‘Ted Lasso’: Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign
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[This story contains spoilers for “Signs,” the fifth episode of Ted Lasso’s third season.]
During a press day for Ted Lasso’s third season, The Hollywood Reporter asked co-creator, executive producer and actor Brendan Hunt about whether Richmond’s honeymoon period with superstar Zava (Maximilian Osinski) would wear off.
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Hunt’s answer: “I mean, you’ve seen the show before. You know how it goes.”
In “Signs,” the show’s fifth episode of season three, it went. Or rather, he went: After firing up the team before a match with powerhouse Manchester City — by basically repeating the same idea Jamie (Phil Dunster) offered up moments before — Zava no-shows for the match. (“Maybe he’s dead,” Ted muses on the sideline. “He fucking better be,” Roy growls.) He later explains to his social media followers — ahem, “believers” — that he’s retiring to focus solely on his family and his avocado farm.
“Signs” is a particularly apt (on the nose?) title for the episode, with both literal (the “Believe” sign in the Richmond locker room plays a role again; more on that in a few paragraphs) and metaphorical meanings.
On the latter front, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) runs into John Wingsnight (Patrick Baladi), the guy she dated for a minute early in season two, and his new love (the always welcome Lucy Davis), who calls John her “shite in nine-ing armor” — the exact malapropism Rebecca’s mom’s psychic recited to her two episodes back. That it happens while she’s trying to get rid of the green matchbook from Sam’s restaurant sends her reeling again, to the point where she goes to her doctor to see whether she’s able to have children. Viewers don’t hear the doctor’s end of the conversation after the Man City match, but from Rebecca’s body language and muted answers, it does not look like good news.
Prior to getting the matchbook, Waddingham tells THR, Rebecca “has so much put the psychic out of her head and has just decided, ‘Whatever I thought about this quack my mum has sent me to, she is a quack,’ and she’s had to shut it down because of what she said about Rebecca having a child. But when that comes in. … Rebecca works on fact. That is a tangible fact that something the psychic said has come to fruition. I think it totally sends her into a freefall, which she doesn’t need because she’s already in a freefall about Rupert. The two things compounded — in my head, it’s like she’s in the tornado in The Wizard of Oz.”
Keeley (Juno Temple), meanwhile, deals with a much more overt sign after firing Shandy (Ambreen Razia): As an act of revenge, Shandy brings the lamb from the commercial shoot to the office to poop all over the conference room. That, however, leads to her reading a sign from her backer, Jack (Jodi Balfour), as they split a bottle of vodka and chat into the night in her office. She kisses Jack, then pulls back and apologizes. Jack, however, assures her it is very much OK.
Back at Richmond, Ted (Jason Sudeikis) has been trying to find out what happened with his son, Henry, and a bullying incident at school. He assumes Henry was the victim, and Beard (Hunt) and Roy (Brett Goldstein) offer varyingly graphic ways of exacting vengeance on the kid’s behalf. As it turns out, though, Henry was the aggressor. Ted finally connects with him after the match, and Henry tells his dad that A) he didn’t follow Ted’s “count to 10” advice and B) he did an apology rap in front of his class.
All previous indications from the show are that Henry is a good kid, so it seems likely that this won’t be the start of a pattern. Still, it nearly triggers a panic attack for Ted, as he once again replays the scene of Henry leaving London for Kansas. Ted manages to breathe through it, though, and gets himself back to a place where he can address the team.
Which brings us to the “Believe” sign. As Ted begins to talk about how Zava leaving the club can turn into a positive, half of the sign comes off the wall again. “We’re doomed,” Colin says, and Bumbercatch says “it’s a sign.”
“Fact is, it’s just a sign,” Ted replies — before ripping it up some more, causing an uproar among the players. Ted then delivers what is maybe the most pointed speech he ever has to the team (and himself). Here’s the whole thing:
“Belief doesn’t just happen because you hang something on a wall. It comes from in here [he points to his heart], and up here [his head] and down here [his gut]. The only problem is, we’ve all got so much junk floatin’ through us, a lot of times we end up gettin’ in our own way. Crap like envy, or fear — shame. I don’t wanna mess around with that shit anymore, know what I mean? Do you? You know what I wanna mess around with? The belief that I matter, regardless of what I do or don’t achieve. Or the belief that we all deserve to be loved, whether we’ve been hurt or hurt somebody else. Or what about the belief of hope? That’s what I want to mess with. Believing that things can get better — that I can get better. That we will get better. You believe in yourself, you believe in one another — that’s fundamental to being alive. If you can do that — if each of you can truly do that — can’t nobody rip that apart.”
Odds and ends
*The job Ted Lasso has done in keeping Nate (Nick Mohammed) at least partially sympathetic has been really remarkable so far this season. He takes Anastasia, the model Rupert introduced him to in the previous episode, on a date to A Taste of Athens, an achingly sincere gesture that falls completely flat with Anastasia. Even the heretofore supremely unimpressed Jade (Edyta Budnik) notices that Nate’s heart is in the right place and drops her frosty demeanor to share some baklava with him. It’s a sweet moment.
*Giving Barbara (Katy Wix) her own “Beard After Hours”-esque showcase is probably a bridge too far, but what Wix and the writers have done to seed in bits of her character beyond “stick in the mud CFO” is delightful. Her delivery of the line “Don’t look in my desk drawer … don’t” was a comedic highlight of the episode.
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