#ted lasso 2x6

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[chainofclovers]

Ted Lasso 2x6 thoughts

I felt like the physical embodiment of a series of iconic reaction GIFs while watching this episode. I felt like Higgins gagging on air and right and wrong choices. As an invested, non-casual Ted Lasso viewer, I feel quite absorbed in the experience of every episode, but I’m not usually a LOUD non-casual Ted Lasso viewer. At one point last night, I shouted “This is the wackiest show ever made!” at @bristler, and that doesn’t even sound like something I would say. And by “wacky” I just meant “all the emotions are happening at once.”

This episode was absolutely great and I knew that every single Rebecca Welton feeling I have would intensify because of this episode and that is exactly what happened.

This is me bravely writing down my episode thoughts after only one viewing (just like last week) and a bad night of sleep! Copious spoilers and emotions ahead...

This show goes all in on hats! A lot of bad hats for giving bad relationship advice and making bad decisions! Feel like you’re gonna do something correctly? Just put on a bad hat, that’ll snap you right out of it. Just had a revelation that you are almost certainly in an abusive relationship? Your girlfriend is hiding in the parking lot with a terrible hat for you! (I love this show.)

Dark forest dark forest dark forest dark forest.

I truly, truly, truly do not mean this to sound judgmental of any other fan, but it’s taking everything in my power not to just type “dark forest” in the comments of every person who is outraged that LDN152 is not Ted.

Gonna get my initial thoughts on the Sam=LDN152 reveal out of the way. I honestly like this choice.

First, I like this choice because of who LDN152 isn’t. I think about how awful it would be if she’d matched with Rupert and realized she’d been manipulated by him and charmed by him all over again, and how, when she gets the same reveal the audience already has, she would end up retraumatized by having been charmed and taken in by Rupert all over again. I think about her matching with Nate (if he’d redownloaded the app) and the inadequacy of her assertiveness advice and how Nate is one of the only non-Rupert characters who’s used sexist language against her and how Nate’s insecurities would be like water trying to co-exist with the oil of Rebecca’s insecurities. Nate and Rebecca are fond of each other and seem to want to be in each other’s lives, but a romantic squishing together via dating app would set them both back lightyears. I think about her matching with Ted, a man currently on a parallel-to-Rebecca trek through a very painfully dark forest, a man swinging wildly between performative attempted wit and utter panic. A man she trusts with her professional and personal challenges. [Her challenging mother comes to town and Keeley and Ted are the people she wants with her at lunch.] Ted and Rebecca, with all their current limitations, and with all the ways the forest obscures the view, are trying to be there for each other in their real, non-romantic comedy versions of their lives, and the discomfort of matching on an app seems like the kind of thing that would make them rear back from each other instead of bringing them even closer together. It is not time. It is so profoundly not time that I would have been furious if the writers had continued the “maybe it’s Ted?” line of thought for another second longer than they did.

Second, I like this choice because of who Sam is. I know. He’s not an appropriate match for her. The power dynamics are all messed up and their ages are all wrong. But this does introduce a potentially interesting parallel between Rupert and his younger women and the scrutiny Rebecca would risk herself and Sam experiencing if she goes for it. Rebecca seems to have tried to put away her Rupert-related trauma, but the specter of Rupert is lurking, and I do see that being a good person making an ethically complicated decision with another good person is very different from being an abuser setting out to take advantage of multiple people...but there are parallels she might have to reckon with. Also, Sam is a kind person with a strong ethical center and a well-documented interest in Rebecca. He and Ted helped each other feel more at home in London during a time of deeply missing other homes, and Sam has internalized a lot of Ted’s ways of living in a way that might genuinely appeal to Rebecca even if she doesn’t fully realize why. The writers on this show don’t write messes for the sake of drama. They write messes because life is painful and complicated and also very funny. I’d be shocked if, however this Bantr thing plays out, it isn’t painful and complicated and also funny.

(I am already a little worried that whatever happens next is going to activate some very ironic fan reactions given this is a show whose thesis statement is about withholding judgment. This fear is based not on Ted Lasso-specific knowledge but on unfortunate patterns of fandom, but...you can fear the impact of racist, sexist, and ageist tropes on two beloved characters without embodying those tropes as a viewer. You can watch characters make decisions that could subject them to harmful scrutiny without performing that harm yourself.)

Ted Lasso is a fictional character who tweeted about the joy of eating out (you know...at the Crown and Anchor) the day before 2x6 launched and during 2x6 Rebecca invited him to eat out at the Crown and Anchor. (I love this show.) I am so, so, so fond of all the little lunch-y things in this episode. Ted can’t bring Henry his lunch because he’s “at work” aka living in London. Ted and Beard surprise each other with secret sandwiches on Fridays. Rebecca is overwhelmed by her mother’s visit (her mother’s performance of a harmful pattern) and wants Keeley and Ted there. The scene at the Crown and Anchor, as painful as all the divorce/separation feelings were, was also so homey and lovely in terms of these characters being friends, being at home in a place despite the very not-at-home feelings emanating from Deborah. The Bake-Off viewing! Ted being the designated driver (probably a good thing on this particular day)! Rebecca feeling discomfort but not shutting down! Also cute British pub feelings. Evidence that Rebecca has talked to her mom about Ted! About personal things about Ted!

Naaaaaaate. His bursts of confidence and insight. The pain and insecurity and anger almost literally bubbling under the surface.

I cannot say enough good things about Higgins. He’s grown so much, and his decision to be honest with Beard regarding his concerns about Jane was absolutely impeccably done. Many, many trusted people in Higgins’ life told him not to do it. They are all good people, and they were all wrong. Sometimes one human being’s honesty makes the difference for someone who is struggling, and that’s exactly what happened here. Beard truly heard Higgins. And of course he didn’t immediately break things off with Jane. But he heard Higgins, and when Jane showed up Beard’s face looked different than it ever has, and Higgins words are with him as he walks off into the night with Jane and that might save him. And Rebecca witnessed it.

And I’m so glad she witnessed Higgins’ choice in the midst of this very difficult experience of a) trying to find Ted because she knows he’s in pain and being unable to and b) watching her mother repeat a pattern that Rebecca herself was able to break. It taught me so much about Rebecca. The way she was punished (and described the experience using the language of punishment) for having an honest reaction to her mother’s decision to leave her father the first time. The way she was taught that love is conditional, that love and reconciliation are things you can purchase with gifts. The way her mother uses the language of self-help without internalizing what it would take to heal, and probably has little use for actual therapy. The way her mother drinks alcohol as a way to feel free.

I don’t even know how to think, much less write, about everything with Roy’s coaching and his image and how Ted feels about it and all the fatherhood things Jamie brings up and all the fatherhood things Ted is missing w/r/t Nate and everyone except for Rebecca taking at face value (or willfully deciding to take at face value) the idea that Ted’s panic attack is actually just him needing to go barf up a fish pie. Ted hugging his backpack in Sharon’s office. Rebecca trying to find him, and Sharon being the one who does. The words “I wanna make an appointment” being the words that conclude the episode at the exact midpoint of the planned-for show. Halfway through the middle season. The moment Ted realizes he’s never going to be okay if he doesn’t give therapy a try.

I also can’t say enough good things about the moment with the team and Sharon, the way she agrees to one drink, the way it’s clear that she adores them all. Sharon is exacting and professional without being cold and calculating, and everything she does in this episode is such a gorgeous model of assertiveness, patience, and moderation...three things Ted struggles with the most.

What a dark forest. What an excellent group of humans.

[21-roses-a-day]

Ted Lasso: season 2, episode 6 - reaction

[exuberantocean]

Oh Ted.

[tunnelduck]

This!!

And to the point about him making it very clear they have plans the next day, it's not only getting that affirmation, but that's his way of trying to take care of Beard without pushing himself onto him.

Like "hey. Don't get too ahead of yourself. I wanna see you tomorrow morning. I wanna see you healthy. I know you're upset but shake this off in a way that won't potentially get you hurt."

i haven’t seen anyone talking about this but ted making SURE beard knows they have specific plans the next day, that beard has to be there because they have PLANS the next day, that even if beard is upset, he also needs to know that they HAVE plans the next day that he has to be there for… after what we just confirmed about his dad like…

ive suspected that teds dad killed himself for a while but just thinking about how much ted likes to have routines with people, to have rituals– from biscuits with the boss to sandwich swaps to making sure roy has a ticket to every game (before he’s a coach)… ted is just constantly reaffirming that people have to be there in the future, he expects them to be there, he needs them to be there. they have plans.

[nancywheeeler]

we’re at the deep cuts stage of my ted lasso watching so my new contribution is in 2x6 when Sam sends Rebecca the message on Bantr “A coworker made fun of me for believing in guardian angels. Then he tripped and fell. Coincidence?” i would bet you anything that coworker was Colin

[youngsamberg]

Okay, it’s a small thing, but it low key bothers me that in 2x6 off Ted Lasso, Rebecca finds Ted’s jacket on the locker room floor after he runs off, but then when Sharon finds him in her office he’s wearing it again.

i didn’t notice that!!!! here’s a theory: rebecca picks it up and puts it on the back of his desk chair and when he’s on his way to sharon’s office from wherever he went when he had his panic attack, he gets it from his office. does that help?

[tomwambscunts]

jld who famously won like seven years in a row for veep always submitted the most emotional / less comedy episodes as well, emmy voters dont really vote based on who was funniest its usually just best performance. jason also submitted the most "emotional" ted lasso episode

Yeah yeah, you’re right. It’s always more about the performance. I mean Bill submitted 1x7 and 2x6 in the past years, which are the most dramatic performances he gave (especially 1x7) and won. But like limonada for me is god tier because he starts the episode by losing it all on sally and ends with the tight close up of his face “do you love me mr. cousineau?” and also somewhere in the middle he gives a monologue to the casting director. It really has it all.

In that episode you never know how to react because of the anxiety bill gives you with his performance and maybe that’s why I love that episode more than the others.

[coppermate]

that fact that I can hear this scene in my head worries me

TEEEHD, DO YOUU HAAVE LUNCH PLAHHHHNS?

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

Roy + Calling/Referring To Jamie As A Prick

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

2x6 | 3x11

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

#Ted Is Everyone

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

2x6 | 3x6

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

1x6 | 3x6 

[chainofclovers]

Thank you for the Ted Lasso thoughts, I enjoyed them.

Uh this needs a question… did you also spend the whole time Rebecca was carrying Ted’s jacket in terror that she would send a Bantr message to the person and Ted’s jacket would make a ding?

Thank you, I'm so glad you are enjoying my Ted Lasso posts!

That is an interesting question, but I did not have that viewing experience.

When Rebecca was the only person who knew Ted was having a panic attack, she was completely focused on looking for Ted. Hannah Waddingham has even said that Rebecca is so attuned to him that "[Rebecca]'s consumed as if she's having a panic attack herself." This is one of the only moments since Rebecca started using the dating apps that she isn't distracted by her phone or trying to do multiple things at once.

I also hadn't been thinking that LDN152 would be Ted. The Bantr messages had some Ted energy, or at least some similar-to-Ted energy, but they didn't seem like something Ted would have actually written, especially considering the mental state he's been in. So, while I was extremely compelled by the tension of the scene in which Rebecca finds and holds Ted's jacket, the Bantr plot wasn't part of that tension for me.