The views expressed in this article belong to the reporter, and do not reflect the views held by Rockbridge County High School, the Prowler Staff, and its members.

The runaway hit “Ted Lasso” is finishing up its second season on Apple TV after winning four prime time Emmy Awards on September 19 2021. The comedy series winner follows Ted Lasso, a small town American football coach who moves to England to coach the A.F.C. Richmond soccer club. It all started when actor Jason Sudeikis created a character to promote NBC Sports coverage of the Premier League in 2013. Little did they know those commercials would turn into must see TV.

Lasso’s character is innocent but complicated and his unconventional coaching style leads the team to success on and off the field. The large cast has a few standouts besides Sudeikis who won an Emmy for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. In addition to Ted Lasso himself, Roy Kent, played by Brett Goldtein, is a very influential character as one of the older players on the team with quite the mouth. His portrayal of a harsh but caring personality won him an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Also winning an Emmy, Hannah Waddingham plays Rebecca Welton, the owner of A.F.C. Richmond. Her character changes throughout season one into season two, but she will always have a love for biscuits. 

More than just soccer, Ted Lasso also covers environmental issues, mental health and relationships. Team member Sam Obisanya is from Nigeria and is picked as Dubai Air’s, the sponsor of Richmond A.F.C., spokesperson. Sam was excited to be picked until his dad shamed him for being part of the brand because Dubai Air’s owner is an oil company polluting Nigeria. Sam pulls out of the ad campaign and takes a stand and his whole team follows his lead and Richmond ends up with a new sponsor. 

The show tries to highlight mental health by hiring a team counselor for one player, and they all end up meeting with her and because they all had things to talk about. Ted was one of the last to meet her, acting like he was okay but then started having panic attacks and realized he was not, in fact, okay. The show spends a lot of time on the relationships between the characters and the relationships between players, coaches and their dads. It is a show that is definitely about more than soccer.

Not only are the story lines about more than soccer, the soundtrack is phenomenal with Marcus Mumford from Mumford and Sons writing and performing the theme song. One of the reasons the soundtrack is so good is because Lasso is an Apple TV production and has access to the entire Apple Music library. Episodes have had anywhere from two to 13 songs included. Lasso takes their music seriously, and it plays an important part of each story line, especially in season one’s “Biscuits”, season two’s “Carol of the Bells” and “Beards After Hours” episodes.  

The life lessons of Lasso are never ending like this fan favorite, “You know what the happiest animal in the world is? It’s a goldfish. It’s got a 10 second memory. Be a goldfish!” In other words, look forward and forget the bad things. Coming off of its successful two seasons and countless awards, look for season three to drop this summer with more Lasso one liners.