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By Trish Arab
During the pandemic, I discovered "Ted Lasso," the Apple TV+ gem of a show. I can't remember exactly when, sometime after baking bread and before Tiger King, but from the very first minute, I was hooked.
For months after, I would promote the show to anyone who asked, telling them, "It's the thing that's been missing from your life, and you didn't even realize it."
Bill Lawrence, who brought me another favourite tv show, "Scrubs," had done it again; funny, heartwarming and had a great soundtrack to every episode. Jason Sudeikis, who I barely knew from Saturday Night Live, became a legend, and even had me turning my back on Harry Styles as he dated Sudakis' ex-wife because, who would do that to Ted Lasso? New names like Hannah Waddingham, Nick Mohammed and Brent Goldstein (the adorable Roy Kent) became like old friends and key parts of the pop culture fabric.
This show was a bright spot in my week - lifting me from even the darkest moods. In a world where everything can seem bleak, where the worst of humanity is constantly on display, Ted Lasso was a bright spot. The antithesis of the reality we were living in (and in many ways still are - if only the World Health Organization could eradicate racism, misogyny, social injustice and inflation and poverty and all of the other ills of humanity as quickly as they did Covid-19)
Every episode in this third and final season was bittersweet. I knew the end was coming, but I couldn't accept that I wouldn't be able to visit with my friends at AFC Richmond again. This show, which started as a skit during the Superbowl about an American football coach who is hired to coach a European football team (soccer, a different sport altogether) as part of a revenge scheme by a jilted ex-wife determined to bring the team down as a way to hurt her former husband, should not have worked. Still, there we were, falling in love with each of these characters and feeling a little more hopeful with every episode. One might say we dared to believe.
Was the third season perfect? Was the finale? No. However, after a week that saw the end of another pandemic find "Succession," I was ready for a finish that tied everything up in a lovely red feel-good bow. And I was more than prepared for the tears from all the feels that came as Cat Steven's "Father and Son" played as a backdrop to a montage of that bow being tied for each of these people I love.
Initially, I intended to get into more detail and fill this review with spoilers. Then I realized I might be taking away the opportunity to discover this show for yourself. Instead, I'll leave you with this; if you haven't already, check out Ted Lasso - it's the thing you didn't realize was missing from your life.
