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The season premiere of Ted Lasso is called ‘Smells Like Mean Spirit’ and essentially continues from where we left off in the last season finale, with Nate working for the now Rupert-owned West Ham, Sam starting a new restaurant, and Roy and Keeley in a complicated situation with their relationship. The actual starting point is Ted saying goodbye to his son Henry, who is really not as natural a child actor as the one who plays Roy’s niece Phoebe.
But we also see Ted checking in with Sharon, who advises him that doubt can only be removed by action and reminds him of his own feelings about never quitting. Meanwhile we find out that Richmond has been ranked the lowest of all Premier League teams, not entirely surprisingly, as often the most recently promoted from delegation end up back where they were. The first legitimately funny moment of the episode happens when Higgins doesn’t want to admit his 10-year old son ranked them last too.
Roy and the rest of the team are still around, concerned about their ranking (except perhaps Janmas, as bluntly honest as ever), in stark contrast to our old pal Nate, who is still searching for his name online (with a lot of memes this time which is pushing it a bit but sure). Keeley and Rebecca reconnect and the former bursts into tears — eventually we do find out why. But Rebecca is still just as toxically concerned about her ex Rupert, as much as she might want to protest against it.
Keeley is also struggling against her overly pragmatic and matter-of-fact CFO, who is the opposite of a good time. She references having the ‘talk’ with Phoebe and at first I wonder if it’s a redirection — sadly it’s ultimately what was predicted last season finale, that Roy and Keeley have broken up. Young Phoebe admits that due to her parents’ divorce she never held out hope for the relationship lasting, but is happy Keeley will still be a friend.
There are hints of the underlying conflict, as Roy seems to be more the instigator of the breakup while Keeley vocally asks ‘why?’. Indeed, in the car Roy admits he doesn’t really know if it was a good idea or not. I had a laugh about her asking to use a bad word but that word being ‘stupid’. The right approach to the fight is one of those ongoing themes of the season, and we see it continued with the Nate versus Ted divide.
Ted takes the rattled team into the sewer as a sort of metaphor for letting things go but this makes an easy target for Nate, now getting tempted by the Dark Side with Emperor Rupert. He’s immediately cruel to one of his players, with a follow-up meeting Rupert calling him a ‘killer’ – but softening that with ‘I know you’ll make me proud. I believe in you.’ A classic perversion of the Ted Lasso ‘Believe’ sign (I also laughed at Rupert mentioning his ‘dear friends the Sadlers’).
Naturally, Nate literally harnesses his traumatic memories (Jaime, his father, Ted) to embrace the Dark Side of the Football and turns things around on the reporters, much to Rupert’s sinister delight. This directly ends up with Rebecca angrily spitting out that ‘everyone’ is laughing at them — but admits it’s about Rupert laughing at her. She pleads for Ted to fight back — but he does in the most Ted Lasso way you could imagine.
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He turns his own press conference into a roast of himself, a classic self-deprecating style that is so appealing that the Internet is immediately creating memes that are pro-Lasso (a bit fast, but sure). He smashes his laptop closed in much the same way Rebecca does earlier — a great little mirroring. There’s another great little visual moment of Rupert in a window against a dark building — the temptations of power for Nate.
But the temptations of pain could hit anyone, Keely, Roy, Rebecca, and even Ted, as in his final moments, he finds out that his ex-wife has a ‘friend’ who’s been over a lot, someone named Jake — whoever he is, it’s a sudden blow to Ted, cutting into a pitch perfect credits song of ‘Ring The Alarm’ by Beyoncé.
It’s a great return to form for Ted Lasso, perhaps not the funniest way to start things off, but a great way to ease us back into this world and the spirit of how the show functions. The theme of how to fight a war, necessary or not, is not a new one for this show, but there’s now a real focus on the difference between Ted and Nate, Rebecca and Rupert. It will be interesting to see how these relationships shape this final season to come.
What did you think of the season premiere? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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