In the second episode of the first season, upon seeing Jaime mistreating Sam, Ted Lasso calls the crestfallen player for a quick conversation.
TED: “Sam, do you know what the happiest animal on Earth is? It’s a goldfish. You know why?”
Sam Obisanya: “No.”
Ted Lasso: “It has a ten-second memory. Be a goldfish, Sam”
Since then, the “goldfish” code is all Ted has to say when the situation demands maturity, superiority, and empathy. Life is short and does not deserve to be lived with a grudge. Two episodes away from the supposed conclusion of the series, is what he recommends. Let’s forget Nate’s betrayal, and Rupert’s evil nature and move on. In an episode with touches of corniness that were always present, Ted Lasso was all forgiving, not bumping into the speech scenes that interrupted our connection in at least two episodes of the season. The message here was short and to the point, which always works best. Let’s recap.
This week of friendlies, Richmond AFC are doing well in the league and has several of their players called up for their national teams, a sign of great personal and team prestige. Out of everyone, even though he’s being touted as a top scorer, only Sam is ignored and excluded, he knows why and keeps a smile on his face, but he’s devastated inside. We’ll come back to it in a moment because the biggest news of the week is Nate’s sacking from West Ham United. So it is! What happened?
Obviously almost everyone, as well as myself, celebrated what appears to be Nate’s ‘defeat’. Except for Ted, of course, who worries about his former friend. He questions Beard’s joy: “It’s bad karma to laugh at bad karma”, i.e. better to be a “goldfish” and keep your heart clean. It is a Kabbalistic recommendation, by the way. Wishing or laughing at other people’s unhappiness is planting the seeds of judgment in your own path, in other words, we attract what we want. For others too. Ted’s message rings true, as we see a desolate Nate at home, so depressed that he literally drags himself home to his parents, where he goes back to acting like a boy. He doesn’t say what happened, but considering what Rupert is like and that Nate refused to obey him, we immediately imagine that he humiliated the ‘wunderkind’ after the rejection, but it was the other way around. Nate – is an apparent reaction as the ‘old, perhaps true Nate’ – resigned. Being in love with Jade took that jealous, spiteful monster out of him. But changing his attitude doesn’t erase the past and he doesn’t know what to do, more because he feels bad about what he did to get there.
Consequences. The catch of the goldfish strategy is that it’s a lot harder than it looks. Forgetting only helps ahead, it does not change the previous path. Nate is bitter about the monster that has been mistreating people along the way but is still terrified of his father. In Ted Lasso, the themes can be deep, but they are fast. That oppressive father figure that destroyed Nate’s soul is different now, he feels his son’s sadness. Finding himself alone, we hear Nate play the violin, a talent hidden and never developed because his father’s criticism convinced him that he would never be good enough. That’s when father and son finally have an honest conversation, where they apologize and Nate finally hears that Mr. Shelley regrets being so hard on Nate, also finally saying that she admires and loves him. There, Nate did the full transformation. Hidden from everyone he goes to the locker rooms of the old team and leaves everything spotless to a surprised Will, with a written apology. Will is pure goldfish. No word to Ted, though. The series is saving that conversation for a short time.
In this theme, we have fun moments between Danny and Van Dam. Their selections will play a friendly match and for the Mexican star, their friendship remains behind the scenes. In the field they are enemies. An unrecognizable and aggressive Danny literally breaks the goalkeeper’s nose in the game, but in the reunion after the match, it’s the same as always, up and cool. The goalkeeper is confused, but goldfish, goldfish!
When Sam refused to leave AFC Richmond to move back to Nigeria, he bought an implacable enemy in Edwin Akufo, the always hilarious and precise Sam Richardson. Akufo is behind Sam’s exclusion from the African squad, threatens to destroy the restaurant with unfair competition, and is his usual obnoxious self.
But it’s not just Sam that Akufo hallucinates. He wants to create an elite competition of the best teams and has the support of Rupert, who convinces Rebecca to participate in the discussion. As the only woman in the circle, she is insecure, but she dresses as a strong woman and faces the rudeness, the dull jokes, and the uncomfortable presence of her ex. But there is something in the project that bothers her, the distance from the public, the exclusion of the poorest and she wins voice putting all those grown men – kids, as she confronts – in place. Of course, Akufo’s reaction is anything but calm, but the situation helps Rebecca finally get over her heartache with Ruppert. By the way, we were talking about a dimensionless villain, right? Let’s forget about it. In Rebecca’s great monologue, we discover Ruppert’s vulnerability, which does not dispel the impression that he is still the badass who fired Nate, but which we realize he actually felt when the coach put an end to their abusive relationship. What’s more, with a new assistant, Rebecca sees that her ex-husband listened when she advised him to avoid his past mistakes with his new wife. Rupert being Rupert takes the window as an opportunity and tries to kiss her, but Rebecca is past him. She looks for Ted… CALM DOWN, it’s still not yet #tedbecca (even with the green plastic soldier being attached to the matchbox Tish warned her about), it’s just that at the beginning of the third season, Rebecca was consumed by revenge as a motivator to win, now she asks Ted to win, but because she only wants to be a winner. She doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone, at the very least, Rupert.
I saved Keeley and Roy for last. As super expected, Jack leaves her ex-girlfriend in a predicament. She takes the investment out of the firm, which leaves our beloved PR woman without a job, without a girlfriend, and without knowing what to do. Keeley spends days suffering alone, not wanting to talk to anyone, not even Rebecca or Roy. Speaking of which, once again Phoebe is the catalyst for change. She forces her uncle to wear colorful clothes (he doesn’t deny her anything) and brings Jamie into the family. It was very obvious that soon the player will become the girl’s stepfather because the atmosphere between him and Roy’s sister was screaming. But it’s when he goes to drop his niece off at school and runs into her teacher again that Roy realizes he can’t go another day without apologizing to Keeley. He writes a letter (a note) and is forced to read it aloud to her. He apologizes, acknowledges that he wronged her and finally tells her that he loves her. Just when you think Keeley is finally going to stand up on her own, no, she and Roy are back together. But you know what else? This is wonderful. Keeley deserves a partner who doesn’t judge her by the past and supports her in the future and Roy has always been this person. Goldfish! To top it off, Rebecca is her new investor, and Barbara, well, she dumps Jack and stays working with Keeley. A happy ending is not a bad thing in my book! I liked!
The question now is to be a goldfish in real life…
MiscelAna 