Ted Lasso returned with a new episode on Wednesday — though hardcore fans will likely have already watched it when it drops on Apple TV on Tuesday nights. Season four, episode five of Apple’s hit comedy, titled “Riches of Embarrassment,” has romantic woes around every corner — for both the veteran cast and some of the newbies on Richmond’s new women’s football team. It’s the clearest sign yet that this workplace comedy is leaning into relationship-drama territory, a tendency that’s bubbled below the surface since Ted first landed in England and we all fell for this early-pandemic-era surprise hit.
The episode marks the season’s halfway point, with several of Ted Lasso’s romantic entanglements hitting another crossroad. Keeley is looking to rekindle a romance with Roy, but her timing sours when she learns his “10-date experiment” is over — and that the last five rendezvous were all with the same woman. Beard confronts Jane after attending her experimental meta play, and she agrees to stop performing in it herself, only for the show to become the toast of London and get picked up for a West End run. And then there’s the very rich, poor-in-love Rebecca, who gets an unexpected visit from her suitor Matthijs. It’s a relationship where the pitfalls keep coming: the hopeful news of his move to London loses its shine once it becomes clear it’s less about getting closer to Rebecca and more about staying close to his daughter’s mother.
And then there’s the football. The Lady Greyhounds face the formidable Chelsea in their biggest match yet, on their home turf. Ted pulls a classic Ted Lasso and manages to keep the team motivated, even as he juggles the fresh challenge of managing Coach Chilton’s struggles.
Amid all that romantic chaos, it’s the titular, mustachioed, warm-hearted coach who manages to dodge relationship hell himself — not that his team doesn’t try to drag him in. The episode opens with a photo of Ted eating a hot dog alone in public, sent to the Lady Greyhounds’ group chat and opening the floodgates of scrutiny about who their coach really is beneath all that face fuzz. When the team ambushes him with questions about his personal life, he deftly dodges them — much like the show itself has dodged the topic all season. Maybe that’s setting us up for something more later on.
By the end of the episode, frustration abounds: Matthijs wants to hit pause on his relationship with Rebecca; Keeley’s plan to rekindle things with Roy has backfired right when she was finally ready to make a move; and Beard, in a subplot unrelated to the rest of the episode’s relationship woes, is still tangled up with a partner the show frames as successful but far from healthy. Coach Chilton, meanwhile, has to sit out the season’s final game after using her position to exact some revenge on the team. And capping it all off, the Lady Greyhounds suffer a surprisingly close loss to Chelsea.
But never fear — this is Ted Lasso, where our feel-good American coach always shows up with a folksy quote to soften the blow of reality, one that also happens to sum up the season so far. “That’s one of the great things about sports,” Ted tells Coach Chilton after the team’s stinging loss. “There’s always another chance.”
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