Ted Lasso: Season 3 (2023) Cre: Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt & Joe Kelly

Ridley Coote
6 days ago
2 min read

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The third and what was thought to be final season of the acclaimed Apple TV original series, created by Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly, looked to finish the story of the silly American coach and his journey in English football. I therefore expected it to be even more emotional than the previous two seasons, and hopefully just as good as them too.

The show maintained a determined series of arcs and developments across its twelve episode run, although I'm not entirely sure that I liked them all. A couple of the narrative developments, much like in season 2, were a little jarring in nature. It felt like some of the creative choices just didn't seem to work, based on the previous arcs for the various characters that they involved.

It felt like some decisions were made because they could be done, rather than being because they actually worked with the already established storylines and character dynamics. I must admit, unfortunately, that this was my least favourite season, from a storyline perspective, of any of the three. It just wasn't as neatly tied together as the previous seasons, especially the first one.

Jason Sudeikis gave more of his consistent performances as the show's titular protagonist, though I found his growth, both as a character and a performer, had reduced a lot compared to the rest of the cast. Meanwhile, I think that Hannah Waddington showed a good deal more range, and was, all-in-all, more consistent as a rule, throughout the series.

Of the rest of the expansive cast, my most valuable players included Brett Goldstein, Juno Temple, Nick Muhammad, and Phil Dunster. I think these four did really well with some of their respective arcs, though some of them were a little weaker occasionally. There are simply too many cast members to list, but the other standouts I wanted to give a mention to were Jeremy Swift, Brendan Hunt, Anthony Head, Ellie Taylor, and Jodi Balfour.

Overall, I must admit, unfortunately, that this was the weakest of the three seasons of 'Ted Lasso', and by a fairly comfortable margin. It just didn't quite fit together nicely enough, nor did it satisfy me as an audience member, either from a writing perspective or a story perspective. I did still enjoy various aspects of it, but I was hoping for better across the board.