According To Diehard Fans, These Are The Worst Ted Lasso Episodes

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, there wasn't much to do besides sit at home and wonder how the world would recover. The type of wholesome, optimistic entertainment audiences needed at the time came in the form of TV show "Ted Lasso," premiering in August 2020 on Apple TV. The show has the same premise as the 2013 series of skits it was based on, in which Jason Sudeikis portrays an American football coach leading an English soccer team in the Premier League and fumbles with the unfamiliar sport and country. In the show, Ted and his assistant coach, Willis Beard (Brendan Hunt), are met with disdain from their new boss, Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), as well as from the Richmond team, led by Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) and Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster). However, Ted finds his first supporter in Jamie's girlfriend, marketing guru Keeley Jones (Juno Temple).

Diehard fans of the show know behind-the-scenes tidbits, including that Sudeikis' ex, Olivia Wilde, played a role in getting the series off the ground. Still, some aspects of the show leave them scratching their heads: Why was the death in the Season 2 premiere necessary, for example, and why was there an entire episode dedicated to Beard's nighttime dalliances? Though "Ted Lasso" has received much praise (and over a dozen Emmy Awards) since its premiere, below are the episodes fans have rated the worst.

In 2015, with Olivia Wilde's encouragement, Jason Sudeikis sat down with future co-star Brendan Hunt and writer Joe Kelly to sketch out ideas for a possible "Ted Lasso" TV show after enjoying their time doing the 2013 skits. "In three days, we had six episodes figured out. Joe had written a spit draft of the pilot, which is about 85% of what we ended up doing ... Then it just sat there for years," Sudeikis said on the "Friends Keep Secrets" podcast. 

The show was finally picked up by Apple TV, and the pilot premiered on August 14, 2020. In the episode, Ted Lasso and Beard land in London and meet the head of AFC Richmond, Rebecca Welton, who is intent on destroying the team to get revenge on her cheating ex-husband, Rupert Mannion, whose only true love is Richmond. The pilot episode won over many fans, but some were more critical, especially those knowledgeable in soccer and people who loved the original sketches.

One Reddit viewer called the episode a "rehash" and said, "It's hard for me to review as I loved the sketch when it aired almost a decade ago but this episode felt like retreading old ground." An IMDb review pointed out that in real life, the owner of a soccer club could be sued by shareholders for running their own team into the ground, adding, "I can say it is so unrealistic in many ways, that I can only assume the only person who's watched less football than Ted Lasso is the person who wrote the script."

By the time the Season 2 premiere, "Goodbye Earl," aired in July 2021, "Ted Lasso" had been established as a feel-good, warmly funny show — which is why it was such a grim surprise that in "Goodbye Earl," AFC Richmond's mascot, a greyhound dog, is accidentally killed by a soccer ball kicked by happy-go-lucky player Dani Rojas (Cristo Fernández). A therapist named Dr. Sharon Fieldstone (Sarah Niles) is hired to help Dani regain his confidence, but Ted clashes with her direct, no-nonsense conversational style, partly because he's afraid of confiding in her about his recent divorce and panic attacks.

Fans were shocked that their favorite uplifting show would kill off a dog. One IMDb review compared the episode to violent films, such as "Pulp Fiction," writing, "OK so they didn't *just* begin the season by killing a dog (WTF), they stage the killing ... Tarantino eat your heart out. But it's not a Tarantino movie. It's the heartwarming family comedy Ted Lasso." Not everyone took to the seemingly cold Dr. Sharon, either. Another IMDb review said, "Killing a dog right off the bat is an odd choice — unpleasant and kind of WTF. Worse is the sports psychologist, who is arrogant, confrontational, and antagonistic from the get-go for no apparent reason."

Season 2 of "Ted Lasso" was initially slated for 10 episodes, but Apple requested two additional episodes during production, resulting in Christmas special "Carol of the Bells" (episode four) and Beard detour "Beard After Hours" (episode nine). Brendan Hunt told "Inside the Film Room," "They added those extra two episodes ... the Christmas episode and the Beard episode were two that we could add to the season that wouldn't disrupt the flow of what we were already building."

In "Carol of the Bells," Ted, dejected because he isn't spending Christmas with his son, joins Rebecca Welton in delivering gifts to underprivileged children. They later attend a party with the team at assistant manager Leslie Higgins' (Jeremy Swift) home. A high point of the episode was Rebecca singing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" with a group of carolers, which had viewers wondering if Hannah Waddingham was really singing.

Despite enjoying her voice, fans could tell this wasn't an episode designed to further the storyline. "It's like the writers abandoned any pretense of a coherent plot and barely even put forth any effort into being funny. It is all about sentiment, but it's more transparent and shallow than a Hallmark movie, and frankly far less enjoyable," a critic for Paste Magazine wrote. A fan on Reddit commented, "Definitely didn't ruin the season or anything for me, but after that and the Coach Beard episode the friend I was watching it with were like, 'Well that was fun, but I hope we get back to the actual show soon.'"

In the seventh episode of Season 2, "Headspace," Ted finally decides to start therapy sessions with Dr. Sharon Fieldstone, though he makes his disdain for psychology clear; Keeley Jones, who is now dating a retired Roy Kent, tries to tell him she needs some alone time; and former kit boy turned assistant coach, Nathan "Nate" Shelley (Nick Mohammed), begins deriding other members of the team after his achievements are ignored by his father.

The episode set the stage for how the season would wrap up, and saw Keeley and Roy settling a rare conflict between them peacefully (perhaps mirroring Brett Goldstein's real-life, low-key relationship history). However, some people found it didn't have the magic that "Ted Lasso" typically provides, and that the individualistic plotlines didn't allow the cast to shine as an ensemble. An IMDb review said, "I think the show would've been better if they had some goal to achieve as a team instead of random bits and pieces of growth or political agendas in the episodes ... And Nathan's character is just annoying now." An NPR review also noted that Nate's arc in particular felt heavier than the show's usual jovial atmosphere: "Nate's story this season has been edging toward the genuinely sad, and this is the episode where you probably arrive at that point."

"Beard After Hours," the ninth episode of Season 2, was an "extra" episode added to the season along with "Carol of the Bells." Brendan Hunt, who previously had bit parts in shows such as "Key and Peele" and "Parks and Recreation," stars in his own episode as Beard, exploring what the character gets up to off the soccer pitch — including sneaking into a members-only club, ripping his pants, and contemplating his up-and-down relationship with girlfriend Jane while in a church. The other main characters of "Ted Lasso" are hardly featured.

The episode is the most polarizing of the entire series. It's overwhelmingly named as one of the worst episodes in a Reddit thread devoted to the topic, with one commenter explaining, "What I liked about Beard is that he had a sense of mystery. That episode made him seem sad, lonely, and dysfunctional." Another added, "Hated that one. Everyone in my house did. So much that we stayed up late to watch another episode, so we didn't have to end on a low."

Hunt explained to TVLine that the episode was inspired by the Martin Scorsese film "After Hours," adding it was meant to feel "intimate and up-close in a way that the show isn't really. The idea of making it look different from other episodes was always part of the package." Critics didn't seem to appreciate this connection, with a review from AVClub stating, "I realize that the spiraling of the story ... is meant to be like he's trapped in a never-ending cliche of movie tropes, but the episode lacks the forward momentum to make that feel thrilling instead of a bit of a slog."

Static Media owns and operates Nicki Swift and TVLine.

In the Season 3 premiere, "Smells Like Mean Spirit," the "Ted Lasso" team are facing some life changes. Keeley Jones has started her own PR firm, and she and Roy Kent have broken up; Nate Shelley has left Richmond to manage West Ham United with Rebecca Welton's ex-husband, Rupert Mannion, and criticizes Ted in the media; and Ted faces pressure from Rebecca to become more aggressive in his coaching since Richmond is widely predicted to finish last in their league. Rebecca's controversial age-gap relationship with player Sam Obisanya also seems to have come to an end. Eventually, Ted manages to laugh off Nate's comments, endearing him to the media, but Keeley and Roy's future hangs uneasily in the air, and the team must figure out how to climb their way to the top.

Fans and critics noticed a departure from the sharply written first season. A commenter on Reddit wrote, "Decent episode, I'm just afraid the shows not for me anymore ... so much of the show now, in my opinion, is victim of its own success and is just not as interesting or surgical as it used to be." Multiple reviews of the episode on IMDb wondered if the show had hired new writers, with one saying, "This episode was written by an AI chatbot with the query of 'write a Ted Lasso episode.' Season 1 was great, 2 not so much. And now this? Where has all the charm gone from the writers room?" Another agreed, writing, "It pains me to say that this episode fell completely flat. Not sure what happened behind the scenes, but the writing was just nowhere near the previous standards. Pretty much every joke fell flat and the pacing as a result felt limp."

While AFC Richmond is dealing with yet another loss and the retirement of their star player, Zava, Keeley Jones is dealing with a literal mess at her PR firm: She has fired her employee, Shandy, who vengefully leaves a lamb in the conference room that ends up pooping on the floor. Keeley and her main investor, Jack Danvers (Jodi Balfour), spend the night cleaning up and eventually kiss, beginning a tentative romance.

Fans, already scratching their heads over Roy Kent and Keeley's mostly unexplained breakup at the beginning of Season 3, criticized the direction the show was taking with Keeley's character. "The scenes with Keeley are just so brutal. She has become so unlikable since having all this success and creating a love square with Jodi Balfour, Jamie and Roy is not the kind of thing that is going to entertain the soccer fans that watch this show," an IMDb review stated. A critic on TellTaleTV rated the episode three out of five stars and wrote, "While most Ted Lasso fans were likely thrilled with Keeley's decision to start her own PR firm, it's unlikely that any of us were expecting this next step for her would largely silo her from the other characters we cared about, or force us to watch her various inter-office dramas with a bunch of characters we don't know."

Keeley Jones and Jack Danvers' short-lived relationship comes to an end in the eighth episode of Season 3, "We'll Never Have Paris," in which an explicit video of Keeley is leaked and Jack tries to force her to publicly apologize for damaging their PR company's reputation (Keeley refuses). Meanwhile, Ted is paranoid that his ex-wife, Michelle, will get engaged to their former couples therapist when the two take a trip to Paris together, and he goes so far as to try to hire a private investigator.

The episode — which, incidentally, was co-written by Keeley Hazell, Jason Sudeikis' ex who inspired the character of Keeley Jones — was widely panned, and is the lowest-rated episode of the series on IMDb. A critic writing for AVClub lamented that the main characters all had separate storylines, wasting the chemistry that the actors had with one another, adding, "This episode was full of moments, scenes, and outright storylines that made me wonder what had gone so terribly, terribly wrong with this once affable kindcore fish-out-of-water comedy series about a bumbling American football coach in London."

In a Reddit thread titled "Why is We'll Never Have Paris so hated?," fans gave a multitude of reasons, including "The Ted storyline really sucked and it was such a far jump from what was realistic for him that it just felt bad" and "Nobody liked Jack to begin with, and people weren't liking Keeley's story either, mainly they didn't like how she was so separate from the rest of the cast for the whole season."

Season 3 concluded in 2023 with Richmond finishing second in their league, Roy Kent becoming the team's new head coach, Nate Shelley making amends with Ted, Rebecca Welton meeting an interesting new man, Keeley Jones proposing an idea for a Richmond women's team, and Ted returning home to Kansas City to be with his son. It seemed definite that the series had come to a happily ever after. But, in the months that followed, Jason Sudeikis told "Today," "I would just hear these voices, you know, Rebecca, Keeley, Roy ... then I started hearing new voices, and I was like, 'Well, who are these people?'" He said he then told co-creators Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly, "'Hey, I'm thinking about, like, there might be more to do.'"

Season 4 finally premiered in August 2026 with "Home," which sees Rebecca, Leslie Higgins, and Keeley journey to Kansas City to lure Ted — now working in a grocery store — back to England to coach the new AFC Richmond women's team. However, critics noted the groundwork the episode lays for the season to come is uneven at best, with AVClub writing that "it paves the way for Ted to accept the job, but 'Home' spends a long time getting there, without digging into the emotional core of how and why Ted misses London and football."

While fans welcomed the return of their favorite show, they also noted the bloated run time, with a Reddit comment saying, "I was a big fan of the first three seasons but this felt so disjointed. Felt like we got 40 minutes of filler and the season just started ... I was so excited and I'm sure once it gets going it'll regain that Ted Lasso core but this episode fell so flat."

As Season 4 progresses, the women's team, led by players Lizzie Davis (Faye Marsay) and Gemma Jay (Abbie Hern) and the new assistant coach, Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds), are introduced. At the season's midpoint, "Riches of Embarrassment," Richmond is losing a high-pressure game against Chelsea and Alice disparages her players, clashing with Ted's more motivational style of coaching; he ends up suspending her for a match. Meanwhile, Rebecca Welton and her boyfriend, Matthijs, take a break from their relationship, Roy Kent reluctantly tells Keeley Jones he has been dating someone new, and Beard and Ted see a one-woman play by Beard's volatile ex, Jane, that uncomfortably mirrors Beard and Jane's relationship.

The episode was critiqued for once again spending too much time on each character's individual storyline and not enough on the team or the sense of camaraderie that made the show special. "As strong as this season has been and continues to be, a gap is starting to open up. At the moment, what's going on with the team is considerably more compelling than what's going on in the private lives of the show's characters," a critic for Vulture noted.

A review on IMDb said, "The overarching issue is that they did not find a deep tension that the original trilogy had with Ted's exceptionally well-depicted personal drama ... In this season, they failed to find the yarn that connects it all, that gives the tension. At least 60% of the writing went into filler." It's safe to say that if "Ted Lasso" continues beyond this fourth season, fans hope the writers learn from these low-rated episodes and get viewers to "believe" in the series's magic again.