Ted Lasso: Season 2 (2021) Cre: Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt & Joe Kelly
- Ridley Coote
- May 12
- 2 min read
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After readily consuming the first season of this hit Apple TV original series, from the minds of Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly, I was keen to move onto this subsequent season as soon as I could. I was interested to see if the show would be able to maintain its watchability, considering how light-handed the nature of the narrative conflicts are.
The show continued on its path of steady character development, though some of it took a more nuanced form. There were some emotionally crushing scenes here and there, but also some that felt a little jarring, in truth. I still enjoyed a lot of what I was watching, but it definitely didn't do things as well as season one.
I know a lot of people were not happy with some of the storyline decisions taken in this series, and, as implied above, I definitely didn't like everything either. There was a few storylines that just didn't work for me - they felt forced. It was a little bit of a shame, because I still enjoyed the wider scope of the show a lot, but the bits that I didn't enjoy stood out all the more.
Jason Sudeikis showed more versatility than in the previous season, which was good to see. It was refreshing to see him give his character a little more depth of emotion, at least visually. Sudeikis was able to prove that, when called upon, he can do more serious acting, and for those scenes, he acquitted himself well.
Hannah Waddington was once again a strong and commanding on-screen presence in the series. Her comedic chops felt a lot more on display this season, and I think she was able to show a lot more personality, on the whole. I like that she's been able to showcase a little of her singing talents too - it's very impressive.
Brett Goldstein and Juno Temple continued their solid work, mostly together, and provided plenty of entertainment. I think Temple especially had some very strong scenes, while Goldstein had a lot of consistency to his performances. The other standouts were Toheeb Jimoh, who had a much more prevalent role in this season, and Sarah Niles, who was a new character to the show, but was rather memorable, in my mind.
Nick Muhammad, Phil Dunster, Jeremy Swift, and Ellie Taylor provided the most noteworthy performances from the rest of the supporting cast. Most of this is for positive reasons, though I found Muhammad increasingly irritating, and not just from a character perspective. I hope his acting picks up again for the third season.
Overall, I am sad to say that, for me, this second season failed to live up to the comforting joys of its predecessor, unfortunately. That said, there was still a good deal about the season that I did find enjoyment in, and I'm certainly still invested enough to go ahead and watch the final season, but I think my expectations will be a little more tempered this time.
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