Things get heated on the field and in the locker room in this week’s episode of Ted Lasso, “La Locker Room Aux Folles.”
The boiling point
Despite having what appears to be a killer practice (and Roy even tells the Greyhounds they did a great job, much to the faint-worthy surprise of Coach Beard), Colin has a hostile interaction with Isaac following the awkward moment in the last episode when the captain discovered his teammate’s sexual preferences by surprise. After practice, Colin approaches Isaac and asks if he wants to grab a beer and have a chat later, but his captain turns him down with a blunt “no.”
Colin eventually decides to approach Trent for advice, explaining that Isaac won’t talk to him. Trent tells him to give hive a minute, even though he shouldn’t have to because some people need it. Unfortunately, despite how well Richmond has been playing lately, Isaac’s cold shoulder reaches a boiling point during a game — he won’t even touch Colin’s hand during the pre-game huddle. Isaac’s focus is all over the place during the game, and there’s one fan in particular that continuously heckles him throughout. When Colin’s involved in a play that doesn’t go well, Isaac begins screaming at him in the middle of the field, and Sam and Jamie have to hold him back. With Brighton up 1-0, the Greyhounds head back to the locker room for halftime, and the heckling fan yells a homophobic slur at the team. Isaac immediately storms up into the stands and grabs him, earning himself a red card in the process.
The locker room is beyond tense, everyone quietly waiting for someone to speak. They agree that what the fan said was entirely out of line, but Isaac’s reaction as a player was uncalled for. The team murmurs in discussion, but Isaac stands up, shouting that he doesn’t want to just ignore it because what if someone on the team is gay? They shouldn’t have to deal with that. He takes off his captain armband, hands it to Sam, and storms out of the room. Isaac is emotional as Roy follows him to have a (somewhat private, thanks to Will) heart-to-heart. The team begins to innocently speculate if this means that Isaac is gay.
Colin comes out to the team
Roy helps Isaac sort through his feelings, whatever they may be, as he tells him that whatever it is that he’s truly angry about … he needs to go and deal with it. Meanwhile, unable to sit in silence for any longer, Colin stands up and tells the team that Isaac isn’t gay; he is. The team is completely supportive and positive (and Ted launches into the most convoluted story in order to make a point that the team cares about him, who he is, and what he must have been going through). Trent watches on proudly. With Sam on the field as their substitute captain, the Greyhounds win 2-1 with two assists from Colin — thus bringing them to a total of eight wins in a row.
After the match, Isaac shows up at Colin’s house and explains that he was upset and angry over the fact that he felt like he couldn’t tell him the truth. Colin invites him inside, and the two play video games together as Isaac asks him an array of questions about being gay (thus learning that Bumbercatch is apparently the most fit guy on the team).
The break becomes a breakup
Keeley and Jack have yet to reconcile after their fight over how to address (or not to address) the video leak. And to make matters worse, not only are they not talking — but Keeley has sent Jack an entire wall of unanswered text messages. Ted comes into Rebecca’s office, interrupting their girl talk, and he presents both of them with his trademark pink boxes (though he put money in Keeley’s instead of a biscuit since he didn’t know she would be at the club).
Later, Jack texts Keeley to tell her she’s in Argentina for the next couple of months, and Keeley accepts that their break may very well be an “up.” She gives Higgins and Rebecca free reign to say whatever they didn’t like about her now that she’s officially her ex.
Roy Kent vs. press conferences
Ted skips out on one of the team’s press conferences so that he can virtually attend Henry’s parent-teacher meetings. Keeley suggests they have Roy fill in because although he hates doing them, he’s certainly good at it. However, when Rebecca and Keeley approach him to tell him he’s filling in, his immediate response is, “F#!k no.” Despite the fact that he eventually agrees to it, Rebecca comes downstairs from her office (following a warning from Higgins) to find Beard in a heated argument with the press over Joe Walsh and Jimmy Page. Higgins drags the coach from the room, putting Rebecca in the spotlight as they ask her who the greatest rock guitarist of all time is (and Higgins is beyond amused that the only response she can muster is “the guy from Cream”).
Rebecca stomps into the workout room, angrily demanding that Roy get his “hairy arse” into her office at once. The team goes “ooooh” like a bunch of schoolboys, at which point Roy whirls on them, angry that none of them spoke up — since they all know his arse isn’t hairy. He will never forgive them. He then storms into Rebecca’s office, only to be knocked down a peg as she yells at him and tells him that if she asks him to do a press conference, he needs to do it. She then goes on to needle into him, accusing him from walking away from anything in his life the second it’s no longer fun or easy. Oof. She leaves him with a plea to get out of his own way — which is a lovely mirror to Roy’s own speech to her about the kind of person she deserves to be with.
Heeding Rebecca’s words, Roy surprises them all by stepping in at the next press conference, even though Ted is available. Arms crossed, he sits down, and the press immediately goes wild, ready to bombard him with questions (and in turn, he’s prepared with sarcastic nicknames for everyone). The first man that stands up asks if Richmond condones what Isaac did. Roy gets candid with the room as he recalls a memory from his time playing for Sunderland — he made a joke toward a fellow player about his pregnant wife, and he ended up getting beat up in the process. The player was booted off the team, and his career was ruined. It was only later that he found out the couple had lost the baby a month prior to Roy’s accidentally insensitive comment. Roy’s story is to make a point that you don’t know what’s going on in other people’s lives. So even if what Isaac did was wrong, Roy gives him love for it. The room is humbled for a moment, and Roy moves on to the next question.
Nate makes a choice
Jane surprises Nate by showing up at West Ham to bring him lunch, and she has the (mis)fortune of meeting Rupert in the process. Suddenly, Nate’s unfailing awkwardness seems to pale in comparison to Rupert’s uncanny ability to be more than a little creepy toward pretty young women. However, despite his initial interest in her, Rupert can’t even be bothered to remember Jane’s name when he talks to Nate afterward.
Rupert invites Nate to go out for a drink after a West Ham match, though he tells him not to invite Jade because it’s a guy’s night. However, when Nate arrives, two beautiful women flirtatiously greet him. Nate then learns what his boss’ definition of “guy’s night” is … and it’ll be in a private room. He makes up a flimsy excuse to leave and heads straight to Jade’s place instead, embracing her as soon as she opens the door.
Top Ted-isms of the week
Ted defines ghosting as “the old digital Irish goodbye.”
“So, are folks still dissecting frogs in science class these days, or is it all just talking about the frog’s feelings now?”
“You know what my favorite thing was about Sir Isaac Newton? He was so down to Earth.”
In response to “It’s a big one”: “That’s what that lady from the American Office said.”
The next episode of Ted Lasso will premiere exclusively on Apple TV+ on Wednesday, May 17. Follow along with all of our weekly episodic recaps here.
