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Ted Lasso returnTed Lasso

The good vibes are back: Ted Lasso's long-awaited Season 4 return isn't perfect, but its familiar charm hits like a Keeley Jones hug

Ted Lasso didn't need a fourth season, but the first episode of Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt's hit show proves its familiar feel-good formula still works.

Tom Hindle

  • So, here's a question: why did this need to happen?

    Ted Lasso was an immense success for three series, going from charming sitcom to a unique niche of comedy-drama that tied together casual TV watchers and soccer fans. It was the soccer show for people who didn't know much about soccer. And for those who did, there were enough references to suck viewers in. It was a masterful balance. Those who didn't care about the sport will be captivated by the will-they won't-they of Roy Kent and Keeley Jones. Those who love it noticed that, at one point, coach Beard is reading the seminal soccer book "Inverting the Pyramid", or marvel at the fact that, in a hallucinogenic trip in Amsterdam, the coaching staff "accidentally" invent total football.

    Yet after three seasons of truly excellent television - save for one or two baffling episodes - it's strange to see the show crop back up. Most of the essential loose ends are tied off. Ted's work is done. Bringing it back again, with the same manager, doing most of the same stuff, borders on nonsensical.

    Still, this show has never really been about logic - both from a football and emotional standpoint. It is silly that a team, in two seasons, can go from relegation to competing for a Premier League. It is silly that a disgruntled star, Jamie Tartt, leaves, returns, and suddenly buys into the kind of system that he openly hated. Zava can’t quit in the middle of the season. The proximity of a journalist to a Premier League competing team feels highly unlikely in the year 2026.

    But to get bogged down in all of that kind of misses the point. Yes, this is a TV show loosely about sport. But Lasso has always been about the vibe. This thing is supposed to make you feel good. Most of the time, it does. And, in the first episode of a Season 4 that doesn't necessarily need to exist, the vibe here is spot on.

  • We are back in Kansas

    Ted Lasso
    Apple TV

    English women's football is the focus of Season 4, as AFC Richmond aim to get their women's team off the ground.

    We pick things up three years on from Ted’s, once again, slightly nonsensical, decision to leave AFC Richmond. His Kansas/Missouri homecoming seems to have gone well - to some degree.

    Ted is working part-time at a supermarket, and, to no viewer's surprise, seems to be everyone’s best friend. His son, Henry, has inherited Ted’s affinity for 90s Hip Hop, and, of course, plays soccer. But Ted does not coach the team. Instead, he's the Midwestern Dad who does Midwestern Dad stuff - help his mom move out, drive the kid to practice, do the school run.

    That is one of the strange bits here. Ted's very appeal as a character was not just that he's funny (he's still very funny). It was that he had a hilarious sort of gravitas about him. He may be clueless when it comes to the specifics of soccer, but Ted is the goofy CEO-best friend you probably want to have. When that's removed, you're left with a cheery guy who doesn't really have all that much of a purpose.

    So where's the tension here?

    Well, the jeopardy comes from the fact that AFC Richmond are trying to get their women’s team off the ground. Usual suspects Rebecca, Keeley and “Higgins” fly to Kansas to implore Ted to take the job. The episode paints quite a bleak picture of English women’s football - the folding of another prominent English women's side is mentioned in passing. But a trip to watch the real-life KC Current win a real-life game- with a real-life goal from star player Temwa Chawinga - shows the power of the women's game.

    And that's where the pull becomes clear. Ted knows he should probably take the job. But there is a real drama in being drawn back to England after being implored to go home. The moment when he makes the inevitable decision is truly wonderful and heartwarming. The music swells. Ted smiles.

  • Making the easy pass

    Keeley and Rebecca
    GOAL

    Girl power reigns supreme as Keeley and Rebecca take center stage in the opening episode of Season 4.

    Fans will likely love this. There are easter eggs everywhere, and plenty of loose ends tied up from the end of season three - which really found form after sagging a bit in the middle. Phil Dunster’s Jamie Tartt, not listed in the cast of Season 4, has his absence explained by what appears to be a transfer to a Spanish side. Roy Kent is mentioned - and will no doubt have his moment as the season unfolds. There are other touchpoints, too: A dartboard in Ted’s childhood room, Ted’s kid being implored to “make the easy pass” (a not-so-subtle reference to Jamie’s Season 1 antics).

    Keeley is funny, neurotic, and obsessed with America. Higgins has a very Higgins-y side quest and the more prominent role his character probably deserves. Rebecca retains her regal vibe - as well as a strong #girlpower friendship with Keeley.

    Perhaps that’s the criticism that can be levied here, then. We’re three years into the future, and nothing has really changed. Ted is himself, only back in his homeland and without the goofy foreign thing. Keeley, Rebecca, and Higgins are still the soccer power trio, fighting the system that has kept Crystal Palace/AFC Richmond from reaching the upper echelons of the game consistently. Mumford and Sons are still here playing nice tunes. Soccer, we are told, is mostly a force for good (something the show has constantly pushed - aside from an episode in Season 3 that not-so-subtly parodied the European Super League).

    However, this remains a captivating watch. Most importantly, because it's really, really, really funny, in a way that a lot of Season 3 - which took itself a bit too seriously - was not.

  • Sticking the landing

    Ted Lasso Season 4
    Apple TV

    Ted Lasso may not be breaking new ground in Season 4, but the familiar feel-good formula still works.

    Yet those hoping for a vibe shift, or new complexity added to any of the characters, will likely be a little bit disappointed. The episode is highly watchable because it's a lot like the others that have come before it. The escapism is truly uplifting. Yet there's not much new here - the same good feeling dropped into a different setting.

    Sudeikis and co-creator Brendan Hunt have both mentioned in previous interviews that Lasso was always meant to be a trilogy. Sudeikis told USA Today in 2021 that season two was their “Empire Strikes Back”. This really didn’t need a fourth series. And perhaps like The Force Awakens, the only way to reboot the franchise without much fresh material is to play the hits and keep the good vibes going.

    If that is indeed the goal, then Episode 1 certainly sticks the landing.