Review: Ted Lasso, "Yes & Baby" | Season 4, Episode 7
The women's team is finally back in the spotlight...or are they?
”Welcome to second division women’s football.”
As the semester kicks into gear and we exit the point where screeners were available far in advance, I’m a little behind on this week’s Ted Lasso review, which means I’m writing this after getting the headline version of other recaps from across the internet. This means that I’ve already seen some relief that the show has finally decided to focus its attention on the Lady Greyhounds in this season ostensibly about the AFC Richmond women’s team.
And while I don’t necessarily disagree that this episode is an improvement on this front, I don’t know that I necessarily agree that the focus has shifted all that significantly. Yes, “Yes & Baby” opens with an extended montage of the players going about their daily lives. Lizzie is struggling with child care due to her trash ex; Gemma has to be late for practice for an internship interview; the twins’ landlord is jacking up their rent; Boots’ car is constantly on the verge of breaking down; Shannon has to deliver food to make ends meet. The thesis here is that whatever glamorous life we associate with professional sports, that is not the reality of second division women’s football.
And yes, these vignettes return at episode’s end when the team interrogates Ted’s “Believe” sign and finds it inadequate. You can believe all you want, but it doesn’t solve any of the very real problems they’re juggling in order to be there. If Ted’s initial “Believe” message was about convincing jaded professional men to push past the limitations placed on them by the media, the women rightly argue that this has been their entire life already, and where has it gotten them? Belief won’t pay the bills.
