Review: Ted Lasso, "Greyhounds' Day Off" | Season 4, Episode 4
The overlap between team bonding and worldbuilding is not insignificant
I’ve said this before, but the “cutoff” for episodes made available to critics is always fascinating to think about. When the embargo lifted for Ted Lasso’s fourth season, it was based on the first four episodes, meaning that “Greyhounds’ Day Off” was the last chance for the show to convince potentially skeptical critics that its return was a welcome one.
As always, we can’t know whether cutting off the screeners at this episode was a practical or strategic decision. Given Sudeikis’ past statements, it wouldn’t shock me if no additional episodes were ready, but the show is notably relying less on visual effects this year so it may be that they just wanted to stop here for narrative reasons. It’s ultimately not a dramatic shift from the previous episode, in terms of what kinds of stories the show is interested in, but it gives us a clearer glimpse of the larger “plot” that will embroil the Lady Greyhounds as they push forward. Although burdened by an overbearing frame narrative, there’s a clearer sense of the rest of the season here than there would have been after last week’s stronger outing, and that’s something critics no doubt reflected on as the embargo lifted earlier in the month (he says, writing this a few days beforehand, unaware that they would make a fifth episode available the day before just to spite me).
Regarding that frame narrative, I appreciate the effort to bring both Trent Crimm and Dr. Sharon back into the picture, but everything about their podcast was eye-rolling to me, and made this all seem too clean. It’s a very simple sitcom premise at its core, exploring how Ted’s existing method of coaching is challenged by the change in gender. A majority of the work of team building happens in the dressing room…but he isn’t allowed in there. He wants to try to address the cliques emerging within the team, but it’s hard to do that when he doesn’t get to see so many of their interactions. And while his movie night strategy reaped benefits for the emotionally closed off men, the consensus seems to be that the women need to talk through their issues more directly.
