'Ted Lasso' on Apple TV+ continues to evolve in spectacular fashion | Review

“Ted Lasso” fans should relish the 12 supersize episodes they will be getting while they can, given that it will end after this – its third season.

Streaming’s surprise hit featuring Jason Sudeikis as the title character, a coach for AFC Richmond, a British soccer team, put Apple TV+ on the menu for television audiences.

Lasso’s Southern twang, down-home homilies and pretend naivete provided the allure of “Lasso,” while the comedy came from the clash of not just U.S. and British cultures, but Lasso’s wholesomeness set against the crassness inherently associated with team sports, much to the audience’s pleasure.

And nothing has really changed in that regard. “Ted Lasso,” however, has evolved in one key way.

While the show certainly could have taken on a “Slap Shot” kind of tone during the course of its run, Sudeikis and his co-creators Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly, elected to move the characters and plots along in unexpected, satisfying directions.

They’ve created a balance between that locker room humor and more realistic, daily issues of its characters. For Lasso that’s dealing with his panic attacks revealed in the second season. For star soccer player Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster) it’s tackling the emotional trauma inflicted upon him by an overbearing, abusive father and for team owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) how she handles a misogynistic ex-husband.

The evolution continues in season three without sacrificing any of the warmth and, more important, the laughter.

Lasso starts to realize that he’s missing the best years of his son’s life just as his ex-wife brings another man into the picture and he’s thousands of miles away, his fatherly influence being usurped and minimized. There’s only so much parenting and so much affection that can be imparted via FaceTime.

Additionally, he has to contend with Nathan (Nick Mohammed), his former assistant, gunning for him as the head coach of a rival soccer club. That particular web is more tangled because the club happens to be owned by Rebecca’s former husband Rupert (Anthony Head), who would like nothing more than to squash Richmond on the pitch and, by extension, her personally for booting him in his misogynistic backside by leaving him.

All of it proves not only compelling, but also consistently funny because it’s dealt with skillfully by Sudeikis and his team of writers, which include Hunt, who plays Coach Beard, and Brett Goldstein, who also portrays acerbic, raspy voiced former soccer star turned coach, Roy Kent.

Television is rarely this consistently good over a prolonged period of time. “Ted Lasso” is a series that will ultimately be missed.

George M. Thomas dabbles in movies and television for the Beacon Journal. Reach him at gthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ByGeorgeThomas

Review

Show: “Ted Lasso”

Cast: Jason Sudeikis, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, Hannah Waddingham

Rated: TV-MA

Grade: A-

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Ted Lasso is continuing success on Apple TV+ by evolving