'Ted Lasso' Is Back ... and It's a Little Uncomfortable

Spoilers through episode 2 of season 4 of Ted Lasso

When I graduated law school, I started working in a legal publishing company. My ambition at that time was unrelenting. When someone resigned three months into the job, I told the company they didn’t need to hire anyone new, that I’d just absorb their job into mine. And three months later, when someone else resigned, I did the same thing. I was writing and overseeing over 20 newsletters and created several new products. I drank a lot of coffee. All day long. And when the managing editor — who was a woman — left, she looked at an office with only one male writer and hired him to replace her. That was me, who had only been there for a year. Most of the women in the office were fine with it (it was a transitional job for them), but one woman — who had been there for seven or eight years — gave her notice the day I was hired, and over her last two weeks, she shook with anger whenever she was around me.

I was a very good managing editor of an all-female staff, and I like to think that I earned the job, but man, you cannot put lipstick on that pig: A very capable woman with a lot more experience than me got passed over for a dude. I didn’t make the decision (and when I left, I did hire a woman to replace me), but it never quite sat right with me. I benefited from a call I didn’t make and couldn’t undo, but I still have never really reckoned with what that did to her.

That guilt came roaring back this week with the second episode of Ted Lasso’s rebooted fourth season. Ted Lasso is very good at his job — as evidenced by what he did with the AFC Richmond men’s team — but Rebecca not only hired Ted over Alice Chilton, she actually demoted Alice to assistant manager. And then Ted came in with all his aw shucks vibe, used the extensive dossier that Alice wrote to familiarize himself with the team, and eventually even wins Alice over, and she agrees to stay on as assistant manager (only for it to become apparent that she’s going to have to share that job with Coach Beard).

Do I think that Alice will become a better person and coach under Ted? Probably! Because that’s the way they’re going to write the season. And here’s the part that really gets me: this episode was written by two women, and they’re still steering it toward the resolution where the demoted woman is grateful for the man who took her job. But man, it doesn’t feel right, notwithstanding Rebecca’s own “journey of self-discovery,” which had its own moments of discomfort.

That said, unlike most of my contemporaries in the world of television criticism, I am very happy that Ted Lasso is back. Is it as good as it was? Not really. Was I dismayed to see that this episode was 49 minutes? Kind of! But even an overlong shadow of its former self can still deliver that feel-good magic for which the show is known. Roy and Keeley’s relationship still hits me. Seeing Rebecca and Leslie still brings me joy. And while a lot of folks have less interest in the folksy wisdom of Ted Lasso post-pandemic, it still feels like a balm to me — not as effective as the first two seasons, and, sure, the way it has addressed gender (and race, last week) feels a little patronizing. But that’s the warm stew it’s serving up now: We’re still gonna give you the feel-good moments, but you’re going to have to sit in the discomfort of this premise and a cringeworthy moment every five minutes, like watching a 2009 episode of Scrubs in 2026. And it’s going to eat at you, and you’re just going to have to hope that it doesn’t sour us on Ted, because as long as he remains the coach — presumably for however many seasons the reboot runs — it’s gonna feel a little icky at times.