Ted Lasso Is Dangerously Close to Saving Itself

5 min readOne of my worst failings is that I love Rush Hour 2. Love it. I can quote it frontward and backward. (“Chinese bamboo is very strong!” Snap.) And seared into my memory is Chris Tucker telling Jackie Chan to “Follow the rich white man.” Because in every big scheme, Tucker says, there’s a rich white man looking for his cut. And it’s honestly chilling just how right that stupid line in a stupid action movie has been. Including in the latest episode of Ted Lasso, which teases the return of its own rich white man—though an uncomfortable question of how much the late Anthony Head will appear lingers as the credits roll.“Follow the Anger,” the eighth episode of Ted Lasso season 4, serves up more of the old good feelings that made early Lasso a lockdown favorite. After a most rocky start to this season, I’m comfortable saying Lasso has not only found its groove but is close to resembling a good show again. At the very least, I don’t feel secondhand embarrassment sitting through its episodes anymore. There are stakes and human failings that aren’t quickly forgiven with a group hug. It’s not a great show, but sometimes TV just needs to be TV.The drama begins when Richmond WFC faces a sudden and severe roadblock on the road to promotion: a knee injury for Gemma Jay (Abbie Hern). While Gemma contemplates quitting football for good and committing to her prestigious law firm internship full-time, Coach Alice (Tanya Reynolds) slowly internalizes how her casual call to not sub out Gemma minutes prior may make this all her fault. Meanwhile, Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) has to put up with a dinner being thrown in his honor—how awful, poor him—while Leslie (Jeremy Swift) stumbles upon a troubling situation regarding ownership shares.First, let’s talk Gemma and Alice. While Lasso doesn’t dig further into their history than it has (and has their spat from New Year’s even been resolved?), “Follow the Anger” places their relationship at the center of attention. Their dynamic is more player-coach than friend-friend, as it should be, but the way Gemma’s mother mistakes her for Gemma’s friend is an interesting read on their vibe.Speaking of Gemma’s mom, the show makes a baffling choice to have Gemma come from money. Her parents are well-off, and Gemma herself seems to be on cozy terms with them. She spends most of her screen time this week laid up on her mom’s Pottery Barn sofa in a luxe hoodie. But Gemma is still determined to make her own money, so she wants to take her law school education seriously. She tells Alice she’s quitting Richmond and football, again, much to Alice’s dismay.I have zero issues with Gemma’s choice if we’re talking about how a person decides on their future. But in terms of storytelling and stakes, the drama behind her decision-making feels undeserved knowing that she will really be fine even if neither of her pursuits works out. I’m not saying Gemma should be dirt-poor, and it is much later when we learn that Gemma is simply in denial about what she really wants. But before we get there, I just found it hard to sympathize with Gemma or understand the gravity of her choice as she recovers in a nicer home than I’ll maybe ever live in in my lifetime.Colin HuttonSolid as “Follow the Anger” may be, it still feels held back by an unremarkable side adventure with Keeley and Roy.But yes, it’s very sweet how the team comes through for Gemma. I’m especially moved by Alice’s conversation about Gemma with Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham). It’s painfully obvious that Alice is speaking from experience regarding her own career-ending injury, and her scene with Rebecca in Rebecca’s whisper-quiet office is very stirring. I might even say it’s a season highlight. It’s made all the better by Reynolds’s and Waddingham’s performances. Though the scene is Reynolds’s to own, Waddingham also deserves credit for it as her partner, with subtle expressions and wide eyes that communicate exactly how much Rebecca is hearing and seeing Alice. And all without a flowery, folksy speech like she might usually get with Ted.Elsewhere, Roy and Keeley (Juno Temple) suffer in a meandering subplot that ends in their relationship rekindling. I’m sorry to Roy and Keeley stans, but their misadventure trying (and failing) to get to Roy’s dinner feels like driving with the brakes on. (Yes, that is an intentional pun given the needlessly tricked-out SUV.) It’s lumbering and clunky and not terribly funny. Their subway “kiss” is almost spicy enough to make up for it. But I’m just not a fan of how this relationship died in the first place. It’s like when How I Met Your Mother circled back around to Barney and Robin just because the show clearly ran out of things for them to do. These days I wonder what Roy is even doing on this show; shouldn’t he be coaching the men?But I’ll also recognize the egg on my face. In the show’s trailers this season, we saw glimpses of Roy and Keeley dressed up in a fancy car that some—myself especially—assumed was a scene from their wedding. As Roy’s relationship with Dr. Beaumont developed, that possibility became less likely. Now we finally see that it was just the drive to Roy’s dinner going belly-up. Still, “When I Get My Hands on You” by the New Basement Tapes is basically a wedding anthem, and having it play when Keeley and Roy realize that their lives together are far from over is a nice touch.Finally, there’s Leslie, who stumbles down a rabbit hole of Richmond shareholders selling their shares off to an unknown buyer. Between the actually intriguing mystery of who’s behind an imminent coup and the stylish All the President’s Men homage, this is more amusing than I thought it would be. It’s also in the pub cellar where we hear the name “Rupert” for the first time in so long.It’s up in the air what Ted Lasso has in store for Rupert’s return. It’ll be great to see Anthony Head again, if indeed he shot one or two more episodes prior to his passing. On the other hand, the show will have to figure out how to write off his character for good. This shareholder stuff sounds like a bigger end-of-season story than a mere arc. It feels like it’s going to carry us all the way to the finale. While the show has shown it doesn’t need Rupert as its permanent foil, some kind of actual send-off has to happen just to keep things from being in poor taste. I still think the show is setting up some kind of late-game twist with Tracey Ullman’s Zelda—I don’t think she’s the close friend of Richmond WFC that she seems to be. Note that the show did a very interesting cut to Zelda’s face after Leslie suggested that someone’s trying to buy up Richmond. As Chris Tucker basically told Jackie Chan, we have to follow the money.