Ted Lasso Season 2 Is Exploring the Darker Sides of Its Characters, and That’s What Makes It Great

The first season of Ted Lasso was the best show to debut at the worst of times. With a raging pandemic that proved to have no end in sight after a bleak summer, the shining optimism of the mustachioed Lasso (Jason Sudekis) bringing the best out of a broken team of English footballers and their upper management was like injecting sunshine into the veins of humanity itself. For the highly anticipated and current second season, no one would have blamed the creative team for settling into doing much of the same, with new Lassoisms yet again bringing everyone together each episode. Instead, Season 2 has been using its new episodes to affirm that the series is ultimately about growth and making yourself the best “you” you can be—and that path doesn’t always go down the sunniest road. Sometimes it means confronting dark parts of yourself that maybe you didn’t even know were there. In other words, the key to succeeding in life isn’t all about biscuits and believing.

To clear it up right away, I’m not saying the second season of Ted Lasso is dark like, say, any regular season of True Detective. It’s still, on the whole, full of the kind of feel-goodness that will warm the heart like it’s a big ol’ baked treat. Everything going on between Keely (Juno Temple) and Roy (Brett Goldstein) is just lovely, and Sam Obisanyah (Toheeb Jimoh) is getting a proper spotlight, especially with his new surprising romance with Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham). Then you have that whole Christmas episode, which was just a bundle of cheer from head to toe. (Ed. Note: Counterpoint.)

But there’s no denying this season has steered into more complex, sometimes uncomfortable territory, with arcs involving both returning characters and newcomers doing things that contradict the notion of the show as a big security blanket. Specifically, we’ve seen Ted go through some severe bouts of anxiety, and in struggling to accept the help he needs, proved he’s not always an unflappable force of positivity; Nate (Nick Mohammed) has become the sort of bully he was once tormented by after getting a taste of success; Dr. Sharon (Sarah Niles) has had her own issues opening up to people, as well as struggling with a drinking problem; and in the recent episode, “Beard After Hours,” Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) painted a portrait of a man dealing with own self-loathing through self-destructive tendencies.

As a result, you’re likely to see reactions on social media to episodes like “Beard After Hours’’ or “Headspace” claiming that this second season is somehow out of step with the first, and that what’s happening to these characters is contradictory to who they were last season. It’s easy to see where those criticisms come from. The first season did such an amazing job getting you to fall in love with this cast of characters that it’s hard to see them in these scenarios. It’s difficult to watch Nate, someone who was himself bullied as a kit man, act like such an unbelievable ass towards the new kit man, Will (Charlie Hiscock). Same goes for Ted, who showed a less admirable side of himself when he chastised Dr. Sharon’s career during a session, or to see Beard knowingly put himself in harm’s way.

But the truth is, digging into that more challenging subject matter is why this second season is as great as it is. During the first season it looked like Ted Lasso would fill the shoes of The Office or Parks and Rec as a bingeable, feel-good workplace comedy, with love and hijinks defining each new episode. But the reality is that with Season 2, writers like Goldstein, Joe Kelly, Phoebe Walsh, and Jamie Lee are daring to take things further with these characters, even if it means not exactly giving fans the easily digestible show they want. Yes, these characters have big hearts, look out for each other, and are great for a laugh or words of encouragement. But they’re also insecure, vulnerable, possibly depressed, maybe angry, and—in the case of Ted—very much in need of a little help.