The Prestige TV Podcast - ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 2 Finale Recap

Episode Date: October 8, 2021

The Greyhound Gang review the eventful final episode of ‘Ted Lasso’ season 2, discuss its real-life parallels, and look ahead to where this show will go. Host: Chris Ryan Guest: Van Lathan Producer: Isaac Lee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Exclusion supplies to homedipo.com slash price match for details. Hey, everybody, it's Chris Ryan. I'm about to talk to Van Lathen on the Ringer Prestige TV podcast about the season finale of Ted Lassau. Please watch this episode of Ted Lassau before you listen to the podcast. It's a spoiler conversation. Let's get into my talk with Van about Ted Lassow season finale. Hello and welcome to the Ringer Prestige TV show. My name is Chris Ryan.

I am joined by Van Lathen. We are the Greyhound Gang, Woof, Woof. Woof, and we are here to talk about the season finale of Ted Lassow, inverting the pyramid of success. And if you can hear that in my voice, that's because this episode was a bummer. Oh, man. Man, we have so much to talk about.

But before we get into any individual scenes, let me just get a vibe check, man. How did you feel about the finale? You know, you say it was a bummer. It certainly had moments that made it seem like he was a total bummer. And it ended on a bummer note. But overall, there were some small little victories in there

for the Great Hound gang. Yes. Yeah, it definitely had, I mean, this show is, I would say, always going to tip the scales towards sweetness and light. I think that this episode had a lot to say about the show's identity

and, like, what people take from it. And we can get into that when we get into the Nate stuff. I think the Nate stuff was just so bracing. It was so in your face. It was so absolutely brutal, man. And I think that you can go back and you can rewatch this season.

You can even go back and if you wanted to rewatch the entire series, knowing that that scene is going to happen, and it changes a lot of what you see. And that's kind of where I wanted to start. So there's this major scene in the finale episode here. It's called Inverting the Pyramid of Success, for those who don't know,

inverting the pyramid is actually a beloved, I guess, famous book about soccer tactics written by a journalist named Jonathan Wilson. And it's just basically about the history of soccer coaching and soccer tactics. But we'll get to more soccer stuff later. This episode, this season, pretty much comes to a culmination, not with whether or not Richmond gets back into the Premier League,

which I think the Hollywood and all of us knows is somewhat of a foregone conclusion. That was almost an aside in the episode, to be honest with it. That's why I thought was great about it. It was like the sports movie does not happen on the field. It happens in the training room with Nate and Ted. And they have like a truly great TV fight, you know, like a truly, truly great TV fight. It's sort of set up when Beard is encouraging Ted to talk to Nate, to go to him,

to give him a room to apologize for leaking Ted's panic attack to Trent Crimm of the Independent. We talked about all that stuff on the last episode. And I think everybody thinks that we're going to get a redux of the Rebecca Ted, I forgive you scene from season one where, you know, being curious and allowing people to fall so that they can get back up is what gets put forward. Nate's like, I don't need your fucking forgiveness, you know? Nate is gone. The dark side has Nate.

He's been correct. Yeah. This is where the Empire Strikes Back comparisons come back. What did you think of the scene, man? I thought it was brutally brilliant and beautiful. There's some alliteration for you guys. I went to college. Rarely in the scene, do you have such a spectrum of emotions for one character in the scene?

I went from, okay, Nate's been in a dick about it. this to oh my god i'm so sorry Nate to fuck it he's an asshole like all in one scene he feelings can't be wrong but they can't be misplaced so if you feel something it's likely that you feel it for whatever reason you know it's likely that it's really true that you're feeling it should i say but doesn't mean that it's that it's necessarily the right way that you're going about it i think we're seeing that being demonstrated in a really really powerful narrative i think that when Nate was talking to Ted, he was obviously really talking to his

father. And anybody who he sees as being a sort of a proxy for his father is someone who he has to prove wrong. Someone who really he has to defeat. Ted is flabbergasted. He is completely taken aback.

Whoa! What are you saying? And all he knows how to do is say, I'm sorry. And then once he says he's sorry and Ted Lassow's life, that's normally good enough. Not for this kid. It's too much there. He's firmly cast you in the role

a villain, and that's the role you're going to have to play. The only thing he knows how to do is beat you. I think it's interesting that you are ascribing Nate's behavior to his relationship with his father. Interesting, okay? Because I thought that this argument in a way could be read as a subtle indictment

of lassoology, of lassoism. Let's go. I think what Nate's argument is essentially making, let's just be clear. My guy comes out and says, I think you're a fucking joke. Without me, we wouldn't have won a single match,

and they would have shipped your ass back to Kansas where you fucking belong with your son. So obviously there's like elements of the father's son stuff with Nate and his dad echoing there, and I think that Nate needing somebody to just unconditionally love him as part of this. But you could make the argument that if lassoology is all about like be curious

and if lassoology is all about like kindness is back and there's a degree of almost impulsivity with like the way in which he like brings Roy into the fold and elevates him to basically like the top assistant role and entrust him with all this coaching responsibility that essentially like kindness can be zero sum. Like being kind to one person means you are taking away kindness from someone else, especially when those friendships

or those relationships are taking, place in a workplace and taking place in a world where like professional ambition or professional success is at stake when some guy might be like, this season I'm really into Roy. You did your job last season, Nate, but like now I have to fix Roy and fix Roy's post-playing career. And I thought it was a really, I mean, you can tell when Nate hits Ted below the belt with the sun lime, like, he's just almost like, I don't even know what to say to this, you know? But I thought it was like, kind of kind of a fascinating jab to throw because if somebody is like, I am bestowing light onto something, there is something else is going to fall into darkness because of that. Do you see what I'm saying?

I do. I'm just wondering who hurt you. If we maybe need to take a detour real quick to discuss this. You have a big family, you have a lot of brothers and sisters. Is this something that we can talk about right now? I'm actually an only child. Oh, wow. Wow. Woo. It explains it more. But no, so I think that you're right. And I think that that indictment is more for Ted so that Ted can take a step back and have a 24-carat look at the way he does things. However, I think from my perspective,

as an audience member watching the show, it almost seems completely illogical that he would feel that way about Ted. And because it feels illogical that he would feel that way specifically about Ted, somebody who's always nurtured and supported him and elevated him, even in, this is at halftime

in a match that they're employing the strategy that Nate suggested. So Ted sees Nate, the question is, is Nate being seen the way he wants to be seen? No. And so that's something that a lot of times emanates from the person. You know how you want to be seen.

Easy one is this, the friend zone. We all know that you, there's been a girl and you loved her and you wanted her and she loved you too just not that way right if you were looking at the situation you here this is a great person that i have in my life somebody i can talk to somebody who's down for me somebody who even might allow me to sleep with all of her friends like all like all of these situations it's actually a good deal but because of your perspective of that relationship it's never going to be enough you want more it's not that she's not giving you enough is that you want more.

And so I think I look at this situation with Nate a little bit like that. It's not that Ted hasn't given Nate enough is that Nate is looking for something more. And I think that he's looking for it because really of what's going on with his dad. Like all of that stuff, man, I'm not going to go back over the whole dad thing again, but all of that stuff I'm watching him and my heart is breaking. I'm like, dog, I've been there. You know what I mean? You know what I mean?

I know how you feel. And the shocked look on Ted's face when that is being run down to him, that's often the look that you give to, that people give to you, once you unload all of these feelings on them, then they're like, uh, my fucking bad, I had no idea.

Yes. Right. And that's great. When he's like, if I ever made you feel this way, I'm so sorry. He's just like, you're full of shit. Yeah. Fuck you. There's a really interesting aspect of this also kind of, it's almost, it acts as self-critique at the show because the Ted Lasso character is a glorified S&L idea, right?

It's a glorified sketch idea. You know, I don't know as much about, just, I'm sorry not to cut you off. I don't know as much about that. Yeah, sure. I've been off SNL for a while. Like, I don't, well, I mean that as, I'm kind of using that as shorthand.

So the Ted Lassow character originated with Sudeikas and whoever doing a, what if a Kansas football coach somehow wound up coaching in the English Premier League and the whole joke is like, y'all have off sides here? Like, how's that work? Oh, I see. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was an advertising campaign for the Premier League on NBC in America. Oh, I do remember that. Yeah, so Ted Lassow originated as like, nothing more than the Geico Caveman. You know what I mean? like he was a character for a commercial, then it turns into a sitcom

and everybody's kind of skeptical about it, but then it kind of wins people over with its heart. But at the end of the day, if you're the Nate character, you're like, this guy still doesn't know about fucking soccer. Like, he still doesn't understand the principles of the game or, like, transfer market, or relegation and promotion and draws and tactics and false nines

and all these things. And you're probably just like, you are a joke. Man, the joke has gone on for two seasons. I actually know this sport. And obviously it's fueled by the fact that he feels like he had this access to Ted, that maybe he was on a trajectory to become the lead assistant or becoming a coach somewhere else. And Rupert came over and whispered in his ear. And Rupert's basically like the Emperor Palpatine here and Nate's Anakin.

Jesus Christ, that is such so good. That's definitely what he is. But that last scene of Rupert whispering at him? We can take over the galaxy together. Exactly. Yeah. So, yeah, I just think it's like there's like a soft critique also of like these guys got back into the Premier League. The whole time, you're probably wondering like, does Ted a great manager now?

Does Ted understand soccer? And it's like, no, Nate's been doing it the entire season. And yeah, as Isaac was just chatting to us about. That's good, Isaac, by the way. Nate increasingly dresses in black throughout the season. And it's like, and Keely tries to put him in those different outfits. But by the end of the year, he's wearing a black suit with black. and then he's got all black training kit on in the last scene.

So yeah, I mean... All black training kid with gray hair. Yes. Like, Dave, like, so I'm interested in that is that he's got really stressed out or he's been coloring this shit, but whatever, they changed him. Nate is, by the end of it, it's so sad he is fully, fully aged and he's in the victim role. It's almost kind of like Vader because Vader went through all of that and did his physical

appearance had to change as well for him to full. fully grasp or fully take his new mantle as the emperor's apprentice and the most evil motherfucker in the galaxy. Did the power of the Nate Ted scene almost overshadowed some of the other stuff that happened in the episode? Quite a lot did happen. Sam Rebecca, Keely Roy, the Richmond gets promoted. Danny conquers his penalty kick demons.

Like what was something that stood out besides the Nate Ted scene? One of the funniest scenes I've ever seen in a show ever, ever, which is same. turning down the job and the hill turn by Edwin a guru that Edwin does that was so fucking hysterical

that was so hysterical that was so hysterical what did he say he was like I'm going to buy your childhood home and take your shit he's up to buy your childhood at home and take a shit in every single room

of your childhood home and then when he was walking out of the door he sees the mannequin with the rich kid on and he's choking it. Like he fucking was a psychopath this entire time and he was so nice. He was almost

romantic in his courting of Sam. Like he did something you do on a ostentatious first date, which is buy out a whole museum and have banks in there and the whole damn. The courting was very, very, it was whimsical. And then the whole time he was just another billionaire

piece of shit. I thought that scene was amazing. And I can't wait for this to come out so everybody can see so I can meme the shit out of it. By the way, to all my Nigerian homies out there, he used all the right insults. Like, he called him a Nigerian piece of shit. Then he called out his tribe, the Europa tribe there in Nigeria. He was, it was, and there's sometimes Ghanaian, Nigerian, they go back and forth. It was good nature at first.

Yeah. And then afterwards, he took it. To the limit, I thought that scene was amazing, really, seriously. Yeah, you know, it started off so well. There was, like, a certain amount of romance to their relationship. And Edwin gives Sam a mock-up of the jersey he would be wearing for Casablanca. This gorgeous green jersey, Edwin, and Sam would be wearing the number 10, which typically is the, like, most creative playmaker on the team.

So, like, Lion Messi wears number 10. It's, like, the kind of point guard, but also the, just the most creative, expressive, star player. Did he A drugbo wear number 10? He wore number 9, which is Stryker. That would be Jamie Tart's number. Yeah. I love Drogo. Dragbo was awesome. But yeah, so and then that sort of ends. What did you think

of Sam, his sort of speech to Ted and Rebecca, and then his opening of the restaurant? And we're supposed to take from that that the reason Sam stayed isn't necessarily for Rebecca but to like start his life in London? Yeah, I think that he came to something

in this whole thing, that there wasn't one person worth doing anything for besides himself. We've seen Sam pooled in a lot of different ways throughout this. We've seen him pooled different ways by his father, obviously by Rebecca. Sam is just becoming a man. And part of him becoming a man, an adult man, is that he has to realize that he has to put things in his life around him to make him comfortable and then live his life the way he wants to.

And the reality is that he might, it might not be time for him to go back to Nigeria or back to the continent, but it might be time to bring a little bit of the continent or Nigeria to where he is. You open up a restaurant. You don't have to go without your culture. You might not be able to be in it, but you're still of it. So wherever you are, it is. So go ahead and open up your restaurant, you know.

And so what he said to Rebecca while looking at Ted was very important. I was like, hey, I made this decision. There are a lot of factors that go into it, but this is where I'm supposed to be right now. You know? And he listened to his good. and through the conversation with the hilarious conversation with Edwin, he now is probably even more confident in himself because his gut turned out to be right.

Yeah. For Rebecca's purposes, obviously Rupert's going to be back in her life on a semi-regular basis, which is not what you want for her. But, you know, she gets to actually like walk the walk. She had said that she wanted to kind of go off and find out why it was that she doesn't trust people who were trying to love her.

And, you know, I think she wanted Sam back, but hasn't quite made that step yet, but she'll have an opportunity to do so. As far as Keely and Roy go, you think Juno Temple's like off the show now? What is that? I don't know. The Keely and Roy is, to me,

Keely and Roy is the only place where the show is half-stepping right now. Right. And I'm not saying that they're, I don't think they know what they want to do. Like the writers. Yeah, well, yeah, just period. Like that's the only place where they're half-stepping.

Kili and Roy, are they aren't? she's gone. Like she's doing something brand new, not with the team. He's going on vacation by himself. Like what is actually, I was actually left, which is maybe great riding.

I felt much like Roy did. Like, are we breaking up? Yeah. Like, I felt much like Roy did. I'm like, well,

what exactly is this? Like, there's a girl, a woman in my living room right now. I walk over to her and I say, hey, would you like to go away? You know,

stay two weeks at the Kalamigos ranch was just, is a beautiful place. Yeah. Malibu. You've been there. You like that shit. I know I went there.

No disrespect to Calamigos, but this is early vid. You know, like, this was like, this is last summer. Right. And I went there and like, there was just like a bunch of weddings there. And I was just like. Oh, there always is. Yeah. I was like, it was early, it was early for crowd work for me.

You know what I mean? Yeah, there always is. It's a big wedding place. But like, if I tell her, hey, like, let's go and hang out there for a week. Sometimes he'll go out, go out there and hang out for a little while. And she goes, no, we can't go. That's one thing. The worst answer you can get is, no, go by yourself.

Well, I'm not going to go if you can't go. I think more also with the six-week vacation is a flex. Oh, that's how they do it over there, though. Well, they get the summers off. But at the same time, like, going anywhere, like, when you go somewhere for six weeks, that's not a vacation. That's like a part-time home. Like, you are-brough.

Like, I used to get all, when I was doing. the TMZ tour. I used to get all these people from, maybe not from England, but from Australia that would come on the tour. And I would be like, hey, how long are you guys in America for? They go to, they're like months. We're in Los Angeles for two more weeks.

Then we go to Boston. Then we go to New York. And then we finish up in Miami. I'm like, God damn. Like, how long do y'all have off? And they're like, we get like a month of holiday. And then we take it in the summer. I'm like, shit.

What the hell? I like how, when you go, the tough beat is that, like, you know, a lot of Americans have time off in August. But when you go to Europe in August, Europe is like, nah, we're not home right now. Like, if you go to any European city in August,

it's just like the cafe is open from 1.30 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. That's it. That's it. This was an episode that was largely about mentorship, which I thought was pretty cool. Like, the whole Rebecca Keely relationship and whether or not Rebecca should be happy that Keeley is leaving and they're crying and they're like, yeah, I'm so happy for you.

But then it kind of mirrored the, Ted Nate thing. It kind of mirror this idea of like, how do you cultivate somebody in a professional environment? How do you bring somebody along? And when is somebody really not disposable like that? You know, you can't really kind of just be like, your job is to be Nate.

It's like, Nate wants more for himself than your idea of what Nate is. And, you know, kudos to that Rebecca character for obviously being like, I understand for you to go be what you want to be. You need to leave here. Well, Rebecca and Keeley are Obi-Wan and Luke and Nate and Ted.

with Obi-Wan and Anakin. Yeah. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it don't. Right. You know what I mean? Being a mentor is, it's a very important role that you play in society as you nurture someone

because you have to be intent, resolute, and selfless. Because, like, yeah, if you're doing a great mentorship job, you want your mentor to outshine you. Yeah. And I think Ted didn't have a problem with Nate outshining him. he just didn't know it was a competition. Like he thought that Nate was still, you know, all in, believe. He thought he was a diamond dog.

He thought he was, yeah. Even that pathetic wolf that Nate gave, that half-hearted ass wolf, that whole time, the evil is just washing across Nate's face. And Beards passive, aggressive sort of relationship with Nate. Like, hey, Walt Sandh holds up the newspaper. Did you see this? Yeah. Like, I know it was you.

He might as well have given him a mind. Michael Collillon kiss. You know what I mean? So I think it's all very interesting, but also, I think one thing that the show has to do is penetrate past Ted's surface niceness and explore whether or not Ted Lasso is actually good at building and maintaining actual real relationships with people that are outside of even his mentorship. Because when you look at it, he's got a life that's littered with the sort of dissolution of a lot of. of very important relationships to him. You know what I mean? His marriage,

obviously his father abandoning him, and how does that shape his world and how he treats people? It's possible, and we haven't seen it yet with his son, it's possible that Ted Lasso gives you so much on the surface that people need more and they don't know how to ask for it from him.

Yeah, but I mean, it's also possible that he gives so much on the surface that it's sometimes hard for him to have a there there. I thought, you know, that seems. That scene when Sam comes in and talks to Rebecca and Ted, he stays for the conversation between Sam and Rebecca, his lack of comfort in that situation is very different

from his like bursting into Rebecca's office every day with the biscuit and like a one-liner. It's like when you're actually asked to do the work of being in a relationship with somebody and helping them and give them advice, it's a little bit more difficult. Let's talk a little bit about the sports part about this. You were just, you were saying like you kind of were like, they hardly seemed important that they were promoted this year. I guess it's somewhat important

for the long-term trajectory of the show they're back in the Premier League. Did you have any doubts that they would get back? Did you have any doubts of how things would work out? Sports has been, on the field stuff

has been very much in the background this season. It has. I think the only real function that sports serves on the show is that it ties a bunch of people with diverging, cultural backgrounds and stuff together. And it's just something

that you can easily throw people in and say, hey, you have to make this work because results on the field or results in the office have to come. You know what I mean? They have to come. There's a goal. And a lot of times in our jobs, there's no goal. The goal is to just put stuff out there for whatever reason.

But the goal here is to win. So you got to, it's like almost like a little war, a little battle. So sports keeps us all intertwined with everyone. It was the least affecting part of the show. It was like, Jane gives up to Danny. I actually had to remember in that moment that it was Danny that kicked the ball and killed the Greyhound. Yeah. I actually had to pop in my mind

why would Jamie do that? Just kick the ball. I thought maybe Jamie was bitching out for some reason or maybe Jamie was having a panic attack or something. And then they were, oh, he kicked the ball and so he's trying to help him get over something. But they hadn't been loyal enough to that with Danny's character to make it into that much of a moment.

I am happy that they got promoted though because I think the idea, I'm getting into soccer now because of this. I think the idea of maybe like the fucking Delo-Wiwick 86ers. Being able to get to the NBA if they win the G League

is fucking amazing. It's the single coolest thing that happens over there that we don't do, which is this, with the exception of the NCAA tournament, it's this idea that like you can make your way up the sort of bladder of success in English

football and get into the Premier League. And if you're that's why the Lester story is truly one of the more remarkable things that ever happened. Speaking of all the soccer stuff, I thought I do a bit, just a little soccer decoder segment here. The most important thing I just wanted to mention is that they are clearly styling Nate after Jose Marino. So Jose Marino, for people who don't know, is one of the most famous managers in English

football history. He's managed Chelsea twice and won tons of trophies with them and then had much less successful stints managing Manchester United in Tottenham. And he's been, he managed Real Madrid and Inter Milan and now he's managing in Rome. But these are two guys. they, first of all, like, style-wise, that's why his hair looks the way it does, is if you do a picture side by side of Joseo...

What's the guy's name again? Jose Marino. Jose Marino, yeah. And Nate is being styled like Jose. Jose Marino gave a very famous press conference in the beginning part of his career where he said that he was a special one. And so the British press nicknamed him the special one,

which is not unlike Nate being like, it's not like I'm some Wonder Kid and everybody being like, it's Wonder Kid Nate, you know, like... And also, these are two guys who Jose Marino started out, you know, he's like basically a prodigy when it comes to football tactics, but started out as a translator for an English manager at Barcelona. Oh, this is Nate. Yeah, so he's just essentially, like, was working in the backroom staff for Bobby Robson at Barcelona

and has since gone on to become one of the great managers, but never played, doesn't have that, like, gravitas. and Nate obviously worked at a lower rung part of the club and is now like kind of seen as his tactical genius as he moves on to West Ham. One thing I thought you would enjoy Van in Soccer Dakota is that for West Ham United, where Rupert has bought West Ham,

the current owners of West Ham United, big soft core pornographers. Oh! So you just don't hear a lot about soft core pornography anymore. So I thought I would mention David Golden, David Sullivan, sort of a dirty empire, but they own West Ham United right now. Isaac was like,

can you just buy a soccer club? It happens all the time. Where? They're European guys, obviously. British, yeah. Yeah, and there's a consortium from Saudi Arabia that's trying to buy Newcastle right now. You know, like the clubs get bought and sold all the time.

So this happens. And the whole Edwin Akufu thing where he was like flying in on his helicopter is a sort of a nod to like how Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea. He just like flew over London. into helicopter and was like that one and just went down to bought Chelsea. How many, how much does it cost to buy with these like, probably like NFL team?

So Newcastle, which is like lower table to mid table in the Premier League that they're like among the bottom third teams. The asking price for them is 300 mil, euros. 300 million euros. Yeah, but I think that Manchester United if they were to be bought would probably be like four or five billion euros.

I mean, I can't even, yeah, I can't even imagine. One of the most famous sports teams in the entire world. I like that. I like that. because it makes me more curious about, look, I'm going to be honest with you. I love watching English football. I'm just not waking up, bro. I'm not waking up for that shit.

I remember I used to try to beat the crowds to the village idiot when I was writing. You walk in there, you just want to go in there in the morning, get some coffee and write a village idiot is this pub over on Melrose. But when you walk in there in the morning, and then you're yelling out of their house

just eight in the morning. I know. It's crazy. People are psychos. Right. Fantasy always. used to make fun of me for doing stuff like that. I wanted to go through a little bit of season two stuff here.

Did you have a favorite episode from this season looking back? The finale. The finale is your favorite episode. Well, so I would say, let's take the finale out there because it's always a cop-out movie. You do that. Beard, Beards Night Out on the Town. I love it when shows do this.

See, these are the sitcom things that I love when they do when they take an episode and they clearly stylize it off something else, something that we've seen, something that we know. character down this warm hole. And I thought that that was the breakthrough episode of season two for me. Yeah. I really liked season two now that it's complete. I think that there were moments like Carol of the Bells that felt a little like I didn't know where the show was going. But then when you get into that run of Headspace Man City beard after hours and then I thought no weddings in a funeral was quite good. That was the first one we plotted about. So yeah, like I think that in the moment like

there's like when Jamie comes back to the team it feels a little bit like why do you have to leave the team in the first place? Like this is just kind of like we're just getting the band back together but then to get all the way to the end of like with Jamie and Roy having their kind of heart to heart in this episode about Keeley and that was another real Nate Ether moment

was when Roy was kind of like you're not even worth getting upset about. Bro, let me tell you something. I've been that guy before. You've been Nate in that situation? Yeah, I've been Nate in that situation. I was a much heavier guy throughout college and I remember you just laugh right?

No, it's just like I'm not going to make a big deal about it but I do feel like I need to get you back for the only child laugh so I'm getting to get me to this laugh. Like I was a much heavier guy in college and I would play what I was called the Long Game. Uh-huh. So I was smart and a good writer in my classes and stuff.

So when there were girls in there and they would struggle, hey, I'll help you out. You know, I'll come over. We can hang out, study in the dorms, whatever, the long game. Then my personality comes out before you know it. Hey, let's go see Eric Banna as the Hulk. And then now you got a shot. I remember one time there was this dude. His name was Landon.

He was in the fraternity. He came to his girl's room and I was in there. Like doing her homework for her or explaining like Eric Banna as the Hulk? Like in there working. Like we're in there working But I'm in her room, right? Normally when you do this stuff down You've been to college

You do this day Like areas down in the dorms You can study whatever But I'm in her room He walks in and he goes Man you got a Oh shit What up Van

I'm just Van I ain't even much know him like that He just knew I was no threat Oh man Y'all must be doing some school working here Or something All right cool bro That's cool man

I see you around though bro And I'm like Damn This is just like no threat. Like, he's not even going to... I feel like that broke Nate.

I feel like that, like, whatever... That's what happened. Like, you, like, you don't want to be that guy. Like, you, like, I'm just no threat. Whatever guilt he felt about leaking it to Trent Crim, Roy being like, you're, you were so ineffectual to me that, like, I wouldn't even worry about the fact that you kissed my girlfriend. Even though I want to kill Jamie.

Let's look at the two things in context. All Jamie said was, hey, I still have feelings for you, blah, blah, blah. I know that's a big deal because they used to. be together, but they're at a funeral. Nate actually didn't just shoot his shot. He kissed his girl. Yeah. And by the way, even the way Keeley reacted, it's okay.

It's okay. It's all right. Cool. They all treated him like he was a 13-year-old boy that had got a crush on his substitute teacher, like fucking Rushmore or something like that. Yeah. So that was a shot. Everybody's testing Nate.

That was a shot to his manhood or his perceived manhood. He wants to be taken seriously and it doesn't seem like anybody does. I would just say also I would want to give just a special shout out to Nick Muhammad who I think had a very difficult role in the first season he's kind of like the secondary character

who's sort of lovable but has like a couple of ups and downs and in the second season I think was really on the front lines of like people being like what's going on with this show like why is Nate being a dick to Colin and will and when you get to the end I thought he was

extraordinary in that scene would speak. He's, I'm calling it right now. He's winning an Emmy. Like, it's a joke. Yeah. He was phenomenal. I don't know how they played this or how you get an actor to this point, but even in scenes

where there was no dialogue, the anguish on his face, the disdain on his face, how much he hated himself, the scene where he spit and himself in the mirror. Yeah. The tears that he's conjured. Anybody can, like, you know, a movie like Mystic River, everybody's crying every five minutes, but anybody can, like, produce a bunch of showy tears, not that Miss River isn't great, but the emotion behind it, he just sold it. He was doing the, like, I'm crying because I'm, I'm just emotional and angry, not because

I'm sad and heartbroken about this. Which is hard to, which is hard to pull off for an actor. I thought he was magnificent, particularly in that scene, but really, it reminded me a lot of fights when you're a kid and, like, you start crying and people are like, you fucking crying, and you're just like, I don't know why I'm crying. I can't stop myself I want to kill you Do you understand?

I'm not scared I remember wiping the tears from my eyes Yo, I'm not scared at all Like I just don't know what else to do Like I want to kill you Yeah exactly Anything that you hope

Does not make the trip to season three So we've got a couple of major storylines Obviously Rupert will be back I feel like they've arrived At a convenient way of like Either off-road in Keely and Roy or having it go into the second season,

a third season. I can also see Juno Temple like coming back midway through the third season. Like there's all sorts of things they could do. But is there anything you're like, I'm good. We've sort of covered this part. So interesting. So the Keeley and Roy thing is the one hang nail of the season, right? It's the one thing that you just kind of just there,

remind you it you, but you kind of wish you'd get some kind of closure on it. There seems to be at least something that almost, brood between Roy and the school teacher. Yeah, Phoebe's teacher, yeah. Phoebe's teacher, so that might be something. But really, I feel like we're in a good place for new beginnings on almost everything besides their relationship. We know that the show, something that you actually point out in a podcast of old was that the show doesn't have a clear villain.

And sitcoms normally don't. That's changed. We got two up them now. So I'm very excited for that dynamic. But the only thing that's kind of just out there in the ether. is Roy and Keely. And, you know, if I'm being honest with you, they fucked around with it so much,

I don't know that I'm particularly invested either way. Yeah, I think they cashed in the chip a little early, and now it's kind of like, whatever, you know, like... If they'd have left that even hanging with him and Jamie, it would have been more intriguing. But I guess it wouldn't have been very realistic that he would be a coach and Jamie would be a team member, and that's something that they wouldn't address.

But it seems like everybody's okay, seems like Roy and Keely are dancing around it. They don't know. Sure. They could be together. They could not be together. It wouldn't be all the same to me. You know, the team reacted very, you know, they were like, we're going to basically do a mole hunt.

We're going to find out who leaked to Trent Crim and obviously beard knows. I don't know that Rebecca obviously doesn't know yet, but she presumably will by next season. Just curious to see what other people think of what Nate did and to what extent Ted can kind of control how other people feel about that. They could sit comment and just kind of make it all a joke. or they could have some people be pretty upset about it. They could have some people feel different ways about it. You know, like they've, they never really hadn't Roy engaged with Nate about it.

He just kind of rolls his eyes every time Nate has a outburst. But I'd be kind of curious to see if everybody lets Nate just kind of get an unchecked blitz on them. Or if there's somebody who's just like, let me tell you a little bit about who you are then, you know? Yeah. And what happens now with West Ham and Richmond, you know? Obviously, the most predictive thing right now would be that it's West Ham versus Richmond

for the entire Premier League or their neck-in-neck or something like that happens. Is this a situation where Nate's character is some kind of way rehabilitated back into Lassoland? Or is this the first person that Ted is not able to get through to? I think that's very interesting. Depends on whether this is a three-season show or a five-season show. They're not going five-season, man. So you think this is what, four? You think next season is the last season?

It's that lasso? Well, you know what? Four is a weird number for a studio to go to. I don't think that they're going to keep this going for five years. I don't think they will either, but it will be interesting. It just all depends. If they knock it out of the park, if they have a great season, they're not going to stop. You know what I mean?

They're not going to stop. They fucking got nominated for 20 Emmys. You know, it's the whole thing. They're not going to stop. But story-wise, is there any... How much more story there is this entire deal? There's one. They go all the way back up and win the Cinderella.

Like as far as like the sports movie part of it, that's it. Them being mid-table or getting relegated again is kind of, that would be a different show. If it's just this guy, this divorced guy, Ted Lassow, like living in London. Like, I don't know. But like the whole point of the show is that it's like a workplace comedy at this soccer club. So at what point, just one more thing I think they could do. At what point do like the Kansas City.

Chiefs offer Ted like a head coaching gig or an O.C. gig or at what point does Ted's success out there? Is Ted a good American football coach? We don't even know. He was. Remember he took Wichita State? He made the shockers. Shout out to Wichita State.

He made the shockers. They went out and they won some big bowl game. I don't think they won like a I don't think they were in a playoff or nothing. I had to go back and watch his like origin story. I can't remember if he was good or not. Well, the video, they had just won a big bowl game after the dancing video went viral. So at a certain point,

Ted Lassau goes over and he does something and there's some wildly owner played by Will Ferrell or some guy like that that comes over and he's like, yo, I need to shake it up with the hire here. You can come back, you can be with your son. Basically the same situation that Sam is in. Right. Like, I'll be shocked if Ted doesn't go through that at some point. You're probably right. But I do think that

there is a season three end game and then there is like a season four or five end game. And if it's a season three thing, then I think we'll probably have some sort of shot at redemption for Nate next season. Van, it was a pleasure talking about this show with you, man. It was, man. What, like, is there more prestige TV for us to talk about in the most unironically named podcast

that's out there right now? The ringer, prestige, television, television, podcast. You know, are you looking forward to anything coming up? I'm kind of into foundation. Yeah. Yeah, I haven't been viving with it, but yeah. foundation is kind of cool.

It's all right. But like... Yeah, are you an Ozark fan? Fuck yeah. Let's do Ozark then. Don't play with me. Let's do Ozark. What?

Yeah, Bill. Yeah. Bill, let's do Ozark. Bill, Bill. Bill. Bill. We're doing Ozark. But here's the only thing with Ozark, though.

How are they releasing? Are they released? It's two parts. So I think they're going to go six and six. Or maybe it's longer than that, but it's two, it's a season. Season four is a two-parter. I think this is a two-parter. No, no, no, no, no.

What I'm asking is, Are they going to release? It's binge. They're never going to go episode by episode on Netflix. On Netflix, okay. I thought they might change it up because I think this is a better model, but whatever. Yeah. Last season, Ozark is incredible.

I can't wait to. All right. Pencil it in. Van and I will be back for Ozark. Hopefully, Isaac Lee will be back with us to talk about Ozark. I don't even know if he's ever seen it. It was a pleasure doing this pod. Keep listening to the Ringer Prestige TV pod.

You can check out Van on Higher Learning and on Midnight Boys. You can check me out on The Watch and the Answer and lots of times on the the rewatchables. We did The Departed, which fan does not like as much as the town. We are out of here. Woof, woof! Woof!