Last week, Ted and the Greyhounds all went on journeys of self-discovery in Amsterdam. Ted thought up a new playing style to hopefully get the team back on track, Rebecca had a night that rivaled even the best-written rom-com, Roy and Jamie learned more about each other, and the team is closer than ever after their night in. But now … it’s time to head back to the pitch.
Sam’s Special Guest
It’s back to life as we know it and thanks to his newfound skill, Jack buys Keeley an original copy of Sense and Sensibility signed by Jane Austen, Roy is now having Jamie pull him around the streets of London on a bike for training. Nate is still seeing Jade from A Taste of Athens, but the restaurant in focus isn’t that one, it’s Sam’s. The place is booked out for a month (good for him!) but he’s got a special guest coming Friday and he needs a table freed up. After some light teasing in the kitchen with his head chef, it’s revealed that it’s his father coming all the way from Nigeria.
Total Football
It’s time to introduce the team to Ted’s grand scheme, which was first used by the Netherlands in the World Cup back in the 70s. It’s all about trusting each other and having each other’s backs. The team isn’t on board at first, especially when they learn they’ll be giving it a try this very Saturday.
Barbara finds Keeley’s gift and Keeley realizes she probably shouldn’t detail the depth of her relationship when Jack when Barbara starts to question it. Over at West Ham, Nate is reminded about his sister’s birthday tomorrow at 7 and that he cannot be late before he asks Siri how you can tell if a girl likes you or is just being nice. Siri may be AI but it is honest, and she tells him that you can’t.
Ted and Beard are getting an earful from everyone at the Crown and Anchor, the fans want to win again. He invites our favorite trio of fans to watch practice the next day. Ted hands it over to Roy — or drill sergeant Roy — who has intentions of making them run from one end of the pitch to the other for the entirety of practice. I guess total football requires total stamina. In even better news, they get to follow it up with a scrimmage!
Not-So-Secret Office Romance
After her run-in with Barbara earlier, Keeley is on edge when Jack comes in to visit. She can’t decide if she wants her privacy screen up blocking the couple from the view of the team (and Barbara), mostly because she didn’t know if Jack wanted it to be that serious. Jack is so serious and she announces it to the team happily.
Later that night, Rebecca and Keeley are at dinner where Rebecca is detailing her fairytale night in Amsterdam, Keeley being shocked the most by the fact Rebecca and this guy didn’t sleep together. It’s Keeley’s turn to share about her relationship and Rebecca’s sirens start blaring. She warns Keeley it sounds like she’s being love bombed, and she would know, Rupert did it to her. Keeley assures her it’s fine, that is until they find out that their dinner is paid for by Jack unknowingly.
The Map
Nate is still plagued by his confusion over Jade at his sister’s party, and his mother and sister help him along by showing him the grand gesture that his father had done when asking his mother out on their first date, a personalized map. The next morning, Nate musters enough courage to go and see Jade but can’t say a word, instead running to the bathroom where I swore we were going to get another spitting scene, but clearly Jade brings out the best in him and he leaves briskly saying he needs to do something first.
Meanwhile, when Sam goes into Ola’s restaurant, he finds the kitchen staff huddled around a laptop as they watch the Prime Minister speak about how she had turned refugees away from the border (sounds familiar) and Sam sends out a tweet in hopes he can help change her and the public’s mind.
The Old Switcharoo
It’s time for the team to try out this whole swapping positions thing, and it starts with Will and Beard. With Beard on kit, Roy hands out cards to each of the players with the name of the person they’ll be swapping with and Jamie is confused when his slip just says his own name twice. He asks Ted about it, he’s told that they assumed he’d just want to keep doing what he does best for them, scoring goals. Things don’t go very well, especially for Rebecca’s window that gets shattered by Isaac’s rogue corner kick, and subsequently Leslie’s tea.
Sam got the attention of the PM, who responded unkindly to his tweet, and Trent questions the effectiveness of Ted’s plan to change their entire strategy this late in the season. Clearly, Ted knows they have little to lose and sticks with it.
Ka-Boom!
Keeley walks into an office filled wall-to-wall with daises (her favorite flower) and Ted has a new scheme for helping the boys get used to total football. With a little input from Roy, they embark on a half-speed scrimmage with red strings tied around their … nether regions, and it goes as awfully as one would think. Jamie almost loses his most prized body part (its well-being after the incident a disappointment to Roy).
Nate finishes his grand gesture, a popup box like the one he crafted for his sister, and Sam finally fires off a scathing response to the Prime Minister.
Keeley and Jack discuss the love bombing and come to an understanding, Jack recognizes the error in her ways immediately and promises to back off and Nate gets his date despite his box getting run over. I still don’t think he deserves it…
Sam’s restaurant suffers at the hands of the Prime Minister’s supporters, who broke in and destroyed the entire place, spraypainting the last line of her tweet response to him on the wall: “Shut up and dribble.”
The team gets the brunt of Sam’s rage about his restaurant, he knows that as soon as he begins to mess up on the pitch the very same people loving him now will turn on him. His father arrives and Sam collapses into him, the two having a heart-to-heart where he reminds Sam that the one thing that will anger the people that did this to him would be for him to forgive them and move on.
Richmond vs. Arsenal
It’s a disaster! On all fronts. At halftime, Ted details the reasoning behind the iconic Ted Lasso stache which somehow stemmed from the Blue Collar Comedy tour. In that facial hair-fueled speech, Jamie comes up with a brilliant idea. They need to stop playing to Jamie and play through him. Dani says the secret number four is sacrifice, with Jamie offering to sacrifice his own personal glory for the sake of the team. While that isn’t number four, this is still a great plan.
And that’s the magic element.
While they did still lose, they at least showed signs of life. And according to Trent Crimm, thanks to the Lasso Way, this will work.
Nate and Jade go on their date, and Keeley takes Jack to A Taste of Athens. Sam still takes his father to the restaurant and when they expected to find the wrecked remnants of Ola’s, they find the entire team inside fixing the place up. Ola Obisanya sees his name in lights as Bumbercatch fixes the neon and he and Sam prep dinner for the team in the kitchen after a night of hard work.
Best Ted-isms of the Week
“Well Trent the way I see it, it’s kinda like taking a hike with Robert Frost. Could go either way. Hmm?”
“But I’m pretty sure the thought behind it is that it is nearly impossible not to be fully aware of what your teammate’s doing when you got a rope tied around your ding-dongs.”
“Sometimes you gotta leave space to let God walk into the room.”
“I shaved that puppy down right into a Foxworthy and I never looked back.”
“A lot of times the right idea is just sitting behind a couple of wrong ones.”
Ted Lasso season 3, episode 8 premieres exclusively on Apple TV+ Wednesday, May 3.
