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The latest episode of Ted Lasso is called ‘4-5-1’ after the soccer formation which heavily focuses on one player in particular — of course that player being the brand new player Zava. The episode interestingly opens with Colin and his boyfriend, and I don’t think his sexuality has really been hinted at to this level, and certainly never explored like this (the only real reference is that Colin recognized the name Grindr but that doesn’t really mean anything in isolation).
It’s interesting later that Colin makes comments ‘in plain sight’ about sleeping with Zava that are close to the more common homophobic jokes from the players — a note that perhaps the progressive locker room may still not be so welcoming to an openly gay player. But Colin is still the joke character in a lot of ways — I noticed that the theme song cut off when he accidentally hits his trash bins when driving his very fancy cars. And of course, with Zava coming to the team, Colin is benched. But in the last moments, Trent Crimm notices Colin with his boyfriend — but what does he even suspect, and might Trent be able to empathize (as some fans have speculated)?
Zava seems like he might be late, but is actually waiting in Rebecca’s office, a sort of disarming power move but laced with charm, as he immediately is complimentary and charming to Ted, Keely, and even Higgins (calling him the ‘glue’ of the whole club). He even calls Will the kit man the ‘most important person’ in the room, while former primadonna (there’s a great line later when he and Roy both incorrectly use the term) Jamie scoffs in the background. It’s no wonder someone with Jamie’s skill and arrogance would be skeptical, seemingly the only one who isn’t starry-eyed for Zava — he even notices Zava’s self-important back tattoo which is quite Christlike in appearance.
But Zava is legitimately talented despite his over-sized ego, easily carrying the team to victory after victory and the match with West Ham is imminent (even if we won’t see it this episode). Jamie actually gets help from Roy, who volunteers to help Jamie become the best player on the team again — whether or not he sticks with it we also don’t yet see.
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But skepticism is a big theme of the episode, with Rebecca getting weirdly specific advice from her mother’s psychic (hey, the show showed that Santa existed right, so why not more supernatural nonsense?) about a green matchbook and a play on words. Although the green matchbook turns out to be from Sam’s restaurant, which is finally opening, that doesn’t really tell us anything … yet. Which I suppose is all part of the great tease of this episode. Is the ‘Kintsugi’ repair from gold symbolic of a new life for Rebecca or something else?
As for Ted, his skepticism about therapy rears its head again, as he talks with Dr. Sharon about how Jake was their marriage therapist and is now apparently dating his ex-wife. Quite a complicated, awkward situation — sadly it’s understandable that Ted would have a panic attack about the whole business. Yet he clearly ends the episode chatting up Sassy, but what really is their relationship after all?
But she’s shown as conflicted about Sam and his budding romance with his chef, paralleling Keeley’s conflicted feelings about her own ex-boyfriend (even if Roy isn’t remotely interested in any other woman, of course). The episode played with a long-running set of montages to tell its story of trying to overcome skepticism and embracing life (like Sam already has been able to or like the team has done with Zava) but our gang of delightful misfits aren’t there yet.
It’s quite a funny episode, with a few of those hits of pain sprinkled in to keep things interesting. I do wonder about all of these plot threads, as there are quite a lot of resolve by the end of the season — assuming there’s no spin-off, which is not known at this point. Zava is immediately real and cartoonish at the same time, and his entry into the Richmond team certainly shakes things up — it does feel like the episode is really setting us all up. And the big game is soon on the horizon, after all.
What did you think of this episode? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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