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After a long wait and heavy expectations, Apple TV+'s Ted Lasso has finally returned with its third, and possibly the final, season. The previous season ended on a high note, with AFC Richmond securing a much-needed promotion. This season picked off right where we left our favorite coach and set of players, while amping up the drama with stakes higher than ever before.
Ted Lasso season 3 opened with the ever-radiant Jason Sudeikis and offered a glimpse at the slowly maturing team before diving back into personal drama again. It was a perfect start to the season at Richmond, and viewers can expect things to only go upward from here on.
While this episode lacked any real action, it was a very crucial step in building the universe for the third season, especially with all the new changes around it.
Ted Lasso season 3, episode 1 premiered on March 15, 2023. It is currently available for streaming on Apple TV+.
Ted Lasso season 3, episode 1 review: Sudeikis still leading the line on and off the pitch
It is quite impossible to talk about Ted Lasso without talking about the man who plays the pivotal character. In what is perhaps Sudeikis's best role to date, the actor stood up to deliver a range of emotions throughout the 40-plus-minutes-long first episode, which was more driven towards establishing Lasso's character and some clever world-building than the Premier League action most fans hoped for.
However, this is not at all a bad thing. This series has, time and again, proven how interesting it can make things by just focusing on the drama outside the pitch. This has been the approach of the latest season's first episode. Opening with an emotionally struggling Ted slowly making his way back to the front scene, the episode saw Sudeikis explore a wide range of sentiments.
Most importantly, Ted Lasso got a chance to be himself in the purest form at a press conference addressing Coach Nate's (played by Nick Mohammad) comments about AFC Richmond.
Nate's portrayal is another exciting aspect of this episode. Joining the mighty West Ham United as the fabled "Wonderkid," Nate's journey concluded the previous season's big twist. Now, it seems Nate is well on his supervillain origin story with a pretense of confidence and greed for power.
The club is quite the same, but the players seem more mature, especially Jamie Tart (Phil Dunster), who formed the narrative backbone of the sophomore season. The brewing rivalry with West Ham is certainly going to be the central plot point of the latest season, but it is good to see that the show is not focusing on particularly unrealistic goals like winning the Premier League.
The grounded realism makes the show one of the most unique offbeat dramas, revolving around football but never quite spending all the days on the pitch.
With the first episode of the new season, Ted Lasso has made it clear that the third season will be no different in terms of narrative or quality. It will be some time before the entire story of the American Coach in London unfolds, but till then, it remains one of the best dramas to air on TV.
All the previous episodes of Ted Lasso are now available on Apple TV+.
