Ted Lasso‘s screenwriters: I don’t care about happiness and peace in Nate’s (Nick Mohammed) life. Especially if we’re going to see Ted (Jason Sudeikis) suffering from love. I hate Nate and refuse to forgive him. Copycatting Diamond Dogs as Love Hounds just pissed me off even more, I was really sorry that Rupert (Anthony Head) wasn’t there to humiliate him as he deserved. Also, Keeley’s (Juno Temple) part of the story also irritated me more than it added anything to the plot.

Let’s recap: Keeley’s good life is turned upside down when she has a personal and sexual video leaked to social media, along with other celebrities. She is embarrassed by it – it is extremely graphic – but she is more upset with Jack. As a girlfriend, she seems supportive but then she chooses Barbara of all people to deliver the recommendation to Keeley asking her to publicly apologize for the video. It’s so different from what Jack has been so far that Keeley runs to Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) for advice. Mine would have been RUN from this woman, but Becca is more understanding and suggests that Jack has been mistakenly lured by lawyers when suggesting the apology. It seems to be the case, but not for long, the scratch is there. Especially because instead of publicly assuming their relationship to older friends and introducing Keeley to her dad, Jack cancels off an engagement and then introduces her simply as a “friend”. Later on, when Jack pressures Keeley about publicly admitting to being ashamed of the video, it becomes clear that is she that is embarrassed to be with Keeley. They break up after that. Another one who fell out of tune was precisely Roy (Brett Goldstein), who, although started off as empathetic, asks Keeley the wrong question. Okay, the video was not made for him and the fact that he wanted the confirmation it was for Jamie had me screaming internally (That way, she’ll end up back with Jamie!). Incidentally, the only one who actually knows how to comfort her, not least because the video was his (but he thought he had deleted it), is Jamie, but I hope and trust that hug was just friendly.

In the wake of this narrative, the whole AFC Richmond team had a long talk about how to handle intimate pictures and messages, agreeing as a group to delete anything that could leak and embarrass themselves or others. It leads, however to Colin (Billy Harris) being accidentally “discovered” by Isaac McAdoo (Travis Ellis), who now knows the truth, but we still don’t know the consequence of that.

Nate’s bit is that he is in love and in a healthy relationship with Jade (Edyta Budnik), still trying to emulate Ted to no avail, but playing the tough guy to Rupert although he already went back to “normal”. But I really don’t like him anymore.

The thing is, the episode was ultra-long and gut-wrenching for Ted. His ex, Michele, travels to London accompanied by Dr. Jacob, “forcing” the coach to have an awkward civil conversation with her current lover, then she leaves Henry for two days with his father – something that makes Ted happy – to go with his boyfriend to Paris, which understandably destroys him too. Not even the team’s victories are enough to take the focus off the certainty that Michele will marry Jacob, the Diamond Dogs advising Ted not to suffer in anticipation, or even Rebecca advising him to enjoy the present and look forward. Ted is frustrated that he has never taken Michele to Paris or made grand romantic gestures. And deep down, even without a ring, the truth is that Michele moved on and Ted stopped in time. Literally.

We are closer to the end of the season and possibly the series. AFC Richmond has already recovered, the team is in harmony, Jamie is a different person, Roy is also sweeter, Trent is already in Ted’s inner circle (he even barked!) and all that remains is for Ted to effectively “be happy”. I was happy and even bored with the obviousness of the superficiality of Keeley and Jack’s relationship, but I loved the insertion of Hey Jude in the episode and I’ve even come to terms with the fact that #tedbecca might be a mere illusion of ours, although Ted having only a magnet and a green matchbox in his pocket reminds me of Tish and reinforces my hope. Unfortunately, Michele’s trajectory only has two alternatives: 1) she hid the wedding ring to avoid hurting Ted or 2) she denied the marriage proposal to try to get back together with her ex-husband. Anyway, the lyrics of the Beatles classic, which is Ted’s favorite band, fit for him:

And any time you feel the pain
Hey Jude (TED), refrain
Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders
For well, you know that it’s a fool
Who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder

Here I leave my question: should I continue to believe in Ted Lasso? The post of theories of what comes around will come separately.