TV Review: Ted Lasso Season 3 (2023)

Ted Lasso Season 3 (2023) created by Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, and Bill Lawrence

See my review of season one here and season two here!

AFC Richmond is in a struggle to stay in the Premier League. To bolster the team (and to stick it to rival West Ham, where assistant coach Nate (Nick Mohammed) has gone to work for Richmond owner Rebecca's (Hannah Waddingham) ex, Rupert (Anthony Head)), they hire Italian superstar Zava (Maximillian Osinski). Zava is a prima donna and a mystic, providing a strange vibe for the team that mostly adores him (except for Jaime Tartt (Phil Dunster)). Former journalistic nemesis Trent (James Lance) has retired from his newspaper and wants to write a book about AFC Richmond, so he joins in the backroom situations. The way forward is quite precarious both on and off the football pitch for everyone involved.

A problem I have noticed with a lot of television series is the eventual lapse into soap-operatics. Once the initial brilliant idea is played out, the writers resort to romantic entanglements for the characters to provide the drama or the comedy. That happens in this season. The team's challenges shifts away from interesting interpersonal challenges to predictable and unpredictable dating and hook-ups. The show still has its core drama, Lasso's (Jason Sudeikis) strained relationship with home, and lots of funny moments, but it is a lot less satisfying than the previous two seasons. The episodes, especially toward the end, feel padded out but the finale is a satisfying finish for the story. I still laughed a lot, just not as much as previous seasons.

Mildly recommended. 

TV Review: Ted Lasso Season 2 (2021)

Ted Lasso Season 2 (2021) created by Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, and Bill Lawrence

See my review of season one here!

AFC Richmond is having a rebuilding year since they fell out of the Premiere League at the end of last season. Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) is still coach and continues with his positive attitude. A lot of unexpected changes improve the team's fortunes. Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster) returns through an awkward and embarrassing path. Roy Kent's (Brett Goldstein) return is likewise unlikely though more inevitable since he is dating the club's PR woman Keeley (Juno Temple), ex-girlfriend of Tartt. The team also hires a psychologist (Sarah Niles) who is not immediately accepted by a lot of people though she does have a lasting impact on just about everyone. The behind-the-scenes human drama and comedy are at the forefront (just like in the amazing first season), with the occasional football match interrupting to provide its own comedy and drama.

This season is not as good as the first season, but the first season is so incredible. A few missteps are less believable and some moments drag on longer than they should. Even so, the cast does a great job, their characters are still fascinating, and their predicaments are engaging. The human drama works very well and every episode is laugh-out-loud funny. A lot changes by the end, promising an interesting third season.

Recommended.

TV Review: Ted Lasso Season 1 (2020)

Ted Lasso Season 1 (2020) created by Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, and Bill Lawrence

Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) is hired from a Kansas college football team to be the head coach of AFC Richmond, a Premier League (European) football team in England. Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) had acquired the team through a divorce with her cheating husband Rupert (Anthony Head). He loved the team so she is trying to tank the team in revenge. Lasso knows nothing about soccer or England. His main strengths are his folksy optimism and genuine concern for other people, though most everyone (the owner, the players, the press, the fans, etc.) think he is an idiot and will be nothing but a problem. His positive attitude starts to win over people but the process is slow and a lot of schemes have already been in the works to ruin things before people get on his side. He brushes aside the negativity, persevering through many hard situations and seemingly fruitless gestures.

While the premise sounds very hokey, the show is surprisingly effective. The writing is very sharp with well-rounded characters and complicated relationships that constantly evolve. One player, Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), is a veteran who is getting past his prime. He's the captain of the team but has a lot of anger issues and a generally bad attitude. He is especially upset with young star player Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), who knows how good he is and so egotistical that it hurts the rest of the team. His girlfriend Keeley (Juno Temple) becomes the source of a lot of complications, both romantic and personal. Everyone has an interesting blend of strengths and weaknesses--including Lasso, which is probably the key to the success of the series. While he comes off like a Pollyanna and a lot of his ideas work out in the end, not everything does and he has some deeper problems that come to the surface that make him a very human character. The cast is uniformly excellent and believable in their roles.

The show is a comedy but has lots of drama built into it. Viewers easily laugh at the simple wisdom and unassuming style of Lasso. As I wrote, he does initially seem like a moron but he is in fact very smart and knows how to manipulate people for their own good, which is sometimes also his own good and sometimes not. He takes the strategy he had for the college team, making the players the best men they can be on and off the field, and applies it to the professional league players, who are more set in their ways and more focused on victory than self-development (or even self-awareness). The drama is touching and the comedy is hilarious. The show works on so many levels, it is well worth watching.

Highly recommended.

This season was discussed on A Good Story is Hard to Find Podcast #288.

Book Review: I Kill Giants by J. Kelly et al.

I Kill Giants written by Joe Kelly and art and design by Ken Niimura

Barbara is a fairly unlikeable kid who is rude and inconsiderate to both her fellow students and her high school teachers, even the school counselor. She feels justified in her behavior because she has a higher calling--she kills giants and is going to protect everyone from the giant headed their way. No one believes her and she has no friends at school, though she manages to make one friend out of a newcomer. Her home life is equally bad. Her older sister cooks and cleans and works while her brother does little to help out. Barbara doesn't really help out either. She is doing a lot of research (mostly through Dungeons and Dragons manuals). Her attitude does shift as she deals with her new friend, the school counselor, and some school bullies. But not without some cost.

The book successfully blends Barbara's adolescent fantasy with her actual reality. A lot more is going on in the story then the first few chapters let on. She does come to a better place by the end of the book, but I almost quit reading after the first few chapters. I already knew about the secret (I haven't seen the movie version but heard enough to be spoiled) so I toughed it out and did come to admire the story. It reaffirms a rather obvious truth but does so sincerely. The art has an adolescent feel that works with the story.

Mildly recommended.