Ted Lasso - Season 4, Episode 3, "Richmond's Got Talent" - Review & Recap

⚠️ Spoiler Alert: This review may contains spoilers. ⚠️

Ted Lasso Season 4, Episode 3 Review: “Richmond’s Got Talent”

Three episodes into Ted Lasso Season 4, and I think “Richmond’s Got Talent” is the episode where I’m finally starting to see the pieces coming together.

That doesn’t mean all my concerns have disappeared. I’m still struggling to connect with many of the new players, and there are moments when this season seems determined to make us uncomfortable rather than deliver the warm fuzzies we’ve come to expect from Ted Lasso. But I also have to remind myself of something important: this show has always been about the slow build.

And there was plenty to love this week.

The episode gets off to a great start with AFC Richmond holding an open tryout for local talent, and it’s exactly the kind of goofy, energetic sequence Ted Lasso does so well. Making it even better is the use of Elmer Bernstein’s “Overture (The March from ‘Stripes’),” famously used during the boot camp sequences in the Bill Murray comedy Stripes. It’s a fantastic musical choice that gives the whole tryout a wonderfully ridiculous training-montage energy. As a fan of Stripes, I immediately appreciated it.

The tryouts also introduce us to Dani Rojas’s sister, Maria (Paloma Cinco), which left me both delighted and disappointed. Delighted because I love Dani and Maria seemed like a female clone of his joyous outlook on life. Disappointed because it appears she’s already been dismissed from the show! That, my friends, is a crime. Maria brought an immediate personality and energy that stood out, and I was hoping her connection to Dani would give us another bridge between the Richmond we already know and this new women’s team. Maybe she’ll return, but if this really was it for Maria Rojas, it feels like a huge missed opportunity.

There is also a fantastic running joke that involves Britain's Got Talent, hence the name of the episode, and pop culture reference to that amazing debut of Susan Boyle's heavenly voice. In a twist, Ted has no knowledge of this phenomenon, so when he finally watches the video, he is appropriately moved emotionally.

I also enjoyed the addition of game day announcers Rebecca Lowe and Jill Scott. They are un-ironically played by the real life Rebecca Lowe and Jill Scott. I love that these two high profile ladies in the world of soccer have joined the show. I also didn't realize how much I missed the male versions from the first three seasons, Chris Powell and Arlo White. Both sets give the series a sense of reality in their game play breakdown.

My biggest ongoing issue with Season 4 remains my connection, or lack thereof, with most of the players. Three episodes in, I’m still waiting for many of them to become characters I genuinely care about.

The major exception continues to be Katie “Boots” Quinn.

I love Boots.

I honestly can’t think of another portrayal, outside of watching the actual sport, that has captured the mentality of a goalkeeper quite like this. Goalkeepers are different. They have to be. There’s a certain level of insanity required to willingly throw your body in front of a ball traveling directly at your face. Boots didn’t get much to do this week, but somehow, even with minimal screen time, the show managed to remind me that she is completely crazy.

And I mean that as the highest possible compliment.

The show also continues to confront the discrimination and dismissiveness surrounding women’s sports.

I appreciate that Ted Lasso isn’t dancing around the issue. It’s pushing it right into our faces.

At the same time, I hate watching it.

Not because it shouldn’t be there, but because Ted Lasso has traditionally been my warm-and-fuzzy show. Watching these women fight for basic respect, resources and legitimacy isn't exactly giving me those feelings.

That’s why I especially loved seeing Mae fully supporting the team. There’s something wonderful about Mae finally getting to sit in the stands and watch one of her beloved Richmond teams play. She normally has to run the pub during the men’s matches, so seeing her actually inside the stadium cheering on the women was a small but meaningful moment.

The owners’ meeting, however, bothered me.

When Leslie’s report becomes public, I kept waiting for one of our principal characters to stand up and defend the women’s team. Or at least put a positive spin on the report. They also mention the focus on the woman's team is the reason Jamie Tart left Richmond. I truly hope that is corrected later. Poor Keeley was just left at the microphone holding a fake smile while the arrows kept flying. It felt like the perfect opportunity for a classic Ted Lasso speech, one of those moments where Ted says something seemingly ridiculous before somehow making everyone look at the situation differently. Or even pulling the attention his way by making fun of himself.

Unfortunatley it never came.

It felt surprisingly un-Ted Lasso-like.

But this is also where I’m struggling with some of the criticism being thrown at Season 4. Have we forgotten how Ted Lasso works?

The original story took three seasons to fully develop this group of people into a team capable of achieving something practically nobody else believed was possible. Characters had to grow. Relationships had to develop. People had to buy into Ted's philosophy.

Success didn't happen overnight.

Why should we expect it to happen immediately this time?

One of my favorite subplots involves Keeley’s problems with the team’s kits.

And who ultimately helps solve it?

Roy freaking Kent.

Roy brings in Phoebe (Elodie Blomfield) and her friends, who transform the player's t-shirts into something a little more decorative for the women’s first friendly.

It’s ridiculous.

It’s adorable.

It’s Ted Lasso.

These are the little character-driven moments I’ve been missing, where the solution to a legitimate problem comes from someplace completely unexpected while simultaneously reconnecting us with characters we love.

Meanwhile, Rebecca and Matthijs aren't exactly having the best visit. Rebecca repeatedly misses or stands him up for meals because her professional responsibilities keep getting in the way. It creates the first cracks we've seen in their relationship, and I'm really hoping this isn't setting up a breakup. Please don't go down the “Rebecca can't balance her personal and professional lives” road. After everything Rebecca has been through, I'd much rather see the show explore how these two figure out how to make their relationship work instead of using Richmond as the thing that ultimately pulls them apart.

I’m still loving Alice (Tanya Reynolds).

In fact, one tiny moment this week might have officially cemented her place on the coaching staff. In retort to a Ted comment, Alice simply sticks her tongue out at them and walks out of the office.

Ted and Beard?

Impressed.

That's it. She's in.

It was such a wonderfully small character moment, and Reynolds continues to integrate beautifully into the coaching dynamic. Alice is beginning to feel like she belongs alongside Ted and Beard.

But let's remember something. Last time around, Richmond needed a coaching foursome before everything truly came together. Right now, we've only got three. Are we missing somebody? Could we eventually see the return of Nate the Great (Nick Mohammed)?

Who knows?

But I certainly wouldn't complain.

The addition of Gemma Jay (Abbie Hern) also gives this team something it desperately needs: tension.

Gemma is clearly the ace Richmond needs following its injuries to their strikers, but there's an obvious history between Gemma and Alice. Whatever happened between these two, Gemma isn't interested in forgetting it.

And that gives Ted an opportunity to finally do what Ted does best.

Ted eventually gets Gemma to look beyond her problems with Alice and remember why she's there in the first place: She loves the game. That's Ted Lasso.

For all the tactical discussions, motivational speeches and ridiculous metaphors, Ted's greatest talent has never really been coaching soccer. It's understanding people. He finds whatever little thing is preventing someone from being the best version of themselves and somehow gets them to see beyond it.

Ted simply knows how to bring out the best in the people around him.

“Richmond’s Got Talent” isn't a perfect episode, but it's definitely unraveling a story that I'm interested in watching. I'm still waiting to develop stronger connections with the players. I'm still uncomfortable with how relentlessly the women’s team is being dismissed by the people around them (which sadly is a true storyline). And there were moments, particularly during the owners’ meeting, where I desperately wanted the Ted Lasso positivity machine to kick into gear.

But maybe that's the point.

We aren't supposed to be there yet.

The original AFC Richmond didn't become the team we loved in three episodes. It took years of storytelling, setbacks, fights, failures and personal growth before everything finally clicked.

Season 4 deserves some room to do the same thing.

Because beneath those growing pains, I'm starting to see that familiar Ted Lasso magic again. Roy is solving problems in the most Roy Kent way possible. Alice is finding her place. Gemma's introduction brings some much-needed conflict. Boots remains wonderfully insane. Mae is cheering from the stands. And Ted Lasso is still Ted Lasso.

Sometimes you just have to "BELIEVE" long enough to see where all of this is going.

Check out the trailer for Season 4 of Ted Lasso:

https://youtu.be/PxZg4SfIURg?si=wbw57WjicRwNRd--