‘Ted Lasso’ season 3 finale sticks the landing by refusing to take the easy way out

This article contains spoilers for Ted Lasso’s series finale.

With characters as great as the ones in Ted Lasso, who really cares about romantic relationships? The final episode of the show, which aired Wednesday, proved its story is one of personal growth before anything else, but some fans weren’t happy with the two leads not ending up together, as usually happens in shows of this kind.

Ted and Rebecca shared a teary goodbye at the airport after the Richmond coach decided to move back to America, where words were summarized into heartfelt “thank you”s. With chemistry as great as Jason Sudeikis and Hannah Waddingham’s, it’s understandable that some of the viewers were hoping the scene had ended with a kiss instead, but as others will tell you – that would be missing the point of the show entirely.

For Ted and Rebecca, especially, but also for characters like Roy, Keeley, and Nate, the show has always been about their journey of self-discovery and self-improvement. It’s exactly because of that that the writers decided to end on a note that doesn’t define their characters by their romantic lives, but rather how far they’ve come and how much they’ve grown.

While Rebecca did end up with the guy she spent the night with in Amsterdam, as Ted coached his son’s soccer team in Kansas, that doesn’t diminish the meaning that their friendship had in each other’s lives. For a relationship to be impactful it doesn’t need to be romantic, and that is what is so refreshing about the path the Ted Lasso writers chose to have their characters walk.

Ted Lasso has also never quite been predictable or easy. While that may sometime leave a bitter aftertaste in the mouths of those watching, it is also what makes the show feel so new. It walks the line between familiar structures and subversive storytelling. A big example of that is Richmond getting relegated in season one instead of staying in the Premier League or coming second instead of winning the whole thing in season three. It might not always get it right, but with Ted and Rebecca, it really did stick the landing.

The final episode of the show is now streaming on Apple TV Plus. We Got This Covered’s Sandeep Sandhu wrote about it here.