Ted Lasso Season 4 Finally Embraced Its Own Identity Change

The Ted Lasso season 3 finale was treated as the series finale, leaving most of the main characters at the end of a natural arc. However, Ted Lasso season 4’s focus on a new women’s team was an excellent justification for the continuation. So far, the women on the Lady Greyhounds have been featured as a team. Unfortunately, they haven’t been given the same level of individualization that the male players received in earlier seasons.

Episode 7 opened with a fantastic montage of the women’s lives outside of the arena, and the theme is financial struggle, whether it’s through inadequate childcare, treating multiple jobs as a reality instead of a tragedy, or living out of their broken car. It was a sharp observation of the realities of being a female professional athlete.

At the end of the episode, the women’s locker room gets their copy of the men’s “Believe” sign. The sign was a symbol of faith and optimism, and in season 1, the men needed to believe in themselves and the team. However, the message falls flat for the women who are working multiple jobs and playing for pennies.

Season 4’s new coach, Alice Chilton, adds a sticky note that says, “and win,” and suddenly the women are excitedly chanting “believe and win.” They already believe in themselves, but they unfortunately need to prove their legitimacy to others who don’t, and the only way to do that is to win.

Season 4 couldn’t just pick up where season 3 left off, taking a while to coalesce into something that felt familiar while also finding its own identity that wasn’t just Ted Lasso ​​​​​​but with women. The season keeps getting better, and episode 7 finally had a breakthrough.

Ted Lasso Season 4 Needed Time To Find Its Rhythm

Image via MovieStillsDB

Ted Lasso season 4 had a unique problem: it was a beloved show that hadn’t been gone very long. The idea of a women’s team was introduced in the season 3 finale, when Keeley proposed it to Rebecca, and as much as fans will always want more of the Richmond Way, opening up a satisfying ending is risky.

The new season spent several episodes putting the pieces in place. Episode 1 was essentially “the gang comes to Kansas City,” with Rebecca, Keeley, and Leslie recruiting Ted at home. Episode 2 introduced the new assistant coach, Alice Chilton, while episode 3 was a fun Invincible-style sequence built around open tryouts, finally assembling the Lady Greyhounds.

The season didn’t quite feel like Ted Lasso until the middle. The warmth was still there, but the early episodes didn’t yet justify why this story needed a fourth season rather than ending with Ted Lasso season 3. Season 4's last few episodes, however, have developed a consistency that feels like a major improvement.

Episode 7 is the standout. It finally brings the new characters, the women’s team, and the season's themes together in a way that feels distinct from what came before while still retaining the old Ted Lasso coziness. And as the season continues, it’s getting better and better.

Ted Lasso Could Do For Women’s Sports What It Did For Mental Health

Ted Lasso was unusually effective at normalizing conversations about men’s mental health because it rarely treated vulnerability as a special event. It made therapy, anxiety, grief, insecurity, loneliness, and emotional openness part of everyday life while keeping the show fundamentally a comedy.

The sports setting made this particularly meaningful. Ted Lasso took a traditionally masculine environment of professional football and made emotional honesty part of being a good teammate. Asking for help wasn’t presented as the opposite of strength.

The show got audiences to care about its characters first. By the time viewers were asked to take Ted’s panic attacks, Roy’s emotional walls, or Jamie’s trauma seriously, they had already laughed with these people and become invested in them. The comedy created the trust that allowed the heavier material to land.

Season 4 could use that same approach to highlight the disparities facing women in professional sports. Episode 7 made a strong case for doing so, showing the financial and personal realities the Lady Greyhounds accept as normal.

For that message to have the same impact, viewers need to know and care about the women as individuals, not just as the mom, the fighting twins, or the eccentric goalie. Gemma is currently the most developed of the new players, particularly through her aspirations of becoming a lawyer and her mysterious history with Alice.

The more the Lady Greyhounds become distinct characters with their own ambitions, struggles, personalities, and relationships, the more powerful the series' larger point about women’s sports can become. No show turns a team of players into a family audiences genuinely care about like Ted Lasso, and now, it has the chance to do it all over again.

Release Date August 14, 2020

Network Apple TV

Directors Declan Lowney, MJ Delaney, Erica Dunton, Matt Lipsey