Fletch, Vaughan and Hayley scored an exclusive interview with the famous “Coach Beard” – Brendan Hunt from Ted Lasso for the launch of season three this week. Video / ZM
Review by Jenni Mortimer
Jenni Mortimer, Lifestyle and Travel Editor (audience) for New Zealand's Herald, is passionate about telling stories and providing a place to escape for kiwis in amongst the hard news.
Spoiler alert: This review contains details about the season 3 premiere of Ted Lasso that airs tomorrow
It’s a hard ask: to take a show so beloved and so pure and give the audience what they want, without giving them a hint of what they don’t want. And the real plot twist lies in the fact they actually don’t know what they want.
Enter the highly decorated Ted Lasso. For Lasso, every episode, every line, every lover’s quarrel is tinged with risk - the risk of ruining perfection.
Add to that the risk of being too predictable and writers have been left with a near-impossible task.
So season 3, tipped to be the last, feels like the viewer is fidgety after waiting 1.5 years just praying the writers get it right.
Will they leave our broody Roy in safe hands? Will Jamie ever get the acceptance he so badly craves? Will the impenetrable Keeley wind up with one of them? And will Ted get a victory, if not for his team, but for his spiralling personal life?
Thankfully those wanting to relish in a third season of Lasso’s charms and a poster board-sized portion of belief can breathe easy. Rest assured season 3 holds the same warm embrace of seasons past but proves you can’t improve on perfection.
We find Ted, played by executive producer Jason Sudeikis, dropping his son at the airport and dropping pink boxes of his now infamous cookies on the desk - it’s as pure as we remember.
Phil Dunster is back as the cocky but loveable Jamie, declaring: “We ain’t gonna do bad cause we’re together. And together, we got me,” and we nearly forgot how magnificent his character arch was.
Jaime Tartt in Ted Lasso. Photo / Supplied
Brett Goldstein returns as the fiery Roy Kent, battling his new job and a collective heartbreak as it’s revealed that he and Keeley Jones, played by Juno Temple, have gone their separate ways - the closest the episode comes to disappointing us.
“Crying is the best, it’s like an orgasm for the soul,” Rebecca Welton, played by award-winning actress Hannah Waddingham says, comforting a heartbroken but always badass Jones.
Rebecca is still battling her own ex in Rupert, as he looks set to try and destroy everything Ted and Rebecca built at AFC Richmond with his latest acquisition - Nate, no longer the great.
What looks to be the leading storyline of the season, Nate Shelly, played by Nick Mohammed, has now turned fully grey in an accumulation of his anxieties and bitterness.
Nate hates everyone, but his obsession with the public court of opinion is his main driver. He’s the anti-Ted, attempting to make his rudeness his main personality trait though he’s still riddled with anxieties - the only similarity between him and Ted - as he hides behind the desk suffering a panic attack during his first fronting of media.
And see just how much the audience still loves Ted in the protectiveness we feel over him when he’s attacked by Nate - a win for the writers.
Nate attempts to mock Ted to the masses after seeing Richmond’s field trip to visit the sewer systems, declaring: “They probably have to train in a sewer because their coach is so shitty,” and the entire audience is collectively enraged.
But Ted has what Nate never will, his team’s - and the audience’s - buy-in. While Nate is busy calling his team “dumb dumbs”, Ted’s team now coach each other just like he would, with Jamie declaring to those worried about sewer visit backlash, “It’s just poopy, let it flow.”
Alas, the show’s writers know just what we really want from Ted, it’s not a fight or fierce words, it’s consistency. “I thought it was hilarious,” Lasso and his trademark moustache smirk.
“He’s smart, they are real lucky to have him, I wish him the best of luck,” and the writers again score as Lasso’s words just hit differently.
Nate and Ted look set to be the primary story of season 3. Photo / Supplied
Sure, maybe it feels like the season isn’t off to super climactic start, but it is giving us what we came for - the same old Ted. This show and Ted stick with you and get under your skin almost immediately.
If you can shake the Welcome to Wrexham confusion that comes with the first episode - for those who double-dipped on football fanfare - you’ll be itching for more by the end of the 40 minutes.
But episode one doesn’t leave us entirely worry-free - somehow we are more protective of this show than the finale of Friends, New Girl and Schitt’s Creek combined. So will season 3 give us enough?
Because in a Hollywood that seems obsessed with liking the unlikeable and slamming enjoyable watches with a label of “basic”, Ted Lasso leaves itself vulnerable. If it doesn’t push the boundaries it’s award-less and unmemorable, but if it pushes them too far then it loses its innocence and its magic for audiences.
