When Ted and company find that they are without a striker in the days leading to their first match, a friendly, they are tasked with filling the roster or risk setting their season and the public doubts into turmoil. Meanwhile Keeley and Rebecca continue their uphill battle against the shareholders and advertisers who are consistently questioning the viability of the Richmond Women’s Team, at the potential cost of their relationships.

The disastrous shareholders’ meeting is another example in last week’s discussion about this “sequel” with the Women’s Team and how, while things are similar to Ted’s first go-around in Richmond, there are unexpected challenges abound this time, and even Keeley and Rebecca are not quite prepared for the uphill battle of earning respect, though Keeley quickly understands as she explains to Roy during a heated discussion about the first game.

I love the continued development of Rebecca and Matthijs in Season 4. Their romance in Season 3 was more set up as a promise of more to come in the potential end of the series, so now that Season 4 exists, it’s nice to see the challenges faced by this long-term relationship, even if they are somewhat expected. Seeing the difficulties in Rebecca’s job being exacerbated by the odds against her Women’s Team play out over the attempt to secure advertising dollars and how that offsets her work life balance is believable nonetheless.

Ted’s attempts to fill out his roster leads to a series first: open tryouts. He tries the INVINCIBLE approach of trying to fill the roster with just about anyone capable of playing. In that, we discover a few new characters and see some variations on legacy ones. I was especially happy to see Maria Rojas, sibling to Danny, and how the character plays with the expected form. We get a better view of the distance between the coaching styles of both Ted and Chilton, and through Chilton’s strained relationship with potential striker Gemma, we start to see how these two will be able to learn from each other as the season continues. These open tryouts were also the blooming of much of the episode’s most enjoyable and entertaining beats, with a real callback to classic sports movies of the past.

We also get a kernel of new developments in the Ted/Henry/Michelle dynamic. As I’ve stated in previous weeks, I’m not wholly convinced by the decision made by all three to move back to Richmond, and I need to see more of this dynamic to understand it better and see if it all makes sense. In Episode 3, we see more of that dynamic through Ted and Henry feeling their way through his first day at a new school, and also through Henry and Michelle watching the friendly match. There’s not enough here to decide if these decisions were warranted, but it gives a better glimpse at how things have developed between them as a functioning family unit. It was also cute to see Henry and Phoebe at school and how this could add layers to the Ted/Roy dynamic this season. Still hoping for a reunion of the Diamond Dogs.

All in all, “Richmond’s Got Talent” is another strong step for Season 4, and things are falling into place to see how this first season with the Women’s Team will shape up. I’m dying to watch the next episode (I binged the first season in one day due to all the hype), and for the rest of the season.

4/5
-Kyle A. Goethe

For more Ted Lasso: “Home,” “Curiouser and Curiouser!”