The Unpredictable Genius of Ted Lasso

you know what today feels like first day of school first day of school that's right ted lasso is really good and i'm really mad people aren't talking about it okay so i wasn't planning on making a video about this show but by the time i finished like episode two i just knew i had to see i just finished watching bridgeton and i was still in the process of cleansing my brain from the sheer stupidity of it all thanks for nothing so i just wanted something cool to watch something laid back and i heard great things about said lasso so i put that on and i gotta admit while i expected it to be good i did not see that [ __ ] coming the fact that i underestimated ted lasso's quality as a show is not only ironic you'll understand why later in this video but it's also kind of frustrating to me there's two reasons for that and the first reason is simply the marketing see the trailer for ted lasso does not do justice to the show it's not a bad trailer by any means but it really doesn't represent what the show is all that well maybe it was intentional but i do think they kind of missed the mark with the marketing here but surprisingly enough maybe that's what made it so special to me because it was so unexpected with ted lasso i went in expecting a funny comedy that would be cheeky and bonkers and i got that in a sense but i was not prepared for the other aspects of the show i did not expect ted lasso to have so much heart and emotion to it it truly caught me off guard i don't really get emotional when i watch movies and tv mostly because i'm dead inside but i will admit that i did get really emotional while watching ted lasso and more than once the show deals with some surprisingly mature themes and i was not ready for that what i'm not crying you're crying the second reason why i underestimated ted lasso is a bit more broad and that reason is apple tv plus so right now we're very much in the early days of a massive streaming war that will probably be raging for the next decade the era of netflix being the end-all be-all of the streaming world is long gone and now we have a massive number of streaming platforms that all have their flagship project netflix has things like stranger things and the witcher disney plus has the mandalorian one division falcon and the winter soldier amazon prime has the boys hulu has the handmaid's tale hbo max has this snyder cut everyone is putting their mark around but apple tv plus has yet to release a project that really stands out in the eyes of general audiences c was a show they heavily marketed but it didn't leave much of an impression i don't really see people talking about the morning show i think it did well in terms of winning awards but like who gives a [ __ ] about awards now dickinson was nice but it also failed to grasp larger audiences same with servant like apple tv plus is just really struggling to convince people to go to them compared to other streaming services they feel like they're a little bit behind so i guess that i subconsciously underestimated ted lasso because i haven't really been impressed by what the platform had to offer but i'm very happy to report that i was wrong very very wrong but before we get into it let's take a moment to thank today's sponsor skillshare skillshare if you didn't know is a massive online community where you can basically learn well just about anything really that's why it's called skillshare get it because it's sharing skills so i've gotten a number of messages from some of you asking me about editing or just video making in general trying to figure out a solid process for your own projects and well skillshare is exactly where you want to go for that there are literally thousands of interesting classes for curious and creative people out there i personally had a very specific idea for future video projects so i looked into the iphone filmmaking class by caleb babcock and niles grey which is one of the many classes that cover these types of topics and here's the thing the first 1000 of my subscribers who click the link in the description will get a free trial of skillshare premium membership so you can go and explore your creativity you can join and explore any topics you've been curious about and learn about it and i mean it anything there's business classes finance classes self-improvement classes photography illustration special effects interior design anything you can think of and then it's only like 10 bucks a month after that so if you're interested click my link down below join skillshare and start learning thank you skillshare for sponsoring this video and let's get back to ted lasso so ted lasso if you didn't know he was originally a character created by jason sedakis for a series of commercial for nbc sports like six or seven years ago it was not a bunch of cheeky little sketches where jason got to casually remind everyone that he's still one of the funniest people in hollywood but he ended up getting attached to the characters so much that olivia wilde who he was married to at the time suggested the idea of actually creating a real tv show around the character and he did just that and now we got it on apple tv plus so what's it about well ted lasso the show is the story of dwelt ted lasso an eccentric american football coach who decides to move to england to coach a premier league team football in london yes i said football don't [ __ ] start with me i don't give a [ __ ] i'm not calling it soccer so ted leaves his wife and his son in kansas city to make his way to the uk and he's now faced with the challenges of a new environment a new culture and a new job that seems to come with a lot of enemies smells like potential i think first off i'm just gonna say if you need any convincing just watch the first episode ted lasso has one of the most effective pilots i've seen in a really long time i mean it's not the mr robot pilot but it's still insanely well done some shows take a while to get going and find their rhythm so you have to give them two or three episodes to get into it but ted lasso got me instantly especially in the final scene of the pilot that's really what got me hooked it balances comedy and drama seamlessly and both sides of it are equally amazing and one of the reasons i like this show so much is the fact that ted lasso has a lot of similarities in its plot with emily and paris but here's the difference it's not stupid the show deals with the same themes of having to move to a new country for work finding yourself in an environment that isn't yours and being surrounded by a community where you're the only stranger and as a result having to prove your worth to people who underestimate you for various reasons there's also the theme of having to adapt quickly to an entirely different culture being surrounded by people who are not necessarily welcoming but it's done without making british people look like brainless [ __ ] like emily and paris did with the french and not everyone ted comes across as an insufferable [ __ ] because the show doesn't know how to make a point and yes just like in emily in paris some people are mean to ted but here they all have a reason that is explored with very specific themes that are unique to each character the show's never like yeah they're [ __ ] just because they're british that's just what they do british people are [ __ ] which is essentially what emily and paris did but to illustrate all of that i'm going to talk about two of the main characters on the show first off as you probably guessed ted lasso the character of ted lasso is what many movies or shows would simply paint as the likeable idiot stereotype but here the show offers a really different take on that trope ted is a character that actually has a lot of layers a lot of heart and seeing his journey as he starts to win over more and more people is just great despite the comedic aspects of the show the interactions between the characters feel surprisingly human and all of the characters feel really fleshed out in their own individual ways ted is a father and being so far away from his kid is not easy and there are moments between comedic beats where the show makes a point of showing you that his adventure in the uk is thrilling sure but also kinda lonely you find out early on that his marriage is kind of on the rocks and him accepting to move to england on a whim was not just a professional move and i think the show strikes a perfect balance with ted they somehow managed to make him super eccentric and out there while also making him quite grounded and relatable and there's just too many things about him that i like i like that he sees people as equals regardless of their social status he treats everyone the same and he makes friends with people who are not really used to even being looked at there's a character in particular who's really surprised to find out that ted remembered his name i like how the first player he manages to create a bond with is a young man who just moved here from africa and is feeling a little homesick just like him i like that he understands that he needs to show people he's worth their time it doesn't just expect people to blindly follow him right i like that he makes an effort to learn about people and genuinely tries to make them feel happy for no other reason than that makes him happy he has a knack for making people feel good about themselves and he'll put a lot of effort into making your day better if he can that's just kind of who he is i like that he knows people will underestimate him from the get-go and while he doesn't fully understand why he still uses that in his advantage but i also like that unlike emily in paris the show never tries to present ted as being immediately more competent than everyone and everything for the sole reason that he's an american in fact things for him are kind of an uphill battle here no one really trusts him no one really respects him he doesn't fully understand the sport he's coaching he doesn't really know how to connect with the team like ted has no idea what he's doing but he just keeps going because that's the only way he's gonna get somewhere can't figure it out if he doesn't try jamie i think that you might be so sure that you're one in a million that sometimes you forget that out there you're just one of 11. if you just figure out some way to turn that me into us this guy's the limit for you i like that when people are being mean to him he doesn't try to retaliate or reciprocate the toxicity instead he just kills them with kindness and refuses to hold a grudge and that makes people realize that treating him like [ __ ] is not going to help anyone move forward it may look like he's clueless and completely oblivious to people's insults at first but the more you get to know him the more you realize that he's very aware that people are insulting him all the time he just chooses to ignore it and pretends like he doesn't see it i saw the match oh yeah what'd you think you were rubbish yeah maybe so there's an entire episode where ted is being shadowed for a whole day by a disagreeable journalist who's completely hell-bent on hating him and i mean it the guy is not even trying to get info on ted for his article he just writes down everything he can that will give power and credibility to his hit piece he's just here to trash him and ted is completely aware of that but he still treats him with kindness and respect he's welcoming and generous and friendly so much so that by the end of the day the journalist takes a step back and actually listens to what ted has to say and realizes that he's probably not the guy he appears to be on the surface he just can't help but root for him he's too good but with that said ted is a super optimistic dude and inspiring person but the show is very aware that it's not always the healthiest thing for him because yeah ted has his flaws hell he even has a fleeting line in episode 5 about how one of the problems he has with his wife is the fact that he's so overly optimistic and overly enthusiastic constantly and his wife just can't stand it but he doesn't want to let go of that part of him because well that's who he is and he likes being optimistic that's a very conscious choice he makes to be as positive as he can be every day and it's not always easy for him but that's what allows him to get back up when life beats him down there's a scene where you almost almost see him lose his [ __ ] on someone who's pushing him just a little too far and it shows that he's still human he's still capable of anger and rage but like every single one of us he has to battle that the fun quirky happy guy is not his entire personality it's part of it yes but he chooses to put that in the front speaking of which i really like his relationship with his wife it's really well written they really make a point of making it multi-dimensional and it works beautifully and that theme of broken love that we've seen a million times over feels surprisingly fresh and realistic here ted is essentially in an impossible position his wife is actively falling out of love with him and there's nothing he can do about it he can just be there and watch as it happens and that's just so painful but i really appreciate that the show doesn't make the relationship toxic or overly dramatic just for the sake of drama no they keep it sort of low-key and it doesn't make it any less impactful on the contrary it feels very human instead of doing the hollywood thing of portraying the wife as an [ __ ] or having them explode in larger than life fights they actually show how vulnerable that situation makes her feel because it's also hurting her she's devastated that her marriage is falling apart it's super hard for her to accept it she has this one really short but really powerful moment where she does said that every day she hopes to wake up and feel the same way she used to towards him but that morning just never comes and it's just such a difficult thing to admit for her because she still cares for ted very deeply it's impossible not to feel bad for them but yeah overall ted is a great character and jason sudeikis gives a [ __ ] master class of a performance in the role but the next character i want to talk about is even more interesting rebecca welton rebecca is the owner of afc richmond the club ted is coaching she got ownership of it as a part of her divorce settlement with her cheating ex-husband and since she knew he really cared for this club and its success she has made it her mission to crash it into an abyss just to spite him so she decided the best way to turn the club into an absolute embarrassment was to go ahead and hire the most inadequate coach she could find which made her turn to ted because ted is a coach of american football and he only ever coached college teams and also there's this little detail of he knows nothing about football so rebecca hires him and she's really excited to see the team crash and burn under his direction what i really enjoy in this plot of hers is the very slow evolution of her psyche i like that rebecca becomes increasingly conflicted about setting ted up for failure because she's aware that he doesn't deserve that and you can tell she really wants to hate him because it makes it easier on her conscience but the more she spends time with him the more she can't help but like him because even though she thinks he's an absolute idiot she also recognizes that he's a good person she's also in the middle of a very public scandal and she's being bombarded by the press about all the women her ex-husband slept with when they were still married and she realizes that ted is the only person who actually takes the time to come see her and ask if she's okay she's so convinced that she hates him because of her own personal reasons that have nothing to do with him that she doesn't even realize that she's getting attached to him it's kind of weird to explain with words but i just love the dynamic between the two i never really went into that in video but i really like platonic relationships between men and women in media a lot of movies and shows kind of struggle with that they get lazy and whenever two straight characters of the opposite sex throw the tiniest bit of chemistry they're immediately like oh wow we gotta make this a romantic thing but a lot of times i feel like it just doesn't really call for that that was my problem with the dan and blair pairing and gossip girl i liked them getting closer and it made sense for them to develop a friendship but the writers had to turn it into a romance and suddenly it felt very disingenuous and i never bought it so i appreciate that ted lasso makes the point of giving us great platonic relationships with several characters especially with ted and rebecca so i spoke to the owner of the sun you spoke to god no the newspaper oh and i just love how the show treats the nuances in rebecca's character she can be cold and mean but she's not heartless she's still human she still has somewhat of a moral compass it's just been clouded by the personal issues she's trying to overcome i know for a fact that love can make you do crazy things and no matter who you are it's very difficult to handle a massive breakup the show does a great job at balancing rebecca's persona finding a sweet spot between the ruthless vengeful villain and the human being inside of her and i have to take a moment to just gush about hannah wattingham for a second this woman is just amazing most of you probably know her from sex education where she plays jackson's super strict mother sophia but what you probably don't know is that hannah wettingham also played the role of septa unella in game of thrones yes the shame lady shame shame that's her she's been a meme for like half a decade and nobody even knows it's her and while i was already in love with her performance in sex education i don't even have the words to express how happy i am that she gets to shine in a main role in ted lasso she is so [ __ ] amazing in this show it's unbelievable she's so good at playing characters with an incredibly imposing sense of authority like the show opens with her and within 30 seconds i was just like damn i i do not want to [ __ ] with this woman she will smash my face into a wall and i might be into that a little but it's still scary rebecca is one of those people who just owned the room the second they set foot in it and you immediately know this is a person who will not tolerate anyone stepping out of line and hannah whittingham is just perfect for that my my aren't you a salty bunch but i can't remember the last time the press room was this full there is not a single person in this room who has seen richmond play more than i have and in all those years under the stewardship of the previous owner i've witnessed nothing but profound mediocrity i wrong well that's a bit off am i wrong i think she won a critic's choice award for her role but award shows are [ __ ] stupid and meaningless and i don't think that's what should validate any person as an actor but that's just me though hey look the golden globes are cancelled but she's not only good at playing a hard ass she also absolutely nails the more intimate and emotional moments of the character i don't want to spoil it but i will say there's an episode where rebecca comes face to face with her ex-husband in the most unexpected way and i did not expect the tension to be so high there and it's made even more impactful by the fact that it's kind of the first time you ever see rebecca in a vulnerable place it's always a slap in the face when you see a figure of authority as dominant as her being in a position where their authority has no power it always changes the perspective and i think that's awesome for her character they could not have done it in a better way because yeah a lot of rebecca's dragon girl boss personality is a little bit of a front deep down she's actually quite lonely she hasn't been able to move on from her divorce mentally and she's not really allowing herself to just live she's completely consumed by heartbreak there's also some trauma in there that she's trying really hard to repress you learn that she's still struggling to shake the way her husband treated her and it affects every aspect of her life even down to the way she chooses to dress it's pretty interesting because the show almost builds her up like a villain but then they pull a complete 180 on you and you feel really bad for her rebecca is in a lot of pain and she has no idea how to process it because she's alone she thinks getting revenge on her ex-husband is going to help her feel better but she's not too sure she likes the person it's turning her into there are a lot of layers to her character i think she's truly fascinating that'll be all higgins of course but yeah the other characters are all just as amazing i don't want to talk about everyone in detail because i want you guys to experience it for yourselves but they're all provided with fantastic writing there's roy kent he's the captain of the football team that is coaching he's considered an absolute legend in the sport but he's getting older and he's struggling to come to terms with the fact that he's no longer in his prime the major factor of his character is his very blatant anger issues which are used both for character development and just brilliant comedy bits hey guys seriously come on talk to me what's up we're in a [ __ ] [ __ ] movie because we never [ __ ] win everton and it sucks [ __ ] [ __ ] roy is a great character and his arc takes a turn i didn't really see coming so that was a nice surprise chili is easily one of my favorite characters on the show she's a model who's dating one of the guys on the team and she's played by juno temple which is always a win what i really like about her character is that she breaks the lazy stereotype of the brainless model or actress trope that we've seen in so many things some characters have broken the cliche before i'm specifically thinking of cc and new girl who's a character that i particularly like but kylie does it in a completely different way she's kind of the moral compass of the show where ted is like the nice friendly unicorn who always wants to make you feel good keely is more of a tough love kind of friend she's the type of person who tells you the things you need to hear and not necessarily the things you want to hear which sometimes is something you gotta do when you want to be a good friend solid entrance what would you rather be a lion or a panda jamie is also an interesting character one that you love to hate in a sense he's kind of the star player of the team and he's crazy talented like the guy is one hell of an athlete but he's also a selfish [ __ ] who has completely let the money and fame get to his head and he only ever thinks about himself he has layers and phil dunster who plays him is just so [ __ ] brilliant in the role but trust me there are moments where you're just gonna wish you could grab jaime through the screen and beat the [ __ ] out of him this character is quite literally designed to push your buttons and it works way better than i ever expected but he still has an interesting arc like i said i won't go into the characters too much and there are more that i purposefully did not mention but all of them are really good even the minor ones silver lining here with o'brien's toy butt is that my man from montreal is going to be feeling anec goalie give it up to zoro oh it's pronounced um zol i'm sorry zorro this is a whole you i don't know what i'm doing wrong and what i like about these characters so much is that throughout the season even when their storylines don't necessarily meet they're all connected by the same major theme because yes the show is about family human bonds and all that good stuff but at its very core ted lasso is a show about accountability most of these characters get through their issues not only by acknowledging when people have wronged them but also by learning to accept when they are the ones [ __ ] up they grow by holding themselves accountable but like not like shane dawson and james charles like i'm talking about real accountability here i think one of my favorite scenes in the entire show is a scene where rebecca has a conversation with her best friend sassy who she neglected and hasn't seen in a while because her marriage took her entire life rebecca is also the gun mother of sassy's daughter and she feels guilty for abandoning them and during a conversation with her outside of a nightclub she blames her negligence on her husband but sassy immediately shuts her down and essentially tells rebecca that while she can blame a lot of things on her ex-husband who was an [ __ ] her leaving them behind was her own fault and she doesn't get to make excuses for that rupa is a horrible man who built an ivory tower he kept you captive in but you're the one who stopped coming home stop calling you made a six-year-old girl wonder what she'd done wrong i'll always be your biggest defender but you have to own up to the part that you played it's just really good and the show addresses that theme in ways that never feel repetitive it never feels like they're beating you over the head with a message it's just a very solid part of the story ted lasso is a brilliant show i could be here all day just going episode by episodes but i know it's not as popular as other shows i've talked about on here so i'd rather you guys just go and experience it for yourselves if you haven't seen it seriously it's really good i have my minor gripes with the show i'm of the opinion that the show could use a bit more diversity there are characters of color but they tend to be secondary entities in the story the main characters with the bigger storylines are usually the white ones but it's not like the show just completely dismisses people of color there's quite a few of them i just wish they were put a little more in the front if that makes sense so in that way it's a really minor complaint though i'm nitpicking here the show is really good i promise you it's worth it and i know that a lot of people will hear the word football and tune out and i get it but i swear this show is not about the sport it's actually a fairly small part of the show it's about the people the characters and their connections trust me give it a chance and the good news is that if you binge the whole thing and you love it just as much as i do the show was apparently renewed for two more seasons and season two will be out in like a few weeks so then we can all just gather it together you know and freak out in unison i was already late to the party with this show so let's sync ourselves up yeah dead lasso [ __ ] rocks people need to talk about it more and i'm probably gonna have dreams about hannah weddingham smashing me into a wall and i'm not mad about it mvp okay thank you ted sorry yeah no you were saying go ahead you

Channel: Friendly Space Ninja

Views: 787,328

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Id: q304ohvYaGQ

Length: 24min 4sec (1444 seconds)

Published: Wed May 19 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/PicklestheWise]

Love this show!

Came for the "Oh, Jason Sudeikis is in this and it has good reviews, could be fun."

Got into it for the "This is a genuinely good show and really funny, oh my god." and "This guy has the exact same personality as one of my exes (yes I know...I'm an idiot for letting that man go), and I'm very intrigued, but at the same time mildly uncomfortable watching this with my family who have and will continue to have no idea. Whoops."

Stayed for the "Curiosity vs judgment" quote, my favorite of the show, and the great character nuance and interactions.

[u/PeachPreserves66]

Thanks for posting this video review; it really captures everything I love about it. I am a latecomer to the series. After hearing so many good things about it, I was still reluctant to sign up for another streaming service. But, I needed a palate cleanser after a few months of binging The Sopranos (which is, of course, an amazing show).

So, I binged Ted Lasso this past weekend. And, I’m blown away with how good it is. I didn’t expect the truly heartfelt moments that made me cry and how many times I laughed out loud. It’s also incredible how well the large ensemble cast meshed together so quickly.