By Colleen Glatfelter aka Geek Dad Wife.

This week’s episode of Ted Lasso, “International Break,” was a beautiful hour – make that one hour and five minutes – of television. Everyone got what they wanted or needed and it was so satisfying. My only complaint is that all of this didn’t happen 4 episodes ago. I didn’t even really mind that the Roy stuff came out of complete nowhere. “International Break” was written by written by Jane Becker, who wrote my favorite episode of Season 2, “No Weddings and a Funeral.”

Redemption Sonata

So Nate, quit his job at West Ham after having a Gob Bluth “I’ve made a terrible mistake” moment. Nick Mohammed acted his heart out this episode. We’re checking off more boxes for Nate’s redemption arc. He finally cleared the air with – and got an apology from – his father. The violin playing…it was as though Nate was releasing all of his sorrows from the last two seasons, stripping away the façade he’s had up for his entire life. Let’s just say it got a little dusty in the room while I was watching, especially when his emotional cleansing was rewarded with his dad confessing to him, “I just want my son to be happy.”

It was such a powerful, moving scene to juxtapose Nate pouring his troubles into music while Rebecca was giving her speech to the gross rich dudes as Sam learned that Jamie paid tribute to him by wearing his number and Roy wrote drafts of his apology letter to Keeley. Loved it so much.

I also really loved that Nate’s apology tour started with Will. I’ve been so focused on how Nate owes Ted an apology that I really didn’t stop to think about how many other people on the team he hurt with his actions. To start with the “lowest” person in the clubhouse, the position that he once was, was a really nice touch. And we got the return of Renee, the creepy old man that lives works in the sewers!

Oh, and the missing “Corporate Pixie Dream Girl” Ms. Kakes, who was replaced by Ms. Bread? I have a theory about why she got let go. I think when Nate quit, he told HR about her inappropriate relationship with the boss, which led to her being fired. Remember what Trent told Rebecca during “girl talk?” That he’d heard rumors of an “inappropriate workplace relationship” being the reason Nate was out? It was probably gossiped about in the office when they left at the same time and the rest of the clubhouse assumed it was Nate who was banging her.

Be Ready for Lightning

This episode, we also saw Keeley hit rock bottom before finally getting her groove back. It was not surprising that Jack pulled KJPR’s funding. We all saw that one coming. Just like Nick Muhammed did, Juno Temple also sold the heck outta Keeley’s despair this episode. It wasn’t over-the-top; it was relatable and true to Keeley form, even at a low moment, she stopped to think about Barbara when she saw the snow globe. Her scene in the bar with Mae was so nice.

Keeley: “Everything I touch turns to sh*t.”
Mae: “Sh*t helps things grow, love.”

Mae is the best. I really enjoyed this scene between the two of them. It’s kinda wild that they’ve never met before, but it also makes sense. When would they have? I’m glad Keeley was ready for the lightning.

Edwin Akufo reappeared to gloat about paying $20 million to the Nigerian government to keep Sam off the international team, try to create a football super league, and show off his impressive accent skills. Akufo is a ridiculous human being but if you’ve been paying attention to Twitter over the last 8 months, you’ll have no trouble believing that stupid-rich people are this immature. We also had more of his obsession with Chicago-style hot dogs and another outrageous outburst. I would have loved to have seen him throw the food on camera, but the payoff of just seeing the stunned aftermath was pretty great. Sometimes, nothing will live up to imagining how something absurd went down, and this is probably one of those instances.

Francis remains my favorite part of the Akufo storyline, though. I love that dorky “yes man.” When Pinky Dick Sam asks him, “Please don’t do this” and he does the “up here, down below, too slow” thing, I laughed so hard.

Are they R-eeley Back Together?

Okay! Time to talk Roy and Roy and Keeley. PHOEBE WAS BACK!! Uncle Day did not disappoint. I freaking loved that Jamie was invited as his “best friend” and that he brought him his original England kit from the 2014 World Cup as a gift but changed the E on the back of the jersey to a U. I loved that Phoebe gave him the soooo adorable gift of a tie-dyed shirt with the ROY of ROY G. BIV on it. I loved the whimsical music of the entire scene. The gag in which everyone, including Ted, Beard, and Trent, noticing that he was wearing color was also hilarious. Why haven’t we had more of this in Season 3?

And yayyy, Roy and Keeley hooked up! I want to complain we didn’t see Roy and Keeley reunite on air, but since we got the reveal during Keeley’s comment to Rebecca, “You would have to be at the bottom of your emotional barrel to do something that dumb,” I have a feeling that it was just a hook-up and a bigger “are we back together” conversation is coming next week.

Just Borrowing It

I loved Rebecca’s line during her speech, “Just because we own these teams, doesn’t mean they belong to us.” This echoes what Ted told Beard after inviting Baz, Paul, and Jeremy to watch a practice: “This is their team. We’re just borrowing it for a little while.” If this really is the final season, then this scene felt like the show’s tribute to football fans.

Also, kudos to Leslie, a member of the jazz group, Directors of Beboperations, for not only having that dark but maybe not wrong take on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but for frankly pointing out to Rebecca that even if she doesn’t want to be a part of the Akufo League, she has a seat at the table, so she should go and see what’s what.

And, of course, the final scene of the episode where Rebecca tells Ted that she realizes that she no longer cares if she bets Rupert. Finally, after 3 seasons, Rebecca has fulfilled her personal growth arc: “I want to win for us too.”

The final moment, with Rebecca spitting the tea in Ted’s face, is a call back to the end the Season 1 finale, when Ted spits the carbonated water on her face (“Oh, the bubbles!”) after telling her that even though they’ve been relegated, they’re going to do something that no one believes we could ever do: “Come back and win the whole f*cking thing.”

So with two episodes to go, we didn’t have any progress on a Ted storyline this week, but here’s where we leave it: Nate is solidly on the road to redemption, Keeley has gotten her confidence back, Roy and Keeley are possibly reunited, and Rebecca has proven herself among the good ole boys and is over her desire to only win because it means beating Rupert.

Can’t wait to see what the next two weeks bring us.

• Jade had the best line this episode: “Do you want to come to Poland with me? You can help me and my family screw in lightbulbs.” Hahahaha.
• So many callbacks this week! We had Rebecca spitting the tea on Ted, Rebecca blowing herself up big to psych herself up for the meeting (the advice she gave Nate in Season 2), and her picturing the billionaires as little boys.
• Oh – the storyline that I liked the least this week was that of Dani Rojas turning into a psychopath while playing for the Mexican international team. That would have been whatever on its own, but to have him brutalize Van Damme took it way too far for me. It was unnecessary.
• Beard has 17 axes, all in the UK?!
• Lmao at the Ted/Rebecca scene discussing the wine delivery service that only come once a month, every month, and only skips a month if you’re pregnant.
• Ted’s stories and analogies are great and we all know that he means well, but how great was it when Sam spit back facts about Michael Jordan not making his basketball team the first time? This is the second time in two episodes we’ve seen players pushing back on Ted’s pep talks – the first time being Colin asking him if he’d just compared being gay to being a Denver Broncos fan.
• Rebecca takes out the green matchbook and the little toy soldier that Ted gave her back in Season 1. Is this supposed to be foreshadowing something? I don’t think we’re getting a Rebecca/Sam reunion and honestly, the show has given us zero reasons to think Tedbecca is actually going to happen. Are they just messing with us?
• I didn’t really talk about Keeley buying Barbara the snow globe because the whole thing started out sweet but then was kinda weird by the end. Classic Barbara, I guess!
• Beard being from Peoria, IL is something Brendan Hunt, who is a Chicago native, has put thought into.
• Leslie: “Why? Because he’s an emotionally erratic billionaire with the temperament with one of those kids in Willy Wonka that gets murdered at the chocolate factory?”
  Rebecca: “I don’t think that’s what happens, Leslie.”
  Leslie: “I hate to break it to you, Rebecca but those children are dead.”
• “You are and always will be Keeley F*cking Jones.”