Be curious, not judgemental

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Or, how Ted Lasso motivates you to be a good person.

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I recently watched the show 'Ted Lasso' starring Jason Sudeikis. If you've not watched it yet (in which case, go watch it right now!), it's a funny and heartwarming story of an American football coach who takes charge of a (real) football team in England. Though the premise seems jovial, the show deals with numerous heavy topics in a nuanced but light manner, getting a positive message across without being too in-your-face. In this post, I want to focus on a subtle but important theme that carried on throughout the length of the show.


(Spoilers ahead!)





To recap, Season 1 starts with Ted Lasso being hired by AFC Richmond's new owner, Rebecca Walton. The team is in dire straits, and is on the brink of relegation from the first divison of English football. Ted, being an absolute newbie to the sport, predictably makes a clown of himself and his team initially. To add to their woes, their best (but hugely arrogant and egotistical) player leaves Richmond halfway through the season. The team try to pull through and need a win against Man City to avoid relegation. Somewhat atypically, the team fails to win, and is relegated to the 2nd Division.

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Season 2 picks up from Lasso and his team in the 2nd divison of English football, trying to fight their way back up to the Premier League. They lose their best player, Jamie Tartt, to Man City. However, in spite of having lost their best player the previous season, Lasso builds a great team spirit and has his team in contention for promotion. In the midst of this, Lasso decides to bring back Tartt, much to the chagrin of his players. Tartt eventually returns to Richmond, having been sacked from City while taking part in a reality TV show. The move is not welcomed by his players, but eventually, Tartt wins them over, and guides the team to promotion back into the PL. Again, atypically, Richmond do not win the league, but simply go through as the 2nd best team in the division.

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Season 3 starts with Ted's assistant coach Nate betraying Ted and Richmond, to join West Ham. Richmond are widely predicted to finish bottom of the league, while West Ham are surprisingly predicted to finish in the top 4. Slowly but surely, the team rallies together, putting together impressive results and performances, led by the now selfless and inspiring Jamie Tartt, to be in the title race at the end of the season. However, they fail to go all the way through, finishing 2nd behind Man City.

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Throughout the show, Ted is shown as a good guy. He empathises with Rebecca when she comes clean about setting him up to fail (for context: Rebecca only hires Ted so that the team could fail and her ex-fiance, who is a fan of Richmond, could see his club suffering), he understands and supports Tartt when his career is in shambles, he employs a journalist who once leaked damaging insider information on his team. Hell, he brings Nate back to Richmond even though he betrayed him.

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I sometimes feel I am extremely shallow when watching shows and movies, often struggling to notice the themes and the big picture. However, I think I caught a pattern here, which I feel is not just added for dramatic purposes.

In each of the three seasons, Ted and his team are never ''outright'' successes. Season 1 ends with the pain of relegation, Season 2 sees them jump back up, but they only finish second. Season 3 is objectively a great success, however, it doesn't end with Richmond winning the league.

I have seen many such movies where the good guy initially stumbles, with his methods called into question, but who ultimately succeeds and proves his doubters wrong. Ted Lasso is slightly different. Even though there are countless personal triumphs and successes in the show, the team is never shown to be the absolute winners. I feel this is done to convey that Ted is not being a good person merely to be ''successful'', he is that way because that is who he is. Empathy. Second chances. Forgiveness. Lasso and his team were shown to embody all of the above. However, what they were never shown as, was outright victors.


Which brings me to this anonymous quote I read on a YouTube comment. I think it sums up my biggest lesson from the show very well: Being good is not a means to be successful. Being good is a means unto itself.






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PS: The title is borrowed from this great scene in Season 1 of the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ4YSXv6Xkg


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