Ted Lasso Finally Made Up for That Awful Christmas Episode

5 min readIt’s still hot here on the East Coast. It’s not even the end of summer yet. But Ted Lasso rings in the new year anyway with its latest episode. But unlike the atrocious Christmas special from season 2, “Don’t Jump Around Much Anymore” has some sincere moments of grace and gravity, with several major storylines taking big leaps forward—while others follow more drawn-out scenic routes.In last week’s episode, Alice (Tanya Reynolds) was suspended as coach until the new year. Well, it’s now December 31 in Richmond, and there are parties (plural) to hit up. While Ted keeps things low-key at the pub, the gals of AFC Richmond cut loose with Zelda on her lavish boat brimming with disgustingly wealthy weirdos. Meanwhile, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) and Keeley (Juno Temple)—each with their own trouble with men at present—party at a club sponsored by Jamie Tartt’s vodka label. Yes, we get to hang with Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster) again. Sadly, he hasn’t been the same lovable jock since he was traded to Barcelona.We’ll start with Ted, who has the cleanest and most meaningful resolution out of everyone. In case y’all forgot, Ted moved his ex-wife and son with him to London. The show reminds us by placing Ted front and center with Michelle (Andrea Anders), while Henry (Grant Feely) gets occupied with busywork at Mae’s pub. “I’ve never seen you so interested in doing dishes before,” Henry’s mom jokes to him. (Gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that a teenage boy getting to hang around booze makes cleaning dishes cool.) Over a casual game of darts, which we know Ted takes seriously, Ted and Michelle have a refreshingly real conversation in which she probes him about his life—the professional and the personal.Colin HuttonRemember how terrible the Ted Lasso Christmas episode was in season 2? Well, season 4 finally makes up for it.For once Ted restrains (mostly) from dumb puns like whenever he’s with Beard. If anything, he’s melancholic. His suspension of Alice is eating at him, though it’s his ex-wife of all people who reminds him to believe in himself more. (Believe. That’s important to Ted, no?) At the same time, she wonders why Ted hasn’t found someone yet, even in London. Later, toward midnight, they engage in an even realer conversation when Ted suggests their divorce was “easy” for her. But Michelle says that’s not what happened. “After our divorce, I hated myself,” she says, on the verge of tears. But this isn’t an argument—it’s an explanation. And by the end of it, Ted comes around to believing in himself more and, yes, to actually asking out whomever he might be interested in. Maybe like that stage manager from a few weeks back.It’s here that I’ll hand it to Ted Lasso: Another show would have exploited this scene for conflict. But what Lasso does instead is enriching. We bear witness to a grown-up conversation in the way they could be and maybe how we wish they should be. “You always could see things in me that I couldn’t see in myself at times,” Ted says, his own waterworks starting to flow. Awkward? Clunky? Yeah. A bit. But that’s why you pay actors big bucks, to sell what’s in the script the way they should be sold. To close the episode, Ted sees that Michelle has fashioned him a brand-new “BELIEVE” sign. It’s about time the Lady Greyhounds had one too.Speaking of the Lady Greyhounds, they shoulder the lightest burden this week, as their only task is to survive Zelda (Tracey Ullman) and her filthy-rich social circles. (Anyone else think she’s fast wearing thin as a character too?) But they’re all really just a stage for Alice to progress her story along. Turns out Alice really does care about how people think of her. She wouldn’t go through a dozen outfits if she didn’t. But like Ted, she doesn’t know how to trust herself. Though she has a promising bury-the-hatchet heart-to-heart with Gemma (Abbie Hern), who alludes to something more in their past, things turn for the worse when an embarrassed Alice learns Gemma has talked to the team about her. Gemma insists it’s a misunderstanding. But it’s a thread that will draw us into the second half of season 4.Colin HuttonAnyone else starting to grow suspicious of Zelda? We might be looking at a new Rupert very soon.Elsewhere, the belabored love story of Roy (Brett Goldstein) and Keeley gets another week to marinate as Jamie’s vodka party ends in another shattered knee for Roy. (Man’s body is glass now.) While he is hopped up on drugs, his doctor—and new girlfriend—Dr. Beaumont (Laura Haddock) comes by to see him, to the dismay of Keeley, who accepts in real time that Roy has moved on. Or so it all seems.Much later, a still-woozy Roy tells Beaumont he loves her. Keeley overhears enough before she leaves, which is when she misses Roy calling Beaumont “Keeley.” Yeah, sure, this is all feeling like a ’90s sitcom. But this is a TV comedy we’re talking about here. Sometimes the old tricks still work. I am still convinced we’re going to see Keeley and Roy married by the end of the season—the trailers tell us as much—so I’m glad the show is just flooring the gas pedal now.Last but not least this week is Beard, whose sky-high swagger at the top of the episode comes crashing after he spends a night dancing (albeit at a distance) with a gorgeous, if slightly too young, woman named Claudine. Despite the glaring green flags of mutual attraction, it’s a misread on Beard’s part, as Claudine deems him “too old” for her. Though he takes it in stride—which is a good demonstration for young men to see how to accept a “no” with dignity—no one wants to be alone on New Year’s. Especially with what he’s been going through with Jane. Beard just can’t catch a break right now.As an aside, I’m starting to grow deeply suspicious of Zelda. Her whole “Obscenely Wealthy Drunk Lady” shtick had some dark energy this week. The Eyes Wide Shut–style twist to the party and her intentional setting up of Beard with Claudine, all of it on a goddamn boat, has left me wondering what skeletons might come out of Zelda’s closets. Maybe Rebecca was right to be suspicious of Zelda in the beginning.Lastly: While it was nice to see Dunster back, it was ultimately a useless guest spot that had me wondering what the hell Jamie has been up to in Barcelona. It felt as if his maturity from all his time in Richmond had regressed and we were catching up with a version of Tartt who was fresh off the pitch from season 1. I don’t care how cute he is with Roy now. This isn’t the Jamie we last saw in season 3.Going into this week I was wary of how Ted Lasso would handle another holiday episode. The show bungled Christmas five years ago with an episode that was so sugary sweet that watching it nearly triggered diabetic shock. This week was not just pretty funny—I did, actually, laugh at the Eyes Wide Shut bit—it mercifully made its holiday theme as important as it is in Shane Black movies. Which is to say, not at all. What really matters is what these characters question about themselves and what they’re resolving to do about it. We’ll see soon enough if any of their resolutions stick.