Summary
Sam reckons with Richmond’s corporate sponsor while Rebecca learns childcare.
This recap of Apple TV+s Ted Lasso season 2, episode 3, “Do The Right-est Thing,” contains significant spoilers.
Read the recap of the previous episode.
The problem with working under a system that requires and generates enormous amounts of money is that acquiring that enormous sum eventually requires a suspension of morals. This week’s episode of Ted Lasso, however, is all about standing up to evil, even if it means risking everything. The downfall, however, is yet to come. Richmond haven’t won a match in a while, but the pressure seems somewhat off. Unlike last season, where it accounted for a large proportion of the season’s tension, their string of ties (and now a loss) only phases anyone nominally.
Ted Lasso season 2, episode 3 recap
For Ted and the Richmond players, their main concern is Jamie’s return to the team. Tartt’s attempts at banter fall flat; when he tries to apologize he’s met with a wave of outrage, as his teammates recount the humiliations and insults that were hurled at them. Sam, in particular, is upset. He slide tackles Jamie to the ground and gives Ted a knowing look — I told you so.
Sam himself is the center of the episode’s ethical dilemma. He’s overjoyed by the results of his photoshoot with the team’s sponsor, the fictional DubaiAir. Unfortunately, his father doesn’t share his enthusiasm. He informs Sam that DubaiAir’s parent company is responsible for corruption and environmental devastation in their home of Nigeria. It hurts for Sam when the person he respects the most calls him a shill, and he sets out to change that.
Luckily for Sam, Rebecca is in the mood for doing the right thing. Asked by her friend sassy (still flirting with Ted) to take care of her daughter for a few days, Rebecca struggles to find a way to entertain the thirteen-year-old. Rebecca has never been the warmest of personalities, but she’s much more so than she was last season, but still has difficulty bonding with a young girl. The activities she used when her goddaughter Nora was six don’t work anymore. Of course, she runs into superstar uncle Roy Kent, who tells her that kids “just want to feel like they’re part of our lives.” He proves his point when niece Phoebe is overjoyed to be invited to Roy’s podiatrist appointment.
That’s how Nora ends up in Rebecca’s office face to face with Sam, her idol. Sam delivers a sweet reading of Frozen before explicating his sponsorship issue, and, trying to do the right thing, Rebecca raises the issue with her DubaiAir contact. He agrees that Sam doesn’t have to do the promotion — on the condition that they drop Sam.
It’s an ethical dilemma based on the root of our economic system, one where caring for people comes into direct conflict with money. “Sometimes you have to do the right thing, even if you lose,” says Nora. When financial existence is in direct conflict with ethics, one must be sacrificed. I like to believe that Rebecca would have made the right choice without Nora’s help, but it’s good that she’s there just to make sure.
Meanwhile, Jamie is struggling to gain acceptance (his plan is to buy the whole team PS5s). Ted’s solution is to introduce “Led Tasso,” his alter ego who’s… basically the stereotype of the angry, emotionally abusive coach. The goal as Dr. Fieldstone puts it, is to make Ted — sorry, Led — the common enemy they can unite against, rather than Jamie. Keeley, however, has a more tactful solution. When Jamie shows up at her office, looking for someone to talk to, she leads him directly to Fieldstone’s office. “So I just sit here and blabber on about myself?” he asks.
Ted Lasso season 2, episode 3 ending
Before the day’s match, Sam takes even more of a stand by taping over the “DUBAI AIR” logo on his jersey. He’s soon followed by the team’s other black players, and then, in a wonderful show of solidarity, by Jamie Tartt. “We’re a team aren’t we,” he says. The rest of the team follows, shocking the crowd, and Rebecca joins in by declining a call from her Dubai Air connection. All seems well, but we’ll have to wait till the next episode for the other shoe to drop.
Additional plot points
- The funniest moment of the episode involves the trip to the “British Girls” doll store. “The Americans really do the historical doll concept better,” says Rebecca, but “no-one does the orphans better than us brits.” One of the orphan’s parents died of scurvy. Phoebe buy’s one from “the modern line. Her parents were canceled.”
- We get another Beard update — he’s now sharing an iCloud account with Jane.
- Roy is back on Sky Sports to say that Tartt is, “a muppet, and I hope he dies of the incurable condition of being a little bitch.”
- Another plotline set up for a future episode involves Keely trying to get everyone on a dating app called “BANTR.” I like how many story seeds the writers sprinkle in throughout the first few episodes.
