Ted Lasso Season 2 Finale Cliffhanger Raises the Stakes for AFC Richmond
Friday’s Ted Lasso finale warms our hearts then stomps on them. Because almost as soon as AFC Richmond is promoted to the Premier League, their assistant coach goes and betrays the team. (To read our post mortem with Nick Mohammed, click here.)
The episode picks up the morning after Trent’s story is published online. Ted finishes his single piece of breakfast cereal (a callback to Season 1, Episode 2), then leaves his flat to find that his recent struggles with anxiety are now front page fodder. He arrives at Nelson Road and makes a beeline for Rebecca’s office, where the club’s owner assures him that Richmond has his back. Both Rebecca and the players are determined to sniff out the anonymous source who went to Trent, but Ted is determined to keep Nathan’s identity a secret.
Later, Ted addresses his panic attack in a post-game presser — a platform he uses to talk over his overall concern about “the way we discuss and deal with mental health in athletics.” Trent, who is not present, waits for Ted outside Nelson Road, where he informs the coach that he’s no longer a reporter. He ratted himself out for giving up his source and got sacked by The Independent. (Editor’s Note: A good reporter like Trent would never give up a source.)
As for not-so-anonymous Nate, Ted confronts him at halftime and asks why he’s so mad. That’s when the assistant coach breaks down and says he felt like Ted had given up on him — hence his journey to the dark side. (Wait, what now?!)
“You made me feel like I was the most important person in the whole world, and then you abandoned me,” Nate explains. “I worked my ass off trying to get your attention back, to prove myself to you, to make you like me again, but the more I did, the less you cared. It was like I was f–king invisible.”
At one point, Nate points out that he gave Ted a photo for Christmas, but it isn’t hanging in his office. He’s referring to the photo Ted has framed on his bedroom dresser, as seen in Episode 10. “Everybody loves you, the great Ted Lasso!” Nate remarks. “I think you’re a f–king joke. Without me, we wouldn’t have won a single match and they would’ve shipped your ass back to Kansas where you f–king belong with your son. Because you sure as hell don’t belong here. But I do. I belong here. This didn’t just fall into my lap. I earned this.”
Ted agrees. He also apologizes to Nate if he hasn’t stressed just how important he is, both to him and to the team, but Nate is not in a forgiving mood. “You’re full of s–t,” he says. “Just… f–k you, Ted!”
Back on the pitch, Nate’s False 9 results in a tie for AFC Richmond, which is all the club needs to be promoted. (In a full-circle moment, Dani Rojas takes the penalty kick for Jamie, as Richmond’s new mascot, a helmeted Tina Feyhound Macy Grayhound, looks on. Also of note: Dani has “RIP Earl” written on his trainers, acknowledging the loss of the team’s previous mascot.) As the players celebrate, an agitated Nate returns to the locker room, removes the “Believe” sign from above Ted’s office door, and tears it in two. Later, a flash forward reveals that Nate has left Richmond (!) to serve as head coach of Rupert’s newly acquired West Ham United (!!), setting up an intense rivalry for Season 3.
Luckily, Richmond will still have Sam Obisanya on their starting lineup when they go up against West Ham. After the universe gives him a sign, the footballer declines Edwin Akufo’s offer to play for Raja Casablanca. Once Edwin leaves, Sam visits Rebecca’s office to let her know he’s staying put, expecting he’d find her alone. Instead, he interrupts a conversation between Ted and Rebecca, so he directs his explanation at his coach.
“I wish I could say it was because of my feelings for you,” he says, clearing referring to Rebecca. “But the truth is, I think I need to stop worrying about how others feel about me. I’m staying because it’s what’s best for me and my personal journey.”
In the offseason, we see Sam has decided to remain connected to his Nigerian roots by renting a vacant storefront, where he intends to open a Nigerian restaurant. Perhaps his father will turn up in Season 3 for the grand opening?
The finale also sees Keeley make a big career move. The venture capitalists that backed Bantr believes in Richmond’s public relations guru — so much so that they want to provide the funding necessary for Keeley to leave the club and start her own PR firm.
Keeley also makes a big career decision in the finale. The venture capitalist that backed club sponsor Bantr believes in Keeley, and wants to provide the funding necessary for her to leave the club and start her own public relations firm. Roy and Keeley, meanwhile, seem to have weathered the one-two punch of Jamie’s confession and Nate’s unwarranted kiss. Roy, showing how much he’s grown over the course of his relationship with Keeley, even allows himself to forgive Jamie! He also happens to be incredibly proud of Keeley, both for coming so far in her career, and for the Vanity Fair piece which hits the World Wide Web this week — albeit without any photos of the two of them together.
Roy eventually loops the Diamond Dogs in on the current goings on in his relationship. He tells them how great Keeley looked in Vanity Fair on “her own,” without him. And that clearly has Roy thinking that Keeley doesn’t need him anymore. Or that perhaps their relationship has run its natural course.
Keeley’s boyfriend eventually surprises her with two plane tickets to Marbella, Spain, where they can spend six weeks residing on a villa by the sea. Roy has even made sure the place they’re staying at is equipped with wifi, so Keeley can continue to work remotely. But Keeley declines. She tells Roy that she can’t go just as her business is getting off the ground. “Are we breaking up?” he asks. “No, why would you say that?” she replies. “Of course not!” She implores her boyfriend to take a well-earned holiday while she looks herself in a dark room and works nonstop. “I’ll see you in six weeks,” she says.
What did you think of the Ted Lasso finale “Inverting the Pyramid of Success”? Grade the episode, as well as Season 2, via the following polls, then drop a comment with your full review.
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I thought the episode was good, ending was predictable, but in the scene between Nate and Ted, I really wanted.to see Ted stand up for himself a bit more. Despite him validating Nate’s feelings, what Nate did was unforgivable. It took a lot for Ted’s growth to tell the coaches what really happened at that match. And while it makes for good television, Nate should have been told that now rather than predictably at the end of next season or whenever Nate’s redemption arc concludes.
Fave part of the episode? Beards facials expressions during the Diamond Dog scene. Brilliant.
Looking forward to next season!
Macy Greyhound is the new AFC Richmond mascot.
If Macy Greyhound was the puppy indicated by Higgins in the Mascot Idol scene, then that wasn’t the puppy at the match. Different colouring. The puppy at the match has brindle markings and was held by Nigel (the owner) in Higgins’ office.
I still don’t get the Nate stuff. Ted handled it as I thought he would have, but I would have put him in his place. Nate was promoted from being a facility support staff member to a coach. What other coach/team would have done that for him? He’s so ungrateful to everyone who’s tried to help him. Yes, he clearly has some deep-seeded self-loathing and cannot handle any form of power, but this ending didn’t make sense to me.
I also can’t imagine Rupert hiring him after one season as an assistant coach, with zero prior experience. I don’t like seeing Nate get rewarded for his attitude and hopes he get seriously humbled next season.
I 100% agree with you.
Rupert buying the second team isn’t about winning (although I’m sure he would be happy for that to happen) it is 100% about getting back at Rebecca and also Ted to a certain extent. We saw in both season 1 and 2 how he loved to get under her skin and annoy her. What better way than to take away one of their family and convince him to stab them in the back while doing it.
Yeah doesn’t make sense that the rival team hired him as head coach. I would think they would hire someone much better
I thought Rupert hiring Nate made sense – Rupert has the kind of ego where he’d want to be an owner/coach where he can still run things. And Nates ego makes him think it is all about him.
That was hard to watch! There was no teeny moment in two seasons when Ted would have humiliated Nate or else. So I agree, Ted’s reaction towards these accusations was too kind. Although maybe he thought that admitting Nate’s feelings was a way of soothing him and letting him see how silly these accusations really were when spoken of out loud.
At the Same time such people really exist. Deeply hurt by smth in their childhood and having no inner power to grow out of it, they live their lives loathing themselves and at the same time thinking they are better then anyone else and everyone owes them. I think he wanted everyone to praise him, admire him as he wished, but they stayed true, and he hated it. As psychologists now say, one of the reasons of low self-esteem is also thinking higher of yourself than you’re actually are.
So I like it that they put some sad reality into the show – not everyone can be healed by nice attitude, even by lasso’s.
Sorry for some mistakes – a Russian fan is here
No mistakes to worry about, Kate. I’m actually a bit envious at how good your English is, since you’ve done much better than I have when I’ve had to learn new languages.
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As for Nate, it’s been clear from early on that the show was building up to this. We saw it particularly in the way Nate’s father related to him, marginalizing Nate and dismissing his attempts to impress him. Treat someone like that and they’re likely to become a volatile mixture of anger and self-loathing. It would have looked to Nate as if there are just two roles in life, a bullying top dog and a despised bottom dog, with nothing in between. Nate didn’t like being bottom dog, but he was too beaten down to really believe he could be top dog. When he became assistant coach, he immediately turned vicious, as when he gave scathing critiques of all the players in the team. When he started to get praise for his coaching, he imagined that he was being laughed at, and tried to shore up his position by tearing other people down, just like his father.
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Nobody’s that simple, of course, but that seems to describe Nate reasonably well. Ted threw him a lifeline without realizing that he had, so he never realized how important he was in Nate’s life, and how much Nate craved his attention, and how deeply angry Nate would become if he didn’t get it.
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Which gives the show something it’s never had. a genuine antagonist. And Nate’s exactly the enemy you don’t want. He knows how everyone in Richmond is going to want to play, he knows all their weaknesses, and he’s ruthless.
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Could he be redeemed? In principle, sure, but the odds aren’t good. Failing that, he’s really bad news.
This right here. I was honestly baffled when he said his rage has come from Ted starting to ignore him because….. WHAT?! He’s spent the season as an assistant coach who routinely gets to call plays and lead practices. Incredibly baffling character turn for him. I’d rather they not even give him a redemption arc because of how delusional it all is. I understood that he was self-loathing and had issues feeling seen, but that fight had no bearing in reality.
If they had shown Ted being a bit prickly around him, then at least this would make sense. But Ted would never act like that, so I’m just stumped by how it all played out.
You know, I’m thinking that a huge moment for Nate came when Roy joined the coaching staff. As Roy started to get all the “It’s the Roy Kent Effect” press and commentary, Nate looked and acted increasingly pissed off and jealous. It seems to me that Nate’s cruelty towards Will and then Colin combined with this jealousy towards Roy….and that + his own positive press and Wonder Kid label made for a horrific combo for him. I’m definitely still surprised that he went so far over to the Dark Side! But I do see the slow burn that was his own giving in to jealousy, low self-esteem, self loathing, and a nasty streak that culminated in the final result in the finale.
It’s heartbreaking! But I do think that some people take their pain and turn to the Dark Side, just as Nate is doing….
Nate has become so unlikeable. I never liked him to begin with but now he is just unbearable. He literally wouldn’t be a coach if it wasn’t for Ted. Before Ted, no one paid attention to him including Rupert. I hope we see his downfall in season 3. Ted owes him nothing. Ted couldn’t man up and call him out, I wish that Roy did.
I didn’t think Nate’s attitude, reaction, or anything was warranted at all. Ted was always a supporter of Nates. From the start of the second season Nate was different and a jerk and honestly I’m glad to see him gone now.
Nate’s issue stems from his own father not supporting him. He had a supporter in Ted, so Nate latched onto that and built up his esteem. But he started resenting others getting that support.
Ted didn’t pay Nate as much attention anymore because he felt like Nate was self-confident now (plus Ted was going through his own anxiety issues so he wasn’t seeing everything like he used to). Plus, as Beard mentioned, Ted is “just a man”. He’s not a god, he’s not a superhero, and he’s definitely not a mind-reader.
Nate saw Ted slowly stepping back from being Nate’s mentor and treating him like an equal (even teasing him like an equal) as Ted no longer supporting him. So he started to resent Ted, and all Ted symbolised. Even though who Ted is and what Ted symbolises is what built up Nate’s self esteem initially.
Bingo!
I was so hoping Ted, Beard or Roy was going to lay into him. It’s such a shame to see his descent into becoming an evil person. I miss old Nate…
My issue is that they’ve gone so far making Nate into an unlikable person, that I have no desire to see him get any sort of redemption arc next season. What he’s done is unforgivable. He’s an ungrateful, selfish little prick. And I’ll be annoyed if the show tries to redeem him at all.
I have a feeling they’re halfway modelling him on Jose Mourinho-he was a rising star at Porto, a superstar at Chelsea…and then an increasingly bitter, angry man at Manchester United, Tottenham etc as he was shown up as a one-trick pony when the other managers learned his Park the Bus tactics. Jose’s hair went from jet black to solid silver over a few seasons as well. He did so much of what Nate does…all the good ideas are his and his alone and he expects non-stop adulation for them. Anything goes wrong and he throws players and assistants under the bus. Nasty piece of work.
My prediction for S3? Community Shield (pre-season) Cup final. Richmond AFC v West Ham. All goes down to a final penalty-which Jamie Tartt takes and converts for the first ever cup for Richmond AFC. Next Day post-script…Rupert sacks Nate, making him the first managerial casualty of a season that hasn’t even started yet.
The show lends itself to binging. It lost some punch this season because we were used to seeing more than one show. Next year I’ll wait and binge it all because I’m just like that! That said they did a good job of making Nate a snake and turning into a creep. Good job graying his hair.
Keeley’s promise to Roy — “I’ll see you in 6 weeks” — was no doubt a reference to Cheers when Diane said those same exact words to Sam before she took off for Los Angeles and never returned (until Shelley Long’s guest appearance at the end of the show’s final season).
Given that the show’s creator is a huge fan of Cheers and Jason Sudakis is George Wendt’s nephew (I think that’s his name…. the guy who played Norm?), I’m sure that Keeley’s words were an intentional callback to Diane’s final scene in Cheers.
Which doesn’t bode well for the future of Keeley and Roy’s relationship….
While Jason refers to the season as being Empire Strikes Back, I think it’s more Episode 2 Attack of the Clones. Nate (Anakin) is seduced by Rupert (Palpatine) to turn his back on Ted/Beard (Obi-Wan). Nate even starts wearing black like Anakin. I’ll be interesting to see how the storyline plays out.