Ted Lasso Season 4 Review: The Continuation No One Asked For Is Still Charming, If a Bit Shallow

It was originally believed that the third season of Apple TV’s comedy crown jewel, Ted Lasso, was to be the last — that was the powers that be realized they couldn’t let a good thing die and that there was still an opportunity to milk this for everything it’s worth. To its credit, season 4 of Ted Lasso is better than expected, recapturing most of what made the original run work so well, apart from feeling a bit shallow.

What is Ted Lasso Season 4 about?

Season 4 of Ted Lasso picks up with the eponymous coach living back home in Kansas City as a family man when he receives an unexpected offer: a visit from the AFC Richmond owner, Rebecca, asking him to take the job as the head coach for the organization’s new women’s team. If they had to continue the show, this is probably the best way they could have done it, narratively speaking, even if it does feel like much of the same.

Ted Lasso Season 4 Review

Indeed, this season of Ted Lasso feels like it was very much made with an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset. Rather than pushing the characters or story in new directions, this season follows the established formula that made fans fall in love with the show. And there is no shortage of the saccharine heart that melts away all of your cynicism.

So, you might ask… What is actually missing from the fourth season of Ted Lasso? Well, apart from the obvious (some fan-favorite characters like Phil Dunster’s Jamie Tartt and Nick Mohammed’s Nate Shelley — at least so far), it’s the deep thematic resonance. A big part of what made this show great was the vulnerability of its characters in dealing with human topics beyond the sports storyline, and many of the subplots in this season feel a bit heavy on the melodrama.

For example, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) has a tumultuous relationship with her Dutch boo (Matteo van der Grijn) from the end of season three; Keeley (Juno Temple) and Roy (Brett Goldstein) are still embattled in a relationship dynamic of will-they-won’t-they; and Beard (Brendan Hunt) is still trying to balance his loyalty with Ted with his own independence.

As for Ted himself, there’s not much growth to be found in this fourth season. The season three finale saw Ted make a realization of the importance of family in his life, and things come a bit too easy for him in that department this season. And for the sports comedy storyline, it’s really just a rehash of the same fish-out-of-water beats that happened in season one.

In terms of the new characters, we’ll have to give them a bit more time. The Lady Greyhounds don’t have the distinct personalities that their male counterparts had, but we’ve only gotten half of a season so far — perhaps they’ll come into their own in the back half of the season. And while Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education) is pitch-perfect casting as the new assistant coach, the character arc is clearly setting up the “curmudgeon whose heart gets warmed” archetype for Jason Sudeikis’s Lasso to do his magic.

Nevertheless, there’s something ineffably and infectiously charming about what Sudeikis, Hunt, Bill Lawrence, and Joe Kelly bring to the table. It has the same chuckle-inducing (if never gut-busting) humor that the series was known for, and the unique ability to leave you with a smile on your face after every episode. Even though this season does feel clearly inferior to what came before, it’s hard to hate something so wholesome and heartwarming. 

Is Ted Lasso Season 4 worth watching?

Ultimately, the biggest question that many fans will have about Season 4 of Ted Lasso is probably, “Is this necessary?” While the answer is not strictly “yes,” it’s also not quite the shameless cash grab that one might fear it is. Still, there’s no reason that this couldn’t have been a spin-off focused on Keeley and Rebecca — and that approach might have resolved some of the growing pains of the “revival.”

Season 4 of Ted Lasso premieres on August 5, with new episodes streaming on subsequent Wednesdays. Five out of ten episodes were reviewed.

Ted Lasso Season 4 Review: The Continuation No One Asked For Is Still Charming, If a Bit Shallow