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Be a goldfish, he tells Henry.
Be a goldfish is Teds way of telling his son to shake off a mistake.
Dont wallow in the error, dont get caught up in emotional turmoil and self-doubt.
give it another spin.
More than once in its third season,Ted Lassotried to embrace this advice.
More than anything,Ted Lassowas a show that loved to be aboutthemes.
The trouble is that themes are not the same as stories.
But increasingly in its later run,Ted Lassoseemed allergic to depictions of real unhappiness or anger.
As a result, the shows season (and probably series) finale contained an astonishing absence of surprise.
Richmond won a big game.
Rupert, the flat-as-a-pancake villain, receives his comeuppance after being a comically over-obvious asshole on a public stage.
Nate is forgiven, Keeley gets to do a job shes good at.
Roy Kent becomes the new head coach.
Shandy becomes a dating-app mogul and Rebecca meet-cutes with the hot pilot.
Nate briefly remembers the existence of his girlfriend.
From a broader perspective, though, its tough to seeTed Lassoas anything other than a cautionary tale.
But a show that tries to be everything to everyone inevitably ends up failing on multiple fronts at once.
IfTed Lassodid have one central idea it wanted to focus on in the end, it was fatherhood.
The titles right, no question Father and Son is exactly what the show wants to say.
There are repeating lyrics that sound right, too.
Instead, he tells his son to be a goldfish.
Forget whats happened and move on.
