Ted Lasso Season 3 review: Back and bigger than ever | digital trends

Near the end of one of the first episodes of ted lasso In Season 3, curmudgeon Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) looks back on his decision to leave his former soccer club, Chelsea FC, behind with palpable regret. Roy made the decision to do it the moment he started to feel like his age was slowing him down because, as Jason Sudeikis’ Ted says, he felt it would be better to quit than get fired. Now, however, Roy admits, “There’s a part of me that thinks I should have stayed and just enjoyed it.”

The scene, which is captivatingly well written and acted, is one of several introspective moments that appear in the early installments of ted lasso season 3. The fan-favorite, award-winning Apple TV+ original series returns this year from its nearly two-year break with a season that, whether it ends up being its last or not, certainly feels set to be. The show has by no means been afraid to indulge in the kind of introspective scenes like the one described above. Yet those moments have never felt as mature or measured as in ted lasso season 3.

ted lasso Season 3 begins, like the previous two seasons, on the brink of a new football season. For Sudeikis’ Ted, the start of another football season has made him begin to seriously question why he continues to live in England, an ocean away from his son Henry and his ex-wife Michelle ( Andres Anders). Ted originally moved to England so he and Michelle could see if some space could fix their crumbling marriage. However, now that he and Michelle are divorced, the ted lasso The season 3 premiere finds Sudeikis’ ever-optimistic manager suddenly confused about his continued purpose in England.

To make matters worse, the upcoming football season is fraught with much higher stakes than either of the previous two Ted has coached his team, AFC Richmond. After the climactic events of its season 2 finale, ted lasso returns with Ted and his former protégé, Nate (Nick Mohammed), in charge of two opposing teams. The self-imposed dissolution of his friendship with Ted has made Nate particularly eager to crush his old football team. Ted, for his part, doesn’t seem all that concerned with beating Nate.

However, the same cannot be said for Ted’s friend and boss, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), who is desperate to see her, Ted and AFC Richmond crush Nate’s team, West Ham United, and its owner. , her misogynistic ex-husband Rupert. (Antony’s head). Previously, football seasons in ted lasso I’ve always felt a bit like an afterthought. While the show’s central sport is certainly not the main focus of its third season, Rupert’s role as Nate’s boss adds more emotional stakes to ted lassoThe final football season of either of the previous two in the series.

Rebecca’s increased investment in making sure Rupert and his team don’t humiliate her, Ted and AFC Richmond also clears the way for Waddingham and Sudeikis to share more scenes together in ted lasso season 3 that they did in the ambitious but uneven second of the show. As witty as it was, Rebecca and Ted’s rivalry-turned-friendship was one of the strongest aspects of ted lasso‘s acclaimed first season, so it’s a real treat to see Waddingham and Sudeikis share the screen more often in the series’ newest episodes. It doesn’t hurt that both Waddingham and Sudeikis continue to deliver two of the best performances ever ted lasso has to offer, either.

While Rebecca and Ted’s stories feel more focused this season, the same can’t necessarily be said for the show itself. Like so many TV sitcoms before it, ted lasso made the mistake at the end of its second season of placing several of its characters on different paths from one another. ted lasso Season 3, accordingly, tries to divide its focus between the ongoing events at AFC Richmond, Nate’s adventures at West Ham United, and the new PR firm headed by Keeley Jones (Juno Temple). As a result, the first four installments of ted lasso Season 3 feels occasionally sparse and over-the-top.

The multiple plots of the season have also forced ted lassoThe episodic runtimes of were expanded yet again (not a single episode given early to critics clocked in under 40 minutes). While all of the show’s characters are still as likable as ever, not all of their stories are as compelling as others. The series’ decision to introduce superfluous new subplots surrounding longtime characters like Colin Hughes (Billy Harris) and Thierry Zoreaux (Moe Jeudy-Lamour), for example, only makes ted lassoThe latest season of feels even more bloated at times.

Despite the few narrative mistakes its new season makes, ted lasso hasn’t lost the winning sense of humor and sincerity that made it such a stunning hit in the first place. Their increased focus this year on Roy, Ted, and Rebecca, in particular, helps ted lasso season 3 feels more emotionally accurate than previous seasons of the show.

Sudeikis’ Ted remains, as he puts it, very much a “work in progress” when ted lasso season 3 catches up with it, but the new ways the series forces the character to face his emotional flaws feel poignantly organic and earned. Ted’s difficulty in admitting when those he loves let him down rings particularly true, especially since the emotional fallout from his and Nate’s bitter separation looms large in ted lasso Season 3. The same goes for Rebecca’s desire to “beat” Rupert de Head, which already feels like the perfect catalyst for the proud owner of the Waddingham football club to finally end the emotional journey she began in ted lassodebut season of .

In other words, while ted lassoThe final season of isn’t written as efficiently as the first, the show hasn’t lost touch with the things that made it so great in the first place. In fact, regardless of whether or not AFC Richmond wins this time, all the necessary pieces seem to be in place to ted lasso season 3 to send the series to a triumphant height.

new episodes of ted lasso Season 3 premieres Wednesdays on Apple TV+. Digital Trends got early access to the first four episodes of the season.

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