Ted Lasso is the soccer coach we all need
What if kindness, honesty, and compassion were valued more than winning?
I wouldn’t have guessed that the television show I needed right now was about an obsessively nice American football coach who is hired to coach a British soccer team. But 2020 has been a strange, hard year, and Ted Lasso (Apple TV) imagines a world where kindness, honesty, and compassion are valued more than winning. I didn’t want it to end.
When Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) wins ownership of a British Premier League soccer team in a divorce settlement, she is determined to burn the team to the ground for the sheer pleasure of tormenting her ex-husband, who loves the team even more than his many mistresses. Her strategy is to fire the sleazy head coach and replace him with Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), an American football coach who has never played or coached soccer. He exudes a folksy charm and a thick Kansas drawl that make him the butt of endless jokes from his players, the press, and the locals at his neighborhood pub.
Even an experienced coach would struggle to succeed with this team. The star player is self-serving and vain, openly mocking weaker players and encouraging bullying and mean-spirited pranks. The captain is so angry about aging past his prime that he exudes hostility and contempt toward the team he’s meant to lead. And at every turn, Rebecca is actively seeking to sabotage Ted’s chances of success.
