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After a slow but necessary start to the fourth season, Ted Lasso returns to AFC Richmond for a triumphant but heartfelt introduction to the new women’s team in its second episode. Can they keep up this momentum for the rest of the season?

We’re finally back at Nelson Road, and are reunited with men’s team coaches Roy and Beard, yet notable characters are missing and the status quo has been rumbled. Showing us around the empty men’s locker room succinctly informs us of who out of the men’s team are still at Richmond and who has left, just from the names on the lockers. However, that is the full extent we’re shown of the team, beyond some poorly timed and worded questions about them in a press conference. The predicament is clear: in the eyes of the press, the new team will struggle with making a path for themselves without being overshadowed. It is because of this that I’m grateful for the male players being completely absent in order to make space for the new cast.

Although many characters were introduced to the point where I cannot remember a lot of names, I found them to be a refreshing group. The new ensemble cast have gelled well together, and none of the key characters introduced make me feel reminiscent of any previous characters. My personal favourite has to be goalkeeper Boots (Jude Mack), who is so high on adrenaline alone that she feels no need to wear gloves.

The biggest shake-up to the Richmond dynamic is undoubtedly Coach Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds), an awkward and reserved character who has been side-lined by Rebecca to make space for Ted’s return. Reynolds does a fantastic job as bringing Chilton to life so quickly and acting as a necessary foil to both Ted and Rebecca. Alice throws a spanner in the works towards the beginning of the episode by confronting Rebecca about her choice and handing in her resignation.

Of course, from the trailer and what we come to expect from the show, she was always going to stay at Richmond; however, I appreciated how we got to this resolution. Ted has a knack for manipulating people into following their heart, and while there is an element of that here, there is a sense that she would have come to regret the resignation in her own time. Rather than making her change her mind, Ted simply makes her feel understood in a heart-warming scene in which he explains why he wants to offer her the job back.

It was never in doubt that she cared– in fact, it was a pleasure to see the pair side by side throughout the episode demonstrating such different approaches to how they care for and coach the players– but rather there was a deeper question at play: about whether or not her love for the job was going to outweigh her frustration with the battle to be taken seriously as a woman in coaching. In a bold move, she (rightfully) asks Rebecca if she ever considered a woman for the role, which shocks her to her core and makes her ashamedly say, ‘no’. It was a clever move confronting Rebecca with her biases; after years of being the only woman in the room and fighting so hard to be taken seriously, she often forgets that it shouldn’t be every woman for herself.

This leads me to my only gripe. Every futile attempt from Rebecca to perform being a feminist had me longing to hide behind a cushion from second hand embarrassment. Unfortunately, it felt in-line with her character, who throughout the previous seasons was often short-sighted due to her insecurities and caring too much about how she was perceived. Unfortunately, her pantomime performance felt realistic; her twisting Alice’s words to paint the picture as an attack on her character is something often seen in every-day life, not to mention the unsettling way in which even during her attempt to make amends, she thought it was appropriate to police Alice’s language and tone.

Despite that bump in the road, episode two embodied the same charm of Ted Lasso‘s first season, which I believe to be the strongest season to date. The usual Richmond chaos is delicately balanced with the uphill battle they’ve been given with building a Second Division Women’s team from the ground up. This is best exemplified by the storyline of Keely fighting for a better locker room for them; I admittedly welled up at the reveal, and I hope that this is the beginning of Keely having a major part in the show. I would like to believe that it’s onwards and upwards for the Lady Greyhounds.