Ted Lasso: Headspace

September 3, 2021 9:50 AM - Season 2, Episode 7

With things turning around for Richmond, it's time for everyone to work on their issues - like Ted's discomfort, Nate's confidence, and Roy's attention.
posted by Pronoiac (43 comments total)

I Have Feelings about Nate learning the wrong lesson: don't have an audience when you're being an asshole.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:03 AM on September 3, 2021 [12 favorites]

There’s a "Roy is Sorry for Not Understanding Keeley" playlist. (Noted by coldchef on Twitter.)
posted by Pronoiac at 10:03 AM on September 3, 2021 [9 favorites]

He's here, he's there, he's every-fucking-where, Roy Kent! Roy Kent!
posted by Gary at 10:18 AM on September 3, 2021 [21 favorites]

Actor Nick Mohammed talked to Vulture about Nate's flirting with the dark side.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:56 AM on September 3, 2021 [5 favorites]

I can't understate how much I loved the convo betweeen Jamie and Roy where Roy realized Keeley needed space. I mean - it would have been better if Roy actually realized that from the words and actions from Keeley, but that would have not set up the tension or satisfaction in the resolution.

I'm anxious about how slowly the Ted needing therapy timeline is moving, but at the same time I think it makes sense that he keeps trying.

Also really liked that Beard called Nate out. I hate the Nate being mean storyline, but I think the relationship with his dad starts to complete his backstory and give some context.

I just love this show so much and even when it makes me sad it makes me ultimately happy.
posted by elvissa at 12:50 PM on September 3, 2021 [9 favorites]

I'm anxious about how slowly the Ted needing therapy timeline is moving, but at the same time I think it makes sense that he keeps trying.

I was more concerned because of how quickly this season resolved the sponsorship issue, Jamie joining the team, and Roy deciding he needs to take the job that's right for him (twice!). I'll be glad if they take their time with Ted's panic attacks and underlying needs.
posted by Gary at 1:24 PM on September 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

Sarah Niles is doing such incredible, subtle character work as Dr. Fieldstone. I could watch her face all day.
posted by merriment at 1:40 PM on September 3, 2021 [31 favorites]

I will be sad if they gently draw a curtain over Ted’s therapy and don’t actually show him working through his issues in any way. As a fellow therapy skeptic who has gradually warmed to the idea I think showing how therapy can help is important.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:52 PM on September 3, 2021 [6 favorites]

Roy saying "Hey Siri, play the 'Roy Is Sorry for Not Understanding Keeley' playlist" caused my HomePod to start playing a playlist for a band called Royal Blood. Since my HomePod is right next to my TV I didn't immediately catch on what happened, and thought it was a joke in the show that the music was so dissonant to the scene and played so loudly over the dialogue. Now that I know there's actually a playlist called "Roy Is Sorry for Not Understanding Keeley," I'm quite cross at my HomePod for not parsing Roy's request properly.

I love that this season is deconstructing the character of Ted, and how his relentless optimism and down-home demeanor are both a mask and an armor. The scene where he goes to see Dr. Fieldstone and spends an agonizing five minutes just babbling about where and how he should sit and what's on her desk was bracing.
posted by ejs at 4:49 PM on September 3, 2021 [4 favorites]

I cannot get over what a great character moment Ted uncomfortably filling the air in the therapist's office was. Absolutely adored the tension and discomfort. Really liked the way that she established common ground with him, too. It would seem she was not blustering with the "well I'm twice as good as my job" line early on, heh.
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:22 PM on September 3, 2021 [9 favorites]

I'm not sure if it's just me, but Will closing the blinds at the end of the episode was all kinds of ominous.
posted by synecdoche at 6:08 PM on September 3, 2021 [6 favorites]

I just want to state for the record that I’m obsessed with Jan Maas. What a wonderful, incredibly blunt addition to the cast this season.
posted by palomar at 6:17 PM on September 3, 2021 [11 favorites]

Also obsessed with Higgins and Rebecca jazz scatting.
posted by palomar at 6:19 PM on September 3, 2021 [27 favorites]

As for potentially glossing over Ted in therapy, I get the sense that there’s enough coming in the rest of this season to ensure we see more of his time with Doc Sharon. I’m hoping so, at least. The buildup to getting him in that office has been so long, I can’t fathom the show throwing all that work away.

We sure are headed for more darkness before we start to pick our way out of the forest, though.
posted by palomar at 6:28 PM on September 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

Also obsessed with Higgins and Rebecca jazz scatting.

A++ would watch just that show every day
posted by tzikeh at 8:27 PM on September 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

From the article pronoiac linked above: What was your reaction to hearing Nate was headed in this direction as a character? You definitely get to play a new side to Nate that you hadn’t played before.

I knew quite early on, actually. When we were filming season one, Jason had outlined potentially what journey Nate was going on. I remember talking to him when we were filming the gala episode, episode four. There’s a bit at the very end of that episode when everyone gets up and starts dancing. I had a long conversation with Jason about whether Nate would get up, too, and we decided no. And you assume that’s because he’s too shy to engage. But actually — and we made a decision right there and then — the reason why Nate’s not getting up is because he’s looking around the room and taking in the power play between Rupert and Rebecca and Ted. He’s taking all this in and essentially making mental notes for when his time comes. Obviously, that’s incredibly silent — you wouldn’t get it at that point in the show. But I think in hindsight, when you watch these episodes back and see the journey Nate goes on in season two, it does all add up. That’s a testament to the writers, absolutely.

I've never doubted the writers, but if anyone out there needs proof that the writers aren't throwing stuff at the walls and seeing what sticks, he's talking S01E04 laying down pieces of what we're seeing now, even though it would not make sense to --or even get noticed by-- a single viewer back then.
posted by tzikeh at 8:35 PM on September 3, 2021 [8 favorites]

We sure are headed for more darkness before we start to pick our way out of the forest, though.

Sudeikis did say that, being the middle installment, season two would be the Empire Strikes Back of the show, darker in tone (and maybe ending on a down note?).
posted by LooseFilter at 9:25 PM on September 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

Additional thought: I’m no longer sure that Nate will remain a likable character—it’s easy to read the family background we’re seeing, and his reactions to success, as a villain’s origin story. Which would be a fascinating, and devastating, turn.
posted by LooseFilter at 9:32 PM on September 3, 2021 [6 favorites]

ESB comparison—maybe because of father issues finally coming to the surface?
posted by rivenwanderer at 10:28 PM on September 3, 2021

Two weeks ago Mrs. nushustu predicted that Nate was going to leave in a bad way but that he'd be back next season as the coach of a rival team. I suspect she's right...
posted by nushustu at 11:49 PM on September 3, 2021 [10 favorites]

The Sam and Rebecca moment was absolutely adorable. There's chemistry between the two of them, for such poised people to be momentarily baffled.

My kid wanted to know why Roy talking about his hair and Keely's toes was romantic and I tried to explain that it was the mutual intimacy of recognising each other's flaws and that he hadn't just left the hair or pointed out her toes, but had done something about both.

And Trent with his own handlebar mustache gentleman friend!
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 1:14 AM on September 4, 2021 [8 favorites]

tzikeh, that part of S1E4 has always stood out to me. There’s a moment like that for Sam in the Liverpool episode, too, when he takes Rebecca’s things so she can go sing — a courtly little moment that means nothing until it does. And it’s because Sudeikis was like, hmm, Toheeb, you should do this in this scene.

I wonder how many moments like that we’ll be able to see on rewatch when the series is over. These writers and show runners are not fucking around.
posted by palomar at 5:05 AM on September 4, 2021 [8 favorites]

If possible, Trent Crim’s hair looked even better on his evening out.

Two weeks ago Mrs. nushustu predicted that Nate was going to leave in a bad way but that he'd be back next season as the coach of a rival team.

As soon as we overheard a pundit say that Nate should be coaching his own team, I thought the same thing. It’s not a do-over of the Jamie leaving either. Nate knows all the team’s secrets and strengths.

I loved watching Dr. Sharon’s face. She’s sort of unreadable but in a way that you can still see her empathy. And I didn’t realize how desperate I was for a character to have a new dynamic with Ted. This season, Ted has been so removed from the football parts of the team. I think that Vulture interview highlights how Ted has ended up abandoning Nate while Ted struggles with his own pain.

If the show ultimately turned into the Leslie and Rebecca variety hour, I would still watch each week.
posted by gladly at 9:09 AM on September 4, 2021 [3 favorites]

Can someone with an Apple Music account post the tracklisting?

I can’t wait to see where the therapy sessions lead, and I’m loving Keeley and Roy. Sam and Rebecca’s awkwardness was so cute even if the power dynamics are bad!
posted by ellieBOA at 9:27 AM on September 4, 2021

Stuff I've been thinking about:

1. Sam's sort of throwaway joke in season one when he's talking to Rebecca re: JK Rowling having more money than the Queen: "I like the idea of someone becoming rich because of what they gave to the world, not because of who their family is."

2. Sassy Smurf has made a point of telling us (maybe it has come up elsewhere, too?) that Rebecca has been rich since she was young, and there was that whole "should I put that I'm rich in my dating profile" question.

3. Rebecca told us in Season One that she doesn't really give a shit about football, she just took over the team in the divorce in order to hurt Rupert.

4. Part of the show's whole ethos is about doing stuff because it's the right thing to do. Rebecca's continued ownership of the club, while it may have become about spending time with the people who she works with, is rooted in wanting to hurt Rupert.

Combine that with the sudden and somewhat unhandled disappearance of the sponsor + Rebecca picking up Ted to do Santa housecalls in the added-later bottle episode makes me wonder.

We may end up with Rebecca liquidating her fortune to sponsor the team personally while pivoting to doing something with her time that isn't about Rupert? Maybe campaign for environmental protections alongside Sam?
posted by lazaruslong at 9:39 AM on September 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

This link should let anyone see the 'Roy is Sorry for Not Understanding Keeley' playlist.
posted by LooseFilter at 9:44 AM on September 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

The Wayback Machine has an copy of the playlist.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:37 AM on September 4, 2021

Every time they show the four coaches standing next to each other on the field, it feels like there are too many coaches. But who's going to leave, if not Nate? It makes total sense to me that they are setting up Nate to go coach a rival team. There's a lot of drama to be had from that situation.

This is a long shot but I'm daydreaming about a future season where Ted works through his issues in therapy and then ultimately moves back to Kansas to be near his son, and Roy and Nate end up coaching together after some kind of redemption arc for Nate.
posted by beandip at 1:17 PM on September 4, 2021 [5 favorites]

That playlist is like half Sade and I am completely and totally here for it.
posted by box at 2:40 PM on September 4, 2021 [4 favorites]

i, for one, absolutely hate what they are doing with Nate. it's the turd in the punchbowl.

they are handling the Ted breakdown much better, and Dr. Fieldstone is a great character addition. i agree, the subtle work Sarah Niles is doing in that role is powerful.

the Jan Maas character is wonderful, i want to see more of it!
posted by lapolla at 7:05 PM on September 4, 2021

Every time they show the four coaches standing next to each other on the field, it feels like there are too many coaches.

I get that; we went from 2 to 3 to 4. But there are more coaches/coaching staffers, yes? In either Rainbow or RomComunismm I noticed at least two random, older, non-player dudes in the back row while Ted was holding forth. In this episode, starting at 7:35 in, there's a cut from Ted leaving Doc Sharon's office to the pitch, and a bearded man with a man-bun is on the right side of the training area as he is counting out, in Spanish, "Tres, Dos, Uno, Vamos!" over and over. (I originally though it was Dani speaking, even though the voice was deeper, but repeat viewings show the man's hands moving in time with the counting.)

(beandip, I get that your point was more about that feeling and how it'll lead the narrative, but I keep getting caught up in who those extra players/coaches are, and how the number in the press room coaching setting doesn't match up to the number on the pitch and in the "dugout" (whatever that's called in soccer) and I want to know who everyone else is!)
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 7:06 PM on September 4, 2021

I gasped when Ted left Dr. Field stone's office complaining about an hour's pay for 50 minutes of work. Have we ever seen him that mean?

It's so very fantastic to see people with Problems working through them.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 8:27 PM on September 4, 2021 [2 favorites]

While I hate what he's becoming, I really, really feel for Nate. Wordlessly striving to seek an ounce of approval - from his father, from Ted, from anyone - and receiving well-intentioned advice about standing up for oneself from Rebecca and Keely, and being unable to make it happen. That is, until he fuels it from his own deep wells of anger and self-loathing (the shocking spitting into the restaurant bathroom mirror). And then finding that it works! Further, having it reinforced by taking charge of the team's tactics (again, preceded by spitting), succeeding, and being rewarded with everything he's ever wanted: plaudits, attention and praise.

Anyone that emotionally screwed-up is going to fight desperately to preserve a system that provides them with what they need, and lash out when it is threatened. I think that being recruited by another team on the basis of a single last-minute switch at the end of a match might be a bit much, although stranger things have happened. He's already halfway to full-blown NPD: if a similar success occurs again in association with the same behavior, he's going to become a monster.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 9:06 PM on September 4, 2021 [15 favorites]

Thanks LooseFilter and Pronoiac!
posted by ellieBOA at 1:16 AM on September 5, 2021

There seems to be somewhat of a symmetry between how Jamie & Nate respond to not getting approval from their fathers; but I'm not sure if the show will foreground that.
posted by Marticus at 1:20 AM on September 5, 2021 [4 favorites]

I haven't liked Nate since that first time he got to address the team and tore down individual players one by one. The team treated it like he was teasing them, but I thought it was mean-spirited. And since then, every time he's gotten even a tiny bit of power, he's abused it. He can't even handle having a whistle. And he's been HORRIBLE to the new kit boy or whatever that kid's job is called. I really don't know why nobody has stepped in about that, because that kid has been nothing but helpful and Nate is constantly bullying him. Same energy as spiting in his own face in the bathroom mirror, but someone else (that kid) is getting hurt.

I feel for Nate because he's insecure, but aside from Rupert, he's the biggest jerk in the show. Yes, counting Jamie. So I think he might go full black-hat. I hope that he comes to his senses but... based on the show giving us this entrenched family dynamic, I feel like that's unlikely. At least not without a whole damn arc about it. I like the idea of him becoming the coach of a rival team and using all his knowledge of Richmond's and Ted's inner workings against them, though!

I am also not on board with Sam and Rebecca. I like both characters a lot, but Rebecca is Sam's boss and twice his age. Just can't shake the "yikes!" feeling about that.
posted by nowadays at 3:07 PM on September 5, 2021 [15 favorites]

I’m loving this episode. We’re looking at something not covered in any nuance in sitcoms - male vulnerability and fragility, and how it is adaptively and maladaptively coped with. We see Nate, the covert / inverted narcissist express the dark side, and Ted who fronts as nice to hide his vulnerability but lashes out meanly once cornered. Watching the therapist give him space to be friendly-defensive and uncomfortable, and also build a bridge with him based on honesty and authenticity (telling him he hurt her with his comments) was subtle and beautiful. Suedekis’ acting in those scenes was lovely; daring to offer out friendliness and then checking to see if the cover is accepted, (and it’s not! Now what???) the flashes of insecurity and pain quickly covered again by the people-pleasing defense mechanism. Contrast with Roy, the most integrated of the three, be… downright clingy… and at first is humiliated to face it but then quickly gets a grip on himself and moves forward.

I’m seeing the season culminating between Ted and Nate - one who’s insecure but trying to face it, and one who is going the dark side… plotting could be Nate gets his own team and is a dick to them but they perform, eventually Ted and Nates team face off, the question being who ultimately succeeds in life? The authentic people or the assholes? What is strength?

A detailed sensitive real exploration of the emotional world of men and masculinity…. This show is getting good y’all!
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:53 AM on September 8, 2021 [6 favorites]

The bantr product is straining my credibility a bit - I guess you put in your gender and your sexual orientation but not your age? That seems weird.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:11 AM on September 9, 2021 [1 favorite]

Brett Goldstein (Roy Kent) just retweeted warnings about the next episode: "Ted Lasso fans, do yourselves a massive favor and stay off social media until you’ve seen 2x08. The episode has some of the most brilliant moments thus far, and it deserves to remain unspoiled. Don’t read anything. Don’t look at gifs."
posted by Pronoiac at 3:12 PM on September 9, 2021 [2 favorites]

It’s fairly incredible how much this show took a screeching left turn into Bill Lawrence’s playbook the past few episodes.

Scrubs knew how to throw a devastating and unexpected gut-punch… and it sure looks like Ted Lasso has picked up that trick.
posted by schmod at 9:06 PM on October 9, 2021

The bantr product is straining my credibility a bit - I guess you put in your gender and your sexual orientation but not your age?

Is that shown or is that just a guess based on Sam being matched with Rebecca? I hadn't spotted the sign-up screen.

It wouldn't shock me to learn that Sam has a preference for older women or if he gave a wide age-range for possible matches.
posted by jzb at 9:56 AM on October 11, 2021 [1 favorite]

Nate reminds me of why I don't even want a tiny, tiny taste of power: I'm afraid I'd turn into a total arsehole. Poor Will. I'm scared for him. Did enjoy Coach Beard calling Nate out, though.

Awwww, Roy is such a good boyfriend in the end. Seriously, he's cranky and Sir Cuss A Lot, but a good boyfriend. They've always been very blunt and honest with each other (I can't even imagine doing that in a relationship) so it was kind of a surprise that Keeley did have an issue saying something here. But as usual, they work it out!

Poor Sam and the dot dot dots. God, I hate when it shows when someone might be typing.

Interesting take on "you don't care, you just get paid to listen" there, Ted. Well, you don't care, you get paid to watch sports all day? I wish my therapist could see this one.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:50 PM on January 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

Here is the playlist on Youtube.

I love the scene in the boot room - the place where Rebecca and Keeley have decided that smoking does not count.
posted by rongorongo at 3:19 PM on February 3, 2022