At last: A clear vision of the trajectory of this season — hinted at last week — has come into focus.
To Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” the show posits the downside of a perfect relationship: Your jobs, interests and romantic ideals overlap so utterly that you are around each other every single minute.
While yelling at other parts of the newspaper — “Let me know if they ever talk back,” says Nate’s mother — he ignores the back-page story about his suddenly famous, soccer-coach son.
We’ve already had a mouthful of plot, and we haven’t even tasted Ted’s crucial, perhaps season-defining, story line.
After the titles, we find Ted back in Sharon’s office, where he’d collapsed on the sofa last week.
Like many, I’d initially imagined that Sharon would be a new foil for Ted, the old ones — Rebecca, Jamie, et cetera — having been so completely won over.
By the end of the episode, we still have little idea of precisely what is eating at Ted beyond his recent divorce.
Nate’s state of mind, which has been headed down a dark path for most of the season, has taken a still darker turn.
One of the things I’ve appreciated about this arc so far is that it understands that a deterioration like Nate’s isn’t linear.
But Nate’s moments of self-correction don’t quite take root in his fragile psyche.
If anyone associated with “Ted Lasso” wants to pay me to market the “‘Roy Is Sorry for Not Understanding Keeley’ playlist,” well, you know where to find me.
But don’t worry, Coach Lasso: We got you, babe.
Last week concluded with the Big Reveal that Rebecca and Sam are romantic Bantr buddies — but that fact remains unrevealed to either of them.
When he sides with Jamie against Roy on the question of whether Jamie should crowd a teammate on the pitch — “He’s right, actually” — even Roy has no recourse but a frustrated obscenity.
Ted’s reference to the Jerky Boys and the post-caller-ID decline of crank calling hit me particularly hard, as I devoted considerable energy to that vocation as a young teen.
It was great to see Trent Crimm, who after his breakthrough role in Episode 3 of the first season has become a kind of mascot for the show.
As a premier Roy Kent fan from the start — I actually own a Kent jersey; I don’t get Nate’s issue with novelty gear — the idea that he is a fan of “The Da Vinci Code” is almost too terrible to bear.