The fourth season of Ted Lasso faces an issue that no halftime pep talk can resolve.
After wrapping up three sweet seasons with a tidy finale, the show promised a new team and a fresh wave of storylines for its sprawling cast of women footballers, team leaders and idiosyncratic coaches. Instead, it has delivered underdeveloped supporting characters, caricature stand-ins for the fleshed-out originals, and a suite of plot threads riddled with tired sitcom tropes. The criticism is loud, and the clock is ticking.
The Roy-Keeley-Erin Love Triangle
Episode six puts the Roy-Keeley-Erin love triangle at the center of the story, and it stands out as the No. 1 offender for how much attention it draws. It functions as a bottle piece, bringing together most of the cast into one fancy setting for a New Year’s Eve aboard Zelda’s boat celebration.
The setup is pure sitcom machinery. Roy winds up hospitalized — again — after a jump-around to House of Pain’s “Jump Around” with his old frenemy and teammate Jamie Tartt ends in injury. Then comes the twist pulled from a dozen other shows: eavesdropping Keeley overhears the wrong part of his profession of love, walking away just before a drugged-up Roy can finish the sentence with “Keeley” instead of Erin’s name.
This is an easy trick, and the series has handled it better in other works. The scene fails to land because the viewers can spot the strings plainly. The hospital stay is one event linked to the jump-around wound from episode six, which keeps him out of the action during a critical point. Afterward, his declaration of love is mistaken, leaving the audience expecting a payoff that never arrives.
Rebecca and Jamie’s Strange Night
This same episode finds Rebecca pining for Matthijs, only to wind up in a heart-to-heart with none other than Tartt, who is now pushing his Old Testament-themed hooch. There is a fleeting will-they-won’t-they that is hard to care about, since Rebecca and Jamie ending up romantically entangled would make little sense and likely cause a fan revolt.
The whole thing plays like a “what if” fantasy that nearly sees the two kiss at midnight. The risks involved are remarkably small for a show that once made viewers weep over a darts game.
The Greyhounds Stay Undefined
The assembled Lady Greyhounds, gathered and glammed for the night, at last had a chance to reveal more of themselves. The writers set the stage for an occasion that might produce new plotlines capable of propelling the season forward.
As with the episodes so far, though, we have been handed only snippets and small gags to define these women. Lizzie sneaking ham from the buffet. Alice discovering the team doesn’t hate her after all. These swings at humor and character development pale next to what the show did with the rich, perfectly sentimental storytelling around the men’s team in its first three seasons.
The irony is sharp. A series that sets out to confront the inequity between men’s and women’s sports falls directly into the same trap — leaving its women underdeveloped and lacking support.
Ted Skips the Party
The episode finds its titular hero spending the night apart from his team, sitting at a pub with his ex on New Year’s Eve while they work through old memories. After some disclosures about Michelle and her therapist, she finally pushes him to come along and join the group for the New Year’s Eve celebration.
The moment arrives when the kiss is revealed as the clock strikes 12, and for many viewers, that is precisely when they decided to bid this episode farewell.
Roy’s Hospital Bed
The jump-around injury in episode six is what put Roy in the hospital, and it was a single incident. It took him out of the action during a critical moment. What follows is that his profession of love gets misheard, leaving the audience waiting on a resolution that never arrives.
The show repeatedly sets up emotional payoffs, only to delay them through misunderstandings that could be resolved in seconds. It is a consistent pattern.
The version of Ted Lasso that drew people in did not hide from difficulty between characters. It won its audience over through honest communication, letting people speak plainly to one another, even when doing so was difficult.
The Women Deserve Better
Season four brought a women’s team called the Lady Greyhounds, along with a new locker room and the opportunity to start an ensemble from nothing. The show has the talent, and the audience has the patience.
So far, the episodes have offered a steady stream of small jokes rather than full storylines. The gag about Lizzie sneaking ham, and Alice’s discovery that the team doesn’t actually hate her, are individual moments rather than larger narrative threads.
The first three seasons gave the men’s team rich, perfectly sentimental storytelling. The women’s team is getting scraps.
The Season’s Progress
A new group and a fresh set of narratives were promised for the season ahead. Instead, what viewers have gotten is a roster of supporting players who remain underdeveloped alongside plot threads that rely on familiar formulas rather than the specific emotional weight that defined the show’s earlier episodes.
The show has yet to reveal what its remaining episodes will hold, so none of them have been detailed. What the final installments will include remains unknown.
Can It Be Fixed?
The series still has time to fix it — but it had better come fast. Season four is fading, and it won’t be a memorable return for Mr. Lasso if it doesn’t turn things around soon.
There is still room for the series to flesh out the Greyhounds, settle the love triangle without relying on a misunderstanding, and actually give Ted an active role instead of confining him to a pub chat with his ex. The show has proven capable of more in the past, and it can return to that level.
The clock is running.
The missing element here is resolve. What the show requires is a pledge to its women’s team, a pledge to new plot threads, and a pledge to stop repeating the same sitcom tricks. Its foundation was honesty between characters, and it can rediscover that honesty again.
Here is how the season’s episodes have unfolded so far:
| Episode | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | New team introduction |
| 2 | Character setup |
| 3 | Team building |
| 4 | Mid-season tension |
| 5 | Roy and Jamie fallout |
| 6 | New Year’s Eve on Zelda’s boat |
| 7 | Not yet detailed |
| 8 | Not yet detailed |
| 9 | Not yet detailed |
| 10 | Season finale |
The show has not announced what the remaining episodes will hold. What is clear is that the audience wants the women’s team to matter as much as the men’s team did.
Source: hollywoodreporter.com