I certainly didn’t care about Keely’s business or girlfriend, those subplots were boring. I enjoyed the Amsterdam episode. I totally hated that Beard married his abuser. I was hoping there would be some character growth there, where Beard would finally realize his girlfriend was toxic.

Ted’s ending was a bit weird…he didn’t look all that happy at the end.

I always thought they were setting up Roy/the teacher. I thought the Keely story was to help him see his own self-worth. I thought Keely and Jamie would end up together because of his completed arc.

Zava was needed for thr team to be in contention for the League Title. Anyone who knows football knows how silly it would have been for a newly promoted side to be in contention without some astronomical addition. That’s why they needed Zava.

He also had to leave for Total Football and the rise of Jamie to happen.

Real life doesn’t always have a happy ending nor do all of the plot twists necessarily make sense.

I see people argue a lot that “real life isn’t neat either”. So therefore it’s ok for the show to be messy or boring or not make sense at times.

It’s true that real life does indeed include a lot of boring side-plots I couldn’t care less about. But that’s not what I’m looking for in arts and entertainment? I can just go read a newspaper or talk to my neighbour if I want that. And Ted Lasso as a show never pretended to be “true to life”. People don’t need happy endings, just satisfying stories they care about. Some would say that’s what S3 TL delivered, but many wouldn’t.

All your points have been well-discussed on the sub over the last 6 months, OP. There are many who agree with you, many who will not hear a word of criticism about the show no matter what, and many who don’t care either way.

I think season three ended almost perfectly, yes, it would’ve been nice to know how the Keeley, Roy, Jamie situation played out, but as far as Richmond winning at the end, it was never about the winning or losing. It was about to development of everyone on the show, that’s the side plots. We got to see each one of them grow into their own strength, and overcome some of their self imposed limitations. In my opinion, one of the best shows ever written, and performed. I wish it had gone on longer,but I’m also glad it ended after three seasons, and didn’t overstay its welcome.

I agree with a lot of what you said, although I still find the show wholly enjoyable. But i disagree about Ted. I guess he is basically a millionaire now & back in his homeland with his son. I love Ted in England, but it seems kind of obvious that he is a fish out of water there. He’s back where he started, but he had a lot of growth.

I think a big theme of the show is working on oneself. To tie that all up neatly with a perfect bow at the end of the series would be unfaithful to that theme. Sassy correctly assesses that Ted is still a mess, and will need years of work before he’s out of that hole. It doesn’t mean he can’t have a happy and fulfilling life, but that he can’t know how his story ends because he’s got a lot of work to do before he gets there. Same with Roy, Jamie, and Keeley. Jamie’s been doing the work and you see it pay dividends over the run of the show. Roy is only just beginning, but we do see that he’s putting in the work. And Keeley has baggage to work through, too.

I think the ending is as hopeful as it can possibly be while still being real and honest with viewers. You can’t make a show that is largely about mental health and then pretend that a year of therapy and a couple of difficult conversations is enough to fix everyone’s lives. But the show gives us several examples of how lives improve through working on mental health, and we leave with the uplifting knowledge that all the characters are committed to doing that work, so even though we don’t see their specific happy endings, we can leave the show knowing that they are on the right track, and they will likely find their peace as they do the work.

I agree with everything you said. You’re gonna get downvoted if you say anything remotely negative about the show on this sub. Lame but it is what it is

S3 was by far the worst of the bunch and could’ve used tighter editing. The KJPR plotline was so ridiculous, and the whole time I’m thinking “there’s gonna be a great payoff at the end.” But the payoff was Keeley makes a series of awful business decisions (hiring shandy, sleeping w her boss), and runs back to her billionaire friend who bails her out when she fails. Awful message, awful storyline. Keeley was one of my fav characters and I abhor what they did to her in S3. They don’t show Nate’s apology but we see 20 scenes about KJPR and Shandy? Terrible.

Zava, to me, was filler. They needed some storyline to bring the team together (when Zava departs) and also have them in the middle or top (I forget) of the table (standings) at a certain point of the season. His whole schtick got old after a while.

The fact that they validated psychics creeps me TF out. Psychics are swindlers. Grifters. Schemers. And this show validated them. Gross.

And lastly, I agree about the ending. Ted 100% regressed and yeah he’s near his son, but he’s also near a manipulative doctor who took advantage of a vulnerable wife at a vulnerable stage in her life. And he’s near his ex wife who pretty much left him for THEIR doctor. Show said absolutely nothing about how ethically wrong that whole situation was which was surprising.

But also I just rolled my eyes at a lottttt in S3. The scene where they’re discussing nudes in the locker room may be one of the worst scenes in any TV ever. It’s like they got the 6 most popular opinions about nudes and gave a player each opinion and just went around the room saying each opinion. It was preachy and felt like the writers think their audience is dumb. Truly an awful scene. I could write an essay on it.

The main writer (Bill Lawrence) left the show for S3 and I think his loss was felt hard. He was a big proponent of keeping the shows around 30 mins, and they could’ve used that in S3. Episodes were way too long and got very boring. It almost felt pretentious, like the writers of S3 said “Bill doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Our stuff is so good we’re gonna give you 1 hour+ of it every week.” And it just wasn’t.

Bill Lawrence did “Shrinking,” also on AppleTV and I enjoyed S1 of that much more than S3 of Ted Lasso, so if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend.

Overall, Ted Lasso is amazing. That first season is A++++ and 2nd season isn’t that far behind. S3 takes a nose dive but there’s still great moments in every episode imo.

unresolved (and unsatisfying) ending and plotlines.

love the show as well but agree with you esp. on these 3 points!

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The Roy/Jamie/Keeley situation wasn‘t really solved.

i’ve waited ALL season for a resolve here,they did KeeRoy dirty!

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Beard getting married to an abusive PoS.

not ok.

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The Dr Jacob situation.

hate it when shows use the bad, lazy, and unethical plotline with the therapist that gets with a client. wrong on so many levels to perpetuate the stereotype.

Nate’s redemption arc started in ep4 when he dropped Ted’s figure on the ground. he tried to apologize twice by the end of that episode.He learned to like himself.He apologized to Will.His former two bullies - Colin and Isaac, and his victim - Will - came to ask him back. That was pretty telling.

Lots of people dislike KJPR. my understanding was that they wanted to show how wrong Roy was about Keeley, how she needed his support, how she was not about to easily magically become Rebecca 2.0, and they decided to make her mistakes into 2 characters. She hiredthe wrong friend, she dated her boss and she learned to value the good work relations in Barbara.

Zava was bringing Team on a high and then having them fall down while he was still on the Team. He was a performance enhancing drug metaphor, the drugs stop working even though you’re still using.The montage of Zava bringing the Team high shows Ted relapsing to drinking alone.

He was also commentary on celebrity culture in sports, of course.

Nate‘s love life was part of his redemption - learning to like himself.He realized that he values his favorite restaurant more than a supermodel and he let the supermodel leave. He refused tohumbly follow whatever wishes she had. Then he learned that a girl can love him the way he is, which helped him leave Rupert.

The fortune teller was a device to give us clues to look for and see if Rebecca will see them.

Phoebe could have more screen time, agreed.Phoebe’s teacher was a risky thing. They could have included her more but that could maybe make angry everyone who shipped Keeley and Roy.

The Roy/Jamie/Keeley situation was solved perfectly. The goal was for them to become the best version of themselves, as Ted said in season 1 to Trent. Not to necessarily date or get married.Keeley had her heart broken 3x by 3 different people in 3 seasons. She deserves to focus on what makes her happy and be on her own, if she wants to.They all made progress and then in s3 they all experienced some relapse.The theme of s3 was relapse. Rebecca reverted to being mean to Higgins and obsessing about Rupert. Ted was drinking and obsessing about the only person Michelle could date that would upset him. Jamie had a relapse about his father and then another one by getting intostupid fight with Roy over Keeley. Roy had lots of failures in s3,so did Keeley.They all realized they need to get a grip.

Roy got professional help.Jamie accepted that Keeley doesn’t have to choose.Keeley had her heart broken 3x by 3 different people in 3 seasons. She deserves to focus on what makes her happy and be on her own, if she wants to.

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Beard getting married to an abusive PoS - agreed.

The Dr Jacob situation - it was implied heavily that Michelle dropped him. But i would have preferred to see him lose his licence. Dr Jacob

was needed to make Ted relapse to season 1 stage. No other man dating Michelle would bother Ted. As we can see in episode 2, when Ted knows Michelle is dating, but he is fine, bcs he doesn’t know who she’s dating.

Richmond not winning the league??? Seriously, would it have been any worse for the plot to give people the happy ending they were waiting for??

it would make England start a revolution if Man City didn’t win the league uder Guardiola . Even on a fictional show.

And lastly the biggest issue: Ted‘s ending. To me it didn‘t feel like he is now in a better place than when he started at Richmond or after the promotion. He actually regressed during S3 and yes he‘s now back with Henry but I just can‘t help but feel like he‘s not in a happy place.

In the words of beard perfect is boring