Thank You, Rebecca Welton, for Yelling at Roy Kent!

So far, throughout Ted Lasso season 3, I’ve been somewhat disappointed with Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein)’s character growth. I felt like he wasn’t really learning, instead regressing to his shouty, angry ways every time he let himself be vulnerable. In a show that’s about becoming the best version of yourself with the right kind of support, Roy’s lack of development was jarring. But it seems I should have had a bit more faith in the Ted Lasso writers room, as this season’s ninth episode, “La Locker Room Aux Folles,” gave me exactly what I was looking for.

Roy undeniably proved to me why he’s one of my favorite characters in this episode. He may be gruff and rough on the outside, but at his core, Roy is a kind, understanding, and empathetic man. We’ve seen sparks of it before: he immediately recognized that Jamie (Phil Dunster)’s trip to Amsterdam with his dad must have been traumatic, and he gave Keeley (Juno Temple) the space she needed back when they were still together in Ted Lasso season 2. But the way he handled Isaac (Kola Bokinni)’s understandably rageful outburst on behalf of Colin (Billy Harris), and the way he spoke to the press regarding said incident, was truly something to behold. It felt like a turning point; a moment in time where Roy Kent recognized he could be more than the (often hilarious) angry man the world knows him as.

And who helped him get to that point? Not Ted (Jason Sudeikis), not Keeley, not Jamie. No, it was the one and only Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham).

It was a surprising yet admittedly perfect choice. We know that Rebecca and Roy respect each other; we know they’re friends, that they’ve confided in one another, and that they’ve given each other advice in the past. But since Roy’s breakup with Keeley, we’ve barely seen Roy and Rebecca together. So having Rebecca be the one to knock some sense into Roy’s head—by speaking the absolute truth to him in that same wonderfully authoritative voice she used to convince Zava to join the team—was perfect. Roy being stuck in his own darkness wasn’t something that Ted could fix with a rousing speech, or that Keeley could fix with her usual positive attitude.

He needed tough love. Throughout Ted Lasso season 3, we’ve seen Rebecca take charge in more ways than one—convincing Zava to play for Richmond, telling Rupert to stop messing around with Bex. Rebecca is loving, and kind, but she can also be tough and lethal when she needs to be. And this episode proved it.

Perhaps my favorite thing about Roy and Rebecca’s dynamic in Ted Lasso season 3, episode 9, however, was the way it paralleled an earlier moment in the show when Roy knocked some sense into Rebecca’s head. “You deserve someone that makes you feel like you’ve been struck by f—ing lightning!” he said loudly at her in season 2, and he was right. Roy knew Rebecca deserved more and now, Rebecca has repaid the favor.

(featured image: Apple TV+)