The Beautiful Show

This weekend, we wrapped up watching Ted Lasso. If you haven’t watched. Stop what you’re doing right now and watch, all three seasons, as there are spoilers in this post.

I’ll admit, we came to the Lasso game late. There was so much to watch on Netflix and Amazon Prime and HBO Max, or… er Max, that we didn’t buy in to Apple TV right away. In fact, it took more than three years and another free three month trial when we hastily upgraded our iPhones in Maine rather than try to eek another year out of the ones we bought just as COVID came crashing down upon us all.

But back to the show… There is just so much to love about it. We can relate on several levels to an American expat who knows nothing about the beautiful game, moves to a foreign land and becomes a coach. And “wanker” had it easy, at least he spoke the King’s English, or an American version of it anyway, upon arrival.

But Ted is more than a coach. He’s a leader. He instills values, hope, belief, comradery and love in his charges. They come together as a team and as a family. They overcome challenges against all odds but don’t win it all in the end. Lasso manages this in a much more genial manner than one of my real life heroes, Herb Brooks, who taught the 1980 Men’s Olympic hockey team to come together by focusing on a common foe, himself, to overcome the rivalries of Boston vs Minnesota.

There’s betrayal and repentance. Elevation and elation through promotion and there’s bitter heartbreak. There are perfect relationships which crumble and don’t rebuild and others which are left with you wondering, what happens next. There’s the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. And it’s not perfect. Like life, not perfect.

It is a miraculous show. One we miss already. In Portugal, they call it having saudades: a feeling of longing. A feeling of missing. A feeling of wanting to return. We want to watch it all again but know that we can’t because it won’t be new. It won’t and can’t be as good as the first time.

In a world where the news mostly focuses on the negative and where politics are seemingly and increasingly bitter and unnecessarily angry. In a world that seems to have, at times and in instances, lost compassion, caring and hope, Ted Lasso is just what we needed. A positive shot in the arm to inoculate us for a spell against negativity. An inspirational one. Of families both here and over there.

Tip of the cap to Jason Sudeikis and all involved. Roy Kent is everywhere. Believe.