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The latest episode of Ted Lasso is called ‘We’ll Never Have Paris’ in a cheeky reference to that famous Casablanca quote (which is a movie replete with them, naturally). This episode kicks off in the natural place from the last one with a streak of wins by Richmond in a quick montage, with Jamie mentioned as helping lead the way. So now that the football situation is well at hand, the show is free to deal with all of the various other subplots it’s been dealing with, with a particular focus on romantic ones.
In this episode we focus on three specific romantic people, Ted, Keeley, and Nate — but all in different ways. Each one is a little different but are all set up to contrast between each other — Ted’s is about the potential of something new or an improved return to the start, Keeley’s is about the jettisoning of something new to go back to, either an improved return to the start or a new idea altogether, while Nate is simply about accepting the uncertainty and finding joy without over-thinking it (his classic problem).
Ted gets overly concerned with worrying about his ex-wife Michelle maybe getting a proposal from Dr. Jake, and the show gives us a strong note from his pals that maybe he should just let it go. Yet the show then proceeds to get mighty complicated about it. In a scene with Dr. Jake and Michelle sitting across from Ted in the pub, Ted manages to make Michelle laugh quite a few times — a note (that is repeated later) about how often they’re on the same page.
The show makes this very explicit later when Ted remarks to Henry that Michelle probably doesn’t know about Dave Grohl learning how to drum on pillows, but at the end of the episode she says this little bit of trivia to Ted who clearly is affected by this in some way. In that same conversation with Henry, falling asleep as Ted gently interrogates his son about Dr. Jake, Ted notes out loud that Michelle does seem to be happy — but perhaps she’s happy for a reason that’s not Dr. Jake after all?
The final shots of the episode show Dr. Jake trying and failing to get a hug from Henry and Michelle, and Ted notes this from his window — a window where Michelle spots him too. She calls the Paris trip ‘all right’ and doesn’t even hint that a proposal might’ve taken place — but perhaps it did and that made her realize she didn’t want to marry him. Whether or not she’s changed her perspective on Ted, we don’t know as we haven’t heard her say it one way or another.
But this isn’t everything, is it? In that same opening scene with Ted and Michelle, he reveals that he’s been carrying a green matchbook with him — is that a hint about Rebecca? Mae’s note of ‘nothing’s impossible’ could really go either way with him finding new love or old love restored in a newer, more mature way. He even makes a joke about enjoying a big old piece of cereal, a direct callback to the beginning of the show.
That scene ends with us seeing the back of Ted’s blurry head, Dr. Jake with his chair empty, and Michelle contently eating her English breakfast. It almost feels like there’s too much there to be able to interpret. Ted and Rebecca get teased further when she pushes him back from the ledge about hiring a private investigator to check if Michelle is getting a proposal.
The psychic predicted Rebecca would be a mother, and could be with that Dutch dad and his daughter? Or note this episode juxtaposing Henry saying he likes the Beatles because his dad does, right before Beard tells Henry that he has the power to take a bad song and make it better — and then Rebecca tells Ted to stop letting yesterday get in the way of today. That all could mean Rebecca might be the mother of Henry instead, or that Henry’s parents might get back together. The show certainly likes teasing us about it.
I suppose that as long as it feels earned I’ll support the decision. I’m less enthused about how the show has done the Jack and Keeley relationship. From the start it felt doomed in a way that seemed contrived, and as much as I love Jodi Balfour as an actress, this felt like an unfair sort of character.
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This episode has a big Internet leak of famous women and their secret photos or videos, including Keeley — the show’s jokey name of ‘The Great A-Wankening’ is a direct reference to the real leak in 2014 called on the Internet the crude title of ‘The Fappening’. The same discourse I heard back then is repeated by the players, with Jamie and Isaac having the ‘delete your photos’ and that the victims aren’t to blame perspective, while others blame the victims for having the nudes in the first place.
Colin is oddly vocal about not deleting his photos, but we know why — and soon enough Isaac does too, although he hasn’t reacted in any particular way yet. I suppose that’s something that will have yet to be shown to us. Jamie’s perspective is pretty critical, because as he reveals later, it was probably his poor password (he amusingly thought he spelled it with one ‘s’) that was the weak point for hacking.
Jack’s response is a decent one at first, but then the delivered legalese statement to Keeley is the opposite, a victim blaming, shameful perspective — one that requires an apology for the sexy video she made. It’s apparent only later that she made it for Jamie back in the day after Roy inappropriately asks about it.
Jack reveals herself to be more concerned with protecting her own image and business interests than how Keeley feels, and thus — it’s over. Or it sure seems that way. Roy almost manages to give a decent heartfelt response to Keeley, but then he screws it up by asking who the video was for — he immediately realizes his error but it’s a bad move.
While in the end, Jamie simply expresses his deepest apologies and blames himself entirely, admitting he was angry and jealous back when she and Roy started dating. She hugs him in response, the only person she did this with — not even entirely with Rebecca. With Keeley’s note earlier this season about how much Jamie’s matured, the show does seem to be hinting about having these two back together again — leaving Roy alone to spin off his own show, I suppose. Which I’d certainly watch.
Although I like that arc, I did feel that Jack’s character always felt too ‘red flag’-y in a way that made this inevitable. The path to Keeley finding happiness seemed to be too obviously about Roy figuring his own issues out, but perhaps the truth was that it was about Jamie all along and his own arc of maturity.
Roy shows different growth, here asking Ted if he wants to talk about the Michelle proposal thing, even if he’s virulently opposed to the Diamond Dogs nonsense. Contrivance of Jack aside, this is where the story really feels intriguing, and Keeley deserves a partner who knows they don’t deserve her.
Similarly in the Nate storyline, too cool for school Jade also knows she’s too good for Nate, but is perfectly okay about it. Nate is caught up in his annoyance and confusion for a while — the trick here is the good side of the Force and the dark side pulling at him. Ted and his son showing up (Henry in West Ham regalia) waving a welcome was the good side, while Rupert (as always) is the dark side.
Even after Rupert rudely turns down Nate’s hilariously awful ‘Love Hounds’ meeting, Nate still worries enough about what he thinks to accept Rupert’s ban on Ted showing up. But it’s only when Jade mentions celebrating his victories and Nate smiling unironically at a photo of Henry and Ted waving (when they were waving at him) gets her to put a label on their relationship after all.
It’s kind of a touching moment, the acknowledgement that Nate still has that spark of good even if he’s always had the touch of darkness and trauma too. Which I suppose is true for most of us too. It’s the only unambiguously sweet storyline this episode and it’s clear how meaningful that truly is — as Keeley and Ted’s relationships are in flux, Nate has already found a sort of happiness and someone that prefers him being happy.
It’s a bit of a mixed episode in some ways — definitely funny (the Love Hounds meeting was almost too much), a little political (in the nude leaks discourse), and a lot in the romance part of things. The Jack/Keeley thing has always been questionable, if exciting, and reminds of how complicated the Rebecca/Sam thing was too that was never fully explored.
Here, it’s almost like they realize in retrospect how they never really considered all of the angles. But I did like the episode, warts and all, and I am certainly curious to see how they’re going to wrap up all these dangling threads.
What did you think of this episode? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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