Now that the Ted Lasso series finale has come and gone, a lot of people are still clamoring for details about the characters and what they might do next. Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard in the show, gave us all a little insight on his relationship with Jane might look toxic, but how you can’t judge a relationship by its cover.
Beard did a AMA recently and responded to a pretty poignant question about the whole situation with his character, and with Jane:
“My question is about Beard’s conclusion. … We watched Beard’s shift in behaviour in the penultimate episode in his beautiful conversation with Nate with hope—but in the end we see that Beard and Jane marry, and seem to have a child on the way. Given the show’s treatment of other abusive partnerships like Rupert and Rebecca, or Jack and Keeley, this came as quite a shock.”
The user went on to say that some people think this ending for Beard is “quite a scary conclusion” to the relationship and that others “have concerns about this final portrayal of a man’s abuse at the hands of a female romantic partner?”
Basically, is Jane abusive? Beard, to his credit, does not show away from answering, and instead dives in head on.
The relationship, he said, “may be a little toxic” but he doesn’t agree with “the assertion that Jane is abusive.” It’s like Ted says in the show, that “their baggage goes together real nice.”
To illustrate his point, Beard shares a story about a friend who just got out of a relationship that everyone felt “turned very sour.” When he heard they were no longer a thing, he called his friend and said “Congrats on the breakup, man. It’s gonna be so good for you. She was bad news, and everybody thought so.”
Turns out they had just gotten back together. Oops.
“The lesson for me, besides to avoid ever including/outing ‘everybody’ in expressing my own feelings: I am not inside the relationship I see. What makes these people happy is not something I can truly know from out here. My friend may or may not come around to what the rest of us feel, but he will do so on his own time. Until then, if he is happy, then I am happy too.”
Applying this wisdom to Coach Beard and Jane’s relationship, he said Beard “just loves her,” and she makes his life more interesting. Coach Beard used to be addicted to meth and now he might simply be addicted to “Jane’s pheromones.” Whether or not Beard is making the right long term choice is irrelevant, because he’s doing what he wants to do.
“And there is joy to be had in that. I am happy for Beard and I wish him luck.”
All three season of Ted Lasso are streaming on Apple TV Plus.
