Ted Lasso Recap: It’s Called a Team

Ted’s success with the Richmond Greyhounds didn’t translate into fame in America, nor is there any reason to think he wanted it to. But the opening moments of this episode suggest he might have been something of a celebrity if he’d stuck around. Ted’s success has clearly been good for Trent Crimm (James Lance), whose book, The Richmond Way, has recently made its paperback debut, and who now hosts a podcast called Through the Laces (sponsored, of course, by a company specializing in hair-care products for silver foxes). And though it’s not clear how much Ted factors into it (probably not that much given doctor-patient confidentiality), Dr. Sharon Fieldstone (Sarah Niles) also has a new book, Unlocking the I in Team: The Psychology Behind Team Building, that probably benefited from her association with the team. Together they serve as a kind of Greek chorus for this episode, which finds Ted struggling, ultimately successfully, to unlock the “I” in his new team.

Both employ the same bit of wisdom in their respective books: “Lose the dressing room, lose the team.” But how does that apply when the dressing room is, at least part of the time, off limits? That’s Ted’s problem as “Greyhounds’ Day Off” begins, and one he struggles to express without putting his foot in his mouth. “I don’t like not being able to walk into a ladies’ locker room whenever I feel like it,” he tells Beard before moving on to even more awkward phrasings. But the sentiment makes sense. It’s hard to manage morale and team conflicts from a polite distance.

And this team certainly has conflicts. Despite being technically undefeated — two wins and two unspectacular draws, as Alice and Beard are quick to point out — the players seem more enthused for what their respective groups have done rather than the team’s collective achievement. So what’s going on? “It’s cliques,” Alice offers, before elaborating that the attackers, defenders, and midfielders have peeled off into distinct groups aligned with their personalities as, respectively, those who push the ball forward, those who hold the line against the other team, and the “people pleasers caught in the middle.” Ted needs further clarification, which leads Alice to liken each to the central Harry Potter characters, which in turn requires Beard to reframe it in terms of characters from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which lines up surprisingly well.

Fixing this is Ted’s primary task this episode, and the focus of much of “Greyhounds’ Day Off” action. But it’s not the only plot in play. At the Women’s Football Business summit, Rebecca and Keeley have different reactions to a speech by Zelda Southport (Tracey Ullman), who, after applauding those in attendance for supporting women’s football, uses her time to call the event out for its hypocrisy and “fake allyship” (while lobbing a few personal insults in the process). Sure, it’s great to support women’s sports when it’s convenient and helps their public image, but what about real support? Keeley becomes an instant convert, but Rebecca’s cautious about “rich, angry women,” having been one herself.

After the summit, Keeley excitedly recounts it for Roy, who’s happy to listen and even happier to see her so excited. But what he really wants to know is if enough time has passed for him to ask her out. Before she can answer, Higgins, a well-established music enthusiast, shows up to talk about Zelda’s early ’80s postpunk band, Seizure, then finds himself drawn into their relationship talk against his will and unable to disengage, even as it gets quite intimate. Roy confesses that, sure, he’s slept with plenty of women since they broke up but hasn’t properly dated any of them. The arrived-at solution: Roy needs to go on ten dates before they can even think about getting serious again.

Roy takes a literal approach to the assignment by stacking one date on top of another at the same classy nightspot. It doesn’t work out that well. The first night, one date ends with an awkward non-kiss, and two more fall apart when a scheduling mix-up exposes Roy’s scheme. This does not go unnoticed by Britt (Isabelle Bonfrer), a bartender who watches it unfold with quiet amusement. The next night, Roy decides to be more upfront about what’s going on, declining a second drink with a woman who’s shared her “journey with sleep apnea” with him. “I do know this makes me a dickhead,” he adds. “And I am sorry.” At the bar, Britt gives him the business, but with an unmistakably flirtatious undertone. This develops into a backroom make-out session that takes an unfortunate turn when Roy’s long-neglected knee gives out. Thanks to Roy’s sister Jenni, he gets to jump the line and see a specialist, Dr. Erin Beaumont (Laura Haddock), who chews him out about not taking care of himself yet makes him wish he had her phone number. It looks like the ten-dates-and-out plan might have hit a snag.

In Rebecca’s office, it quickly becomes clear that Keeley has not forgotten about Zelda. Rebecca’s attempt to steer her away turns unintentionally insulting when she suggests it would be “naïve” to jump into business with someone like Zelda without deep consideration. Later, Keeley arranges a meeting by the pitch to talk it over. Keeley’s not mad, it turns out. In fact, she tells Rebecca how excited she is to be building this team with her best friend and that her “nos” only make her rethink her approach to solving the team’s problems. Zelda’s name isn’t even spoken, but that doesn’t mean she’s out of the picture.

At the Crown & Anchor, Ted and Beard try to figure out the solution to the clique issue — by drawing on movies, of course — when one arrives at their table. Mae is restarting the pub’s quiz night. And though Beard first thinks about how he can dominate the event, an ambition he never surrenders but that is eventually taken from him, Ted sees other possibilities. After hearing turmoil in the locker room, Ted and Beard devise ways to enter without violating their players’ privacy: Ted via a wastebasket and Beard via some strategically positioned Post-it notes. What’s the problem? There’s not one problem, really. The players air their grievances, which are essentially a pile of petty conflicts and resentments that, as Alice warned, can be traced back to the team fracturing into cliques. So the players will get a day off to cool down but have to spend the night at the pub quiz in teams of Ted’s choosing, never mind the cliques. They should look out for a Partiful invite, assuming Ted can figure out how the app works.

The team shows up, but the sniping continues as they settle in for a night that seems likely to be dominated by Beard. “Sometimes you gotta ride the horse in the direction it’s facing,” Ted tells Alice. “In this instance, the horse is a genius at a very specific thing, and we are riding its coattails, you know? Speaking of which, did y’all get the Beach Boys over here?” (Somewhere Mike Love must have flinched without understanding why.) But after Beard takes a trip to the loo, he emerges a shaken, silent man, opening the field up to other teams. (Later we’ll learn the flyer he’s clutching is for an ominously titled theatrical production called What Ever Happened to the Baby, Jane? starring Beard’s ex.)

That development doesn’t hurt the team bonding that’s already in progress thanks to a combination of successful answers, Kate Middleton conspiracy theories, and booze. Then, when There Will Be Brian, an all-male team, starts to hit them with sexist taunts, they find a common enemy. In the final round, one of the teams destroys this enemy via their knowledge of Goodnight Moon, but it becomes a contested win after one of the male opponents first accuses them of cheating then dumps a beer on Gemma’s head. A mêlée ensues, landing the whole team, coaches and all, in jail. This, it turns out, is fine. In fact, it becomes a kind of behind-bars party that completes the bonding process that trivia night began. They’ve become, in Ted’s words, a “giant cluster clique.” Beard offers some tighter wording: “It’s called a team, coach.”

When Rebecca and Keeley make it to the station, they find that the team has already been bailed out — by Zelda Southport, who doesn’t stick around but does suggest to Keeley that their group mugshot could have marketing potential. Then Higgins arrives with more news: They’re scheduled to square off against the formidable Chelsea for a home game as part of the FA Cup, news that everyone greets with enthusiasm, except for Beard and (especially) Alice, who can’t hide their concern. Regardless, it’s full steam ahead. What’s more, Keeley tells everyone they’re going to sell out Richmond’s big stadium, Nelson Road.

This episode also plays like the moment when the season comes together. Not that it’s been fragmented in a detrimental way, but the first three episodes were largely dedicated to establishing the new status quo. With that out of the way, the season starts to develop some real forward momentum. The team has gelled. There are matches to win, obstacles to overcome, and a new ally in the form of Zelda (assuming Rebecca’s wrong to be a little suspicious about her attention). It’s a fun, fast-paced episode, too. While this season hasn’t returned to the half-hour outings of the show’s first season, there’s been a nice effort to keep the pace brisk. Now it’s on to the FA Cup.

• It’s nice seeing Trent and Sharon again (and to see they’ve remained friends, even if Sharon hasn’t technically read his book). Trent gets points for his Enya T-shirt. Sharon loses some points for her fondness for watching movies on her phone. Sharon, no.

• Ted seems truly traumatized by his exposure to the “overzealous girl dads” he encountered at the Eras Tour show.

• Tracey Ullman showing up is pretty much always good news. Zelda Southport doesn’t seem too autobiographical, but does everyone know about Ullman’s music career? Here’s her biggest hit, “They Don’t Know,” a cover of a Kirsty MacColl song. Paul McCartney even makes a cameo in the video.

• “I once passed out on a train, woke up in Chelmsford, ended up working at a castle for three months.” There’s clearly much more to learn about Boots’s pre-Greyhound life.

• When you think about it, Alice isn’t wrong about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Not that it’s a bad movie. It’s not. But if you put yourself in Ferris’s sister’s shoes, it plays out much differently.

• Ted is the midfielder, Alice the attacker, and Beard the defender. Right?