It’s a Valentine’s Day miracle! The teaser for Ted Lasso season 3 dropped this morning, revealing a March 15 premiere date. That’s just one month away! Not two months or three months or nine months! ONE! Valentine’s Day is a made-up holiday, but this is almost enough to make me believe in the power of love!
The teaser is wonderful because it both evokes the feel-good vibes of Ted Lasso at its and his best, while also featuring NO NATE. I repeat, NO NATE. Really and truly, few things I’ve written about over the years garnered the unanimous response of NATE SUCKS. Everyone hates Nate. We’re all rooting against him. A few people hope he can find forgiveness, but most of us hope he is launched into the sun, after losing to Richmond AFC, of course.
This teaser doesn’t give us any sense of the pending drama, of Ted vs. Nate, Rebecca vs. Rupert, Ted vs. panic attacks, or what’s going on with Keeley & Roy and Rebecca & Sam. And that’s okay! Because it’s been so long since the good vibes only of Ted Lasso, really since season one, as season two went darker with Ted’s mental health struggles and Nate’s betrayal. It’s nice just to have the dopamine hit of Ted Lasso at its best and most hopeful. And even though season two was more about trials and tribulations than triumphs, I don’t think Ted Lasso will deliver a bummer ending. This has always been a three-season plan, and this is season three, this is it, it’s the end, at least of Ted Lasso as we’ve known it (will not be shocked by more, Ted-less seasons).
So if there is going to be a mood swing back to triumph, this is the moment, and that’s what this teaser is giving us. That feeling that anything is possible, that a win is just around the corner. And frankly, it’s what we need from Ted right now. The hokey optimism and joy of season one would not go amiss in this moment. Especially if it comes with a heaping side dish of Nate Losing.