Much of Ted Lasso season three has been about seeding and fertilizing the narrative ground with promises of major face-offs. The fourth episode, aptly titled “Big Week,” is the first instance of those roiling undercurrents surfacing with a vengeance. This is not to say that previous season three outings have not featured showdowns, quite the opposite, but rather that Ted Lasso seems to be adhering to a tried and true overarching story structure. With a promised 12-episode run, “Big Week” is effectively the end of the first act of the final season of Ted Lasso. First acts are about setting stakes and laying the foundation for a second act that delivers on the promises made at the beginning. The first three episodes of Ted Lasso have done just that, building up to “Big Week” where we tip toward the rest of the season on a burst of change.
“Big Week” takes us to the much-anticipated match between AFC Richmond and West Ham United. This is about Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) versus Rupert (Anthony Head), Nate (Nick Mohammed) versus Ted (Jason Sudeikis), and a vengeful Richmond squad against the coach, Nate again, that spurned them. Of course, Ted doesn’t see it as the clash that everyone wants it to be. His preoccupation is Michelle’s (Andrea Anders) new boyfriend, and the anger he constantly tries not to feel. On the opposing side, Nate is wracked by a mix of performance anxiety and deep guilt about how he acted. Of course, Rupert, being the demon he is, pushes Nate away from his better angels the whole time. No matter, Trent’s (James Lance) discovery of video evidence that Nate destroyed the “Believe” sign in the Richmond locker room leads all the way to a halftime team meltdown consigning the match to unequivocal failure.
A pair of stray highlights/appreciations from this packed episode before diving into the main meat. We are treated, at the top of “Big Week,” to the inauspicious, 4:00 AM beginning of the Roy (Brett Goldstein) and Jamie (Phil Dunster) training extravaganza. The energy from the jump is straight-up Rocky and Mickey and I cannot wait to see where it leads. Plus, the knowledge that Jamie Pooh-bears it to sleep. In similar tonal fashion, Roy and Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) running Higgins (Jeremy Swift) through a Princess Bride (1987) worthy series of mental gymnastics to explain their tactics against Nate is side-splittingly funny. Goldstein and Hunt are so committed to their characters’ mystifying logic traps while Swift sells the hell out of his gradual confusion. Altogether, the two are a dynamite reminder that Ted Lasso can drop pristine, goofy, comedy even in the most dramatic episodes.
Speaking of drama, “Big Week” clears out a great deal of space to examine both Ted and Nate’s shattered psyches. On the Ted side of things, he starts the episode after a night with Sassy (Ellie Taylor). In his folksy way, he works up to asking if maybe they could, you know, go on a real date sometime. Responding in turn, Sassy remarks that it’s impossible because he is “a mess.” On top of her being absolutely correct, Sassy’s observation cuts deep into Ted’s self-reflection. Things go so far as to trigger a reconvening of the Diamond Dogs to help Ted accept that yes, he is still a wreck about his divorce and still not handling it well. Yes, Ted has taken major steps to reckon with components of his toxic positivity and trauma, but his compulsive need to project as okay remains a significant issue.
Over with Nate, Ted Lasso burrows into the man’s consuming desire to be taken seriously. A pivotal episode in season two saw Nate embody an uncharacteristic aggressiveness to get the window table at his parents’ favorite restaurant. The episode also included his failed attempts to convince the hostess Jade (Edyta Budnik) to desire him. In “Big Week,” on the cusp of his biggest test as West Ham’s head coach, he goes to the same restaurant to personally pick up lunch for the whole training staff. Here he is in the position of power he coveted, and Jade still has no interest in him. Only when the restaurant owner comes and lavishes praise on him does Nate light up. So it goes, and so it continues when Nate looks to connect with Ted but defers to the stable, albeit toxic, approval that Rupert gives. Tragically, he just wants to be wanted.
Nowhere are the men’s matched complexes clearer than in the moments when they are directly juxtaposed. When Ted sees the video of Nate ripping down the “Believe” sign, he is stricken by a clear sadness. While the other coaches and Trent display a mix of derision and fury at Nate’s repeated failures to grab the sign and then inevitably rip it, Ted seems to be experiencing a level of clarity in terms of how he failed Nate. Later, on the match sidelines, Ted cheers for Richmond’s successes out of group happiness and the need to overcompensate for his personal struggles with outward joy, while Nate fumes over West Ham’s failures because of his equally personal pain around looking at all like a lesser coach. Even so, every one of their limited interactions reveals a pair of men who want to reconcile but are incapable of expressing those feelings.
“Big Week” takes Ted Lasso up to its first major set-piece after teasing the Richmond vs. West Ham stakes. With it behind us, and our major players leveled up in their various problems, the season’s second act cannot come soon enough.
“Big Week” takes Ted Lasso up to its first major set-piece after teasing the Richmond vs. West Ham stakes.
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Devin McGrath-Conwell holds a B.A. in Film / English from Middlebury College and is currently pursuing an MFA in Screenwriting from Emerson College. His obsessions include all things horror, David Lynch, the darkest of satires, and Billy Joel. Devin’s writing has also appeared in publications such as Filmhounds Magazine, Film Cred, Horror Homeroom, and Cinema Scholars.