‘Ted Lasso’ Recap: ‘The Hope That Kills You’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the season one finale of ‘Ted Lasso’.

When it comes to sports themed stories, there is no greater moment for the audience, than when the big game arrives. Because that means, this is it, this is where all the lessons and struggles and strife that the characters have been going through are about to be resolved. And they’ll solve their problems right there on the field, as they give it their all for one shot at glory and of course, they will teach us something special in the process and well, it just so happens that the season one finale of Ted Lasso features that all-important moment. For ‘The Hope That Kills You’ saw Man City come to AFC Richmond for the last game of the season and well, everything was on the line in this particular tale. 
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Because a loss here, would push AFC Richmond to relegation in a lower league, and it would likely mean the end of Ted Lasso’s incredible journey across the pond. Which meant that Ted needed to figure out a way to pull out one hell of a win and that harsh reality, along with a quality chat with Rebecca, motivated him to get quite creative with the playbook and he instructed Coach Beard and the newly promoted Coach Nate to come up with every damn trick play in the book. All in the hopes of catching Man City completely off guard, which might give them a shot at walking away with the biggest win of Ted’s young career and this particularly sneaky plan, seemed as though it might actually work. 

For the team loved the concept, since it seemed fun and dynamic and a wonderful change of pace and they were quick to embrace these trick plays in practice. But while that alone would have made for a wonderful build up to the final match of the season, Jamie Tartt provided the squad with some extra incentive in beating Man City. Because he was talking trash about his former team and how they weren’t a proper football club and everyone on the squad really did take that to heart and understood completely that beating Jamie and his new squad would give them something far more important than security in their current league. For it would give them bragging rights over a former teammate that didn’t believe in them, and that, can do wonders for a person’s soul. 

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​If anything, this buildup to the big match was quite epic to say the least, and it was really the first time that this series felt akin to a traditional sports story, and the match in question only reinforced that particular vibe. Because AFC Richmond vs. Manchester City F.C. featured every trope and cliché you could ask for. For there was sacrifice from an aging hero present, since Roy Kent may have ended his career to stop Jamie from securing the win, and the young guys stepped up to the plate and accomplished wonders and Ted’s wild plan to go with trick plays worked and brought them within inches of exactly what they needed to avoid relegation. And that’s when the story took quite the stunning turn. For the in the closing minutes of extended time, Jamie Tartt did what he does best; and scored a game winning goal.
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Which was a devastating twist to watch at first. Because this was supposed to be Ted’s moment, where he finally proved to the entire soccer world and himself for that matter, that he was the right man for this job and that he could achieve anything. But as it turns out, this heartbreaking loss was all part of a master plan storytelling wise, one that was designed to allow for this series to do what it does best. Because not winning the big game and being relegated to a lesser league, serves as the perfect way to explore the fact that sometimes in life… we are going to fail. And when we do, how we respond to said failure is paramount. Because we can either surround ourselves in the sour emotions of that moment, or we can see this is a grand opportunity to learn from our mistakes so we don’t repeat them again, and who knows, perhaps there will come a day where we get another opportunity to straighten out the moment that caught us at our worst. Which is a lesson that Ted Lasso is going to learn in season two of this magnificent series.

Because Rebecca opted to retain him as head coach of AFC Richmond, and she refused to even consider his resignation. For this is his time to learn from his mistakes and figure out how to bring this team back to glory and that is an inspiring way to end this incredible first season. Because not only did this finale acknowledge that failure is something that we need to accept and embrace in life, we should be excited about the opportunity to recover from it, and that’s just a magnificent lesson to embed here and it leaves one eager to start season two right now. Because how can we go wrong with a new season of storytelling that is clearly going to explore how we grow stronger from failure? But while we wait for that journey to get underway, we can instead revisit and reflect upon this marvelous first season as often as possible. Because year one was truly something special, since it provided us with so many laughs and so many wonderful lessons and it just comforting to know that when we are down and need a pick me up, we can pop right back into Ted's world and be reminded to always believe in ourselves and embrace the power of hope, regardless of the odds. Until next season.

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