understands how to conduct herself in this professional relationship (with warmth, a bit of formality, etc.), but she wanted to get in a little dig as payback for Sharon rejecting her BFF’s biscuits?! Even if she was also upset that Ted panicked and tried to give them away in the first place? Lots to think about. And man, I really love that Rebecca seems to feel so much more settled in her friendships that she’s able to have a little fun. There’s a wacky person under all the suit jackets and hairspray and I love her.

I know there’s a lot more to think about in this episode, but that’s the stuff that’s lingering with me after having watched 2x2 first thing last Friday morning. I am super excited for 2x3 and I continue to feel like season 2 is Doing Great Things.

[zendyval]

Instead of taking over the discussion on other people’s post re: Ted Lasso 2x2 my thoughts:

I know we don’t know 100% if Ted gave the team a heads up at all before bringing Jamie to practice. I assume we find out next episode but I do think what happens in the next episode with Sam is set up by this episode and I am looking forward to that.

I knew Jamie was coming back to the team, which was also fairly obvious, but I do have issues with how Ted went about it. Jamie coming back isn’t the problem. There were ways to do it, but IMO how he handled it was dismissive of all of his players feelings, especially Sam. That is assuming that Ted didn’t go back to the team and own up to his decision.

It makes sense to bring Jamie back as the team needs a win and he’s obviously a huge asset, and at the moment, a cheap asset. We can presume Rebecca and the front office agreed to his return. That makes sense because Rebecca likely has remaining guilt from last season.

Where I struggle with Ted is bringing Jamie back makes sense from a talent standpoint. But Jamie really was awful to largely Sam, but most of the team and Sam went so far as to tell Ted that he had never been treated as badly by another teammate as he was Jamie, at which point Ted tells him he has no intention of asking Jamie back. Ted’s takeaway from this conversation seems to not be how badly Sam, a Black player, was hurt by the star white player of the team. The takeaway is that Sam has a good dad and Jamie doesn’t, therefore Jamie needs his help. Having a good parent doesn’t invalidate ones pain or experience.

Ted isn’t perfect. He never has been. He is losing control slowly at work and doesn’t know how to help his team. His usual antics aren’t working. He’s threatened by Sharon. Helping Jamie and being a father figure is something he can do and a place he feels needed. It’s not surprising Ted acts as he does, but IMO he at least owed Sam and the team a heads up about the decision he was making and why and found a way to do it without completely invalidating their very real feelings about their teammate who was actively awful to them.

[alwaysbeyondhope]

AAAAHHHHHH Ted Lasso 2x2!!!

Wtfffff

This show is gonna kill me, I swear to god.

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

Roy Fucking Kent & Keeley Fucking Jones 

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

1x9 | 2x2

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

1x2 | 2x2 

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[chainofclovers]

Ted Lasso 2x1 thoughts

Running out of time to capture my thoughts on 2x1 specifically before 2x2 airs, so here's a mess of things I thought about in response to the season 2 premiere. (Heavily informed by conversations w/my wife and some friends and family both within and without the fandom, discord conversations, things I've read on tumblr, reviews in the press, and, yes, my own little brain when it's alone.)

I really liked it (actually, I loved it)

Because a lot of people--myself included--binged s1 in a single go, I think a lot of people came away from that (beautiful almost perfect) season of TV with a sense that it was just this continuous five-hour explosion of feelings-y goodness with a very clear thesis statement: Make The Audience Happy. But obviously there's a lot of complicated stuff being set up within those five hours of TV, with intentional dividing lines and transitions between the episodes. I know some people watched 2x1 and felt frustrated because it didn't "feel like Ted Lasso" but I didn't feel that way. What I did feel, by contrasting 2x1 with all of s1, is that the atmosphere in s1 wasn't so much an audience-centric feel-good make-em-laugh kind of thing so much as a reflection of the gradual feeling of settling into home as Ted finds his place in Richmond and at AFC Richmond and in letting go of things (marriage) for the first time, and Rebecca, who's majority owner of the damn club but doesn't have a place within it, goes on a parallel community-locating journey. So the intensely warm, comfortable, feelings-y viewing experience is really just a reflection of what it was feeling like for pretty much every character with the exception of Rupert and Bex to carve out a more comfortable, honest, warm place for themselves.

But the challenges of relegation, the specters of the past, the longing any character (any human) has for more, and the mental health issues that come along for the ride meant that 2x1 needed to feel uncomfortable. They create that atmosphere by riddling 2x1 with so many jokes and references that it feels chaotic, overstuffed. The football season isn't going horribly, but it's WEIRD, and everyone is uncomfortable, and Ted doesn't know how to deal with the discomfort within himself so he's relying on the things he knows: references, anecdotes, strung-together wisdom. He clearly plans the Hank-the-dog speech in advance of the press conference, and the tongue-in-cheek "wow, this is so profound" expressions on the journalists' faces are hilarious to me because it's like we're watching them react to a man who's about to lose it and is in the final moments of being able to control the narrative about his team before someone from the outside will have to come in.

I'm obsessed with a tag @ratherembarrassing put on a TL reblog: "This is a show of soliloquies." I loved Ted's manufactured yet thematically necessary speech. I loved that Rebecca basically blacks out at a coffeeshop and tells John all about the messages (harmful or at least profoundly still-in-progress) she's been processing about intimacy and safety. [Side note: it's so perfect that she's still afraid to feel safe. It's like, "If I feel safe, what am I missing about the situation that's going to come back to hurt me?" OOOOF.] I feel like these moments where characters kind of speechify and the audience matters but the audience also does not matter just reflect the overall atmospheric stuff the show does. Like, it's more important to make us feel how it feels than to construct a moment of hyper-realistic dialogue. I get why it can be jarring but I'm into it.

The dog. Welp. A dog died right away. The special effects looked weird. I love dogs, I'm not a monster, but I was also just...not emotionally torn up about Earl at all. It's a catalyst. It's a very quick way to kind of bloop the entire world of Ted Lasso into a skewed and uncomfortable place where these characters absolutely need to reside until they can figure out how to attend to their own mental health and healing with the same focus and compassion they apply to their friendships with other people.

I'm obsessed with how much everything is going to HURT. Like, Ted walked in and Rebecca said she wished he was Keeley and then she didn't start eating the biscuits right away?!?

The biscuits are such an emotional crutch in s1 and SO MUCH of Rebecca's headspace is taken up with destroying something Ted is starting to love, destroying Ted, but also being there for him and feeling seen by him in a truly unique way, so I kind of love the psychic shift here, where all this emotional stuff has happened between them but to move forward they're going to have to learn some new conversational skills. Like girl talk.

The nail polish. I love everyone. I love the nail polish. I love that Ted was late to practice because of it. I love how much he wants other people to need him because it's so clear that he got his feelings hurt like 30 times in 2x1 and doesn't even fully realize it.

I love Dr. Sharon Fieldstone. I love that everyone but Ted very clearly understands the value of having a sports psychologist around. I love that her introduction is not about having to sell the players on the fact that they should talk to someone, but rather about Ted's discomfort over his own leadership abilities and the conflict this could create. It's so good. I'm so excited about it.

Beard and Ted in the pub! All people are different people! Ahhhhhh! Thank God For Beard (TGFB). TGFB is probably going to be my personal motto while watching this season of adorable and emotionally wrenching and ambitious television.

OK, I feel better now that I have this chaotic list out of my brain and onto tumblr. Should that make me feel better? I do not know. I do know that I'll probably try to do this for every episode because watching it week by week is going to drive me insane and I would really like to have some kind of record of the distinct-to-episodes yet cumulative viewing experience before I'm able to take in the full season (and the full series so far) as a whole.