The Cinema Hog: Why You Should Watch Ted Lasso

If you don’t know, in 2020 during the peak of Covid, a show came out on the fairly new Apple TV+. This show is Ted Lasso. The show follows Ted Lasso (played by Jason Sudeikas), an American college football coach who is hired to coach an English soccer team whose owner, Rebbeca Welton (played by Hannah Waddingham) secretly hopes his inexperience will lead to failure.  But, Ted’s folksy, optimistic leadership proves unexpectedly successful. 

Sounds formulaic right? Not at all. The events in this show are more unexpected than you realize. The writing and story development is top notch, and nothing short of perfection for this comedy show. For you sports fans out there, I do not classify this as a sports show. Soccer/Football in this show is a means to tell the story, it’s what brought everyone together. We do see some important games for the AFC Richmond team but it is mostly about the people. Which in my opinion is the better focus for the show.

There are no action scenes, nothing fast paced and rushed. That is what makes it so great, especially the main character Ted Lasso. Ted's overwhelming enthusiasm and infectious personality aren't the only reasons that he's one of the most likable characters in the series. More importantly, he genuinely cares so much about everyone else and the fact that, deep down, he too is only human. He is the most relatable character in the show and is the most human character I would argue in television history. 

It’s not just his character that makes this show amazing. Each character has their own story and charm. One such character is soccer player Roy Kent, played by Brett Goldstein. Roy is by far the funniest character in the show. His gruff and angry personality leads to some of the funniest moments in the show. Kent’s role in the show is far bigger than what it seems just from the first season. Like many characters, he only gets better the more the show goes on.

Roy is a big part of the team-building of the show, be’s not only a builder of teams, but he is a nurturer of relationships. Roy may be gruff and intimidating, but he genuinely cares about his teammates and wants to see them succeed. The amount of lessons you can learn in this show is more than any other. I mean that in the best way possible. 

One of my favorite parts of the show was how much thought and focus was given to some of the side characters and the players on the team. When we found out about a secret of a player named Colin, a character who in season one and two was a bit small and under the radar in my opinion, he has a great backstory and, yes, it shocked me at first, but made me happier and happier the more it went on. 

Sam Obisanya’s story in this show was incredible too. To go from having something he created and loved to be destroyed and then rebuilt was so amazing.  What am I talking about? Watch the show and find out!

Ted, Beard, along with their later coaching mates Roy and Nate, are really a great team that work well together.  Higgins is so skittish, but in a good way, Rebecca and Keelie are such powerful female characters, it shows what women can do, not only in the football world. 

So, if you are interested in watching this show, it is obvious you want to know who Ted Lasso is, and his story is great. To go from the USA, to a new country, to a new sport, whilst handling divorce and panic attacks, it shows a lot of courage, bravery and determination. The three-season show (with more in development) is as The Guardian describes, “There’s something happening here, some rare TV magic: it has clicked into a phenomenally composed cruising gear, the same one they were in for the entirety of Friends.” This magic that they describe, is the illustrious Lasso Effect.