‘Ted Lasso’ Recap: ‘Carol of the Bells’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 204 of ‘Ted Lasso’.
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Ask anyone why they fell in love with the AppleTV+ series, Ted Lasso, and you'll get a common answer; one that revolves around how the show's feel-good vibes and incredibly positive and hopeful nature sucked that person in, and well… that's an honest and accurate answer. This series really is the anthesis to the angry nature of the world because it takes the time to look on the bright side of literally everything. Plus, it offers us endless hope on days when it seems as though there isn't any. To ensure that Ted Lasso maintains its status as the most feel-good series on the market, the next episode of this phenomenal show opted to crank the joy and hope up to eleven.
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‘Carol of the Bells’ takes place at a particularly joyous time of the year: the holidays. This meant that everyone at AFC Richmond was assembling their holiday plans, and those very plans are what allowed for some incredibly positive messages to come our way. One example is how it's incredibly important to reach out to people in times of need, even if they claim that they're doing just fine because often we know that they're not. You never know how much that gesture could mean to that person or how it could give them strength, and this gesture was handled by none other than Mister Lasso himself.

Without his family to spend time with him in England, Ted's initial plan was to sit at home and watch It's a Wonderful Life on repeat while he drowned his loneliness in some holiday whiskey. Thankfully, Rebecca didn't let him do that. Instead, she asked Ted to come along on an adventure of Lasso proportions. She drove around town with Ted so they could give back to the community by providing under-privileged children, who wrote letters to Santa, with gifts and holiday cheer. This experience lifted Ted's spirits right up because it let him spread good in the world and do something uplifting and joyous. These are the kinds of actions that Ted lives for, and seeing the smile on his face and on the faces of the children that he brought cheer to drove home the theme of this segment in a beautiful way. A little kindness went a long way here, and everyone that was touched by it had a wonderful holiday. How can you go wrong with a story segment that's so wholesome and heartwarming?

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What's even more amazing is that the good vibes in this tale didn't end there. The story also took the time to explore how Leslie Higgins and his family handle the holidays, and what they do is nothing short of spectacular. The Higgins family offers up their home and their dinner table to any and all team members without family in London, and this year just about everyone showed up to break bread with them. This scene was just beautiful to watch because it spoke to the wonder of the holiday season, unity, and how important it is to be surrounded by people that care about you during the holidays. It was just magical to see the Higgins home be full of joy and witness everyone come together this way—mainly because it makes one wistful for the holidays and the wonderful sense of belonging that comes with a dinner like that.

Yet, while those two segments alone could have provided us with a perfectly wholesome and complete episode, especially when one considers that both of the plots ended with a neighborhood holiday sing along, there were more beautiful and uplifting moments to be found. Keeley and Roy went on a very special holiday mission that involved finding a dentist for young Phoebe. Unfortunately, her breath was a touch on the sour side, and a classmate even put her down for it. This motivated Roy to find a dentist, come hell or high water, so Phoebe could feel good about herself. It also to gave Phoebe a reason to find vindication in the eyes of her bully; finding a cure motivated her to point out to the bully that he was being cruel for something that was easily fixed. If anything, this segment spoke to the wonder of family—how much it means to our family members when we support them and how important it is to be kind to all because you never know what kind of impact negativity will have on a person.

In the end, this was nothing more than a supremely bold episode from this series, which is saying something for a show that often pushes the envelope (in a good way) and blazes new trails. So, it was a bit of a shock to see the series halt its usual push for character development and moving the plot along and let loose and immerse the audience in excessive joy. This was a surprisingly brilliant and risky choice to make storytelling wise because it had the potential to become annoying and too sweet, but at no point does it overwhelm or annoy. Instead, it plasters smiles on our faces and motivates us to clutch our hearts at the cute— likely due to the fact that this series has engendered such goodwill with its audience that it can pull this off no problem! And now that we've come to the end of this holiday cheer, it will be interesting to see what other storytelling surprises await us as season two continues. Until next time!   ​

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