Ted Lasso Season Four Review

I was not a fan of season three of Ted Lasso. It was overlong, unfocused, and, somehow, still shockingly rushed at the end. So, when it was announced that the series would be returning after a three-year hiatus – this time, with Ted returning to Richmond to coach their up-and-coming women’s team – I was not particularly thrilled. And I was worried. It’s rare for a series to go from having so much good will (the first two seasons of the series were truly special) to squandering it at the end of things, only to try and reboot things and give it a go once more. And, with the news that Bill Lawrence – the showrunner of seasons one and two, who left before season three to co-create and showrun the great Shrinking, wouldn’t be back to showrun this new season (star Jason Sudeikis was at the helm in season three, but also took a step back for season four) – I was even more worried about what we’d end up with. Which is why I’m thrilled to say, season four of Ted Lasso appears to have learned from the missteps in season three and is once again fun, funny, and a joyous watch.*

*I say this with the caveat that I’ve only seen five of the ten episodes of this season. My early review of season three was relatively positive since I’d only seen a handful of episodes there. So, things could change down the line.

The core cast from the initial three seasons is back once more: Ted. (Sudeikis), as the new head coach of the Lady Greyhounds, Beard (Brendan Hunt), as one of his assistants, Roy (Brett Goldstein) remains the head coach of the men’s team (none of whom have appeared on screen through the episodes I’ve seen, which is a smart move as it keeps the focus on the new team), Keeley (Juno Temple) is the head of PR for the club, Higgins (Jeremy Swift) remains the money man, and Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) is still the owner. And the chemistry between these core holdovers remains as tight as ever. The jokes bounce around the group with ease, the rhythm of the series is easy and slick, and the character development earned over those initial three seasons is clear in who each character is at this stage of things. Ted has clearly done the work back home in Kansas (his son and ex-wife – with whom he’s on excellent terms – both make the move to London, so there’s no pull back home, save for his overbearing mother) so that he can be a better coach and better man this time around. And the biggest addition to the show, Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education and The Other Bennett Sister) as assistant coach Alice Chilton, is one of the best moves the series has made in years. Smart, no nonsense, but still malleable enough to warm to – and question – Ted (and with an interesting link to one of the star players on the team that I suspect will be explored as the season goes on), she easily has become my favorite character on the show. And that’s high praise.

But what I was most impressed with was how the show pivoted from a story about men’s football to one about women’s football without falling into the various pitfalls I worried it would. The writing is honest about the uphill battle facing the team – they’re currently in the second division, so they’re about where the men’s team was when the show began – from the rampant sexism among the local population at the thought of supporting women footballers* to the struggles getting sponsorships and positive press. And then there’s the inherent differences between men’s and women’s teams. As a former player, I know all too well the cliques and in-fighting that can arise on a women’s team and how, unlike men who tend to just fight it out, women are much more likely to let that anger and resentment fester until things get almost impossible to work through. And guess what is one hurdle the team faces internally? You guessed it. With small arcs like that, it’s clear the writers took the time to hone in on how to write a story centered on women playing football, rather than just hit on the generic sports tropes one sees in any series.

*It’s interesting to see the dispassionate response to the Lady Greyhounds by the city at large from here in the US, where we have a women’s football league that has become fairly popular. Sure, there’s plenty of sexism and folks ready to talk about how women’s football isn’t as interesting, good, real, etc. compared to men’s, but in the US, there’s at least a basic level of respect for women’s football – or, soccer – considering how successful our women have been historically when compared to our men’s teams.

However, the most impressive piece of the episodes I’ve seen is that they all managed to be laugh-out-loud funny while maintaining the core of kindness, care, and fun that made those early seasons of the series truly special. The balance it right back where it should be to bring fans back and to keep them happy. This season of the show is, so far, a really lovely watch. The returning characters feel like they used to, the new characters are – for the most part – smart, funny, and just strange enough to fit (the starting goalie, Boots, is a hoot and definitely crazy). I went into this season worried I was in for a slog, but was so happy to realize just how much the show has returned to its roots. We still need to get to know a number of the new supporting characters – so far, most of the team are archetypes that need to be colored in a bit more – but I actually have faith that the show knows where it’s going and what’s it’s doing this time out. And I cannot wait to see if Ted can work his magic with the Lady Greyhounds and turn them into a formidable team.

Ted Lasso returns for a fourth season on AppleTV+ on August 5. Five of the ten episodes were provided for review.