On the heels of its incredible 20 Emmy nominations, Apple TV’s Ted Lasso returns for its second season with weekly episodes starting July 23. We just watched the season two premiere and this into touch is every bit the Ted Lasso we missed.
Season two begins a few months after AFC Richmond’s heartbreaking exit from futbol’s Premier League. We’re reminded quickly of coach Ted Lasso (played by Jason Sudeikis) and coach Beard’s (Brendan Hunt) midwest fish out of water charm as the outcome of a match is determined by Danny Rojas’s penalty kick. The Boba Fett joke and nervousness of manager Nate The Great (Nick Mohammed) play like greatest hits, but fear not the Diamond Dogs have some new material set up this season as it looks like we’re going to dive deeper into the internal turmoil of Ted’s divorce as one of the key points of the season.
From PR guy “Higgins” (Jeremy Swift), team owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), and veteran player Roy Kent; the show sported one of the best-supporting casts on television in its debut. The opening of season two doesn’t neglect them as we see the main supporting players have grown and face their own new issues this season. Brett Goldstein steals the episode as Roy Kent delivering hilarious lightning strike moments of British satire in the episode.
At the end of season one, it was obvious year two would focus on the team trying to get back to the Premier League, and thankfully the show isn’t rushing to Mighty Ducks the team into a winning unit. Though coach Lasso remains as militantly positive as ever, it’s apparent this team is going to struggle. While I don’t know what the rest of the season’s Futbol action is like, the team does need to show more of a turnaround than season one. If it doesn’t happen, we’re in danger of feeling a strange inverse effect of loving Ted because the team loses rather than simply cheering for the underdog.
My only complaint about the show in season one was how little we got to experience the beauty of soccer on screen. The moments of games we did get were the right balance of feeling authentic and visually dramatic. While we begin in the middle of a game in season two, the most time spent in futbol during the show is in practice drills.
Ted Lasso was lightning in a bottle for Apple TV, with the streaming service still in infancy many of the shows selling the service were slept on before this series debuted. Jason Sudeikis playing off his midwestern roots as the loveable father figure title character was one of the most unique things television had produced in a long time. Someone worth rooting for who wasn’t enticing because of his flaws but captivating because of the unstoppable positive impact he has on the world around them. Ted Lasso lives by Chuck D’s words if I can’t change the people around me I change the people around me, and as Jordan did on the Chicago Bulls there’s a joy in watching Ted Lasso continue to make people the best versions of themselves.
