With the help of special guest Vynique Moon, we discuss the pilot of Ted Lasso. From the pilot's thoughtful setups of many important arcs over the entire show, to Ted's goofy personality, to how Rebecca is somewhat framed as the main character.
With the help of special guest Vynique Moon, we discuss the pilot of Ted Lasso. From the pilot's thoughtful setups of many important arcs over the entire show, to Ted's goofy personality, to how Rebecca is somewhat framed as the main character.
Follow Vynique on Twitter @vyniquemoon and don't forget to check out their writing at screenspeck.com!
If you want more Ted Lasso commentary from us, check out our 2021 and 2022 Emmy nomination discussions.
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Find us on Twitter: @inmyqueuepod • @adinaterrific • @karaaa_powell
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or send comments, questions, and show suggestions to us at itsinmyqueuepod@gmail.com!
Kara: [00:00:00] Welcome to It's In My Queue the podcast where we talk about TV pilots. I'm Kara
Adina: and I'm Adina.
Kara: And today we are talking about Ted Lasso. Today we have a special guest to join us here for this pilot big Ted Lasso fan. Vynique, if you would like to introduce yourself.
Vynique: Hello, my name is Vynique. I, I'm a screenwriter. I started watching Ted Lasso in the middle of se Well, I started watching it from the beginning, but while. Season two was airing. So I think I watched up until [Episode] 208 was out, which was horrific for me. But I've been hooked on it ever since. And yeah. [00:01:00]
Kara: Yeah. Oh also we're supposed to ask all our guests this, what is your sign?
Vynique: Ooh, let's get into it. Okay. I am a Taurus rising Aquarius. No, I'm not. That's a lot. I'm a tourist. Sun Aquarius, moon Virgo rising. And then the rest of my chart is absolute chaos. We will not get into it.
Adina: Great. That's okay. 'cause we actually don't know very much about astrology at all. We just started asking that to all of our guests, and now it's our thing. And so we just a and we have no commentary whatsoever.
Kara: Yeah. I yeah, no, I don't know very much about, I do know, like, you know, my rising and moon. It's funny 'cause we, last semester we asked a couple of people in my feature writing class asked our professor for his very exact birth information and one guy in my class was like, don't answer them.
They're trying to do your chart. He was like so mad. We just loved that professor. Anyway we are here to talk about Ted Lasso. The [00:02:00] reason that I we have Nik here today is because we both write for the website screen spec, which I feel like I don't talk about often enough. So it's a little film and television website.
You should check it out. I'll link it in the show notes. And a lot of the people at Green Spec really love Ted Lasso. So when Adina and I said we were gonna do Ted Lasso today. I went into the slack and was like, does anyone wanna come talk about Ted Lasso?
Adina: We have to, we have to clarify the reason we're doing Ted Lasso now. Yes. Because it's also nominated for some Emmys. But the reason we're doing it right after Barry is, it's kind of part two of this, the series on the the ex-SNL quirky white guys who now play conflicted depressed, anxious characters and are nominated for outstanding lead actor in a comedy, and they're the two front runners of the race.
Mm-hmm. And there was definitely a more eloquent way to say that, but [00:03:00] it's just funny that Jason Sudeikis and Bill Hader have so many of those things in common, and they're the two front runners, but Barry and Ted Lasso are extremely different shows.
Kara: Yes, that's true. So yeah this, all three of us have all seen Ted Lasso before. I started watching Ted Lasso last year. It was right after the Emmy nominations came out, and it was one I was going to get around to, 'cause I'd seen people talking about it. I, I actually really hate sports shows. But I like Jason Sudeikis. I've liked Jason Sudeikis since his SNL days. He was like one of my favorite cast members.
I feel, yeah, so, so he was like a main memory of my SNL phase. So I was like, oh, I'll check this out. But again, I hate sports shows. But after the Emmy nominations came out last year for season one, I was like, okay, I'm finally gonna try and watch this, but, oh, I don't have Apple tv. But then my mom said, I've got a free year of Apple tv and so I said, I'm [00:04:00] using it. I watched all of season one in a day. And then I was like, ready for when season two came out. So I watched all of season two as it aired.
Adina: Yeah, we watched it together. As a nerd, which was fun. Once we moved to la actually we moved to LA when like two episodes were out.
Kara: A few episodes were out 'cause I, the first few I watched at home in my basement. It was like my Friday morning breakfast. I would like have it with my coffee. Sometimes my dog would come sit with me. But yeah, it was fun.
Adina: I watched season one of Ted Lasso before it was cool because, because I had, I had a year of Apple TV free trial 'cause I got a new phone in 2020 and that's when they were still giving you a whole year. 'cause no one was subscribed to Apple TV yet. So I had already watched through the shows I was actually interested in. I watched like Mythic Quest and. So other, whatever else was there. And I remember the ads they had for Ted Lasso, like they would play ads for other Apple TV shows. The ads they had for Ted Lasso made it look awful.
Their own ads that they made were really [00:05:00] bad and did not sell the show. They made it seem like it was about this cringey awkward white guy, like misogynist coach. Like it really portrayed the show as something that it's very much not. And but then one of my friends happened to have watched it and was like, oh yeah, it's actually like really cute and fun.
And then I tried it and it was cool. And then I was, there were several months of me being like, Hey guys, have you heard of this show Ted Lasso to other people? And then all the Emmy nominations happened, and then, The whole world did that. So this is not me trying to be a hipster, just in that I had the experience of going into it, having no clue what it was, and thinking it might be a little cringe, but then I was pleasantly surprised.
Kara: Yeah, I I also, this is the only show that I've ever recommended to my father that he actually watched within a timely manner. And he loved it. So it was a good wreck. Mm-hmm. 'cause I recommend my dad a lot of things, and then he doesn't get to them until like five years later. So I was really proud of this recommendation for him specifically.
Vynique: That's funny because I [00:06:00] also recommended my mom to watch this show, and she also watched it within time. To be fair, I still, I live still, I live with my mother again, so I bullied her until she watched it. She also watched and she had the, I'm not gonna say the right opinions. She shared my opinions and to me that is correct.
Kara: Yes. My dad never tells me what he's thinking. He'll just be like, oh, I watched this. It was great.
Adina: Some people just don't think about TV more than that. Like I can't imagine that. Can you imagine just watching something and be like, I liked it, or I didn't like it. And then you stop thinking.
Kara: Me and my mom will get into really in depth conversations.
Like, ever since we started doing this podcast, she'll send me like really thoughtful things and I'll be like, yeah, my mom,
Adina: my mom too is starting to get more into, I mean, she's always had her own in-depth thoughts about her own media, but we've, our interests would rarely overlap. But she's started listening to the podcast.
Hi mom. She's probably gonna get to, she's listening to it in order, so she's probably gonna get to this in like two years. But[00:07:00] yeah. It's shout out to moms for supporting our podcast.
Kara: Yeah. And for talking about, for talking about tv. Give us, yeah. And, but,
Adina: but honestly, Ted Lasso was a show that I recommend to almost everybody. Because it really is, I don't wanna say it's universal, like maybe not every single person will like it, but there are many shows that I love, but I would not recommend to everybody. But like, this is a show that I think a very large segment of the TV watching population could find something to enjoy about it.
Vynique: Yeah, I agree. I was never gonna watch it originally though, to be there. I was like, why would I wanna watch a show like Jason Sudeikis, who wa Hello. And then I started watching it out of Spite because a lot of my friends watched it and they liked it and that there were like a handful of like really weird men being like enjoying things that bring you joy sucks. And I was like, get help. So then I started watching it outta spite, and now here we are. I do a lot of things outta spite, and that is also why I have an M F A.
Kara: That's,
Adina: [00:08:00] it's a great motivation. It's a great motivation.
Kara: We, we both started Succession out of spite.
Adina: I was about to say the same thing.
Kara: Okay, so let's move into a little bit about Ted Lasso.
So the show was developed by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly. And the premise is that an American football coach comes to England to coach a football as in soccer team. With no prior knowledge of soccer, I. Which you're probably like, what the fuck? That's, that's very stupid.
So the origin of Ted Lasso is actually that he was created for NBC sports in 2013 as part of their coverage of the Premier League. He was played by Jason Sudeikis back then. It's the same premise. He was the head coach for the team Tottenham Hot Spur fc. Brendan Hunt is also in those commercials, if you go back and look I've only seen like one of them, but I was like, oh, [00:09:00] this is silly.
As like trying to get Americans interested in soccer in a way that I feel like we're not, I don't know that it worked anyway. But then in 2017 they brought in Bill Lawrence, who is known for Scrubs to help develop this character of Ted Lasso for a television series. Which was then commissioned by Apple TV in 2019.
In 2019, we were all probably like Apple tv. That sounds stupid. But now we're like, apple TV is great. It the, the content is great, the player needs work. Mm-hmm. But I have to say, this is not an ad for Apple tv. But I do think, especially with all of the weird news surrounding HBO Max lately if you do not have Apple tv, I actually think at this point it would be worth the subscription.
I dunno what the price, it's a very good value.
Adina: I'm pretty sure it's still five books, right? They haven't raised it
Kara: yet. My mom [00:10:00] pays for it, so I'm
Adina: not the one asked. I mean, if they're going, they're going to raise it eventually, but their whole, yeah, the whole thing about Apple is like, because they have such an absurd amount of money from being Apple.
They can make all this content for their streaming service at a loss and provide free trials and provide it at a low cost, at a loss right now. 'cause they're trying to get all the subscriber base and then they're gonna jack up the prices later. Yeah. Which is inevitable, but for now it's a good deal.
And even if you don't wanna have it forever, there are many shows that are worth watching on there, so if you wanna get it for a couple months.
Kara: Yeah. And I'm pretty sure they, they, the free trial they give you when you get a new Apple product is at least three months at this point. This is not a sponsored ad.
Adina: I wish we were sponsored by Apple. Could you imagine the money?
Kara: That would be great. So the show so far has run for two seasons starting in 2020. Season three is on the way. I have seen many people say that season three was meant to be the last one, but now [00:11:00] I've seen conflicting reports.
And I, I personally would be okay with season three being the last season. I am not as attached to Ted Lasso as I think some of the other screen spec people are. So, Vynique, I wondered your opinion on this.
Vynique: I am, I am so fine either way. Honestly, I, the thing about it that like, it doesn't irk me because it's been happening for so long now.
It did at first, but it's the back and forth of like them being like, it's only gonna be three seasons. Oh. But we don't know. But it's only like literally, I wanna say two weeks ago, one day Hannah Watham was like, talked to Jason, he said it was only gonna be three seasons, which I hate, but I respect him because he knows the vision and it's fine.
And then literally the next day she was like, I don't know why people keep saying it's only gonna be three seasons. Like we don't know yet. And I'm like, girly.
Adina: Yeah. [00:12:00] She got yelled at.
Kara: Yeah. No, this is, I feel as though there are some shows that I can actually picture running for a long, long time. Mm-hmm.
And there are some where it's like, I'd actually rather you just wrap it in a neat bow and end it before it gets, feels like you're just drawing it out. And I think Ted Lasso is one of those for me. Mm-hmm. Especially because I went into it thinking, oh, they've only got the three seasons and that's gonna be great.
They're gonna get their ending exactly the way they want it. Before it gets weird and not good anymore.
Adina: The other thing is season two, they got like an extra two episodes ordered after they had already started writing it. And this is, this is not me knocking the writers 'cause it seems like they found this out pretty late.
So like, you know, they are, they had like a 10 episode plan or whatever and then they got told, oh, make two more episodes. But you can tell which two, even if you didn't know, you can tell which two episodes were the extra ones added And mm-hmm Again, this is just my personal opinion, I don't like either of those two episodes very much.
They are by [00:13:00] far my least favorites of the season. And so that's why I'm like, I would just as gladly have them not draw this out more than they have to.
Kara: Yeah. Is season three last? Who knows?
Vynique: I hope not. Season four won't come for years. Like years. I think they will take a while 'cause the cast has, they've kind of all blown up a little bit.
If they.
Kara: Brett Goldstein's in the MCU now. Yeah,
Adina: I would rather if they just wrap it up nicely.
Vynique: Yeah. Hannah might be joining the MCU. I hope it's only for this one thing. Yeah, they all have like a lot of stuff coming up and so does Jason. So if season four happens, it will not be for a while, in my opinion.
I could be wrong. I don't work there.
Kara: Yeah. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. Season one's main cast consists of Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Wadham, Jeremy [00:14:00] Swift, Phil Dunster, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, Nick Mohammed, and Juno Temple. Brett Goldstein who plays Roy Kent. Fun fact. He's part of the writing staff.
And as they were writing Roy, he was like, oh. He'd be fun to play. So he submitted himself and got the part.
Adina: Are you not gonna mention the fun fact that he is actually made of CGI?
Kara: Oh, I forgot about that.
Adina: That is for, for normal people who are not on the internet. There was a conspiracy theory on the internet ahead of the 2021 Emmys that Brett Goldstein is not a real man and he was made of CGI by Apple. And I couldn't tell how many people were joking at how many people really thought that.
Kara: Yeah. Who's to say it? You never, you can never know on the internet, you can never tell. You really can't tell. So yeah. And then of course Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt are also on the writing staff. And as we, as we know Ted Lasso [00:15:00] has received a lot of critical acclaim. Season one was nominated for 20 Emmys, which was the most No.
Which makes it the most nominated freshman comedy in award history. And I do believe that Glee used to hold that title before Ted Lasso. But it was for Glee's first season, which I will give it. And Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Wadham and Brett Goldstein have all won Emmys for their performances. And. If you have not already, you can check out our Emmy nominations conversation where we talk a little bit about what Season two got nominated for which included some newcomers in the supporting categories, including Sarah Niles and Tahe Jimo along with James Lance, Sam Richardson, and Harriet Walter in guest categories.
So yeah, we did a, we did three parts on the Emmy nominations of a comedy one. You can check that out. It's in there. Anyway, this is the first episode that I did not write down who wrote it, but I think it was Jason Sta [00:16:00] and Joe Kelly.
Vynique: And you can find the script for the pilot somewhere online.
Kara: Yes, I have read this script. It is a good script.
So, yeah the episode begins it's a football pitch. It's very hard to call it football. I'm sorry. I'm American. We're on a football pitch. We see these athletes at training, not practice. And then it pans up to a very fancy office. There is a woman, it is Rebecca, played by Hannah Wittingham, and she's staring at this painting and she speaks and she says that she and Rupert bought it on their fifth anniversary.
Then she turns to this man named Higgins, played by Jeremy Swift, who is also in Downton Abbey, by the way, played a Maggie Smith's sassy butler. He's like, oh, that's a Hockney. It's worth a million pounds. And so then Rebecca's like, oh yeah, you should have, you should have said yes. And then she turns to the mover and is [00:17:00] like, put it in the auction pile.
So Higgins just lost out on a Hockney, sorry to him. Rebecca brings in George, who is the current head coach of FC Richmond. He's misogynist. He's wearing hoochie daddy shorts he shouldn't be wearing, and she fires him and he's very confused. He's making some like, you know, misogynist comments the whole time.
She calls him on that and she says, I know it's a big word. Ask one of your daughters what it means which is a line I deeply enjoyed. Hmm. So then he's obviously mad that, you know, she's firing him, so he throws dig at her about what is it, like, what's worse your husband to cheat on you or you being the last to know.
And then obviously he leaves, she doesn't let that comment affect her. She just asks for a salad. And then Higgins is like, oh, do you need me to make a list of new managers, new coaches? And she's like, no, I have a candidate. And then we cut to Sports Center, which is talking [00:18:00] about the hiring of the new manager of FC Richmond, Ted Lasso, who brought a college football team, a division two college football team.
So not division one. Division two the Wichita State Shockers. He got them a championship and then it shows footage of him in the locker room dancing with his team. For those of you, those Eagle Live viewers that have watched SS n l, this is in fact the dance that Jason Steaks does during What's up with that?
Which is one of my favorite stitches. So it was very exciting to see when I very watched this episode for the very first time. I got excited. So basically the sports pundit wishes, himm luck, and then we cut to an airplane and out of the bathroom comes Ted Lasso. He sits down back at his seat on the plane and this teenager comes up to him and is like, oh my God, can we get an sie rather than a selfie?
He explains, because there's two of them, it's not a selfie. Which [00:19:00] is, I felt like that was a fair explanation. Yeah. He basically calls Ted a legend for doing something so massively stupid which is going to teach a, going to coach a sport, you know, nothing about. Like it is pretty dumb the whole Yeah.
It's like the whole episode you're thinking to yourself, why would you set yourself up in this manner?
Vynique: Yeah. I'll do anything if it make, if it's gonna make me laugh, so.
Kara: I feel like Ted would also do that. Mm-hmm. He was in fact the man for the job in that regard. Yeah. So then he turns around to the person behind him who is Coach Beard, played by Hunt. Coach Beard, as you can see, is actually attempting to learn the sport of soccer because he's reading a book about soccer. Mm-hmm. So, you know, he's like, you know, telling him a little bit about Like what he's learning about some of like the different terms and stuff, stuff. One of the terms is into touch, which Ted says if he can work that into a sentence and
Adina: it means out of bounds for all us Americans who don't know what that [00:20:00] means.
Kara: Yeah. And Ted's like, I'm gonna work that into a sentence. And so then, you know, it's like you're, when you're on your way to Europe, you should sleep on the plane if you're coming from America because the time difference is gonna really fuck with you. So they say, all right, we gotta go get some sleep.
And then before Ted, Ted turns around to go to sleep, he says, if we see each other in our dreams, let's goof around a little bit. Pretend like we don't know each other. So you're immediately getting the sense that this guy's kind of a goofball. It seems like he doesn't really take anything seriously.
And you know, coach Beard indulges him. He nods. He's like, yeah, you got it. And then Ted turns around again in his seat. He looks at his lock screen. It's a picture of a woman and a child, so presumably his family that he's leaving behind back home in America. And that is the teaser. Then we've got our title screen and thoughts about this teaser.
Adina: This is an interesting teaser to me for a couple reasons. Not that I think it's ineffective, it's just that it's structured a little [00:21:00] differently than a lot of the other comedy teasers that we've talked about. Like a lo most comedy teasers, I feel like start on the protagonist, first of all. And this does not start on Ted, it starts on Rebecca, who is also a protagonist in her own way, but she's not the title character and in fact, she kind of is the antagonist of season one.
And so I think introducing it that way, I think it's interesting because I think it. It also the fact that we see the sports center coverage of Ted, we see other people's opinions of Ted being kind of a goofball who's incompetent before we actually meet him, which is an interesting way to introduce your protagonist, but also, like, I'm, I can't help myself, but I'm thinking of the whole season and I'm like, I think the fact that they start on Rebecca here, even though she is, you know, nominally effectively the, the antagonist of season one it's in a way primes us for accepting her as a protagonist after that, after she [00:22:00] gets over that desire.
So I feel like that's kind of like a long game move from them.
Kara: I think that's a good way to put it. What about you, Vynique?
Vynique: Well, I actually have a, it's not really even a conspiracy theory. I'm writing another Ted Lasso piece for Screen Speck, that it's actually about how Rebecca is the main character of Ted Lasso.
So I think that, which. I mean, I came up with that idea and then I read somewhere that Jason literally said that she was the main character, and I was like, sir, it was like kind of annoying that he confirmed it, but I like knowing that I'm right. So whatever. But I think them starting on her is part of the, of knowing that she, of like showing that she is the main character and like, yes, season one is about Ted's journey, but it, I feel like we get more of Rebecca in season one and her own emotional journey and yes.
How it, it's [00:23:00] intertwined with Ted's, but I feel the, I feel like they're slightly more of a focus on her. So I think that is partially why they started on Rebecca and you're so right, them starting like showing us what other people think of Ted before. We get to see Ted. I know that they did that so that like our expectations could be undercut by like learning more about him and stuff.
Which I thought was effective. I really loved the playing scene. 'cause it re it showed a lot of Ted in such like a short scene and it showed you his dynamic with Beard, which is such an important part of the show. And also like who he is as a person. And then I love the Ted Lasso theme song. I, I just think it's so funny the way that it just like starts with Yeah.
Really loud. I love that. [00:24:00] So that's what I think of the Cheeser. Also, there's a line that I'm not gonna repeat that Rebecca says to George that I think is deeply hilarious. Every single time she says it.
Kara: I had to refrain from writing a lot of her lines down because the notes that I took would've looked ridiculous because it mostly would've just been me typing out Rebecca's lines.
Adina: She's, she's pretty fucking funny. Honestly, who is funnier and more powerful than a woman who's going through a divorce. Exactly. No one.
Kara: True. So moving on. We are now at the airport. We learned Ted got no sleep on the plane, so he's about to be fucked because now he's here. It's the middle of the day he can't go to sleep. So anyway, the driver comes to pick them up and Ted, Ted says, can we make a quick pit stop?
And so they go to the Tower Bridge and Ted is looking at it like, yeah, yeah. And then he's like, great, thanks for indulging us. And then the driver's like, yeah, so this was Tower [00:25:00] Bridge. And he's like, right, not the London Bridge. 'cause that one fell down. He was a little confused. He's got the spirit.
Next. We make our way to FC Richmond. So Ted Beard are finally here. And they're, you know, walking around and they go out onto the football pitch. Ted touches the grass because, you know, he wants to see what it feels like. He's like this different.
Adina: And because it's very important to touch grass, you guys. Yeah. Touching grass is an important part of everyone's health.
Kara: Yeah. Get outside if you haven't today. Thanks. And then you hear this man shouting At, at him not to touch the grass. He's like, get off the grass. And there's this man, his name is he introduces himself later as Nathan or Nate. He's played by Nick Mohammad. And he's like yelling at them. And then when he realizes that this is the new manager, he's so embarrassed. He's like, oh my God, I've yelled at the new manager. He's going to hate me now.
You can see that he's like a little timid, a little shy doesn't really know how to interact with others. And he says that he will take them to meet [00:26:00] Rebecca. And at one point Ted asks for his name and he's confused because he's like my name. No one ever asks for my name. And he takes Ted and Beard up to the office.
You see Rebecca and Higgins are in there and he says, I'll introduce you. But he stops short. No words come out of his mouth and he just runs away. And then you see Ted and Beard pop their heads out. From the, the doorway. And so they introduced themselves. So Ted's like, hello, Ms. Walton. And she says, call me Rebecca, Ms.
Walton's, my father which leads Ted to say, which I, why didn't I write this down? But he basically says something that's like oh, that's a great joke, but if not, if that's not a joke, I'd love to unpack that with you later. And so, you know, beard and Higgins go, 'cause they're gonna, you know, get their stuff about where they're staying all, all squared away.
Get the wifi information very important. And Rebecca is like, let's have a chat. Can I get you something to have something to drink? How about some tea? [00:27:00] And Ted says, I wrote this down. He said, well, usually I take it right back to the counter because someone's made a horrible mistake. He's like, but you know, when in Rome he takes the tea and he says, you know, I always figured the tea was gonna taste like hot brown water.
And you know what, I was right. It's horrible. No, thank you. And Ted hates tea.
Adina: It's funny because he's such a positive in all loving character other, in other ways. So to take, you know, to take this, this guy who just is so open, he's, his key traits are that he's positive and that he's open to trying anything, but to give him one thing that he absolutely fucking hates relentlessly. And it's something so innocuous as tea
Kara: and he's still is just really funny, polite about it. Yeah. Like even as he's like, God, this is the worst thing I've ever tasted. He's got a smile on his face. Yeah. Which, Every so often, like, you watch this sometimes and you're like, dude, are you okay? Because he's not, he's got a smile on his face.
The answer is no, he is not. Yeah. We don't know that yet. But so [00:28:00] yeah, you know, they're having their little chat and then Rebecca says, would you like a tour? And Ted says, oh, I'd love to see Abbey Road. And she's like, no, I met at the club. And he's like, oh yeah, that too. So she's, you know, taking him around, you know, she's like saying some stuff about FC Richmond's history.
She says it was used as a hospital during the war. So sometimes people when they come to games still, like, you know, say they've seen a fallen soldier. And she says, do you believe in ghosts, Ted? And he says, I do. But more importantly, I think they need to believe in themselves, which this line is not in the script that you can find online.
Vynique: So Bill Lawrence did not like that line and he wanted to take it out. And Jason was like, no, this line is funny. We're keeping it in. And they kept it in. Everybody lost online.
Kara: It's, it's a funny li that's like one of the first GIFs of the show I saw, I think was Ted saying that line. 'cause it's funny.
Anyway, Rebecca's showing off the wall of previous owners. Ted is like, oh, that guy looks like a good time. [00:29:00] And it is Rupert pictured with a bunch of women and she's like, that's my ex-husband. And he's like, oh, well sometimes a good time's not a good time for everybody. Mm-hmm. And he asks her, oh, by the way, I heard about all that.
How are you holding up? And she seems shocked that anyone is asking about her at all. And she's like, oh she's like, you know, just kind of brushes it off. But she's clearly like, oh my God, I can't believe someone asked that. And she doesn't really know how to react to it. That's like a good little nugget that's thrown in there.
Mm-hmm. About Rebecca's mental state. Mm-hmm. Next Rebecca says, all right, you gotta address the press. And Ted's like, oh, yeah, I'll be great to do that in a couple of days once I'm not jet lagged anymore. She's like, oh, no, you're gonna do it right now. Immediately thrown to the wolves. No prep. This is crazy.
So these next few scenes are intercut. So we start in the press room and then it's also intercut with the locker room. So you see the players really for the first [00:30:00] time as they're watching this on the little TV in there. So as the press conference is about to start, everyone's being rowdy and loud.
And then Roy, you see Roy Kent and he silences everyone is, he says something vulgar. I didn't write it down. But that's how he gets silence from everyone. This is also intercut with a scene at the pub where you have these three fans of Richmond. They're huge fans, super fans. They appear often on the show.
They're very fun and they're always at this pub. They are also watching this press conference. So the press conference begins. Ted has some water. He drinks it and it's sparkling. He wasn't expecting it to be fizzy, so he spits it out all over, everyone's phones and recorders. And so he explains, yes, I have never coached the sport that you call football, and I know very little about it.
All of the reporters are like, are you for real? Everyone in the locker room is like, is this guy for real? The people in the pub are so perplexed, [00:31:00] they finally start taking questions and we get a question from this one man with great hair who introduces himself as Trent Crim, the Independent. And every time he introduces himself, he says that it is very fun and he stands up and he basically recaps everything Ted said about he know how, he knows nothing about this sport.
And Ted is like, so do you actually have a question there, Trent? And he said, yes. Is this a fucking joke? And then the scene just gets more embarrassing and you just can hear. You start to hear that little ringing sound, you know, when something is clearly wrong. And I was like, oh, some foreshadowing, do we see?
Adina: The universal TV code for "this person's having a mental health issue."
Kara: Yeah. So this is the first moment in this pilot where Ted seems actually not okay. Like it's the first time you get a glimpse of him feeling anything but positive, which is also interesting because he's never like [00:32:00] that on when he's like on camera. Usually he's very much his like usual cheery self and he takes another sip of the water, forgetting that it was bubbly spits it out.
Finally, Rebecca steps in and she says this, like, gives this really rousing speech saying that she's a, she's like, Richmond is nothing but very mediocre. I've like, been to every game. Like her husband owned this club. It's her club now. She's not, she's not stupid, basically. And she says at least Mr.
Lasso has done something which is win a trophy within this millennium. And she says they're going to be doing things the lasso way. So, you know, maybe she believes in him. And so you guys should too. They leave this press conference, you're feeling really good about it. You're like, oh, wow. She really believes in him.
And Rebecca says to Ted like, oh, you'll prove them wrong. And Ted's like, okay, I wanna go say hi to the team. So he [00:33:00] and Beard go off. They go to see the team and Higgins says to Rebecca, you know, I was really worried, ma'am, but I'm like super excited by your choice after you've said all those nice things.
And then Rebecca goes, oh, he's an absolute wanker. I hope he fails miserably because, and this is where we get Rebecca's main goal. The only thing that Rupert ever loved was this club. And so she wants to bring the club down. And this is where I wrote, if this were on network, that would be a commercial break.
Adina: It's so funny 'cause I was looking at your note. I was thinking that in my head and then I scrolled down in the notes and read that and I was like, oh yeah, Kara and I are on the same page. Yes. Traditional end of act one line.
Kara: We are shocked. Higgins is shocked. This is the first moment where Higgins, Higgins is like very nervous throughout all of season one. And this is like the height of his nerves right here. He's like, excuse me. Pardon me. What?
Adina: I feel like this is just, you know, it's a very end of act One moment. 'cause this sells the, the premise of the show. We were talking a little bit [00:34:00] last week about Barry, about how, you know, in your premise there should be an obvious conflict and there's really obvious conflict in both Ted and Rebecca's characters within them, and also them to each other.
Ted is a, he's gonna be a soccer coach and he knows nothing about soccer. So there's, that's inherently a conflict and that's inherently funny. And he wants to win despite knowing nothing about it. And Rebecca, on the other hand, is heading up this football club that she hates and does not want it to succeed.
So she, the coach of a club that is trying to sabotage, or the owner of a club, sorry, the owner who wants to sabotage it and wants it to lose. So both of them, both of those are inherently, you can tell that that character is gonna be interesting to watch and their goals are in opposition to each other.
So it's just, it's a really, really neat setup that immediately makes you wanna see how it's going to all play out.
Kara: So. Mm-hmm. I know the, like I know that it made me like Rebecca even more when she said this. I [00:35:00] was like, is my brain is like, is that weird to say? But I just, I feel as though like, You can see how much she's gone through and like, obviously she works through it over the season and it really, I just feel like this does such a good job of setting up what she's gonna go through and this entire journey for her.
I feel like she was the one I was watching this pilot rather than Ted, so now I'm kind of getting what you're saying Vynique, about
Yeah,
Adina: I kind of, I kind of am too. And I also just wanna throw in there, 'cause we've also talked a lot on this podcast about like, characters who do bad things and why can we still like them?
Fortunately Rebecca, I have not, I'm sure there are probably some idiots out there on the internet that are like, I hate Rebecca, she's terrible. But she doesn't get that treatment as much as a lot of other female quote unquote antagonists. And by that I just mean the person who's kind of working against the male protagonist's goal, she doesn't get that treatment quite as much. But this is a really good example of, I feel like people, it's very easy to like and [00:36:00] root for a character even who's kind of working against the main goal of the show if they're good at what they're doing. I feel like this moment is like, Rebecca's a really good liar and she has a really good plan and that's why it's so entertaining to watch and see if she's gonna pull it off.
Kara: I think, yeah, I think that if this were done by a person who were, you know, not very smart I would be like, this isn't gonna work for you. And also later on you meet, you meet the ex-husband and you're like, oh, fuck this guy. Yeah, I'm on her side no matter what. So yeah, that I feel like this does a good job of, even though she's doing something that's not that great, I'm still like, I don't care. So. It's because I get where she's coming from.
Adina: It's also just, it's a satisfying moment of like, they don't spend that much time trying to give you this image, but like the initial image that you get is like, oh, this woman's now the owner of the club and she doesn't know what she's doing. But then they turn that and flip it on its head. Oh, she knows exactly what she's doing. [00:37:00] She's going to run this into the fucking ground and she's gonna do it.
Vynique: I support women's wrongs. Yep. I have so many thoughts about this pilot. I've watched it, I think five times. Not on purpose, but I keep wanting to re-watch the whole show and then I just watch the pilot and get distracted by other things.
I have so many thoughts. I feel like this section specifically sets up a lot of, like patterns that continue on and the rest of the show and like the tiniest little ways and. I wanna, I was gonna be like, I don't know if they did that on purpose, but knowing the way that Jason is set up, I'm pretty sure he did it on purpose.
But like I know a lot of like behind the scenes stuff because I'm insane. And the scene, Rebecca and Ted's first scene where she, where she says please call me Rebecca. Ms. Walton is my father, or whatever [00:38:00] Rebecca is, first of all, that is a dad joke if I've ever heard one. And Rebecca is not a dad jokey person.
Like she's very funny, but not with dad jokes. And I always thought that that was so weird to, for her to say, not in a bad way. I just find that, I just find that interaction so interesting. 'cause like why did, why did she say that? And then also the T interaction. Where she's like, do you want something to drink?
And he's like, oh. And he starts to say something and she like bulldozes over him and she's like, how do you take your tea? And then they have that whole thing. Hannah said, apparently their, like that initial banter back and forth was like very much her, the way that her and Jason were as soon as they met, which I find so interesting.
And I think that is why, [00:39:00] partially why Rebecca never really feels like an antagonist because she like is already so a part of everything. Even when she's trying so hard to like, destroy the club and like ruin everything. It, she doesn't feel like she is not. In, you know what I mean?
Adina: Yeah. It's interesting. It's interesting to watch her arc because she is, I mean, she is fundamentally a nice and good person who's trying very hard Yeah. To be evil and full of hate. Yeah. Because she's hurt. Mm-hmm. And it's like, again, I still root for her. I'm like, yes, girl. Destroy this club. You deserve it.
But at the same time, like you can see over the season, that's not what she really wants. Yeah. And it's a really, it is a really well done arc. I, and you see that constant tension between her opening up to Ted and also to the whole team and enjoying it, but then pulling back because she's like, I need to keep my distance if I want to accomplish this goal of fucking them all over.
Kara: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I feel [00:40:00] as though that whole thing of you having a plan. Executing a plan without having ever having met a person. It always gets fucked up somehow when the person's actually there. Mm-hmm. You know, because now she's met this guy and so it's gonna go, like, she's like, all she's ever seen are clips of him acting like a doofus.
So she's like, this will be so easy. But then you like meet him and then he like asks her how she's holding up when clearly no one else has. And she's like, huh. You know, it's things, little things like that where she's like, where you can like, see that she's kind of thinking, is this gonna work? But she's like, you know, still on the path mm-hmm.
Of like trying to make this happen because she really hates Rupert. Yeah. Which is fair.
Vynique: I also think it's this, it's really very interesting to me in the press room. When Ted is flopping incredibly hard and he does like his ears do start [00:41:00] ringing and that's the moment when Rebecca's like, Hey, actually I know what I'm doing and you will not question me.
She does it as a power move and she's obviously lying, but I find it interesting that like, 'cause she looks at Ted before she does that, I am pretty sure. And yeah, it's kind of showing it foreshadows another moment later on. Mm-hmm. And I just like, I kind of wanna flip a table because dang they really did that.
Kara: There's a lot of thought put into everything. Yeah. Alright, continuing on we're back from the commercial break if this were on network so. We are out on the football pitch. The team's at training Ted and Beard go out to meet them.
Beard is helping Ted a little bit with his lingo. Oh, I'd like to add he did throw into touch into conversation during the press conference. Yeah.
Adina: And no one else cared about it or thought it was clever, but he clearly was [00:42:00] like, I won this one. Yeah. And everyone else was like, what are you talking about, man?
Kara: Yeah. And Beard was just kind of like Beard gave like a singular nod Yeah. As he does, because he is not a man, he is a man of few words. Yeah. Yep. So beard's helping Ted out with some more of like, you know, the soccer lingo. They see Nate, who is like the Kitman, I think that's what you call it. Mm-hmm. He's like, you know, by the, by the water coolers.
He's got a sports drink. You see Roy, who is the team captain, he's yelling at everyone. And Ted's kind of like confused by his. Yelling. And so Nate and Beard explained to him that he's like, Roy Kent is like a legend. He won Champions league with Chelsea and then Nate adds in the eight years ago because it was a while ago.
So he's like a star, but like a waning star. And then you see the new star Jamie Tart. He kicks, he does like a kick. He's very cool, very 23 [00:43:00] year old energy. Yeah. In this, in this little man he's the top scorer on the team. Then you see another man come up to him. He like tries to help him up, but Jamie kind of reduces the touch.
And this is Sam Sya, who's from Nigeria. And Ted is like, oh, who are, Are these people just from everywhere? Anyway Ted and be, make their way into the locker room. Ted says it smells like potential. And am I getting notes of Axe body Spray, which they call Lynx his favorite of the jungle cats. And so, you know, they're just kind of walking around, surveying it and then the players come back in.
You see a few of them kind of teasing. Nate, you get a little bit of that dynamic, maybe sort of a little bit of an understanding of why he was so weird with Ted earlier, since Ted is an authority figure. And then if that's the way people are normally treating him, why would anyone treat him nicely? Roy Walks by, gives such a menacing look.
Then Ted begins to make a speech. As you know, the players are, you know, getting [00:44:00] changed getting ready to leave at the end of the day. And then we see a new character her name is Keely, played by Juno Temple. She comes in and she's like, oh, is is every, is everyone decent? And she opens her eyes and everyone is decent.
She's like, boys, how disappointing. And she is here to pick up Jamie for his wax. And you're like, what? This young dude with this, this lady. You're confused. Sure. I was also confused because especially considering the GIFs I had seen before I started the show I was very confused.
Adina: I, I will admit I didn't really, I don't always think that consciously about characters' ages when I'm just looking at people. 'cause I know actors are often playing very different ages than what they are. Mm-hmm. So I feel like I didn't really clock it until later in the season. They say that. Jamie's 23 or 24 and Keeley's like 30 or 31. And I was like, girl, what are you doing?
Kara: As I cannot, as a almost 26 year old, I can't [00:45:00] imagine dating a 23 year old now.
Adina: Exactly, exactly.
Kara: So I'm sitting here like, what do you have to talk about? But they're not, I don't think they're doing all talking. They don't do much talking frankly. Anyway so she's here to pick up Jamie for his wax. Jamie, it's like the middle of Ted's speech, and Jamie's like, oh, do you need me to stay? Very give, giving off very much the air of I'm the star, I do what I want. Because he knows, he knows he's good at football and he knows that everyone loves him, which is very annoying. Mm-hmm. And so he. So Ted's like, oh no, it's whatever. It's okay. You can go. So then he tells Keeley to walk out first so he can watch her ass on the way out. And that is the whole, that's the interaction.
Anyway. Then we get a little montage of Ted and Beard setting up their new office which ends with beard, trying to keep Ted from falling asleep. Then [00:46:00] Ted sees Roy leaving the locker room. So he calls him in and he's like, oh, the boys really respond to you.
And it's really, seems like you've had a great career. And Roy's like, thanks. Never thought it would end being coached by Ronald fucking McDonald. And then he leaves and Ted, Ted says to Beard, you're just gonna let him talk to you like that. And Beard was like, I don't think he was referring to me. And then they're like, they're both kind of like, just wait until we win him over. He's gonna be pissed.
Adina: And they're so right.
Kara: Which is hilarious because it's true. He gets so pissed. Which is also how I feel, which is also, I feel like that sentence could also apply to Rebecca. They just don't know that
Adina: it could apply to like, every single character on the show. Honestly.
Kara: It's true. It's true. But Roy, Roy consciously like it, they consciously know that they're going to affect Roy one day. Yeah. And then Ted goes back into the locker room and he hangs up the Iconic Believe poster with some tape. And then he [00:47:00] goes over to Jamie's locker and you see this topless photo of Keely.
He just puts some tape over her nipples on poster. Like a sensor bar. Yeah. And Keely comes back. Keely comes back and she notices him doing this. And so she like fakes a male voice, so he's like, oh fuck. And it scares him. And then he's just, she's just kind of like joking. She doesn't really care. And then she says that she came back because Jamie left his phone and he's still getting waxed. Apparently, he's very hairy. She tells Ted that the poster is crooked.
Adina: So she, she goes, she points that in. She goes, I believe it's crooked, which is, I think that's my favorite line of the pilot. Honestly.
Kara: I did not clock that one. That is funny. And so she attempts to help him fix it. But later you do see that it is in fact still crooked, just crooked the other way which is very endearing.
It really fits with the show, frankly. Yeah. I liked this little moment where Keeley like goes into Jamie's locker and she sees the, the [00:48:00] tape that he's put over her boobs and she kind of just smiles a little, and then she says, don't, she says to Ted, don't get on Twitter because he's trending, and she says to avoid hashtag Richmond, wanker, or Dick.
Then she curtsies, Tells him, welcome to England. And that is the last we see of Keely in this pilot. I've watched season all of season one, like maybe twice or something. And I feel like this isn't something I necessarily noticed on First watch, but it like really stuck out to me this time that like and I've said it on other, in other places.
I don't know that besides Rebecca, I don't really know that the Ted lasso writers know how to write women. And it's like blatantly obvious because the only two women we see in this pilot are Rebecca and Keely. And literally these were, this was, those were the only things we saw of Keely. And I sat there and I was like, wow.
Adina: I was saying this to Kara when I was watching it yesterday. This Keely's entire appearance in this [00:49:00] pilot feels very artificial to me. It feels like she really had no business being in the show until episode two. But they wanted to introduce her in the pilot 'cause they wanted her, they wanted to be like, she's a series regular. I feel like it would've been okay if they left her until episode two. 'cause we've seen, we've seen other shows that introduce series regulars in episode two and it's fine 'cause it's more natural. Mm-hmm. I would've been fine with it. Especially 'cause it's a streaming show, so like, I guess maybe they didn't want people to think there's only one woman on the show, but having only two women is not that different. Whatever.
Kara: And it's also like only having two women and then only one of them is doing one thing of substance. Yeah. Actually feels more glaring to me.
Adina: Yeah. But I mean, I will say maybe we can talk about this more after, but like Keely was, and maybe still is my favorite character. I just naturally loved her. 'cause I think Juno Temple's a great performer, but the more I think about it, the more I'm like, she has nothing of substance to do ever. Not in season one, not in season two. She's never doing anything important. She's just there to comment [00:50:00] on other character stories and to be a fricking love interest for a bunch of the guys.
Vynique: The thing about that, that bothers me the most is that like if for if the writer's room were, was like full of men, then I could be like, I would still be irritated, but I'd be like, well that makes sense. But there are so many women,
Kara: there's, there's a lot of women in that room. So like girlies what, what, like what happens?
Adina: And that's okay for it to be a male majority show. That's totally fine. But it's like you have two women in your main cast, three in season two when they add doc Sharon. But you have two women in your main cast. One of them has a substantive role. The other one is a series regular and is played by a very talented performer. Like Juno Temple is great to watch and you're not doing shit with her.
Vynique: I like her and Rebecca's relationship in season one. 'cause I think it is imperative to Rebecca's arc, but after that, Why is Keely there? Like they don't [00:51:00] Yeah.
Adina: What they try and do, they're like, she's a publicist now in season two, but there's absolutely no goals or conflict whatsoever with it. She's just kind of there being a girl boss. Yep. It doesn't, yeah. Literally nothing of substance. Like you could remove her from season two, I think and almost nothing would change.
Kara: Alright, so now we've got, we've just got a couple more scenes, so Yeah. Oh yeah, we're almost there. So next we are outside of FC Richmond, and Nate is going to drive Ted and Beard home in what looks like a little clown car. Like, I don't know how they fit. And Rebecca, Rebecca's standing outside with Higgins by her car.
She has a driver. It's a Rolls Royce. She is a very rich lady. Love that for her. And so she kind of like shouts over to Ted and she's like, oh, I'm so sorry. We should have ordered you a car. He's like, he's kind of enjoying it. He's, you know, messing around. He's having since in England, they drive on the other side of the road.
He is miming, like he's honking the horn. [00:52:00] When it's actually Nate doing it. He's being very goofy. He's also probably so tired. I feel like this amplified his goofiness. Mm-hmm. He has not slept. Yeah. In many hours. So Nate drives 10 beard to their where they're staying. Higgins is very stressed.
Mm-hmm. About Rebecca's plan to sabotage the club. It's like affecting him. You know, that thing where you, like, you feel like something stuck in your throat. He, it's like he, he feels like he's about to choke or like throw up or something. And so Rebecca gives him a promotion. She's like, oh, I'm sure it will help.
Now that you're our new director of football operations, and that's gonna come with like a pay raise. He was before, he was like director of communications, which is already a pretty decent job, I would assume. Mm-hmm. But now he's director of football operations, which seems like, you know, the whole big deal.
He's gonna make more money. He has many children, so he could use it. Then Rebecca gets in her car and she says you can keep quiet about this. I'm, because I'm sure you had to keep quiet about sneaking all of those women in and out for Rupert behind my back. Which was crazy when she [00:53:00] said that. I said, you get him?
Yep. Right Now, get him. I loved that moment. Great moment. Rebecca in this pilot top tier. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Love her. My favorite character. Yeah.
Anyway now we are at Ted's Flat. This is where he'll be staying while he's here. Beard, before he goes in beard, gives him the money for working into touch into the conversation. He won the bet. So we go into Ted's Flat. There's a gift basket waiting for him that says, welcome Tim Lasso. We're seeing Ted really subdued as he's checking out his, like, new space, you know, looking around. He takes a shower.
And then he, like you see him counting on his fingers, he's like checking the time difference. Mm-hmm. Between here, like here England and Kansas. So he tries to call home. He calls his son. He talks with him for like just a minute before. It seems like his son's a little bit too preoccupied to talk to him.
So he hands the phone off to Ted's [00:54:00] wife. And so they're kind of talking, but you can like kind of hear 'em trying to stay positive. It's like very much that phone conversation where someone's asking you, how are you doing? And you're like, oh, I'm fine, I'm fine. Like, your voice gets a little higher.
You're like, yeah, it's great. That's what's happening here on the phone. Something that he says clearly struck a nerve with Michelle. We can't hear her, but like the way that he's kind of like apologizing. He says, that's what I'm doing. I am giving you your space. You're hearing like all this stuff.
This is the first time. He's like, and then you're like, oh, see, that's what's wrong with this guy. This is the moment we get it. And he like tries to say, I love you. It's very clear she does not say it back even though we can't hear her on the phone. And they say goodnight and he hangs up.
Then he gets ready for bed and he turns out the light. After a moment, you just hear him go, shoot, now I can't sleep. And that's the end of the pilot. So I would also like to say this is, this [00:55:00] scene plays out a little bit differently than it does in the script. The way that it's written out in the script, Ted does a, tries to do a video call with Henry and Michelle.
And so like you, you can actually hear them all talking and I actually like this better. Like you don't necessarily need to hear what Michelle and Henry are saying to know that Ted's kind of going through it. Things are not necessarily right at home. And I actually think it would've made the scene longer.
Adina: I think that might be a case of this is this is for the, the actual screenwriters in the audience. Sometimes you have to write scenes a little differently when you're just writing it as a script for people to read. Mm-hmm. For them to get the idea. Like, I feel like if this was like for the network or for people to buy the show, writing out the other half of that conversation might help.
Yeah. So they know what's going on and there's no doubt. So you don't have to write an action line that's like, Ted clearly looks sad, like she didn't say I love you back. But when you have it on screen, you can be like, yeah, Jason knows how to sell this scene. He can sell all the [00:56:00] important beats of that conversation and we don't have to see it.
And then that's much more effective. So I feel like sometimes it's okay to recognize some of the choices you're gonna make when writing might not be how you would wanna film it one day. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But you just have to get it on the page.
Kara: That is, that is true. Yep. I. Yeah, that's the end of the episode.
So what did we think of this pilot overall?
Vynique: I think in that last scene outside of Richmond when they're all about to leave and Rebecca says, you're a godsend Ted Lasso, and she's clearly being sarcastic and then he replies very genuinely takes one to no one. The amount of layers that two lines has is so insane to me because like mm-hmm. The name Theodore means like godsend, I mean, sent from God or something like that. Oh, and then his last name is Lasso and Rebecca means to bind a lot. Just a lot going on with that. [00:57:00] And then like her saying, you're a godsend in a sarcastic way, but then later on. Fi like the way that things play out even into season two, he really is a godsend to her.
And it's takes one to no one. It's the same. Like it's, that interaction makes me so upset in a good way. Mm. And then like to have the pilot end the way that it does, where like it started where you see Rebecca and she's clearly not, she's not a happy lady and that she is just gotten divorced. She's gotten this club.
She, she's very curt, very like coarse with people. And then you meet Ted and he's very happy go lucky and blah, blah, blah. And then at the end of the pilot you see that Ted is [00:58:00] like, I. Maybe about to go through something similar to Rebecca. Like his life is not all the way that it seems to be, even though I feel like people who seem happy all the time, you can clearly tell that they have gone through it or are currently going through it.
Mm-hmm. So I thought the deposition of the first and last seen were very interesting. Very good pilot in my opinion.
Kara: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I would agree. I we sort of brought this up as we were talking through the whole thing, but everything in Ted Lasso is super purposeful. And this is something I say a lot, and I don't mean this in a bad way.
When I say it, I always have to preface that because I feel like when you use the word predictable, people are like, oh, that's awful. Yeah. I don't think it is awful that I think that this show is predictable. Mm-hmm. I think that it's clearly thought through. There are, there's groundwork in here for all sorts of things that are gonna happen [00:59:00] later.
You can tell when like a writer really loves a project, and I feel as though we have seen a lot of tv, we're living in post Game of Thrones world where people were figuring out what was gonna happen. And so d and D were like, oh, we gotta switch it up on them and like do something completely different because people figured it out and it's like, no, you don't have to.
It's not. A bad thing that people can see where it's going all the time. Because even if they do see where it's going, they're never gonna do it. Think they're probably not gonna think of it in the exact way that you did because you know the characters actually better than the audience does.
Adina: Also, sometimes seeing the ending that has been building up to clearly is satisfying. Yeah. Rather than boring. But I also want to shout out, I agree with everything you just said, Kara. I wanna shout out that I also think the writers of this show are clever at picking a few times to subvert your [01:00:00] expectations. Yeah. They don't, they, they fulfill a lot of expectations in ways that are emotionally satisfying.
Like Ted wins everyone over, you know, him and Rebecca form a bond. Like, you know, like the, the characters all like emotionally grown and whatever which are all great. But there are a couple of times when the plot veers a little bit away from where you think is the very predictable cliche territory, like the end of season one when they.
They don't win the championship by the end of season one. Yeah. They actually don't do very well at all. Yeah. Spoilers. Yeah. Like, sorry, that's, I don't think that's a huge spoiler considering the show keeps going, but there's also a moment in season two that I will not explain, but anyone who has seen season two will know what I'm referring to.
Where I, as I, I feel like I can call myself a savvy TV viewer. I was like, oh my God, I see where they're going. This foreshadowing so obvious. And then they did something really different and I loved it because it was, I don't wanna say it was a twist, but it was a different direction that I [01:01:00] had thought it was going in this very predictable direction, but it was a different direction that was surprising and that also fit all of the lead up. It also fit all of the clues. And to me that is one of the really, really fun things about TV when you can get people following clues and engaging and then give them something different than what they expected. But it's still. Works, and it doesn't feel like a swerve outta nowhere.
Vynique: Exactly. I, I agree. I think there's this, we've gotten to this weird point where everybody wants every expectation to be subverted in television because Yeah. Like new and different, and I'm like, you know, sometimes things are expected because they make sense. Like subverting expectations in an illogical way just to be different does not, it's not a good thing the way that people seem to think it is. Like Exactly. Ted Lasso has a way of subverting expectations and just the right way where it still makes sense.
Not always the follow through, but [01:02:00] the initial, the, you're kind of like, oh. Yeah, that's okay. Mm-hmm.
Adina: Yeah, I, I definitely, I agree with all of what you just said. Yeah.
Vynique: Sometimes listen, sometimes the bag gets fumbled and that's okay. It's television. It's not the end of the world, but I feel like this show, for the most part, is so good at being like, we are telling you that we're gonna give you this, and we're taking you on the journey, so that when you get there, you're gonna love it.
Or they're like, you might get this and then nevermind. We're gonna give you something else and you're gonna be okay with it because it still makes sense, which I appreciate. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Adina: I feel like there is a subset of people that watch tv. I, I feel like this is such an unfun way to watch where they either wanna predict everything and wanna be right, and if they're not right, they get really mad. But also, if they predict everything and they're right, they're like, that's too predictable. Yeah. I'm like, well, what then?
Kara: So we can't win Basically. Basically no one wins.
Adina: I mean, I like, for me, [01:03:00] like I would cite a moment like that particular reveal in Ted Lasso season two, that it makes me feel really excited when I think something's predictable and then it's not. But it also makes sense. That is a really unique moment of joy, but also that can't happen all the time. Yeah. It's impossible to pull that off all the time. You have to have, because if you subvert expectations every time, then people expect you to subvert expectations, et cetera, et cetera. You have to balance it exactly in the way that's right for your story. I, I, yeah. And that's gonna be different for every different story. So I agree.
Vynique: And I also think that Ted Lasso is like, it, it just, I feel like it tells you everything it's gonna do, but like in code, if that makes sense. Because I feel like it's a very predictable show, but the fact that it has subverted a few expectations, People think that, that like, that's like how the show is overall.
And I'm like, mm-hmm. No, [01:04:00] no, no. Yeah. Mm-hmm. They, they do have a balance and I think that people don't get that that balance is okay and it's probably for the best. Yeah. Yeah.
Kara: And I feel like that's why, yeah. I, like I said, I am not nearly as invested in Ted Lasso as some of the other Screen Speck staff, but I feel like I, having gone through, having seen other shows that left me traumatized, I have to say that of the people in charge of making shows, I would say Jason Sudeikis is actually one I trust because he has spoken so much about this in a way that I understand that he, how much he caress about it.
And that it's very clear that he knows where it's going and that he has a plan, which is why I'm still confused about why we're gonna get more than maybe gonna get another season after season [01:05:00] three. Yeah. That's why I'm confused. That's the only thing that's having me perplexed just that. Yeah. But that's neither here nor there because it's, we don't know what's true.
But I would be totally fine with it being, 'cause he said he had three seasons planned. Mm-hmm. So I at least know that seasons one through three. Yeah, I know. I feel like I trust him.
Adina: And there's something to be said for a good three act story, right, for a good trilogy arc. Like you might not get, you might say why? Like, why not make it longer? Why not do more? Or, you know, why be so stuck in three x structure? Maybe 'cause it works. But like when a show has three, I mean even if it's not three, but when a show has a planned number of seasons and is able to follow through with that really well, like the good place that can be really freaking great.
Yeah. The good place, avatar the last Airbender. Great three season arc planned from the beginning, executed well. Like
Vynique: The Good Wife, which The Good wife I guess. Sorry, that's seen that. I've never seen that one. It's a, it's a really, really good show that [01:06:00] I would love to fist fight so bad. But it's really good. And the pilot, if you can read it, it, I think you can find it online somewhere. It is annoyingly very good and the show. Mm-hmm. The showrunners, they had a plan for I think seven season, I think seven or eight. And they talked to it even though they could have gone longer. So I think they, yeah. Good on that. But that's not, I don't, that's up for interpretation.
Adina: So I would love to see them execute the vision they had for Ted Lasso and let it be what it should be and not feel, I mean, if they really, really think they have enough for another season, then maybe you go for it. But, I don't wanna see them try and make another one just because people are like, we want more.
Kara: Yeah. So that was Ted Lasso. We, we've all enjoyed it. It's a fun show. [01:07:00] Also me as a person who actually, frankly, you, I don't know that you would know this if you didn't know me, but I frankly hate positivity. So me enjoying this show, I feel like is a testament to, to how well crafted and good it is.
Like this is like maybe the happiest show I've ever watched, and I normally hate that shit. So like, you tell me the other stuff I'm watching and it's like, give me, and like, of course I watch a rom-com, but that isn't a different field to me. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But like this is not something I would've picked up on my own.
Did it not have someone that I knew? Ended in it, frankly give, had Las of a try if you have not already. So that's also Nik would you like to tell the listeners where they can find you on the internet? Oh, absolutely.
Vynique: You can find me on twitter.com @vyniquemoon and [01:08:00] also on Instagram @vyniquemoon. And if you like crochet, I also have a crochet like brand where I sell things. And that is at buy Nik on Instagram. And if you find me anywhere else, no you didn't.
Kara: So there. Yeah. Cool. And we can link all that in the show notes. And also don't forget to check out screen Spec where Vernique and I both write things.
It's a fun time. And it's a very Ted lasso friendly publication. So thank you again, Monique, for joining us today. Yes, thank you. We had so much fun chatting with you. Thank you for having me. Thanks for listening. We wanna hear from you. Now. If you have any thoughts about the Ted Lasso pilot you'd like to share with us or suggestions for shows we should watch, you can email us at itsinmyqueuepod@gmail.com.
Adina: And in case you wanna prepare for the next [01:09:00] episode discussion with us, the next pilot we'll be watching is Euphoria. So go ahead and watch or rewatch that episode so you'll be ready for our thoughts on it next time.
Kara: If you wanna hear our
Adina: TV thoughts that go beyond the pilot, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter at itsinmyqueue.substack.com for our thoughts and TV news straight in your inbox every Friday.
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Adina: I am @adinaterrific
Kara: and I'm @karaaa_powell. Thanks for listening, and we hope we've helped you clear out your Queue.