seven lessons from the best comedy on Apple TV+

It’s finish. We don’t know if episode 12 of the third season was the last time we saw Ted Lasso, but we do know for sure that was the last time we saw Ted Lasso.The best possible ending we could demand. Before continuing, it is important to remember that this is an article full of spoilers. We recommend that you only read it if you have reached the end of the series. A natural conclusion which precisely closes Ted Lasso’s journey through AFC Richmond, from his arrival to his inevitable departure.

And, how could it be otherwise, at Applesfera we wanted to look back and understand the phenomenon behind the most successful series on Apple TV+, the most awarded and the most loved by fans. It is also the series most in tune with Apple’s human values. And you can see it. Because Ted Lasso, as the final episode itself points out, is not the journey of a ” Yankee in London”, but the epic of a group of people, totally different, with their desires and their particularities, their faults and their virtuesand what they learn from this development.

Football, yes, but little

There are those who believe Ted Lasso is about football, the same way many thought Sense 8 was about science fiction. There is football: rules, history, gossip and even flirtations with stars like Thierry Henry or Pep Guardiola, but they are the backbone of a much larger fund. In ‘Ted Lasso’ you can learn about a penalty, some classic formations and the rules of the transfer market or promotions and promotions for the Champions League, not much else. It is not intended, and need not be, a sports treatise. because the key to Fair play

A gay in the team

The stigma of homosexuality in football is reflected in ‘Ted Lasso’ as something much deeper than a choice. They talk about armor and how hard it is to wear. The ‘Sunflowers’ episode, shot entirely in Amsterdam, provides a setting for striker Colin (Billy Harris) to talk about what is always left out: that You have nothing to declare, there is no explanation to give. Behind the player there is a person and he is free to choose. A story that rhymes too much with that of another English footballer, Jake Daniels, the Blackpool striker who was afraid to wait for his retirement to be himself.

Anxiety attacks

Ted Lasso doesn’t always go for comedy or good intentions. Laughter is not always replaced by a hug. There are punches, sarcasm and they don’t address what they don’t feel capable of – as ‘Terapia sin filtro’ assumes, much more failed in its intent. The most tense moment in the series, if you ask me, is when Ted Lasso explicitly rejects therapy. He gets rude, insults, runs away, and ultimately confesses that it’s all prejudice planted by his own parents. Opening your heart is the first step: therapy is not a reward system, and it is only when you understand this dynamic that you begin to heal.

Know how to take a hit

Few blows hurt more than this “are you stealing from your girlfriend”. Bonds of affection lead to a feeling of responsibility, but also to a certain feeling of belonging. But what if a person wants to try something different, if they want to distance themselves from heteronormative relationships? Conclusion: If you were looking for a romantic ending between Keeley (Juno Temple) and Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), forget it. And anyone looking for a romantic ending between Keeley and Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), ditto. In fact, before I would have speculated with a trio. After falling for her boss, Keeley wants to take a breather and move on, with some perspective. Like always. ‘Ted Lasso’ was able to be an LGBTQ + series for viewers not used to these texts

and a divorce

That your wife does not want to continue with you, what a classic, right? ‘Ted Lasso addresses all aspects of divorce, from post-separation micromachismo and jealousy to running away and not getting more involved with the children to avoid suffering more than necessary. Here, the series is so courageous that the coherence of its plot is even at stake: Ted returns home under the impulse of his mother.

There are those who call Lasso and his bandmates wimps, that Ted is a fruity or a Flanders. Or, much worse, someone who doesn’t have the courage to face reality and therefore someone of little credibility. The reality is that ‘Ted Lasso’ was born as a joke to promote NBC Sports, some spots with no other intention of parodying the king of sports. What Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hurt and Joe Kelly did later is something historic: to make the coach and his series a symbol, an icon that leaves a mark far more relevant than that of Dr House, Sheldon Cooper or Ted Mosby. .

Where some were toxic in their fallible comedy, another is vulnerable and fragile, but spends his life fighting his toxicities in the name of something everyone should pursue: to be a better person. But not at any price: episode 12 underlines it: perfection, in man, is an idiocy, an impossibility that should not be pursued.

How to deal with bullies

“Ted Lasso” differentiates between acceptance and submission because it illustrates those stern people from those who are purely toxic. Sure, the line is good and it’s easy to fall into negative behaviors: can you be a bully and stop being one? Since then. Roy is the spitting image of this progress, of this human evolution.

‘Ted Lasso’ doesn’t aspire to revive the harmless positivism of many 90s comedies. Quite the contrary: it chooses to confront what ‘Problems grow’ ignores. The nuances. There are many ways to approach issues such as homosexuality, Christian faith or gender violence, and few emerge unscathed from the debate. Ted Lasso doesn’t become moralistic and use his dark humor as a point of view to protect himself. Something that not even ‘Hung in Philadelphia’, another icon from which some of the names in this fiction come from, can assure.

And sexual harassers

If there’s anything ‘Ted Lasso’ cares about, it’s the little details. Sexual harassers are integrated into society, they are not arch-villains with haircuts – although Rupert (Anthony Head) is allowed to don a trench coat. Charismatic, magnetic and powerful people who exercise this control over others. Until they lose it and their system collapses and they end up being outcasts, “assholes”. Educating on equality and sexual harassment is educating on how to protect yourself and deal with this scum: zero tolerance.

Or the perfect anti-hero

Ted Lasso’ also faces racial rhetoric from Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh), charging political inks. But if there is a foreign who goes from prop man to Ted’s fatal enemy is Nate Shelley. Actor Nick Mohammed’s arc offers one of the greatest evolutions in modern television: there is rarely a grudge without its own pain, hatred without prior trauma, or regret without forgiveness. Or shouldn’t. The ending couldn’t be brighter: the BELIEVE poster has been kind of a totem all this time. Believe, in yourself and in others, in your credo, whatever it is, or in the abstract. But do not lose this faith, this guide in others. Unsurprisingly, Lasso hates the selfie —individualistic symbol— in favor of Russian.

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