Here’s How, After a Rough Season, ‘Ted Lasso’ Finally Scored a Winning Goal

By now, it’s no secret that Ted Lasso season 3 really struggled. I started off liking Ted Lasso‘s final season—but eventually joined other critics in hating it. Character arcs, like Shandy’s, made no sense. The romance plotlines fell flat. The longer runtime of each episode, coupled with almost all important plot points happening offscreen, led to a show that felt increasingly saccharine and pointless.

And yet, the second half of the finale felt like a return to form. Here’s how Ted Lasso managed to do it.

The Ted Lasso ending, explained

Way back in season 1, Ted suggested to Rebecca that Richmond not only try to regain their place in the Premier League, but “win the whole fucking thing.” Two seasons later, the series finally made good on its promise to show us that final battle.

But first, Ted drops a bombshell on Rebecca (again, offscreen, but we’ve come to expect that at this point). After a heart-to-heart with his mom in the penultimate episode, Ted decides to resign from Richmond and go home to his son Henry. That makes Richmond’s final game of the season an especially poignant one, with everyone knowing that Ted will be leaving them soon.

Richmond faces off against West Ham, with Rupert getting increasingly angry as Jamie Tartt dominates on the pitch. Rupert has good reason to be agitated: several of his former wives and mistresses are speaking out against his inappropriate behavior, and his reputation is in tatters. Not only that, but he’s lost his Wonder Kid, as Nate quit several episodes ago and is now back at Richmond, working as assistant to the kit man. Rupert takes his frustration out on his manager, shoving him to the ground in front of the entire stadium. In a fun moment of symmetry, the audience chants “Wanker!” at Rupert, just as they used to do to Ted.

After an eventful game, including a penalty kick that Isaac McAdoo shoots right through the net into a fan’s face, Richmond wins. They don’t take home the title, though—Manchester City outperforms them in another game happening simultaneously. They don’t end up winning the whole fucking thing, but the silver lining is that they get promoted to the Champions League.

Then it’s time for Ted to head home. After teary goodbyes with Rebecca, who buys a plane ticket just to see him off at the gate, and Beard, who fakes appendicitis to get off the plane so he can stay and marry his sweetheart, Ted goes home to Kansas City.

Does he go back to coaching football? Surprisingly, no. During Richmond’s game, Ted notices that West Ham has broken the offside rule, invalidating their goal. What’s more, he notices it before anyone else. What do you know? Ted has finally learned how soccer works! Thus, when he gets home, he turns his attention to coaching Henry’s soccer team. When Henry gets frustrated about missing a goal, Ted reminds him to be a goldfish.

How about everyone else? Rebecca considers selling the team, but decides to sell only 49% to fans like Mae and the boys at the pub, meaning she stays on as Richmond’s “matriarch.” At first, it looks like her role as soccer mom is going to fulfill Tish’s prediction—but then Rebecca runs into her Dutch hottie and his daughter outside the airport. Turns out he’s a pilot!

Meanwhile, Jamie and Roy confront Keeley, telling her that she has to (I’m sorry, “gets” to) choose which one of them she’s going to date. Keeley, shaking her head, kicks them out. PSA to guys in love triangles: that move has never worked and it’s never going to, so stop using it. And speaking of guys who suck at relationships: as every character watches Richmond’s match, we see that there’s trouble in paradise between Michelle and Jake. Jake either doesn’t like soccer or doesn’t like Ted, but his snarky commentary during the Richmond match gets on Michelle’s nerves.

Finally, Roy gets promoted to manager of Richmond, taking Ted’s place, while Trent finishes and publishes his book. The book is originally called The Ted Lasso Way, but after Ted points out that the story was never about him, Trent changes the title to The Richmond Way. Colin also fully comes out as gay, kissing his boyfriend on the pitch after Richmond wins, and Keely pitches the idea of a Richmond’s women’s league to Rebecca.

That’s Ted Lasso‘s ending in a whirlwind. So why, after a season that was often too embarrassing to watch, does it suddenly work so well?

How did Ted Lasso manage to hit the back of the net?

Because it remembered that it’s a soccer show.

I honestly think that’s the whole secret. Suddenly, we were in a soccer show again. Not a houseboat show, not a psychic show, not the The Sound of Music. A show about soccer.

The plot revolves around a simple question: will Richmond win the title or not? We don’t know! Sports are unpredictable! Anything can happen! What’s more, people’s personalities get expressed through stuff that’s happening in connection to the game! Rupert’s the world’s biggest asshole, so he humiliates his own manager. Ted may seem oblivious, but he’s full of surprises, which is why he spots that West Ham is offside. During halftime, the team puts the Believe sign back together, and the scene works because we know exactly what they believe in. They want to win, and we want them to win, too.

And then they don’t quite make it. As Ted muses in the plane, they almost won the whole friggin’ thing. That’s a bittersweet and believable storytelling move, and it makes the ending so much better than something safer and more heartwarming.

After season 3, I’m glad I was able to finish Ted Lasso loving the characters as much as I did in the first two seasons. I doubt I’ll ever rewatch most of season 3, but that’s okay—I still have my favorite moments from 1 and 2 to revisit. I can be a goldfish about the rest.

(featured image: Apple TV+)