Although I’m sure this third season will probably be Ted Lasso‘s last, I still can’t call it that. Just in case. I promise this review will be pretty spoiler-free, so read on!
Let me tell you what though, it didn’t disappoint! Overall at least. We’ll get into that later. But, since it has been an obscene amount of time since the second season aired, I decided to binge watch the first two seasons again just before the third season started. What a delightful treat down memory lane that was. In case you need reminding, AFC Richmond are back in the premiere league with the promise of winning the whole thing next season, Nate completely betrayed Ted and the team by leaving (and leaving the ‘Believe’ sign torn in two), Jamie has begun his road to redemption, Rebecca and Sam decide to call it quits, and Roy and Keely are on the rocks in the wake of all of her professional success. Whew! Got it?
Now, the first episode wastes no time in telling us that Roy has broken up with Keeley. What may surprise you is that the pair have almost no screen time together for the rest of the twelve episodes. Instead, we get to see a full-fledged friendship blossom between him and Jamie. I cannot tell you how much of a highlight all of those scenes were this season. And speaking of Jamie, every episode we just saw him become a better and better person. If Phil Dunster is left off the Emmy ballots again this year I will riot. Keeley instead spends most of her time running her new PR firm with its fair share of challenges. Her CFO is a delight, while her short-lived girlfriend and former best friend are anything but.
Something that came as a bit of a surprise was how little time we spent with Nate this season. He starts off still riding the high of being a meanie, but as each episode passes we see him start to revert back to his former self. I was left somewhat unsatisfied with his arc over the course of the season and almost found myself rolling my eyes when his little bits came up. Rebecca continues to thrive with her ownership of the club and eventually even finds it in herself to stop caring about Rupert. Finally. She gets some very ominous advice from a psychic, but you’ll just have to watch and see if it pays off. Meanwhile, Sam opens up his Nigerian restaurant with its fair share of hiccups along the way.
I say again that the best arc of the season belongs to Jamie, who grows leaps and bounds after some superstar player named Zava unexpectedly joins the team. Jamie is committed to being a team player, but surprisingly gets offered extra training by Roy because both of them know that he could still be the best with just a bit more effort. Nothing compares to the training time they spent together in Amsterdam where the team essentially plays a scrimmage match during the middle of the season. That game also comes during a low point for the team, but it wouldn’t be fictional television if they couldn’t turn things around in the end.
The Amsterdam episode and the season finale were perfect episodes in my opinion, and I think they ended things near perfect. If it truly is the end, then I’m satisfied where everything shook out (dream or not – again, watch to find out). Of course, there is just a tiny crack where should they want to continue on they certainly could. Theories are swirling about a couple possible spin-offs and while I’d be nervous about their quality, there is no denying I want more of the Ted Lasso universe just like everyone else.