I spent a good portion of this week’s episode daydreaming about how fun it’s going to be to rewatch this season when it’s done, which I regret, because I think one could argue that this was (so far) the best episode of the season. I will start off by saying that I won’t be able to refer back to many, if any, of the rom-coms referenced in this episode, because I have made disliking rom-coms one of my personality traits (unless we’re talking Crazy Stupid Love, which is delicious).
We kick off this week watching Nate get beat down, as per usual. He can’t get the table he wants at his dad’s favorite restaurant, because the host is kind of a bitch (sorry), and Nate is quite passive - as we very well know. I didn’t love that the beginning scene lacked a punchline. Usually, that’s when I have the time to hype myself up for the rest of the episode, but this week I just felt sad. From there we jump into commentary about the team underperforming due to Captain Isaac’s lack of leadership - another downer, if for no other reason than the fact that Isaac (Kola Bokinni) is gorgeous and I want to see him succeed, even fictionally. Dr. Fieldstone pops in to ask Ted if he needs help, and he promptly refuses. I think he hates her, even though I wish he didn’t. If she was getting more screen time this season I think she could have been a really interesting character, but they seemed to relegate her to the bench after her first episode.
While Ted sets off without the doctor to figure out how to help Isaac, dynamic duo Keeley and Becca start a mission to increase Nate’s self-confidence, so that he can land the reservation he wants at a restaurant to impress his parents. The two of them bring a lot to this series, but I am getting anxious to see something productive come of Becca’s renewed attempts at dating. She deserves so much. "Nice Becca" has really grown on me in the past couple episodes, and I regret complaining about her earlier in the season. I feel similarly about Keeley, although I’m a bit sad that we didn’t get any Reeley (Koy?) time this week.
That’s not to say we didn’t get any Roy time, though - and thank god for that. Ted turns to him to cure Isaac’s blues, and of course, he pulls through. Roy and Ted take Isaac back to the pitch that Roy grew up on, and the local footballers both humble him and remind him why he loves the game so much. I don’t pray, but if I did, I would have spent that entire scene praying that Roy gives in to Ted’s pleas to have him join the coaching staff.
I want to jump in here quickly and say that I get what was going on with the rom-com nods in this episode. I could tell when they were happening, but I didn’t understand any of them except for the Princess Bride’s “as you wish” from Ted, and I am hoping it didn’t detract anything from the week. If there is one thing I hate, it’s missing a pop culture reference. But I’m sure someone else got paid to write an article naming every movie that had a moment this week, and I will go find it as soon as I wrap things up on this end. I liked how the “romantic” aspects of this episode were mainly friendships and not relationships. It made the whole schtick a bit less cliché and I think it was a good creative choice.
Roy running back to Richmond was just about as emotional as I would have expected it to be. That short scene captured the entire essence of this show - it was funny, emotional, and pure at its core. The crowd cheering him on as he walked onto the pitch, and Ted’s eyes lighting up as he saw Roy approaching, gave me enough emotional sustenance to make it through the workweek. And that’s kind of just how Lasso works.
I feel bad complaining so much because this episode brought me a lot of joy. But I have to say, another thing that upsets me is the fact that the showrunners made such a big deal about Nate getting promoted to coach, and then did almost nothing with that storyline. However, I guess that if the writers really committed to the stories of each character, we would have two-hour long episodes and 25 episode seasons (would I still be watching? Yes). I am curious to see if there is any resentment on his end towards Ted for inviting Roy back to coach, although I must say I personally am THRILLED about it.
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