S03.E08: We’ll Never Have Paris

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, Zaffy said:

With only a few episodes remaining I doubt they will give Ted the change to meet a new love interest. So it will either be someone we already know (his ex wife included) or nobody (for now).

Another option:  
There could be a scene in the finale with Ted having a chance encounter with someone in which sparks fly and eyes mutually twinkle. 
They might not even exchange names or numbers. 
It would just be a hint that there are other fish in the sea.

[DEL901]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Another option:  
There could be a scene in the finale with Ted having a chance encounter with someone in which sparks fly and eyes mutually twinkle. 
They might not even exchange names or numbers. 
It would just be a hint that there are other fish in the sea.

Perhaps a seat mate  on the flight home….showing possibilities but not tying things in a bow.    Although I also love the idea of Ted working on himself and realizing he doesn’t need Michelle to be happy.  

Edited May 9, 2023 by DEL901

[Uncle JUICE]

Maybe I'm watching this show wrong. This episode was absolutely ridiculous from pillar to post. 

First, I'm tired of the team members addressing things in these weird "just so" sorts of ways. it's really hard to explain, but every one of them in the leaked video scene was talking as if they were reading some public relations authored official tweet about it. I appreciate the effort to address this issue from a number of different angles, but it just sounds bizarre when there are three in a row. We're not watching a conversation, then, we're watching what sounds like a PSA, in this case, it's "Dudes, be cool about the nudes your girlfriend lets you have." A message I whole heartedly agree with of course, but this isn't a conversation 20 guys in a locker room have. And how fucking inappropriate was it for Isaac (couldn't disagree more that he's a good team captain) to take that one guy's phone OUT OF HIS HAND? If you want to talk about being adults, that's not how to do it. The whole scene was stupid and again, it's just not a natural way for people to interact. This is a professional team of professional players, not a high school. Let them be adults and reach that realization on their own.

What, EXACTLY, is Keely's job? And how do we have any idea if she's (a) good at it today and (b) succeeding? I find myself more and more on team "Straightlaced Office Lady". I find keely pretty insufferable, her character's become this weird arrested development charicature, like she's perpetually nineteen. And Jack did a U turn this week on if she was cool with Keely being her girlfriend. I don't think anyone, and I mean anyone, today would demand that an employee who made a private video on their personal devince that pre-dates employment would demand the employee prostrate herself in front of the public and declare herself full of shame. Hell, would anyone even COVER that some public relations executive had her videos hacked? Keely would be on like page 4 of the google search for those hacks. Who'd even care? Mistake making it such a big deal, except that we HAD to have these virtuous footballers all take their chance to show what an awesome and sensitive guy they are. You can play with this plot line without this "BIG DEAL" thing hanging over it and it'll work just fine. Also ALL OF THOSE PLAYERS WOULD HAVE DOWNLOADED IT. Even the gay one. 

I just am disappointed it feels like every scene ends with some smiling hug between two characters and everything's going to be okay. It makes me grouchy :).

Also fuck Nate from here to West Ham. His redemption is still unearned.

Also how does Richmond go on a 4 game win streak and we see none of it? 

And nice guy or not, I don't think you last in the EPL if you lose seven straight contests nowadays. 

[Kel Varnsen]

54 minutes ago, Uncle JUICE said:

Hell, would anyone even COVER that some public relations executive had her videos hacked? Keely would be on like page 4 of the google search for those hacks. Who'd even care?

I am trying to remember, at the start of the series was Keeley still an actual model or was she at the "former model" stage of her career by that point. Even if she was still modelling, I never got the sense that she was some kind of huge super model like the woman Nate went out with. So her biggest claim to fame in the last few years was probably Roy's and before that Jamie's girlfriend. And her and Roy broke up months ago, and he was hardly the guy who spent a lot of time in the public eye. And they even said this was some huge hack of many different celebrities.

The more I think about this storyline the more I think it could have been a perfect way to show how Keeley is great at her job. If she is supposed to be this super great PR person, who especially is good at doing PR for celebrities (and is really connected to celeb culture); she should know this is far from the first phone hack like this. And she should know what kind of response works and what doesn't. And then when you have Jack coming in with her dad's lawyer response, you could have Keeley say something about how if Jack doesn't trust her to know how to respond to this, then she probably doesn't trust her to run KJPR.

Edited May 9, 2023 by Kel Varnsen

[Uncle JUICE]

29 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

 

The more I think about this storyline the more I think it could have been a perfect way to show how Keeley is great at her job. If she is supposed to be this super great PR person, who especially is good at doing PR for celebrities (and is really connected to celeb culture); she should know this is far from the first phone hack like this. And she should know what kind of response works and what doesn't. And then when you have Jack coming in with her dad's lawyer response, you could have Keeley say something about how if Jack doesn't trust her to know how to respond to this, then she probably doesn't trust her to run KJPR.

SEE HOW MUCH BETTER THAT IS?!?! Seriously! It does so much more for the character AND it provides some Keely character building. She'd have a playbook for this, and when the momentary panic that it was her own video subsided, she probably would have had a good approach. Sadly she doesn't work at the club anymore, so she doesn't have to deal with the awkwardness from the boys afterward. In a week it'd be forgotten. The presence of these is no longer a controversy; the controversy is how they get out now, we all just accept that everyone has a dick / pussy pic on their phones, we're all people. 

[lasu]

Keely just had a big spread in Vanity Fair not long before this.  I think it's reasonable to assume she's a B or C list celebrity, and I absolutely think her hack would have been covered.  That said, I agree that the PR person should have known how to handle this.  It could have been a better storyline for sure.

[Schweedie]

Yeah, in season one Keeley said she was sort of famous for being almost famous, but the Vanity Fair thing I think points to that she's at least somewhat of a legit big-ish name.

But this?

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

The more I think about this storyline the more I think it could have been a perfect way to show how Keeley is great at her job. If she is supposed to be this super great PR person, who especially is good at doing PR for celebrities (and is really connected to celeb culture); she should know this is far from the first phone hack like this. And she should know what kind of response works and what doesn't. And then when you have Jack coming in with her dad's lawyer response, you could have Keeley say something about how if Jack doesn't trust her to know how to respond to this, then she probably doesn't trust her to run KJPR.

YES. This would've been SUCH a better and more interesting storyline.

I agree with @Uncle JUICE above that much the writing in this episode felt off to me and a bit like a PSA - I don't think there's an issue with them wanting to do a storyline about a hack like this, but the way the wrote the events and the dialogue... Nah. Keeley and Rebecca's exchange with the "I'm not an idiot, I know there are tons of topless pictures of me online, but those were *my* choice." "Absolutely! It makes a huge difference!" - it's not that I disagree with the sentiment, but something about the actual dialogue just rang so false to me.

[Capricasix]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that footballers’ wives and girlfriends are a big part of pop culture in the UK, and as such Keeley’s nudes leak might be a bigger deal than we in North America might expect - even if she’s not directly connected to Richmond any more. There was a huge scandal involving two footballers’ wives recently that even led to a court case nicknamed Wagatha Christie 😄

[Uncle JUICE]

1 hour ago, Schweedie said:

Yeah, in season one Keeley said she was sort of famous for being almost famous, but the Vanity Fair thing I think points to that she's at least somewhat of a legit big-ish name.

But this?

YES. This would've been SUCH a better and more interesting storyline.

I agree with @Uncle JUICE above that much the writing in this episode felt off to me and a bit like a PSA - I don't think there's an issue with them wanting to do a storyline about a hack like this, but the way the wrote the events and the dialogue... Nah. Keeley and Rebecca's exchange with the "I'm not an idiot, I know there are tons of topless pictures of me online, but those were *my* choice." "Absolutely! It makes a huge difference!" - it's not that I disagree with the sentiment, but something about the actual dialogue just rang so false to me.

Like it's out of an after school special. Every word so finely curated, and everyone feels exactly the same way about everything. COuldn't one of those dudes at least have said "Guys, fuck you, I'm not deleting anything from my phone, I'm not sharing it, but they were given to me, with consent. So fuck off with your high horse judgement of people who keep them." I really, really hated that storyline's execution. 

Also not buying that Vanity Fair did a spread on her, apparently former model, definitely dated a couple of soccer players (not premier league players, so....), who has somehow started a PR company but no demonstrable success, she's never in the office, too, by the way. Some trade magazine maybe, but no one beyond the PR world would care about Keely remotely. It's not like she did big brother or dancing with the stars or something desperate like that, she'd chosen to live a more private, less glamorous life. Not exactly Vanity Fair fare. 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Uncle JUICE

[Eureka]

24 minutes ago, Uncle JUICE said:

Like it's out of an after school special. Every word so finely curated, and everyone feels exactly the same way about everything. COuldn't one of those dudes at least have said "Guys, fuck you, I'm not deleting anything from my phone, I'm not sharing it, but they were given to me, with consent. So fuck off with your high horse judgement of people who keep them." I really, really hated that storyline's execution. 

Also not buying that Vanity Fair did a spread on her, apparently former model, definitely dated a couple of soccer players (not premier league players, so....), who has somehow started a PR company but no demonstrable success, she's never in the office, too, by the way. Some trade magazine maybe, but no one beyond the PR world would care about Keely remotely. It's not like she did big brother or dancing with the stars or something desperate like that, she'd chosen to live a more private, less glamorous life. Not exactly Vanity Fair fare. 

I feel the same way about some of the locker room talk and that they all went to clean up the restaurant, all hung out together in Amsterdam, etc. In real life, are all the teammates on any sort of team friends who hang out all the time? I don’t hang out with all my coworkers (well, I work remotely permanently now, but even before). I find it hard to believe none of the footballers have families or family responsibilities to tend to. I guess if they do, we just don’t see it.

[DEL901]

With regard to the team hanging out so much…many of them are from different countries and don’t have the friends and family locally….hence the Christmas with the Higgins family in season one.  

[Uncle JUICE]

Just now, Eureka said:

I feel the same way about some of the locker room talk and that they all went to clean up the restaurant, all hung out together in Amsterdam, etc. In real life, are all the teammates on any sort of team friends who hang out all the time? I don’t hang out with all my coworkers (well, I work remotely permanently now, but even before). I find it hard to believe none of the footballers have families or family responsibilities to tend to. I guess if they do, we just don’t see it.

I buy the Amsterdam team hang out, just not the pillow fight. Grown men aren't getting into pillow fights in hotel lobbies. And yes, team bonding sessions will happen, but usually in larger groups. 

The bolded didn't make a lick of sense at all to me and I hated the shit out of it. That entire storyline took less than half of one episode and one of the players just HAPPENS to know how to do neon? Isn't it more sensible that they'd band together as a team, pool funds, and renovate the restaurant by using CONTRACTORS? And where was Ms. Public Relations to do a story about it? That was a gold mine and they resolved it by his delightful dad being like "Hang in there son, smile! We can ignore this!" COME BACK TO ME LASSO.

[Athena]

2 hours ago, Uncle JUICE said:

Also not buying that Vanity Fair did a spread on her, apparently former model, definitely dated a couple of soccer players (not premier league players, so....), who has somehow started a PR company but no demonstrable success, she's never in the office, too, by the way. Some trade magazine maybe, but no one beyond the PR world would care about Keely remotely. It's not like she did big brother or dancing with the stars or something desperate like that, she'd chosen to live a more private, less glamorous life. Not exactly Vanity Fair fare. 

Keeley has dated at least three footballers: Jamie, Roy, and a third when she was younger. While the team was in the Championship in S2, Jamie and Roy were EPL players when she dated them. It's implied that they are top England players too since Jamie was at Man City and Roy may have won Champions League with Chelsea.

They've never really specified outright how famous Keeley was as an It Girl but she was constantly working as a model and personality before this season. I don't think she's exactly private either since she said has posed in risque photos in this episode. I think the VF article was about her rebranding from It Girl model to business woman. It's not like she was on the cover. The choice of the US centric VF may be a bit odd. I could see her in  UK Vogue or Elle UK though.

[Uncle JUICE]

Ill buy thar she might have been PART of a vanity fair europe spread about young women leaders in businesses, like a top 40 under 40, but I thought they treated it like she was a featured interview. I might be remembering wrong because I am always stoned watching this (fridays) and I'm so mad at it that my brain is spinning that thing where ot says "well if you though THAT sucked, then it's likely that the episodes we already watched and wanted to like were also shitty. Let's review!" :)

[Capricasix]

3 hours ago, Capricasix said:

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that footballers’ wives and girlfriends are a big part of pop culture in the UK, and as such Keeley’s nudes leak might be a bigger deal than we in North America might expect - even if she’s not directly connected to Richmond any more. There was a huge scandal involving two footballers’ wives recently that even led to a court case nicknamed Wagatha Christie 😄

I forgot to add that “Wagatha Christie” is a good play on words, because in the UK, “WAG” is a common abbreviation for “wives and girlfriends” of football players, and the principles in this court case were the wives of two famous footballers, Wayne Rooney being one of them - I believe he played on the English national team for a long time. I can’t remembe what EPL team he played for, though.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

I agree above about how Isaac ripping Colin's phone out of his hands was a bad look.

I get it.  Yeah, they had to get the "Colin's gay!" story line out there somehow, but that played out as way more of a playground bully picking on someone than a concerned team captain/teammate.

[Dandesun]

Rooney's longest stint was with Man U. He did come to the US and play for DC United and is actually head coach there now.

As for the team cleaning up the restaurant I go back and forth on it. The show has been making a point in tying them together very closely and things like  the haunted training room, Jamie's return to the squad, Sam's fight with the sponsor, the Christmas episode and, yes, the Netherlands episode have worked at making that a major part of the Richmond storyline. Plus, this is football where these are kids and they get scouted and picked up at very young ages so their whole lives pretty much revolve around the pitch. Roy often mentioned how young he was when he was sent off to play. In real life, take Leo Messi who went from Argentina to Spain at the age of 13... and he'd been scouted in Argentina and focused on football by at least age 6. Was the pillow fight silly and unbelievable? Yes, but I found the restaurant scene heartwarming enough to buy it given how insular the football world is when you're actively in it.

I agree that Dr. Jake is the most at fault in the relationship with Michelle but it is flat out irritating that no one seems to be willing to call that shit out for what it is. No one is saying the words out loud and having to watch Ted sit with them being awkward as all get out when everything about that relationship is fuuuuuucked up. I really liked how Rebecca talked Ted down about Michelle and Jacob being in Paris but I'd love it even more if she pointed out what a mess Michelle's new relationship actually is but that's her problem, not Ted's.

I learned about transference from Frasier. Just wish someone else would call it out here already and I wish Ted would just move the fuck on already.

[Atlanta]

2 hours ago, Capricasix said:

I forgot to add that “Wagatha Christie” is a good play on words, because in the UK, “WAG” is a common abbreviation for “wives and girlfriends” of football players, and the principles in this court case were the wives of two famous footballers, Wayne Rooney being one of them - I believe he played on the English national team for a long time. I can’t remembe what EPL team he played for, though.

My hubby and I will be in London next month and was looking into going to a West End show and there is one based on "Wagatha Christie." LOL 

https://wagathaplay.com/ 

[Pixie Styx]

On 5/9/2023 at 11:32 AM, Uncle JUICE said:

First, I'm tired of the team members addressing things in these weird "just so" sorts of ways. it's really hard to explain, but every one of them in the leaked video scene was talking as if they were reading some public relations authored official tweet about it.

The "but what if the photo is?" banter was so corny, I honestly thought it was an homage to the locker room scene in Amy Schumer's "Football Town Nights" parody.

[Dobian]

Michelle is the worst.  A passive-aggressive ex who not only messes around with their former marriage counselor but has the audacity to parade him in front of Ted with their son there.  She could at least have had the guy wait at the hotel.  And then run off on a romantic trip with him.  She must be big into cuckoldry.  How would she feel if Ted did that with a woman marriage counselor?  Michelle is a nasty individual who masks it under the veneer of being sweet and nice.  Easily the worst character on the show.  Jack is bad, but this is on a whole other level.

[norcalgal]

On 5/9/2023 at 3:03 PM, Capricasix said:

I forgot to add that “Wagatha Christie” is a good play on words, because in the UK, “WAG” is a common abbreviation for “wives and girlfriends” of football players, and the principles in this court case were the wives of two famous footballers, Wayne Rooney being one of them - I believe he played on the English national team for a long time. I can’t remembe what EPL team he played for, though.

The only reason I know about WAGatha Christie is because it was mentioned from time to time on the Sirius XM football/soccer channel that I listen to.  

[Ottis]

Had to stop the show to gall with Mrs Ottis about what the F Ted’s problem is. Let it go, Ted.

The team photo discussion was the most interesting part of this episode. And i strongly doubt any sports geam has that thoughtful of a discussion.

If I never hear a Beatles song again, I would be happy.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Ottis