Season 4, Episode 6

It’s New Year’s Eve for Richmond, and everyone is celebrating in a big way, except maybe for Ted and Michelle, who have elected a smaller time at the pub while Henry gets a job working for Mae.

I love holiday episodes of Ted Lasso. For a show as wholesome and warm as this one, it’s always a treat to have a season of celebration, and this is quite a different holiday for the team who are all in various states of flux.

The boat party, hosted by Zelda Southport, is an over-the-top affair complete with unseen and offscreen celebrity appearances and an awkward reunion between the team and Coach Chilton, nearing the end of her suspension. I loved that this meeting took place without Ted in the picture as it allows for potential growth, and I love that even as it seems like healing has taken place and growth has been achieved, it’s also really a notice that Alice has a long way to go. She experiences the effects of the walls she has built around herself and just doesn’t know how to build a bridge over it. She wants to lead the team to victory, and yet she isn’t even recognized by Zelda when she comes to introduce her rich friends. Even at the end, with the team reunited at the pub all enjoying themselves, Alice cannot bring herself to let it go when she’s sees a possible slight.

Also aboard the boat is Beard, decked out with swagger and looking to move forward from Jane (thank God!), and when he has a meet-cute aboard the boat, I was so terribly happy for him, but alas, my heart is still broken for Beard, but this is just a reminder that things work themselves out sometimes, and I want to see this through-line further examined in the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, Keeley, Roy, and Rebecca have all come to the launch of a new vodka company owned by…Jamie Tartt? Seeing Kent and Tartt and catching up on their relationship is the high point of the episode, especially seeing just about everything that plays out on New Year’s Eve and the chemistry these two performers have. At this point, I’m almost more convinced that Roy and Jamie should end up together. The music, the dancing, the carrying. It’s all gold. In fact, Jamie Tartt shifts the energy for the whole cast that he encounters, including sharing a genuine moment with Rebecca near the end of the episode. This is the kind of guest-starring role that I hope to have with the other legacy characters, ones that don’t serve a larger purpose in this direct story but can help to push the various chess pieces in worthwhile directions.

The only portion of the Roy story that I downright didn’t care for is the emotional admission of his feelings for one of the characters, which comes off cliched and disingenuous. It recalls certain character admissions from shows like Friends, and there was a better way to make it work in the story. It’s a rare misuse of classic tropes that didn’t land for me.

Back to Ted and Michelle, I really appreciated getting some clarity into their relationship and the decisions that led to her agreeing on a move. While their portion of the episode is by the least engaging, this was also necessary plotting and relationship work, and much like the Christmas episode a few seasons back, it’s nice to give some of the focus to the secondary and tertiary characters from time to time. It also gives us a chance to develop Michelle and the state of their relationship at this juncture, given the previous episode’s discussion of loneliness and embarrassment. We also had some time to reckon with the potentially controversial decision made by Ted in benching Alice through the end of the year. He’s still doubting, still haunted, by this choice. All in all, while it wasn’t the strongest corner of the episode, it was needed storytelling that lines up several dangling questions this season.

Episode 6 is another very strong episode of this season, and it contains the most unhinged collection of New Year’s countdowns I’ve seen in a long time. Ted Lasso is completely on its feet and comfortably cruising now, and I’m loving it. This feels like a lot of the first season storytelling, when I believe the show was at its strongest and simplest. The biggest difference is that I got into the first season after it airs, and I’m dying to see where it goes. Ted Lasso’s back to being appointment television.

4½/5
-Kyle A. Goethe

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