Diksha Sundriyal
Ted Lasso is back at AFC Richmond, ready to take on new challenges in the fourth season of Apple TV+’s ‘Ted Lasso.’ While the first episode is set entirely in America, focusing on Rebecca, Keeley, and Higgins’ efforts to bring Ted back, the second episode jumps right into the action. Back in London, Ted takes in what has changed and what has remained the same. Michelle and Henry will be joining him in a few days, so he gets right to work. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Higgins start looking into their team’s prospects and what they stand to lose if this plan doesn’t work out. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Ted Returns to the Familiar Richmond Grounds
Leslie Higgins enters Rebecca’s office with two huge files. One has the report that could decide the future of their team, and the other is for Keeley. Rebecca tells him to read up the report and give her the gist, while she keeps the file meant for Keeley because she doesn’t want to give her friend too many ideas yet. Their main goal, as it becomes clearer over the course of the episode, is to keep everything under budget while ensuring the new team has what it needs to succeed. Failure is not an option. And yet, the first hitch has already arrived. The assistant coach, Alice Chilton, comes in to tender her resignation. She had hoped to do more for the team and expand her prospects, but now she feels stuck and unhappy with her role.
Rebecca politely accepts her resignation, but before Alice leaves, she asks whether she’d ever considered her or any other woman as head coach, to which Rebecca says no. The question rattles her so much that she is thrown into crisis mode, questioning her stance as a feminist. Meanwhile, Ted reports on his first day, ready with the barbecue he brought for Rebecca from his hometown and fully read up on the dossier about the team that Alice had given him. He is a bit disappointed to discover she is going to leave by the end of the week. Before moving on, he takes a trip down memory lane, visiting his old haunts with the men’s team. He sees the torn-up “Believe” poster still on the wall, and is updated by Roy about the team’s current situation.
Roy also wonders if Ted wants Beard back, and though it is clear he does, he says he couldn’t do it to Roy. He leaves for his office, which is smaller compared to the one Roy and Beard have now. He notices Alice’s corner, with her quotes and the files detailing everything about the team. When introduced, Alice remains her distant, cold self, while Ted retains his jolly mood, ready to win her over. He decides to go meet the team without realizing that things are going to be a bit different, starting with the fact that Alice has to ensure they are all decent when he visits. He also discovers that the locker room is not even a proper one. The women are making do with whatever hand they have been dealt, and Ted, like Alice, knows they deserve better.
Ted Familiarises Himself With the New Assistant Coach and the Team
When Keeley shows up to take Ted away from his first press conference since his return, he brings up the locker room topic, which Alice supports. When he asks her to join him for the conferences, she refuses, citing that she is leaving by Friday. Before Ted takes on the questions, Rebecca leads with a speech about how she believes in supporting women, but her rambling is clearly about her own insecurity. Finally, Ted receives the press, but all the questions seem to be about his take on the men’s football team. After a few questions, he confesses that he is no longer in touch with that side and wishes to focus on the women’s team. And this is when the tough questions start, like the pay gap between the men’s and women’s teams.
Once all that is done, Ted goes to the pitch to observe the players. Alice gives him the gist as he tries to identify the players from their descriptions in the dossier. Though he confuses the lesbian couple for sisters at first. He is also interested in the goalie, who is clearly great, but doesn’t wear gloves. He becomes interested in the reasoning behind it and later pesters Alice to reveal its origin story. Eventually, he approaches the goalie, called Boots, himself, only to discover that there is no specific origin story, other than that she likes the sting of catching the ball. His interest in backstories doesn’t end there, as he starts to wonder which of the twin sisters was born first. But this does nothing except irritate Alice even more.
Things get a bit serious when a player gets injured, and a concerned Alice takes her to the hospital. When she returns, she reveals the player tore their ACL, which means she is out of this season’s game. But there is nothing she can do, since she is leaving. Her concern should be listing the candidates to replace her. But later, when she presents the prospects who sit outside Ted’s office for an interview, he dismisses them. It turns out he did some digging into Alice’s backstory, including her humble origins in a working-class family and how her promising career was derailed by one injury after another. He notes that this has made her sympathetic and caring toward the players, which is why she is the best fit for the role. He offers her the job back, and she accepts.
The Work on the Team Begins
Ted’s return leads Beard to start stalking him. First, he secretly watches his conference on his phone, tucked inside a novel. Then Roy catches him watching Ted and the team from afar. It is clear that his heart is set elsewhere. Ted and Beard reunite at the pub, where they talk as if they were exes still in love, but Beard bolts as soon as Ted mentions Jane. Meanwhile, Rebecca orders a book by Bell Hooks to reconnect with her feminism. It turns out Roy has been trying to keep up Ted’s tradition of offering her cookies, though his are rather bad, to say the least. She tries asking him about feminism, and his answer starts with “two lesbians.” Fortunately, he is stopped from speaking further by Keeley’s arrival.
She wants to allocate a budget for a new locker room for the women’s team, but Rebecca says it cannot happen because they are already struggling. So, Keeley asks to take over the spare locker room reserved for visiting teams. Rebecca gives her the go, but when Keeley visits the place, it seems haunted. Turns out Roy had booby-trapped the place to rattle the other teams and get a psychological advantage over them. He removes all the traps, which leaves Keeley rather impressed. He also takes the chance to discuss the situation with Beard, and she advises letting him go to Ted, as it could cause trouble for his team as well.
Later, Roy fires Beard over some bogus rule-breaking, leaving him free to join Ted. Meanwhile, Rebecca regains her confidence as she starts quoting Eleanor Roosevelt, but hides it when Alice shows up. Later, she meets her mother for lunch and tries to discuss feminism with her, while she talks about wanting to become vegan but still wanting to eat cheese. At the end of the week, the players are introduced to the new locker room, while Rebecca struggles to write a letter of recommendation for Alice. She is interrupted by Higgins, who has finally read the report, which says that they need to win or they could stand to lose the men’s team as well.
When she wonders what she should do, he encourages her to take the risk and stand up for the team. His words give her the confidence not only to like the letter for Alice, but also to confront her about being more empathetic and less judgmental, given that she doesn’t know what all Rebecca has been through on her own journey. In all of this, she doesn’t know Alice has decided to stay, which is why things get a bit awkward when Alice reveals she has taken Ted’s offer. Rebecca is ecstatic and makes a joke, and while Alice doesn’t laugh, she agrees it is funny. It looks like her hard exterior has started to break already, thanks to the Ted Lasso effect!
Read More: What Is Coach Beard’s Real Name?
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