The Reel Review
After an endearing, feel good Season 1, Season 2 of Ted Lasso, the sports comedy series about an American football coach hired to lead an English soccer team despite a lack of prior soccer coaching experience, starts off with his AFC Richmond football team hiring a team psychologist after the team finds itself in a bit of a slump.
In addition to exploring Ted’s own inner conflicts, Season 2 sees lots of changes (and more screen time) for the mostly happy members of AFC Richmond. Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) tries to find his place as a retired footballer as his girlfriend Keeley (Juno Temple) builds her own career and identity. Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) looks for love, Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster) copes with his father’s toxicity to become more of a team player, and Coach Nate (Nick Mohammed) struggles to find his own identity and make his voice heard.
Despite a couple of episodes that miss the mark (most notably the one about Brendan Hunt’s Coach Beard, which just somehow felt out of synch with the rest of the well done season), the season culminates in a fascinating, surprise ending, which, for those few viewers paying close attention throughout the season, won’t come as that large of a surprise. And while it isn’t the typical, feel good finale, it does set up the comedy series for what promises to be a kick ass Season 3 in 2022.
REEL FACTS
• Brett Goldstein, whose Best Supporting Actor win was one of seven 2021 Emmys for Ted Lasso, initially was hired to be a writer for the show, but auditioned and won the role of Roy Kent after becoming so attached to the character. Among the other Emmy wins were Best Comedy Series, Best Actor (Jason Sudeikis) and Best Supporting Actress (Hannah Waddingham). Ted Lasso’s Season 1 was nominated for a whopping 20 Emmys, making it the most nominated freshman comedy in Emmy history.
• Rebecca Waddingham says pretending to like the “absolutely horrific” shortbread biscuits Ted brings Rebecca every morning is “the greatest acting of my life.”
• Shortly after Season 1 aired on AppleTV+, Ted Lasso was renewed for both a second and third season. Production of Season 3 is scheduled to begin on Valentine’s Day in 2022, with a likely summer release. The cast will get a big raise – Sudeikis will make nearly $1 million per episode with the rest of the main cast making around $125-150,000 per episode.
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