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The latest episode of Ted Lasso is called ‘Rainbow’, and here I know I haven’t missed the reference (which I stupidly missed the last few episodes). It’s explicitly a reference to the song by the Rolling Stones, ‘She’s a Rainbow’, and the way the episode becomes a little rom-com parody. Higgins mentions that the song, which is his ringtone for his wife, is ‘their’ song because she’s ‘literally’ his rainbow and was playing when they met.
But it’s also the song that plays at the end of the episode when Roy runs through the city to get to his football team, which is basically just like someone in a rom-com running desperately to stop a wedding or catch a plane or whatever. It all starts, though, when Ted calls out the idea that he’s a ‘rom-communist’ and everything flows from there, both in expected and unexpected ways.
The intriguing, loaded storyline of Nate and his self-image issues is mostly disconnected from the rest of the episode, except that he keeps getting hit by everyone except Keeley (and by extension Rebecca through Keeley). First he’s unable to get a table at a small Greek restaurant in Tooting (which is a London neighborhood with nothing particularly of note except the ridiculous name and a large non-white population), and it’s unclear if it’s because he’s not assertive, she’s racist, he’s not famous, or some combination of it all.
Later Nate tries to offer his services as a ‘big dog’ to talk to Isaac, and Ted, of all people, dismisses the idea. But the help from Keeley and Rebecca is really a big help, and he rom-coms his way to getting his parents a better table, even if he fails at the rom-com part of getting the girl — the waitress informs Nate that she’s picky, which is something Nate said himself two episodes ago.
At the game, Nate’s dressed all snazzily and gets a nice compliment from Ted — but then when Roy shows up, Nate’s position as the knowledgeable assistant coach is suddenly complicated. Roy, I am sure, has no negative feelings about it, but Nate is already so insecure it’s hard to know where this might go.
The more pleasant and straightforward plot was Ted getting Roy to help Isaac become a better team captain, which is also nice that we’re getting more for Isaac as a character as he’s had very little to do this season until now. This plot has some great moments, but perhaps the best one is the sudden appearance of Roy in the dark, his face illuminated by his phone, as Isaac jumps behind Ted in fear. I had to rewind that one beat to watch it again.
The other rom-com piece here was Ted trying to rom-com Roy to come back as a new coach for Richmond, and of course, obviously it works. Roy gives an impassioned emotional speech at the football pre-show, but as he leaves, he gives a nod to his fellow presenter Jeff and gets back an ‘I understand’ nod in return. It’s pretty funny as a rom-com reference, not that I know exactly what’s being referencing specifically.
There are a lot of rom-com references in this episode, I mean Ted cheekily even says, ‘I’ll have what he’s having’. It’s pretty ridiculous, although I did like the line that Roy heard that a ‘mustachioed surprise that would anger me’ was coming but thought it was Wario. There’s even a sort of When Harry Met Sally more subtle reference when a random couple in the crowd is interviewed at the end of the episode about their romantic history.
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Much of the underlying thematic connection is about one’s ‘brand’, romantic, personal, or otherwise, and Higgins offers that the best brand is to be yourself. I mean it’s overly simplistic, but it does lead to a real tease that makes us think that Rebecca is texting Ted on the dating app Bantr (which has replaced Dubai Air as the main team sponsor). But it’s such an obvious tease that it’s either meant to be set up for it happening or a tease to subvert our expectations later. I’m still unsure which I prefer.
But boy, this felt like a pretty impactful episode — once you remove the rom-com reference parade, there’s a lot of things that are being set up for later. Roy returning, Nate in conflict, Ted avoiding addressing his feelings with Dr. Sharon, Isaac in better spirits, and whatever is happening with Rebecca and her mystery man. At least Higgins is just as decent a bloke as always.
What did you think of this episode? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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