Since debuting on Apple TV+ last August, Ted Lasso has become an awarding-winning comedy series. Ted Lasso & 9 Other Apple TV+ Originals That Were Renewed For A Second Season, played by Saturday Night Live alum Jason Sudeikis as he goes from coaching a small football team in Kansas to being the head coach of a professional soccer team in Richmond, England.
Richmond's soccer team is not without its problems both on and off the field, including arrogant players, a vindictive owner, and angry fans. Ted Lasso tries to do the impossible by making the unenthusiastic club believe not only in him but in themselves. He does so with some legendary bits of advice.
Day-Old Rice Reminder
Coach Lasso is full of cheesy folksy American sayings that he relays to his British soccer team. He isn't quite sure how the game works, but he does know how to be a coach.
He gently reminds his team of how to best take care of themselves and their bodies when prepping for a big game by saying, "All right, fellas, you gotta remember, your body is like day-old rice. If it ain’t warmed up properly, something real bad could happen."
How To Handle A Bully
When a majority of the guys on the team are relentlessly bullying equipment boy and secret soccer expert Nate-The-Great, Roy demands that Coach do something about it. Ted refuses and instead offers up a piece of advice to Roy in the form of a childhood memory.
He says, "Roy, I learned two pretty big lessons on the rough and tumble playgrounds of Bookridge Elementary School. One, if little Ronnie Fouch offers you a candy bar, you immediately say no and get the hell out of there cause there's a good chance that little son of a gun has pooped inside of a Butterfinger wrapper. No one ever saw him do it, but a couple people ate it. Number two, teacher tells a bully not to pick on someone, it's just gonna make it worse."
A Wrinkle In Time
In an attempt to bring out the best in each of the players on the Richmond soccer team, Ted gives all of them a classic novel. Team captain Roy Kent receives A Wrinkle In Time and is initially disgruntled by the gesture.
He confronts his coach about it, who reiterates the importance of reading the Madeleine L'Engle novel. Roy asks, "Am I supposed to be the little girl?" referring to him being the Meg Murry of the soccer team. Ted simply responds, "I'd like you to be," echoing the advice to viewers to be the best Meg Murry they can be.
Love Brings Us Together
After Keeley discovers Rebecca's ties to the paparazzi and that she is responsible for trying to take down the Richmond team in an act of bitter revenge, she insists that Rebecca come clean to Ted or she will do so herself.
Rebecca gets vulnerable with Ted and explains that she was trying to sabotage the team, but now she's rooting for them and him. He accepts her apology instantly and gives her the following piece of wisdom: "I think if you care about someone and you got a little love in your heart, there ain't nothin you can't get through together."
Lose Control
When Roy asks Ted for help with his budding relationship with Keeley, Coach brings in the 'Diamond Dogs', which is his squad of men that help him problem-solve to the best of his abilities.
Because Roy is often cold and angry, Ted uses sarcasm to give him advice. When it comes to his feelings about Keeley sleeping with her ex-boyfriend and Roy's former teammate Jamie Tartt, Roy says he cannot control his feelings. Ted gives the marvelous backward advice of, "Well then by all means you should let them control you!" Of course, he really means the opposite, and Roy eventually lets go of his anger and reunites with Keeley.
You Don't Have To Keep Trying
Ted Lasso left his wife and kid back home in Kansas to coach the team in Richmond, and he is excited when they finally make an appearance in Episode 5. Things with Henry, his son, are great but things are tense with his wife Michelle and he can't seem to get a handle on it.
By the end of the episode, Ted decides that in order for Michelle to truly be happy, he has to let her go. She doesn't love him like she used to, and even though he has nothing but love for her, he can't make her stay in a loveless marriage. He tells her she doesn't have to keep trying, and that they gave it a good run. It's not a lesson in giving up, but rather knowing when to back down.
Make The Extra Pass
Notoriously selfish star player Jamie Tartt is the only saving grace of the failing Richmond football team. However, his arrogance and attitude alienate him from the rest of his team and make him difficult to be around.
Ted tells Jamie that he needs to be a better teammate and make the extra pass to allow his peers to learn and grow. He ignores him until he is traded and on an opposing team and finally makes the extra pass in order to secure a critical win. His father is displeased, but Ted had never been more proud to see his advice taken.
How To Be Sad
There are plenty of things for the Richmond folk to be sad about come Episode 10, the season finale. They lost, for one, Rebecca's ex is having a baby with a woman half his age, Roy is aging and no longer playing his best, and Ted is away from his son and in the midst of a divorce.
His words to the team ring even more true given everybody's struggles. He brings them together with advice to never isolate yourself out of sadness. He says, "I promise you, there is something worse out there than being sad. And that is being alone and being sad. Ain’t no one in this room alone."
Be Curious, Not Judgmental
When Rebecca's bully of an ex-husband shows up at the pub to brag about how he assisted his new fiancé, Bex, in buying a share of the Richmond team and how they are expecting a baby, Ted is livid, but only in Ted fashion.
He challenges Rupert to a game of darts and blows him out of the water when he recalls that he is actually left-handed and really really good at darts. He recollects a memory of learning a Walt Whitman quote, and that if those who underestimated him had ever asked, they would've known not to. "Be curious," he quotes Whitman, "Not judgmental."
Be A Goldfish
Following their loss in the season finale, Ted asks Sam to remind everyone in the locker room which animal has the shortest memory. The answer, of course, being a goldfish. He previously told Sam that the reason that goldfish are the happiest animals on Earth is because of their 10-second memory.
"Be a goldfish," he says. It's basically telling Sam not to dwell on the negatives.