‘Ted Lasso’ Recap, Season 2, Episode 12: Nate Makes a Choice

The joke about Roy having a hard time talking about his emotions (“It. Hurt. My. Feeling.”) is an old one, but well executed. And did anyone else notice that Roy’s overall take on the session — “So, sometimes the [expletive] Diamond Dogs is just chatting about [expletive] and no one has to [expletive] solve anything and nothing [expletive] changes” — is a near-verbatim quote of Ted’s assessment of “girl talk” with Rebecca way back in Episode 1? (The expletives, obviously, are additions.) It’s a clever echo, and a sly suggestion that men and women often talk in the same way, even if they call it different things.

It’s not until the end that doubt creeps back in. Roy, sweetly but foolishly, has planned a six-week vacation in Marbella for the two of them. But Keeley can’t go — she has to spend every waking moment preparing for her new gig — and she tells Roy to take the trip by himself. Once again, he does that slight head tilt that he does when he’s making sure he understands.

“Are we breaking up?” he asks.

They’re not, thank goodness. And there’s no real reason to think this is a bad sign at all. Keeley needs to be a workaholic, Roy needs a vacation, and six weeks isn’t really that long. But as with Sam and Rebecca, the show wants to keep us wondering over the long months between now and Season 3.

Curse you, “Ted Lasso.”

The Game against Brentford

There’s not a lot more to say here. (We’ll cover Nate in the final section.) But I will note that the end of the match, when Jamie is fouled directly in front of the goal, takes the Jamie-is-now-a-great-teammate narrative to ridiculous lengths. Though Jamie was the one fouled, and though the announcers note he hasn’t missed a penalty kick all season, he gives the ball to Dani Rojas to take the shot.

Yes, the same Dani Rojas who accidentally killed Richmond’s old mascot, Earl, with a penalty kick in Episode 1, and who — from the sound of it — hasn’t taken a penalty kick since. This is, of course, deliberate on the show’s part: Before Dani takes the shot, we see Earl’s name etched on his cleat and Earl’s replacement, Macy Greyhound, on the sideline. (I confess that I might have chosen Tina Feyhound, though it was close.)

But, seriously? Of course Jamie should take the shot! And having him do something as ridiculous as giving the ball to someone with a recent history of “the yips” — simply in order to close out a one-episode story line that most of us forgot about weeks ago — is just, well, ridiculous.