Ted Lasso Season 2

[Small Man Big Horse]

Season 1 Thread: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=82121.0

The surprise hit of last year (for me at least) returned today, and keeping with it's warm, sweet natured spirit began with

Spoiler alert

a footballer brutally murdering a dog

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. Which might sound like me taking the piss, or even the mickey, but it's genuinely true. It's a knowing nod to the show's reputation and what follows is as you might expect as it goes back to being lovely and nice and all that, introducing a couple of new characters and still being very funny, and I continue to love this show. Aw.

[BeardFaceMan]

I rewatched the first season last week in preparation for this, very good show, looking forward to this a lot.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

This continues to be strangely addictive despite me barely having a good thing to say about it. It's not a Derek-style hate watch, because it's tolerable - but the best thing I can say is that it's an easy 30 minutes. It's something to have on in the background while you're reading the latest Glinner's gone bananas thread.

I think the premise is good* and some of the characters have potential (especially Roy Kent and Keeley) but it's just absolutely all over the place. My wife described it as a CBBC show with swearing and sex jokes in, which is a better description than I can come up with.

*Though now the owner doesn't want the club to fail, it's lost one of the few interesting things about the central plot.

[Small Potatoes]

I whinged a bit in the other thread about the occasional faux-Britishism that should have been picked up by cast and crew ("tied" games of football, for fucks sake), but stuck with it and I'm now also somewhat captivated by this programme. The main cast are all pretty great (though I don't like the Keeley character much) and there's something endearing and delightful about Sudeikis in this mode.

[shiftwork2]

S2 is quite unfocused so far, but it's harmless and pleasant enough.

[timebug]

I like it as harmless entertainment. I don't know enough about footie rules and regulations regarding transfers etc, so I just let that part of it go. A decent bunch of characters who pass a half hour easily enough for me; and Roy Kent is a great one!

[frajer]

I absolutely loved the first season, found it really charming and heartwarming and it was a lovely surprising highlight of the comedy year for me.

But sadly this second season isn't grabbing me at all. It feels a bit like the characters in the first season were shown to be more flawed, and doing their best in spite of those flaws. Also seems like the positivity factor has been given a crank too far this time, making it a cartoony echo of the first season. Anyone else not feeling it this time round?

Disclaimer: Might also be that my soul has withered over the past year and I've turned into a joyless bastard, but fingers crossed that's not it.

[phantom_power]

I find it interesting how they are juxtaposing Lasso's "positivity is all you need" attitude to the sports psychologists more scientific approach. I think there will be more conflict there as her methods prove more effective than his

It will also be interesting to see where they go with Sam's boycott of their sponsor. That could go many ways in terms of ramifications for the club, the team, the players and the morale of everyone.

[Wet Blanket]

I find it twee, repetitive and annoying but also strangely likeable and a pleasant binge watch, much like Scrubs, so I guess that's just Bill Lawrence's vibe. I wonder if the man himself has a gruff exterior masking a heart of gold, and much homespun wisdom to impart to his more sophisticated colleagues.

Brett Goldstein is particularly impressive, considering his decidedly un-macho style on his Films to Be Buried With podcast

I whinged a bit in the other thread about the occasional faux-Britishism that should have been picked up by cast and crew ("tied" games of football, for fucks sake), but stuck with it and I'm now also somewhat captivated by this programme.

There are so many of these that I'm assuming they must be deliberate to make it accessible to an American audience, but it is mighty distracting to hear the Brit characters use terms like 'blocks' and seeing them open twist top beers.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

I don't know enough about footie rules and regulations regarding transfers etc, so I just let that part of it go.

That side of it is full of things that would never happen, but it set itself up as cartoonish early on so it feels unfair to criticise it for being unrealistic.

Here's some rare bad press for the show in the New Statesman which pretty much sums up how I feel: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv-radio/2021/08/why-ted-lasso-most-overrated-show-tv

[Small Man Big Horse]

I absolutely loved the first season, found it really charming and heartwarming and it was a lovely surprising highlight of the comedy year for me.

But sadly this second season isn't grabbing me at all. It feels a bit like the characters in the first season were shown to be more flawed, and doing their best in spite of those flaws. Also seems like the positivity factor has been given a crank too far this time, making it a cartoony echo of the first season. Anyone else not feeling it this time round?

Disclaimer: Might also be that my soul has withered over the past year and I've turned into a joyless bastard, but fingers crossed that's not it.

I'm starting to feel that way myself, the positivity factor has been upped far too much and it feels ridiculous at times. It worked when Ted was the only one who acted that way, or was slowly having an effect on everyone else, but now it's too extreme for my liking. There are still certain elements I'm fond of and it's not a disaster, but I'm not loving it in the way that I did first time around.

[frajer]

I'm starting to feel that way myself, the positivity factor has been upped far too much and it feels ridiculous at times. It worked when Ted was the only one who acted that way, or was slowly having an effect on everyone else, but now it's too extreme for my liking. There are still certain elements I'm fond of and it's not a disaster, but I'm not loving it in the way that I did first time around.

Glad it's not just me! I was seeing the reviews and thinking my mindset must have changed as I really loved the first season.

Yes, I think a large part of it is that Ted was a fish out of water and still faintly ridiculous and although people wanted to dismiss him, they couldn't argue with the results he was getting. Now it feels more like everyone deep down is a "Ted", they just didn't realise it, which makes for a far less interesting dynamic. It's reminding me slightly of the later seasons of Parks & Rec where every character is suddenly the greatest human being who ever lived.

Agree with everyone who says Roy Kent is making it watchable though. Top surliness and swearing.

[BeardFaceMan]

The way I always read the first season was that it was classic fish-out-of-water comedy. Lasso is someone who is only used to coaching kids, that's where his positive attitude comes from, from trying to build up kids, now he's using the same methods on adults at a pro club with hilarious results. You could even say there was a bit of satire there about Premier League footballers and how they act and are treated. But yeah, this second season does seem to be ramping up the kindness, everyone is a jolly good egg really deep down, it does feel slightly but noticeably different.

[phantom_power]

They are definitely making something of the fact that his "positivity is the key" tactics aren't necessarily working. They got relegated, and have had a long series of draws broken by a defeat. It is like everyone is too comfortable and happy and therefore no-one is being challenged to do better. The sports psychologist having more of an effect on Danny Rojas and (probably) Jamie Tartt may well feed into this as well.

[BeardFaceMan]

It would be nice if they have leaned harder into the positivity aspect only for it to not work at all and be a negative, that would be a bit different.

[phantom_power]

That is sort of what is happening now isn't it? Everyone is comfortable. No-one gets told off for playing badly. They haven't won a game all season

[Small Man Big Horse]

No-one gets told off for playing badly.

Well they sort of did with "Led Tasso", but that was only in one episode and then never mentioned again (yet, at least).

[BeardFaceMan]

That is sort of what is happening now isn't it? Everyone is comfortable. No-one gets told off for playing badly. They haven't won a game all season

Yeah but it feels like they're just starting with it, there haven't been any real negative consequences yet, other than not winning everything is going well for everyone in their personal lives. Obviously the not winning thing is relevant but it's just been a bit of background so far, no real focus, but it'll be interesting to see where they go with it, will they carry on losing and get relegated again, will Ted change his ways and not be so nice, will Ted's ways eventually win the day? This thing with the sponsor feels like it might be one of the big consequences, how far will they go with Ted's style fucking things up?

[phantom_power]

Well they sort of did with "Led Tasso", but that was only in one episode and then never mentioned again (yet, at least).

Led Tasso was specifically to deal with Jamie integrating into the team rather than poor performance

[Small Man Big Horse]

Led Tasso was specifically to deal with Jamie integrating into the team rather than poor performance

True, but the team didn't know that at the time.

Oddly despite all this talk of positivity I think Nick Mohammed's character has been a bit off this season too, but the opposite applies and he's too harsh or rude and it feels misjudged.

[phantom_power]

That is leading somewhere as well I think. It is the bullied turned bully and he will learn his lesson at some point

[Wayman C. McCreery]

True, but the team didn't know that at the time.

Oddly despite all this talk of positivity I think Nick Mohammed's character has been a bit off this season too, but the opposite applies and he's too harsh or rude and it feels misjudged.

Nick Mohammed seems a bit redundant this series. He's become a straight man for Ted, but Coach Beard already fulfils that role.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I really liked the majority of this most recent episode, though it's possible I was more forgiving as it was essentially a Christmas special, which oddly I like watching in the summer, probably because it's far away from the reality of the day. But (and this might seem like a petty thing to moan about) I thought they fucked the ending,

Spoiler alert

having a snow covered party in the street and then fucking Santa fly by was just taking the piss

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, and I know I'm not meant to take it seriously, but the whole thing was representative of why I've not connected with this season so much, you can definitely have too much of a good thing and they don't seem to have realised that.

[BeardFaceMan]

I generally dislike Christmas episodes and I generally despise American Christmas episodes, the schmaltz is just too much and despite some funny lines and moments this held true and was a bad episode for me. It's like they put all the plotlines on hold so everyone could have a jolly old time and be positive and lovely, this feels like the kind of episode that wouldn't have happened in season 1, it's just a bit *too* much. It's like they read all the praise for the show's positivity and warmth for the first season and instead of sticking with the winning formula they just thought "they like those bits? Let's give them more!" and it's overkill now.

But yes, that was a terrible ending, I kept waiting for some twist or gag, but nope, they played it straight.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

I laughed twice during that episode, which is a new record. Once at Roy saying

Spoiler alert

"Did one of the Paw Patrol dogs die?"

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and then at

Spoiler alert

that embarrassingly bad final shot of Santa flying by

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.

The series is set a long way from reality but imagine not being able to write a better subplot for a Christmas episode than

Spoiler alert

spending Christmas Day trying to find a dentist who'll cure a child's bad breath that's only noticeable if she breathes on you from about 10cm away

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.

I know I've hardly been positive about the show on here but I thought the first series ended relatively strongly and showed some promise. This one's been dismal so far.

[Mr Faineant]

Christmas Special was shit, really hated it. It was like if you boiled this show down to it's raw elements, and extracted and isolated the element of the show that I dislike, and then pressed play on it.

[shiftwork2]

Echoing the thoughts on the Christmas episode, really a pile of nuttin.  Now officially disappointed with S2.  They don't seem to know where to take it.

[Wet Blanket]

Has this already been out in America? Seems kind of perverse to release that Christmas episode now. It's not like it furthered the plot or anything, and it wasn't an episode that just happened to be set during Christmas, it was a full on, Santa Claus drives overhead, special opening credits God-bless-us-everyone Christmas special. Why not hold it back a couple of months?

Anyway, I don't care how they got hold of their Christmas list, if some patronising executive from the local football club turned up at my house, on the assumption I couldn't afford any pressies for my kids, to hand over some guilt gifts, I'd tell them to fuck off.

[BeardFaceMan]

Apple ordered an extra 2 episodes this season after the 10 previously ordered episodes for season 2 had been written, so that at least explains why this Xmas episode was plot free and felt like a standalone episode - it was. That means one more standalone ep to come. Please, God, don't be a Halloween episode.

[Dex Sawash]

Jesus they're doing a Love Actually episode

Spoiler alert

and then they did the card thing ffs

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My wife loved every minute of it.