even freakin dumbo

stress eating cookies is the ted lasso way

[wexler]

“It was the easiest scene we ever shot. It was a lot of feelings from six years of working with each other.” — Bob Odenkirk

“This is them at their best.” — Rhea Seehorn

[evendumbo]

I hope that Brimsley is the new Lady Whistledown. If I have to watch that queer fellow stand there speechless like a piece of furniture for one more damn season, I will be forced to write a letter of complaint to the ACLU.

[evendumbo]

If I don't write this down somewhere, I fear my partner will abandon me because I keep saying the same thing over and over and over againnnnn.

So feel free to ignore.

Bridgerton. Right?

So, season 1. CRAZY premise. Nobles include black people. Simon, our black protagonist, has an abusive father who is a duke and who is obsessed with having an heir in the context of that different racial political ballgame. The mother had the child even though doctors told her she'd probably die. She had Simon, then she died. Then at like, 3 years of age, the father realizes Simon has a stutter and he's furious. So he sends the child to the fucking country like you would an unwanted dog and tells his servants that his child DIED. Like. what?!? Simon grows up and punishes his father on his death bed and vows to never marry and never have children so the duchy will die with him. Um okay?!? Then he falls in love with Daphne, a ruse and sexual desire and a near murder ensue, but they get married. But he tells her he "can't have children" while coming on the bed when she doesn't understand how children are made. When she figures it out, she's FURIOUS. Then she forces him into coming inside of her ?!!?!? But she doesn't get pregnant. Then she finds unopened letters from young Simon to his father. Then she's like, my bad, and she makes a case to stay together.

So he stays with her. Why? Because, in his words, if they're together, "nothing else matters."

WHAT THE FUCK?

Okay. Wild premise. Holy cow. I'm hooked. But then...shockingly anticlimactic ending that doesn't address any of the wild shit. Like, not at all. Not even a regency-appropriate knowing glance. I mean... Fine, I guess. What a ride until we got to that point, right? What crazy off the wall thing will they come up with for season 2?

Anthony is in love with the older sister of the lady he asked to marry him.

Um...okay. Awkward?

Season 3. Colin tells his boys that he would never get involved with Penelope, I guess because of how she looks? What an asshole. Penelope is LW and doesn't want Colin to know. Yeah, that makes sense. Sooo... Dass it?

I guess season 4, goddamn. Ugh. In LA, Jesus Christ, Hollywood is filled with ads as tall as the buildings. It's like FINE. The good Benedict. He's like...bisexual, right? Or something? Artsy? Countercultural. He falls in love with a cutie who's a maid. Maybe they'll tear down the class system and tear the family apart, forcing Mayfair to have a come-to-Jesus moment about normative romance and class politics. DRAMA. Let's go!

Oh. You asked her to be your mistress.

What the fuck, man. We went from gothic level drama of season 1 to reheating Cinderella in season 4. I'm not saying the actors aren't hot or good at their jobs. I have tabled the obvious racial politics that the show has weirdly remained silent about.

All I am saying is...

Listen...

The man sent the baby to the COUNTRY and told everybody he was DEAD and then the baby grew up and was like I'LL NEVER HAVE CHILDREN. And then my man got married and was coming on the bed, on the desk, on the ladder, and who knows where else without his wife's knowledge?!?

That is a motherfracking STORY. A very Shonda-esque doing the MOST Scandal-era story.

And then the reasons why the show was such a smash in S1 just quietly disappeared. Sure, Regé-Jean Page was beautiful, Mayfair was beautiful, etc etc, but the reason the show broke records was because of the CRAZY BALLS TO THE WALL PLOT.

I get that there are books and whatnot. But if we can get a sexy black Queen Charlotte, then goddammit, fuck the rules and exercise some creative license.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Lasso Talk.

[evendumbo]

Jesus Christ, how is Vince Gilligan such a good writer?

[endlessblasphemy]

brett goldstein on a podcast episode released today saying that sometimes while filming a show you discover certain dynamics you couldn't predict and that it's important to pay attention to the magic and it's ok to change the story or ending to service that, "..but that isn't for everyone" lmfao get his ass brett 🙂‍↕️

[evendumbo]

LOL

Others find meaning in fiction that I write that I didn't put in there intentionally but, wow, works beautifully. Someone found an unintentional metaphor that was so damn good that it irritated me. I definitely could not have come up with that metaphor if I tried to do it on purpose. So where did it come from?

Alice Walker said that, before she wrote The Color Purple, the characters just came to her and would not leave her be until she wrote the dang masterpiece.

The meaning of fiction emerges before the artist and after the art. Art is not static after it's been produced or published. It keeps getting remade by everybody else who engages it. Engaged readers/watchers don't just consume art, we co-create it.

Alice Walker understood that the book was bigger than her, but she had the skill and vision and purpose to write it. If artists are humble and listen to their co-creators — whether they are characters haunting us before the work is even conceived or people who engage the work after it is out of your hands — then we are privileged to endlessly rediscover the meaning of the art we create.

[evendumbo]

How are we feeling about this newly announced season 4? Personally I've been burnt too much to get anywhere near hoping for Tedbecca again. But I can't deny I'm happy if they get reunited, if only to undo the absolute travesty that was the ending. Far too bittersweet. And that Mary Poppins schtick was moronic. Mary Poppins was on the outside looking in. We never cared because she was never emotionally involved. We never got a glimpse of her trauma and therefore rooting for her in that day. UUUGH

Good to hear from you! 💕

Honestly, it boils down to a trust in the writers and I’m still a little stunned by Brendan’s dismissiveness of fans at last year’s reddit forum. It was the main thing that broke my relationship with the show, even more than how season 3 played out. I tried my best to rewatch season 1 a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t get past the 2nd episode. I finally canceled my 🍎 subscription.

So, even in the best case scenario -- Jason is coming back for the full show and they realized their *own writing* and brought Ted & Rebecca together -- I just don’t know if I have the will to come back. Realistically, I think the best we can hope for is that Jason comes back for a couple of guest appearances and they clarify that Ted always had a crush on Rebecca. At least that will be less dishonest and serve as a bookend.

But either way I remain deflated about the whole project. 🙅🏽‍♀️🙅🏽‍♀️🙅🏽‍♀️ 

But who knows? Maybe??? LOL 

[fatimagic]

AAAAAAAND HERE'S HOW TEDBECCA CAN STILL WIN

[evendumbo]

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

Okay so excited for Ted Lasso Season 4. If they fix the Ted/Rebecca shitfest. If they don't I'm out ✌️.

[evendumbo]

[rosie-tyler]

TEDBECCA NATION HOW ARE WE FEELING???

[evendumbo]

[vacationship]

‘Ted Lasso’ Heads Toward Season 4 Greenlight With Options Pickup For 3 Core Cast Members

'Ted Lasso' is plotting a return for Season 4 as cast options have been picked up for Brett Goldstein, Hannah Waddingham and Jeremy Swift.

[evendumbo]

[struckbyfuckinglightning]

THE WAY I WILL FORGIVE ALL THE HORRORS OF SEASON 3 IF THEY GET RID OF BOAT GUY

[evendumbo]

While I shall hold this grudge FOREVER.

[flurry-of-beaus-pop-pop]

Hannah Waddingham's absolutely refusal to do any sort of Ted Lasso spinoff as Rebecca unless Ted is also involved makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Honestly though? Give me a movie set like, ten years later, where Ted and Rebecca have lost touch, but something brings Rebecca to Kansas or Ted back to Richmond, and they reconnect and that spark returns immediately and they slowly fall in love and live happily ever after

[evendumbo]

(I’d watch the hell out of this.)

[your-mums-nuts]

[evendumbo]

Never stop demanding answers.

[evendumbo]

Finally let myself rewatch a couple of Ted Lasso episodes since the finale -- the best ones imo, Diamond Dogs and Rainbow. Rainbow is just perfectly written, perfectly edited, perfectly performed. Maybe a tiiiiny bit overboard on the cultural references (beyond all the hat tips to romcoms which were sweet, I lol'ed at Ted's random reference to The Shining, what a nice way to be like, danger ahead, friends).

Still very sad about season 3. Still pretty annoyed with BH’s defensiveness. Still aggravated about how the whole Ted/Rebecca thing played out (oh, the textual waste! the waste will always be hard to watch), but at this point, my frustration about how they did Roy Kent wrong almost eclipses that. Damn.

But I'm glad that I've come to terms with TL enough to go back to my fave eps and remind myself why I thought the show was so excellent in the first place. Has the healing begun?

[your-mums-nuts]

Me, a tedbecca shipper: aw so she doesn’t end up with Ted (I got spoiled when I started the show) I guess she’ll have some other great love interests then, right?

Ted lasso writers: oh don’t you worry, she dates an employee twenty years younger than her and there are a lot of pedo jokes😉

Me: mm okay… but at least the guy she does end up with is lovely, right?

Ted lasso writers: definitely! They meet when she’s stranded on his boat with no phone and a lot of female-violence and rape jokes ensue😉

Me: right… and why didn’t anyone consider Ted, again?

Ted lasso writers: ugh they’re friends that would’ve been so weird

[evendumbo]

Apropos of I’m still mad, I also hate what they did with Roy Kent’s character. Hated it, hated it.

Roy was a great character in seasons 1 and 2, a thoughtful, principled person who struggled with issues of abandonment and intimacy because of childhood trauma. I loved the way he was written. Plus his relationship with Keeley felt very intentional: two people figuring out how to rethink their hyper-gendered lives — Keeley becoming more of a leader and strategist rather than only being almost famous for sexy modeling, Roy figuring out how to be more self-aware about his feelings and experiment with trust and vulnerability. Both of them learning how to adjust their boundaries in a committed relationship while practicing mindful accountability when they fucked up as people do. I also loved it when they hit a point at the end of season 2 where they loved each other, but were tempted by other compelling people, a real test to see if they could manage the emotional risk of commitment.

I was happy when season 3 opened up with them being broken up, that totally tracked. I looked forward to the story revealing how the breakup happened, providing more clarity about their fears and learning edges, and figuring out how to navigate their respective issues to make it back to each other. Even if they didn’t make it, I was still looking forward to a good story.

Some of Roy’s journey in season 3 was on point, especially Roy’s very nice resolutions with Trent and Jamie. But beyond that all we got was Roy being uncomfortably weird for no apparent reason: Roy saying weird shit to Keeley in the parking lot for no clear reason; Roy describing a twisted bullying scenario for no clear reason; Roy tying strings to penises for no clear reason; Roy being oddly mesmerized by Jamie’s mother for no clear reason; and then…a random brief visual of Roy going to therapy in the finale montage. All of these alienating, out of context, out of character scenes did not move a narrative, they were just a series of confusing non sequiturs.

And of course I was out here like Linus waiting for The Great Pumpkin urging people to just be patient for what I just knew was gonna be a great episode that pulled this silly shit together.

So pour one out for the great Roy Kent. He was a nuanced character who turned into collateral damage by writing that just gave the fuck up.

[evendumbo]

Reblogging in honor of Halloween. May all the shippers and lovers of television get candy instead of rocks in 2024!

[evendumbo]

A response to this thread because comment word count is just...

The people have spoken. It wasn’t just Ted and Rebecca that crashed and burned, it was Ted Lasso itself. Before S3 ended, I decided they were doing something exciting and unique with the sitcom genre. But the show wasn’t as good as I thought it was, I was projecting based on my view that S1 was genuinely excellent and about half of the eps in S2 were very good. ("Rainbow" remains in my top 3.)

When I take off my rose-colored sunshades that I borrowed from Ted to look at the show more honestly, there were a few things I liked in S3 (Jamie’s near-perfectly written transformation, more Trent, Higgins’ and Barbara's one-liners, the cute triangle animation detour, and Juno’s performance despite so-so writing) but, dear lord, the story arc of S3 was just a poorly conceived HOT MESS OVERALL:

the total pointlessness and waste of precious story time that is Zava

the disrespectful destruction of my beloved Roy Kent

the awkward way it tried to make boat guy and Jack happen

the lack of follow through with Sassy

the flat take and pointlessness of Shandy, a rare woman of color on the show

the randomness of Michelle making a deeply unethical, emotionally fucked up choice of dating their couples therapist on the low

the iffiness of Nate’s arc (an understatement bc I heart Nick Mohammed)

Hannah’s usual stellar performance was also undermined by the writing bc it disappeared crucial context for her acting choices

even Jane Payne could have been more than a silly, emotionally punitive character given the bit of insight into her character at the end of “Beard After Hours”

The fact that they continued to both weirdly signal and then drop the ball on a Ted & Rebecca romance in S3 cut the deepest, but I see now that it was also just par for the course for the hotmessification of Ted Lasso that was S3. (Don’t @ me antis, the T/R platonic friendship writing also fell flat.)

Ted Lasso was a pop culture rocket that shot up super fast and probably way too high, then the pressure was on, then there seemed to be some painful personal fallout in the background along with the usual industry fuckery, and then the irritating season 4 will they/won’t they tension. It probably should have been predictable that all that weight would eventually break it apart.

So, I’m not sure if we wasted two years. But another way of thinking about it is that we can affirm our emotional investment in early Ted Lasso, while allowing the writers the grace to make the above regrettable errors that sadly pissed away the rich creative opportunities of S3. It was largely a bad season of television — good people who work hard can produce bad art, and then have bad faith, defensive reactions to fair questions.

Realizing this has allowed me to feel less resentful and more empathetic. With time and luck, this might eventually lead to a different emotional orientation to this weird little heartbreaker of a show.