The Greyhounds are hot on a winning streak, and Colin’s big secret is out. Keeley and Jack have broken up and Nate refused a guy’s night with Rupert in favor of hanging out with Jade. Read on to find out what happens in this week’s Ted Lasso episode, “International Break.”
Nate the Great-ly Unemployed
We open with an absolute banger of a bombshell: Nate is out as coach of West Ham. And Richmond is on a 10-game winning streak. However, next week there’s no game as the players break for International play, where everyone is vying for a spot with their national teams. Jamie has made the English team, Van Damme for Canada, Dani for Mexico, Bumbercatch for Switzerland, and Colin to Wales. There’s a notable absence for Sam’s announcement for Nigeria, however. Jamie checks on him to make sure he’s all right, and as Van Damme congratulates Dani for making the team, Dani starts the taunting already, as the two will soon be enemies on the pitch.
Rebecca and Ted are discussing Nate’s firing, where Ted is Ted and refuses to gossip, as he calls it. But Trent is there, and he’s ready to spill. He’s heard of some inappropriate workplace behavior at West Ham. After the three agree Nate isn’t the type for that sort of thing, Leslie arrives to let them know that Edwin Akufo is back in town trying to assemble a Super League, which Ted mistakes for the Justice League. If this came to be, it would all be about money and not skill, leaving the Davids out of facing Goliath at all, and likely being wiped out all together. And of course, Rupert calls Rebecca.
Jade finds Nate hiding in bed and it turns out he’s quit, not been fired. She’s off to Poland to visit family for a few days, leaving him to stew in a decision he’s questioning but also certain was correct. It doesn’t help there’s a slew of paparazzi and reporters outside hoping to get a quote or photo of the former West Ham manager.
Bad News Greyhounds
KJPR is no more. The funding was pulled, and the company will be dead in two days. What’s worse is Keeley was the last to know as she walks into work to find the office being gutted, only Barbara left to break the news.
Sam’s rightfully upset about not making the Nigerian team and Ted knows it. He tries to cheer him up but doesn’t quite hit the mark. Speaking of hitting the mark, Beard and Jane have reserved an axe-throwing lane tonight complete with Nate targets to celebrate the downfall of the “Wonder Turd.” Ted’s not impressed. Roy also declines the offer, stating he’s got a “thing.”
After a sweet interaction with Sam in the hallway, Rebecca walks in to find the devil himself, Rupert, standing in her office. He’s there to invite her to a meeting with the Akufo league as an olive branch. She tells him she’ll give it some thought, and as he goes to leave, she asks him about Nate, Rupert responding, “Some people just aren’t ready when they get their shot.”
Uncle’s Day
Roy’s “thing” is Uncle’s Day, and he’s at his sister’s celebrating with her and Phoebe. It’s her favorite holiday. When the doorbell rings, she scampers off to get it, and who walks in but none other than Jamie Tartt. Phoebe just had to invite Roy’s best friend to the festivities. A sentiment they both deny. But when Jamie says Isaac is his best friend, Roy disagrees. Jamie’s also brought him a gift: the original England kit Roy wore in the 2014 World Cup with one catch, he got the E changed to a U. But Jamie isn’t the only gift-giver, Phoebe made him a tie-dye shirt with red, orange, yellow dye because they spell R-O-Y. And now, a performance.
Sam arrives at Ola’s expecting a full restaurant, only to find that Edwin Akufo has cleared out the night to continue his vendetta against Sam for refusing his offer. He’s got a food blogger for The Times ready to write a bad review, and he’s opening his own Nigerian restaurant 20 meters away. Turns out all the night’s reservations were made by him, too. And, as expected, he was why Sam didn’t make the Nigerian team by paying them $20 million.
Nate sees his opening after being in bed all day once nighttime hits, and he sneaks into his parent’s house through the window.
A Statement Piece
Rebecca goes to Leslie for advice about the meeting with the Akufo league. She thinks she’s only being invited because she’s a woman and it’ll make them look good. She’s definitely not wrong. Leslie tells her who cares why, go and find out what’s going on.
Keeley is at the Crown and Anchor, and she gets a text that Jack had nothing to do with KJPR’s downfall. She has a heartening chat with Mae about business ownership, and of course, Mae knows just what to say in her own cryptic way.
Roy dons his tie-dye shirt, setting the Diamond Dogs sans Leslie into a tizzy, Keeley isn’t responding to Rebecca as she stacks coasters at the bar, and Nate is taking food on trays outside his door, clearly in a depressive state. The Greyhounds are watching Canada vs. Mexico, aka Rojas vs. Van Damme, and Dani breaks Van Damme’s nose as he tries to score. While she reads articles about the Akufo league, Rebecca’s phone dings in her purse. She first pulls out one of Ted’s signature Army men and the green matchbook from Ola’s that has been haunting her before finding a text from Rupert hoping she’ll attend the meeting. She agrees. On his way out, Roy tries to leave the tie-dye shirt behind on the pavement as he rips it off in the parking lot, but that sentimental bastard just can’t and stops to pick it up before driving off.
The Meeting
Roy drops Phoebe off at school in the shirt and Leeann, her teacher from last year, stops him to chat. Clearly, this chat has helped Roy come to a realization that he’d let something be ruined by his own self-doubts. My guess is Keeley, who has gifted Barbara a snowglobe on their final day (that Barbara then buys from Keeley because it doesn’t count for her collection if she doesn’t), and the lights on KJPR turn off for the final time.
When Rebecca arrives at the meeting with Akufo, she’s surprised to see Rupert has a new assistant, seeing as he seemed to be quite close with his old one. She’s less surprised when the men in the room sexualize her immediately upon entering. As they eat, Afuko kicks a Russian owner out (it’s probably not a good look) and then launches into his intentions. A global league that will see the best teams in the world compete, the catch is that some fans may not be able to afford it, and they’ll definitely hate it. It’s just a money-making scheme. Of course, the men are in, they just want profit, but Rebecca is better than them. She knows how much these teams mean to these fans, retelling Rupert’s story of how he came to be the owner of Richmond.
Nate’s found his old violin and begins to play, and the boys are watching the England match in the locker room, Jamie running onto the pitch wearing Sam’s number 24 as a nod to his teammate as Roy writes Keeley a note. Clearly, Rebecca’s speech worked on these old men, as Edwin leaves the meeting furious, and all the club owners are covered in food. Another classic Akufo temper tantrum.
XOXO
Nate’s dad walks in on him playing, and Nate immediately gets sheepish, apologizing for disturbing his father’s alone time. The two have a heart-to-heart and come to an understanding: his father never cared about his successes, he never expected anything of him, he just thought that was the type of parent he needed to be. That Nate wanted him to be. He knows Nate’s a genius, he sees things others can’t, and he knows that can’t be an easy burden to bear. Nate gets the reassurance that he hasn’t let his father down after all these years.
Back at the meeting, Rupert tries to land a kiss with Rebecca, perhaps he’s got some unresolved feelings after all, and she denies him as we all sigh in relief. Roy finds himself at Keeley’s, where he slips a note beneath her door, all to be surprised by Keeley coming up behind him. She reads his note, well, she tried to but his handwriting is awful, so he reads it aloud for her. He tells her that nothing that happened with them was her fault, it was his for pulling away rather than dealing with his own issues, and tells her that he loves her.
Rebecca is next to visit Keeley, where she finally learns the fate of KJPR and simply offers to fund it herself. But Rebecca isn’t there alone, Roy comes out in a pink robe while they talk about how great it was Rebecca did not get back with her ex. It’s different circumstances, it’s fine. Roy isn’t a dickhead. Well, he sort of is, but not in the same way, in an endearing way.
Back at the pitch, the locker room is already done up and ready for the day when Will arrives, a note in the middle of the room showing the culprit. Nate is apologizing for the way he treated Will in his last season, and I swear I didn’t want to like Nate again, but here we are. KJPR is back up and running and in a way that made us all smile, Barbara has left Jack’s company and opted to return and work for Keeley again.
The team is back together after the international break, and Roy is in another blend of tie-dye. Rebecca hangs the Hockney back in her office, reclaiming it as her own, and Ted comments on what a talented little boy he is. She tells him she no longer cares if she beats Rupert, she wants to win for Richmond, and Ted agrees. The ceremonial tea spit take follows.
Best Ted-isms of the Week
“Hey, look, kind of hurts my feelings y’all don’t want to spend next weekend with me, if I’m being honest. But I am the strong silent type, so I ain’t gonna let you know. But I’m also loud and weak, because I, like all humans, contain multitudes.”
“Let’s go ahead and wish our friends safe travels and Godpseed, or whatever narcotic your deity chooses to self-medicate with.”
“I’m like an incomplete list of Madeline Kahn’s best films: I ain’t got no clue.”
“I don’t like gossip, but my butt don’t mind a little scuttle.”
“Don’t you feel it’s bad karma to celebrate someone else’s bad karma?”
“How Margherita pizza doesn’t have alcohol in it?”
“As long as none of that tree piss gets in my mouth, I’m actually okay with it.”
The penultimate episode of season 3 of Ted Lasso premieres exclusively on Apple TV+ Wednesday, May 24.
