There’s no telling what is in that dumpster. The solo Beard episode was filled with tropes and cliches and was by far my least favorite of the series.īeard leaps off a rooftop – three or four stories up – into a dumpster in order to escape a fight with a large, angry man. Both are tragic, of course, but a father dying from suicide seems far more traumatic than a father cheating on a mother, I think. Also, the intercutting drew an equivalency between the two moments which did not feel right to me at all. These two moments were the emotional hinge points of the season and deserved to be handled independently. It undermined each moment by not allowing them to stand on their own. The intercutting between Ted’s revelation of his father’s suicide and Rebecca’s revelation of the discovery of her philandering father was terrible. The actual funeral for Rebecca’s father – including the Rick Astley song – was fantastic. I’m arguing that the storyline surrounding them could’ve been much better. I’m not complaining about Ted’s panic attacks. It ended up being a nothingburger except for the revelation that Nate was the source of the story, which also turned out to be a nothingburger given that Nate was never confronted about it, either. Even the reporter who broke the story supported him. The man on the street who refers to him as “Wanker” was kind. Ted took it in stride and managed it well. The publicizing of Ted’s panic attack in the press had great potential in terms of developing an interesting story line, but no one really cared. No dramatic increase in stakes or real world implications. He eventually seeks therapy, but there is no final straw moment.

They didn’t cause him to dramatically alter the way in which he approached the world. They dd not threaten his job or any relationship. The panic attacks had no real world implications for Ted. Then Ted has another panic attack when he is alone, making him late for the funeral, but no one cares, and Ted’s lateness sort of saves the day for Rebecca by buoying her spirits at a critical moment. He runs off the field and claims stomach issues. Then Ted has another panic attack in season 2 during a game. Rebecca helps to calm him, then they never speak of it again. But the plot line surrounding them was also recursive and therefore a little boring. I got a real sense of what they might be like. I’ve never experienced a panic attack, but the cinematography behind their portrayal – both in sound and light – was brilliant. Ted’s panic attacks were portrayed realistically and presented an interesting facet of a man who relies on positivity to conquer the world. I find myself grunting “Oy!” whenever I can. I’d be willing to watch a spin off featuring Roy talking about soccer on TV, and I hate soccer. I loved him in season 1, but I really love him in season 2. Advancing the plot and offering up some real world stakes at the same time is even better and is what elevates stories to epic heights. Making an audience laugh is a precious and beautiful thing. The biggest problem presented in the episode is a child’s bad breath, and the appearance of Santa, flying through the night sky at the end of the episode, was cute but not the kind of realism that I expect from the show. It was a soft, utterly stakes-less episode. I have rarely laughed harder than I did during the Christmas episode.

The way that the soccer team handles Secret Santa should be the way Secret Santa is done from now until the end of the time. It’s as if everything that made the show different and special in season 1 was no longer good enough to carry the show, so contrived, improbable sitcom moments like killing the dog with a soccer ball in episode 1 or the romance between Rebecca and Sam that started because they both just happen to be texting each other on a dating app without photos or names seem to be far more prevalent in this season of the show. I’m disappointed to see the show turning to more traditional sitcom scenarios in season 2. Thoughts from season 2 of Ted Lasso, as requested by many.

Ted lasso season 2 episode 1 recap