Ted Lasso Season 3 Premiere Review

This is a spoiler-free review of the Ted Lasso Season 3 premiere, which will air on Apple TV+ on March 15th.

Coach Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) has lost a little bit of pep in his step since the end of Ted Lasso’s second season, and, Unfortunately, that seems to have rubbed off on the premiere Season 3, too. The series has always excelled at illustrating how messy things can get as we work through the healing process, especially the fact that said healing is non-linear. Both of those aspects are on full display in the premiere, but it’s the humorous lens they are usually explored through that’s missing.

Perhaps part of the struggle is how spread out everyone is in this Season 3 opener. Keeley Jones (Juno Temple) is off running her new PR firm, while Nate Shelley (Nick Mohammed) — who, as you may recall, went to the dark side at the end of Season 2 — is off trying to take West Ham to victory. Even the players and coaches who are close to each other logistically are kind of off in their own worlds dealing with their own stuff so far. Now, while all of this is undoubtedly so everyone can come back together in their own respective ways before the Season 3 finale (this is Ted Lasso, after all), it plays as a pretty big downer in the premiere! 

You know what it’s not missing though? That patented Ted Lasso heart. Because this season seems to be leaning into longer episodes (around the forty-to-fifty-minute mark for those that we’ve seen so far) the opening showcasing Ted’s emotional state and the folks who are spread out into the wind feels a little drawn out. But the moment Keeley and Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) reunite, the series pops its heart back on its sleeve and reminds you that the core of the series is still right where we left it in Season 2.

Ted is hurting this year and, while it’s good to see the series explore his pain as he struggles to find purpose in his post-divorce/post-promotion world, it’s hard to engage with that pain all on its own. The show is so well known for balancing the heavy and the lighthearted with ease, so the lack of funny bone tickles is really noticeable here! That does make the premiere less enjoyable to watch than previous series standouts, but it’s also not without very clear intention from the Ted Lasso writers, and it does do its job as a premiere by successfully setting up the rest of the season.

You gotta let Ted be Ted.

As expected, Season 3 kicks off with the first scuff up between Ted and Nate. It was difficult to see the latter shift from beloved “wonder kid” to the living, breathing representation of “hurt people hurt people,” but, given how solid the writing has always been on the series, there was never any doubt that it would be for a purpose. In the premiere, it seems as if that purpose may be to show that Ted does have a limit and he will snap when necessary. But then he doesn’t.

Why doesn’t he? Well because of that aforementioned heart, of course. I want him to snap, sure. Hell, Rebecca is practically begging him to eviscerate Nate where he stands thanks to his connection to her former husband and all-around slimeball Rupert Mannion (Anthony Head). But that’s not the Ted Lasso way, and — as the episode so pointedly explains — you gotta let Ted be Ted, even when Ted may be Tedding to the point of self destruction. He thinks if he just keeps it coming with the kindness, he’ll be able to break through to Nate. Then again, that didn’t really work for his marriage, did it?

The way I see it, there are two primary paths that Season 3 can take. The first is that Coach Lasso finally learns some boundaries, because you cannot set yourself on fire to keep other people warm. The second is that it leans even harder into letting Ted be Ted, let’s Nate realize he’s entered an abusive relationship with his new team (read: with Rupert) and that there’s still unconditional love waiting for him back at AFC Richmond. Given that these dang writers have nailed it so often, I’m going to guess that it’ll be a little bit of both.

This premiere may not have that usual Ted Lasso shine, but it sure does know how to say “don’t worry, I have a point” without actually saying anything of the kind. The performances are still great, the writing still shines, the shots are still prettier than a comedy needs to be, but I want the laughs, and I hope to see them return way before we see any real resolution to the multiple strained storylines across Season 3. That said, I’m absolutely picking up what the Ted Lasso writers are putting down. And, even if I wasn’t, if there’s one thing that this wonderful, heartfelt, messy-in-this-one-episode series has taught me, it’s to believe.