Everyone wants to go out on a high note, but it isn’t always possible to predict when exactly that will be. While Ted Lasso was likely going to succeed from the very beginning, just how popular and beloved it was at the start couldn’t necessarily have been anticipated. But in keeping with the original premise of wrapping after three seasons, the Emmy-winning comedy signed off in 2023. It took two more years for the show’s return to be announced, and now it’s finally here. Does there need to be more Ted Lasso in the world? Maybe not, but even if it may not quite be the home run it used to be, having him around is never a bad thing.
The initial concept of Ted Lasso was that this American football coach was never well-suited to be able to rally a dismal soccer team in London, let alone turn them into something great. Season four is less about doubting Ted, who’s now in a much better headspace than he’s ever been, but instead seeing just what he can do with a phenomenon no one – British or otherwise – seems to care much about: a women’s soccer team. Ted is undoubtedly the man for the job, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy road to making something utterly uninteresting to most worthy of their attention and adoration.
While this isn’t technically a reboot, especially since the show was never officially cancelled, it does feel like a new and separate chapter. Fortunately, the same creative team is in place, along with most of the original cast. Understandably, the footballers themselves are all new since the men’s team is no longer relevant (Emmy winner Brett Goldstein, also a writer on the show, is back as Roy Kent, now the men’s coach), but the core ensemble returns. Their growing pains are a little different this time around since they’ve seen what it’s like to be on top, but that also makes them have to seriously reconsider their strategies because, even if lightning strikes twice, it isn’t likely to hit the exact same spot.
Ted missing his family and putting his mental health at risk featured prominently in the show’s initial seasons, and fortunately that’s not an issue here, which leaves him free to focus on just how to turn things around and understand a new problem that, in a way, feels just as foreign to him as the last time he tried this. Ted and Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) are open and honest with each other, both pursuing the same goals from different vantage points, and Higgins (Jeremy Swift) is along for the ride, working tirelessly to both prevent and clean up messes others don’t even realize are being made, as well as Beard (Brendan Hunt), who would love nothing more than the chance to work alongside his best friend again.
The best showcase in this new season is Juno Temple, who was always an entertaining fixture as Keeley, who gave every business endeavor she tried her all. Seeing her champion the potential branding opportunities here is very welcome, and it allows Temple to expand the character into someone who very much has a stake in the success of her projects, more than before because she sees that these women are similarly sidelined and underestimated. While Temple can be very funny, seeing her flex her more dramatic acting skills to show more of who Keeley is turns out to be the best gift of this new season.
With a few other familiar faces returning, it’s also worthwhile to point out the strongest new addition to the cast, Tanya Reynolds as Alice Chilton, the assistant coach who is hardly excited by the prospects of working with – or worse, under – an American she doesn’t believe knows much. Her blunt commentary is a nice counterpoint to Ted’s endless positivity, but it’s different from Roy’s angry grunting, and it’s nice to see the two develop a working relationship that could even turn into a friendship. The players themselves are drawn from a fun bunch who all seem to have something memorable to contribute.
That a fourth season of Ted Lasso was never intended to exist shouldn’t make the fact that it did get made feel extraneous. After all, another Bill Lawrence series set to end after three seasons, Shrinking, got a fourth season renewal without a three-year hiatus of being theoretically wrapped! Filling twenty-two episodes is a thing of the past, and though it’s not quite as glimmering or inspirational as it once was, this new Ted Lasso is still a delight, a light watch with an occasional bit of seriousness thrown in for good measure.
Season grade: 7/10
