The fourth season of Ted Lasso has found a way to make Richmond’s women’s team win. At the beginning of “Follow the Anger,” the players put together a string of good results, climb the table and finally appear to be functioning as a team. Gemma wants to seize the moment and score her third goal of the match, insists on staying on the pitch and injures her knee. The possibility of losing football makes her consider a career in law, while Alice tries to persuade her to fight for her recovery. It is a storyline that should make us worry about Gemma. I confess that it did not make me worry at all.

I recognize the prejudice surrounding women’s football, including among those watching a television series. It would be easy to blame any resistance to this new Richmond on that bias. But after eight episodes, I do not think it is fair to hold the audience responsible for a problem that also lies in the writing. I remember Roy, Sam and even how much I disliked Jamie Tartt before I eventually started rooting for him. Each of them had a distinct personality, a particular way of reacting to other people and a story that changed how we felt about them. Among the women players, I am still searching for someone capable of producing the same effect.

The twins argue, the goalkeeper refuses to wear gloves and Gemma is torn between football and another profession. These are easily identifiable traits, but repeating them does not necessarily turn the players into interesting people. Alice Chilton should also gain depth through her growing connection with Gemma, yet her inability to express her feelings increasingly resembles a plot device rather than a revelation about who she is. The series believes it has introduced us to a team bursting with life. I still see characters defined by one quirk or one problem at a time.

Roy and Keeley, at least, are finally back together. She still loves him, and he has broken up with Dr. Erin Beaumont, but they must endure another round of misunderstandings before admitting the obvious. On their way to a ceremony honoring Roy at Chelsea, they have car trouble, take the Tube, arrive late, and miss the event. Keeley encourages him to speak anyway, and Roy finally declares his love for her. It is good to see them together, but the wait stopped being fun a long time ago. Roy and Keeley used to be capable of saying uncomfortable things to each other. Dragging out their reconciliation through silences and missing information feels like an unconvincing way to create suspense around a couple whose destination we already knew.

Ted remains attentive to everyone around him, and Beard remains Beard. There is consistency in that, but the protagonist lacks something that makes us want to discover what will happen to him, beyond the expectation that the woman who caught his interest will eventually return. The series hands its characters difficulties and soon finds a phrase or gesture that helps them overcome each one. Every solution may work in isolation. Together, they leave very little room for surprise.

The most promising threat is unfolding away from the pitch. Higgins discovers that Richmond shareholders are being pressured to sell their stakes and suspects that Rupert wants to take the club back from Rebecca. We still do not know who is behind the operation. Following the death of Anthony Head, who played Rupert, I began wondering whether the series is preparing someone else to take his place. My bet is Zelda Southport, who has been so helpful while moving ever closer to Rebecca. I may be wrong. If I am right, I hope there is more to this twist than the revelation of an enemy we have already begun to recognize.

I still enjoy returning to Ted Lasso, which may be precisely why the frustration feels greater. The series knows how to remind us of the affection we have for Roy, Keeley, Ted and Rebecca. Now it needs to make that affection extend to the women it has placed at the center of the story. Richmond’s women have already learned how to win matches. The writers still need to make us feel the loss when one of them falls.