I’m catching up on season two of Ted Lasso and realised I’ve never written a review about it. This is bonkers because it’s quite possibly the best show on across TV and streaming services right now. It’s easily the best thing on Apple TV+. Here’s why it’s absolutely worth watching.
What Is Ted Lasso About?
Ted Lasso is an American comedy created for Apple’s entertainment streaming service Apple TV+. The show follows the progress of the fictional English Premier League team, AFC Richmond. Despite having zero experience in coaching soccer, and yes here in Ireland we refer to it as soccer, AFC Richmond installs the titular manager Ted Lasso for the new season.
The only experience Lasso has is in coaching a college American football team to a low-tier championship. He gets the job because the new owner of the club, Hannah Waddingham, takes the club over as a result of a divorce. Her goal is to run the club into the ground to destroy her ex-husband.
Why Is Ted Lasso Special?
There’s an emerging trend in sport lately. You’ve likely seen plenty of people comment online saying “don’t bring politics into sport”. This is said when anyone tries to use the platform of sport to fight racism, homophobia, or any other kind of social injustice. Ted Lasso, both the show and the titular coach, positions sport as secondary to the people. Lasso loves coaching but he loves his players even more. They come first at all times.
On the surface, Ted Lasso looks like it’s going to be something like Sky’s classic Dream Team or at least be a sitcom where football is at the very core of it all. But soccer takes a back seat to the people and their problems.
Sports People Have Opinions
I’m trying to steer clear of spoilers, but the third episode in season two is actually what made me jump up and start typing. One of the team wants to protest against the club’s shirt sponsor because of how they behave in his home nation. This feels so fitting given what we see in sports on a regular basis.
Formula One has plenty of skeletons in the closet when it comes to sponsorship and holding races in countries that freely support anti-LGBTQI+ laws and traditions. This is why it was great to see Sebastian Vettel take a stance at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Sportspeople are influential with powerful platforms and they should be allowed to use that to make the world a better place.
Without making the world a better place, sports means nothing.
Supporting English Footballers At Ted Lasso Premiere
Ted Lasso is played by Jason Sudeikis. At the season two premiere of the show, Sudeikis wore a black jumper with the names of the English footballers who missed penalties in the Euro 2020 final. These players, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Bukaya Saka ensured racist abuse online following the match.
This was a perfect real-world representation of what the show stands for. Speaking to British Vogue, Sudeikis said actually made the shirt himself, claiming “the idea struck me the day before our show’s premiere. he said. I just felt it was necessary to use the platform of our big, fancy ‘worldwide premiere’ to try and personify our show’s support of those three young men. Which is why I chose to put their three names on the sweatshirt. The names their parents gave them”.
Is Ted Lasso Worth Watching?
Yes. And I’ll go one further.
This review has been short because words can’t really do Ted Lasso justice. Apple TV+ is sparsely populated with shows, but what’s there is damn good. Ted Lasso alone is worth the subscription fee.
The first season of Ted Lasso is available to stream now. Season two is underway too with a new episode every Thursday.
