‘Ted Lasso’ Recap: ‘All Apologies’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 109 of ‘Ted Lasso’.
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Over the course of its inaugural first season, the Apple TV+ series, Ted Lasso, has accomplished some outright wonders storytelling wise. Because not only has this series provided its fans with deeply fleshed out characters, something that you rarely see in year one, it’s also done a phenomenal job of exploring parts of the human condition that other television shows won’t touch with a ten-foot pole. And it has accomplished that particular feat by looking at the bright side of everything tough that we encounter in life. Making this series one of the most inspirational and uplifting shows on the air right now and it just so happens that this week’s episode of this phenomenal series, found a way to uphold that magnificent standard, despite the difficult topic that it chose to examine.
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Because ‘All Apologies’ had the potential to go to some dark and unfortunate places. For this is a story that decided to explore the power of the truth and well, let’s be honest, this is something that tends to go sideways often in life. For people tend to struggle with honesty, despite our desire to receive it from our friends and family. And the fact that Rebecca was being pressed to finally open up to Ted about what she’s done since he arrived, is what made this story seem so ominous early on. Because there was the strong possibility that Ted would handle such a reveal in a sour manner and understandably so, since he was in fact, a fall guy for Rebecca. One that was brought here to tank the team as part of a grandiose revenge plot against Rupert. 

But when the big moment came, and Rebecca finally came clean to Ted about everything she’s done to this point, the story wasted in no time in looking at the positive impact that can come about from being honest with the people around us. Because rather than chide Rebecca for her poor choices and make her feel like a piece of trash and earn his own measure of revenge, Ted simply took her apology to heart and saw the upside to her confession. In that, now they could finally be open with one another and forge ahead and leave the past in the past. And just like that, he forgave her and moved on and that allowed for Rebecca to further set things right in her life by paying a visit to Higgins to offer up an apology to him as well, and this lovely exploration of the truth didn’t end with this delightful segment.

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Because while Rebecca was setting everything right, Ted had quite the conundrum on his hands. For Roy Kent was beginning to slack on the field, to the point where he accidentally scored a goal on his own team in their last matchup. Which of course, cost them the game, and that put a little bit of pressure on Ted. Because Coach Beard and Nate made it clear that perhaps the time had come to bench Roy and give someone else a shot at guiding this team to victory. A notion that Ted was quite hesitant upon at first, despite the fact that Nate and Beard were giving him the cold shoulder for delaying this decision and well… that prompted Ted to find a unique way in which to open Roy’s eyes to the fact, that he was a player in decline.
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So, rather than just outright bench him, he instead implied the possibility of that happening, during a casual chat with his team captain. All so that Roy could lose his temper at the mere thought of riding the pine, and the point of doing that, was to allow for Roy’s frustrations to burn out so he could see things in an objective light and after talking with Keeley and his niece, he came to realize that perhaps his time in the spotlight was indeed coming to an end and that he had quite the choice in front of him. In that, he could either let his anger continue to guide him and make life difficult for Coach Lasso and the team, or he could be the team player and mentor that Ted believed him to be and do his best to help guide this team toward a win. And of course, with Roy being the classy guy that he is, he chose the latter option.

If anything, this exploration of the truth was far more subtle in nature. Simply because it takes a little time to get to the message embedded in Roy’s journey. But eventually, one comes to realize that the point of his strife here, is to remind all of us that sometimes, you can’t bombard someone with the truth. Especially when they aren’t ready to hear it or accept it. Because folks in that mindset, already know what’s up, they just need time to process it and a gentle nudge will bring about a positive outcome. In the end, this was just another wonderful episode when all is said and done. One that really did a fine job of reminding us to be honest in everything we do, since that pays off in spades more often than not and now that everything is out in the open and Rebecca is finally on Team Ted and ready to be a proper owner of the club she inherited, one has to wonder if this is it. If this is when this team turns it around since they are unified at last, and well… we will have to wait just a little longer to find that out, and that is going to make the wait for next week’s season one finale a painful one indeed. Since we are dying to know if Ted Lasso can finally lead this team to the glory, he knows they’re capable of. Until next time.

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