This week’s episode was an interesting one for me to try to review. Because, on the one hand, I certainly laughed more at this episode than any other of the ones I have seen. But, on the other, so much of the episode felt overly contrived and juvenile in its structure. Yes, dealing with cliques is an issue that arises in sports – even when they aren’t called cliques, factions tend to form within teams and that throws off the delicate balance in the locker room, which can lead to a team’s downfall – and it’s something that must be squashed immediately so that it doesn’t fester. But a mandatory Pub Quiz (something I cannot imagine Ted coming up with for the men’s team when they were having issues – although if the men were having issues, I suspect someone would just haul off and hit a teammate rather than what the women’s team was turning into) that turns into a bar brawl that turns into an arrest? That feels like an episode arc from a mediocre 90s sitcom and not something like what Ted Lasso believes itself to be.
Watching the locker room all but dissolve into a mess of name calling and squabbling – punctuated by Lizzie once again taking on the role of team mum (something I had worried was going to be her role and something that keeps happening, so I hope there’s a payoff somewhere in the future for this derivative storytelling) – only to have Ted come in and treat the women like they were children (which, to be fair, they were certainly acting like children and not grown adults – again, something that the men’s team wouldn’t have done) just felt odd. Ted almost never raises his voice – it’s been one of the hallmarks of the character – and to see him being the disciplinarian was a strange turn. Especially when bookended by two really good jokes (the bins on the head and Boot – who is quickly becoming the most interesting of the players – emerging naked from the shower), it just didn’t sit right from a character angle.
The Pub Quiz itself was also an odd choice, from having the team of jerk guys make fun of the team, accuse Gemma of cheating (which she didn’t, but it certainly looked like she was) and then instigate the bar fight to having Beard discover the flyer for Jane’s (probably libelous) one woman show about her marriage (and fake pregnancy?), we spent far less time getting to know the team than I had hoped. We could have at least learned some of the non-opening credit players’ names this time around, and yet, nada. But we did get reminded once again that Lizzie is a mum who has kids she loves enough to read “Goodnight Moon” to over and over. So, that’s something.
On the other side of the narrative, the Keeley and Roy arc is driving me nuts. One of the dumbest storylines every written is the “our characters are destined for each other, but we can’t get them together just yet, so we’re going to have the woman tell the man he needs to date a certain number of women before they can date each other” arc. It was awful on Sports Night* and it’s awful here. Because watching Roy go on faux dates and then try to hook up with the bartender (and then meet a hot, seemingly put together doctor who I suspect we’ll see again since she’s a friend of Roy’s sister) denies the majority of the fans what I suspect they want, while also building in an artificial delay in the characters being forced to make a choice. If Keeley wants to date Roy, she should date him. If she genuinely doesn’t think he’s ready for a relationship – and her reasoning isn’t wrong, although it’s the same reason she had three years ago, so why hasn’t it been addressed in those three years? – she needs to tell him that and both can move on. Instead, she’s set him on a stupid quest where, since this is a TV show, he’s going to ultimately find a woman he does like which will then turn this into a triangle.
*Shout out to a recent episode of the TV Is Good Podcast for reminding me about that Sports Night episode. I vividly remember hating that storyline then and I hate it just as much now.
I much prefer Keeley in her girl boss era over her “trying to work things out with Roy” era. Although I really don’t trust Zelda Southport (played by the great Tracey Ullman). She seems like Rebecca if Rebecca lost all sense of morality and propriety and just tried to spend all her money in sketchy deals (that also involved purchasing more sports teams). If Keeley’s going to be stuck in a love triangle down the line – and I really hope she isn’t – I also don’t want her stuck in a girl boss triangle as she gets closer to Zelda and moves away from Rebecca. Although, out of the two potential triangles, the girl boss option is much more interesting for me – Rebecca and Keeley’s friendship has been strained (from the keeping crucial information from her, to their respective love lives taking up more of their time, and Rebecca and Keeley wanting different things from the women’s team), so it feels a lot more natural for the arrival of another high powered woman who wants to ostensibly help the team to turn Keeley’s head.
Still, the balance within the episode felt oddly off to me. Yes, it was funny, but the jokes were more of the low-hanging fruit variety than the complex, smart comedy I’m used to from the show. We got a host of pop culture references flying – I appreciated that Alice felt sad for Jeanie Bueller, as I often feel the same when I watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – but little in the way of substance. And as lovely as it was to see both Trent Crimm (no longer of The Independent) and Doctor Sharon back, their framing device interview didn’t work as well as I hoped it would. Not the strongest outing of the season.
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Writing
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Acting
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Direction
