The latest episode of Ted Lasso was one to pull on the heartstrings even more than usual, with romance, redemption, and everything in between. And now, some fans are drawing parallels between a couple of storylines on the Apple TV series and a famous Jane Austen classic — that got a shout-out in an earlier episode of season three — which just might have foreshadowed what was going to happen.
Sense and Sensibility follows the lives of the Dashwood sisters as they deal with love and heartbreak. Although the book is in the third person, it mostly follows the perspective of Elinor Dashwood, the reserved older sister who always tries to make others happy, even to her own detriment. She becomes close with Edward, a distant relative, even though he is engaged to marry somebody else. However, the pair eventually end up together. Elinor is often seen as the “sense” in the title.
Marianne Dashwood is the younger, more romantically inclined sister who falls for the caddish Willoughby. All the while, the quieter Colnel Brandon harbors feelings for her. After she’s left heartbroken by Willoughby, who goes on to marry someone else, she realizes that Brandon was the man for her all along, and they begin a happy relationship. Marianne is considered to be the “sensibility” part of the book’s name.
In a previous episode of season three, we saw Jack (Jodi Balfor) give Keeley (Juno Temple) a very expensive gift: a first-edition copy of Sense and Sensibility. Ted Lasso isn’t exactly known for Easter eggs, although there are plenty in each episode, mostly regarding soccer. However, in this case, it seems the gift was letting the audience in on a secret: what was going to happen next in the charming drama comedy.
If we take Marianne to be Keeley, we can see Jack playing the part of Willoughby, and Roy (Brett Goldstein) as Colnel Brandon. After all, Jack came into Keeley’s life in a whirlwind way, showered her with gifts and affection, then after a very public scandal, abandoned her at her lowest, only for Roy to come in and be the perfect partner she needed all along. This was all confirmed in the most recent episode, which saw Roy and Keeley get back together. So far, so Austen.
However, the parallels might not end there. For the entire series, plenty of fans have been shipping Ted (Jason Sudeikis) and Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), and many are convinced that Tebecca will be the endpoint of the show. With two episodes left of the show’s potentially final season, it does all seem set up to mirror Austen’s novel. And, given Ted Lasso‘s writers are hardly ones to throw in too many surprises, it seems Elinor might end up with Edward yet.