S03.E01: Smells Like Mean Spirit

[DearEvette]

The whole episode felt a bit off for me, Like Jamie's hair.  And not one scene of the pub crew! 

I know this was written by people who have written episodes of the show before, but it felt like they were rusty.  As if the time off lessened their familiarity with the characters, so they all felt a little off kilter.  Until the end, only toward the end of the episode did if almost feel like things slipped back into their groove a bit.

 

On 3/15/2023 at 7:52 PM, Girl in a Cardigan said:

I’ve never been a fan of Henry Lasso. It feels bad to rag on a kid for their shit acting but it always feels like he’s reading a cue card just over Jason’s shoulder and it’s annoying.

Yeah, very noticeable. It didn;t feel like acting, just like someone reading the script.  And I agree that his line about 'the state of politics in my country' felt unnatural, was delivered wrong -- just landed like a dud.  

 

On 3/15/2023 at 8:13 PM, MissLucas said:

Doctor Sharon hopefully got off! ahem...

Was so happy to see Ted was talking to Doc Sharon and wodnered if it was really Sarah Nile' voice.  Only to be tickled to the glimpse of her and her hottie.  Get it, Doc Sharon!

 

On 3/17/2023 at 11:34 AM, Blakeston said:

I have to agree with those who don't think a redemption arc for Nate will be believable..... A lot of toxic people are just toxic. Nate appears to be one of them.

Yup. Yup. Yup.  My heart sank a bit when Ted put Lego Nate in line with everyone else.  It feels like they are foreshadowing a redemption arc.  But to me it would just not be believable.  Nate isn't just an asshole and lashing out at people he thinks betrayed/wronged/hurt him,  he is a hateful asshole to everyone.  There was no reason for him to treat WIll the way he did.  And frankly no reason for him to betray Ted given that Ted had his back at every turn.   The man can't even return a basic, civil 'good morning' greeting to an employee of the organization he works for.  His go-to first instinct in every scenario is humiliation.  These are not the signs of someone who is simply misunderstood and hurt. To me these are the signs of someone who is flat out cruel and toxic. 

 

On 3/18/2023 at 8:53 PM, AstaCharles said:

Loved the Evil Empire vibe with Rupert's team. The office designs, everything. Even the assistant is almost droid like. "It's a car."

Rupert gift to Nate, that car, looked like if a Stormtrooper were a car.

[AncientNewbie]

Mixed on this one. 

Loved it was back, loved seeing the storylines advance, but a little uncertain about some of the choices. 

I'm sure a smarter person would cite Joseph Campbell, but I'm going to go with pro wrestling. The bad guy has to win enough of the matches that you're interested in seeing the hero finally prevail. So I get why conflict and struggle have shown up, and I know we don't get the whole story laid out perfectly in ep 1. But some of the characterization just seemed inconsistent to me. 

[MicheleinPhilly]

21 hours ago, DearEvette said:

The man can't even return a basic, civil 'good morning' greeting to an employee of the organization he works for.  His go-to first instinct in every scenario is humiliation.  These are not the signs of someone who is simply misunderstood and hurt. To me these are the signs of someone who is flat out cruel and toxic. 

That 2 second scene just hardened my hatred for Nate which was already off the charts. I don't care if you're Mother Theresa, if you can't even exhibit basic manners or common courtesy, you can get stuffed. 

God, I hate him! 

[mledawn]

5 hours ago, AncientNewbie said:

I'm sure a smarter person would cite Joseph Campbell

Gotta love seeing the journey of the hero on the Internet forum!

[Lois Sandborne]

15 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Yup. Yup. Yup.  My heart sank a bit when Ted put Lego Nate in line with everyone else.  It feels like they are foreshadowing a redemption arc.  But to me it would just not be believable. 

Yeah I kind of feel this way. But, this show has done a little bit of subversion too. So here's fingers crossed that by the end of the season the Lego lineup will be righted, and Henry, Ted, and Nate will all have learned some new lessons about friendship, boundaries, and toxicity.

[quirkygal]

On 3/26/2023 at 3:11 PM, DearEvette said:

Only to be tickled to the glimpse of her and her hottie.  Get it, Doc Sharon!

Was that Lucas/Luca/La-whatever that was seeing Rebecca before she hooked up with Sam? I tried IMDb but didn't get anything useful.  (but then looking for "that hottie" and "not that cutie" isn't helpful)

But yes Dr Sharon - get it, get it, get it goooood

[One Imaginary Girl]

This is not really about Ted Lasso but is kind of related.  In a review of a book about Manchester United, the reviewer recounts that the book says of Roy Keane, the guy whom Roy Kent is supposedly modeled after (he was a very intense player but lacks Roy Kent's marshmallowy center): "Keane in particular would test out new players by firing balls at them to appraise their first touch, a withering look enough to transmit the conclusion he'd drawn." Ha! We've seen that wordless glare from Roy Kent--there were definitely a few directed toward Trent Crimm in this episode.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 3/15/2023 at 5:13 PM, iMonrey said:

Are there really direct flights from London to Kansas City? That seems unlikely to me. Surely you have to stop in NY first. (Just did a quick search, did not find any direct flights. That doesn't mean there aren't any or that Henry didn't stop in NY or Chicago first but the map on Ted's phone showed a direct path from London to KC.)

I think that was kind of a plot contrivance thing they were stuck with. Because, I was looking into it awhile ago, and a lot of airlines only allow unaccompanied minors on non-stop flights. So unless someone met Ted's kid in NY or something it wouldn't really work for him to be leaving London with the airline employee.

[kwnyc]

42 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

So unless someone met Ted's kid in NY or something it wouldn't really work for him to be leaving London with the airline employee.

Michelle COULD have met him at JFK and flown back with him...but NO! She was probably making kissy face with her ex-therapist!

[Me from ME]

Now that this is back, I did a rewatch of the first seasons and looked into the IMDB of Brett Goldstein. Found it interesting that he was originally hired as a writer for the show, resonated with the Roy Kent character and actually auditioned for it. Another case of an actor being very successful in a role for which he had not been originally envisioned.

Another is Mike Smith, (Bubbles) who was originally a sound mixer on Trailer Park Boys. He was goofing around on set and the Director noticed him and wrote the part into the script.

There must be others who have become well known and successful through serendipity.

[Danny Franks]

I wish Bill Lawrence hired more people who are actually familiar with the Premier League (even if it's just for the parlance that's used), because some of the stuff is just jarring.

Higgins suggests "strengthening their roster" on the day pre-season training starts? Oh, that's an idea... that every other team in the league will have been working on the entire off-season. Also, no one in the UK uses "roster" for a squad of footballers.

West Ham being portrayed as a titanic, modern "top dog" club when the height of its ambitions have always been midtable mediocrity. Yes, they've got a fancy, modern stadium. Because it's the 2012 Olympic Stadium, which they agreed to take a lease for.

Yet somehow, this huge club of stars is happy to accept a guy who was the kitman for a smaller club just one year ago as their manager.

I don't think Nate's storyline is going to work for me, because it just makes no sense at all. Sure, it's based on Mourinho going from translator to Bobby Robson at Barcelona to a top coach, but it took Mourinho seven years from joining Robson to becoming a manager.

And, to be quite honest, I'm not interested in Nate's journey. I didn't like him much in season one, when he was the 'nice guy' underdog, and I couldn't stand him in season two when he started abusing his power. Why am I going to want to see even more of him now? So we can see him 'rediscover himself' or whatever? No thanks.

[Schweedie]

1 hour ago, Danny Franks said:

West Ham being portrayed as a titanic, modern "top dog" club when the height of its ambitions have always been midtable mediocrity. Yes, they've got a fancy, modern stadium. Because it's the 2012 Olympic Stadium, which they agreed to take a lease for.

Yet somehow, this huge club of stars is happy to accept a guy who was the kitman for a smaller club just one year ago as their manager.

This always bugged me, too. I never understood why they chose West Ham, who are pretty much what Richmond have been portrayed as in the show - been relegated and come back much like Richmond did, bouncing around mid-table and finishing 14th this year. Why not have Rupert buy an *actual* top club? I don't get it.

[Kel Varnsen]

9 minutes ago, Schweedie said:

This always bugged me, too. I never understood why they chose West Ham, who are pretty much what Richmond have been portrayed as in the show - been relegated and come back much like Richmond did, bouncing around mid-table and finishing 14th this year. Why not have Rupert buy an *actual* top club? I don't get it.

Are there top level clubs in London they could use (I know nothing about the Premier League so I have no idea)? Because keeping Nate in London, and having West Ham be Richmond's cross town rivals seems like it was kind of important. Maybe the other London clubs didn't want to give the show that much access.

Or maybe Ham is just a funny word.

[Schweedie]

49 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Are there top level clubs in London they could use (I know nothing about the Premier League so I have no idea)? Because keeping Nate in London, and having West Ham be Richmond's cross town rivals seems like it was kind of important. Maybe the other London clubs didn't want to give the show that much access.

Oh sure, there's Chelsea or Arsenal, or even Tottenham who have been making guest appearances in the top four more recently. But I guess it's possible that they just didn't want to be involved like that in the show, like you say.

[Danny Franks]

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Are there top level clubs in London they could use (I know nothing about the Premier League so I have no idea)? Because keeping Nate in London, and having West Ham be Richmond's cross town rivals seems like it was kind of important. Maybe the other London clubs didn't want to give the show that much access.

Or maybe Ham is just a funny word.

Spurs would have been the best fit, for the story they wanted to tell.

A club that has hovered around the top four for years, having the odd year where they're good for long enough to believe they can win something, before they fall back into the pack. And Spurs have been in the show, as the team Richmond beat in the FA Cup when Jamie remembered how to be a prick. They wouldn't be rivals for Richmond, really, but nor would West Ham.

West Ham is miles away from Richmond, right on the other side of London and London is too big, and has too many clubs, for a cross-town rivalry to mean anything to fans. For a club in Richmond, Fulham or Brentford would be their most likely rivals (and are also the clubs Richmond are based on, more than any other), but they're both a step below West Ham.

But honestly, the biggest bugbear from me in this episode was that it didn't seem to have occurred to Ted, Higgins or Rebecca (or Roy and Beard, I guess) that they might need to reinforce their squad. 

The number one priority for the club should have been bringing in players over the summer to give them a fighting chance.

Nottingham Forest signed twenty players when they were promoted last summer. They're an extreme example, but most clubs that get promoted will make several big signings, just to give them a chance of survival in the Premier League. the gulf in quality between the Premier League and the Championship is vast.

[lucindabelle]

I forgo e the episode everything for the fun that was the press conference.

even though I’m pretty sure the “how dumb are you” joke is used in British pantos ir was hilarious watching the press not get it and then finally love it.

and the Twitter fall out calling him “class-o” was perfect.

 

[Haleth]

Whew, finally starting to catch up after binging seasons 1 and 2.  Love, love this show!  I wasn't disappointed in this epi at all.  I'm just glad to be able to keep watching all the characters I've grown to love.

Nate is awfully cocky for someone who has never been head coach for a game.  I think Rupert is confident that his team has enough experience that he can take a chance on an unproven coach (and stick it to Rebecca and Ted at the same time).  Of course that doesn't mean Nate won't get the blame for when they lose.  I hope.

[norcalgal]

On 5/29/2023 at 4:52 AM, Kel Varnsen said:

Are there top level clubs in London they could use (I know nothing about the Premier League so I have no idea)? Because keeping Nate in London, and having West Ham be Richmond's cross town rivals seems like it was kind of important. Maybe the other London clubs didn't want to give the show that much access.

 

On 5/29/2023 at 6:52 AM, Danny Franks said:

Spurs would have been the best fit, for the story they wanted to tell.

A club that has hovered around the top four for years, having the odd year where they're good for long enough to believe they can win something, before they fall back into the pack. And Spurs have been in the show, as the team Richmond beat in the FA Cup when Jamie remembered how to be a prick. They wouldn't be rivals for Richmond, really, but nor would West Ham.

The bolded makes sense but it would have been extra and meta if Rupert had bought Crystal Palace.  After all, the show uses the Palace grounds and kit colors!