Ted Lasso season 3 episode 7 recap & review: The Strings That Bind Us

Open Go TV / May 2, 2023 / Reviews

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The seventh episode of Ted Lasso season 3 sees AFC Richmond learn a tactic called Total Football. The episode is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Recap

At breakfast, Jack gifts Keeley the signed first edition of the book “Sense and Sensibility” by Jane Austen and encourages her while Sam prepares for the arrival of his father.

Everyone at Sam’s restaurant is worried about Home Secretary Brinda Barot, who wants to send a refugee boat away. Simi says she is the devil. Sam takes Barot lightly and focuses on his father’s arrival, hoping that everything will be perfect.

Back in Richmond’s locker room, Beard gives the team a history lesson on “Total Football.” The team will be practicing the same technique this week, which is about taking risks and supporting each other’s choices.

Ted and Beard face a lot of criticism from AFC Richmond’s fans. They question what Ted is really doing to their team. Ted takes their confrontation positively and invites them to come and see for themselves.

On the field, Ted, Roy, and Beard plan to teach conditioning, versatility, awareness, and one more thing they are yet to figure out about Total Football. First, for conditioning, Roy makes the players run the field.

At Keeley’s, Barbara notices Jack’s gift, and Keeley wonders if she is ready to disclose to everyone that she is dating Jack or not. Jack later arrives, and Keeley stops herself from kissing Jack.

Keeley isn’t ready for a secret office romance, and it turns out that she doesn’t have to keep it secret because Jack doesn’t mind if everyone knows that they are dating. Jack then stands up and announces to everyone that she and Keeley are dating.

When Keeley meets Rebecca, the latter tells her about “love bombing,” as in the grand gestures the lovers pull off for their partners. Rupert used to pull them off for Rebecca. Rebecca clarifies that she doesn’t mean to say that Jack is like Rupert; she just doesn’t want Keeley to lose sight.

Brinda Barot officially asks the people who want to enter Britain illegally to go home on national television. It brings down the mood of Sam’s friends at his restaurant. He attempts to defend his people by asking Barot to make the right decision on Twitter.

Back on the field, Ted, Roy, and Beard teach versatility to the team by asking players to swap personalities with other players on the team. After the training, Sam sees Barot’s reply to the tweet, in which she shuts him up and asks him to focus on his game.

Next, to teach awareness, a red thread is tied to the private parts of the players that will help them remember who is where. Sam returns to see another harsh response from Barot. She calls him a mediocre player on a mediocre team. This time, Sam gives it back to her.

Amidst all of this, Keeley continues to receive grand gestures from Jack. Keeley finally lets Jack know that she wants one date where she doesn’t feel like Jack is sweeping her off her feet. Keeley also tells her that she should let her do something for her once in a while.

Nate, on the other hand, struggles to figure out if Jade likes him or is just being nice to him, which, according to his mother and sister, no one can find out. They show him what his father did to ask his mother out and tell him that it’s now or never.

Nate fails to muster up the courage to ask Jade out. He intends to gain confidence by spitting at his face, but instead, he chooses to mend his ways. He brings a thoughtful gift for her, and though it gets destroyed in an accident, he still asks her out, and she says yes.

Meanwhile, Sam’s tweet backfires on his restaurant. Some people tear the place down, leaving Simi and Sam heartbroken. Sam pours out his frustration in the locker room. Sam’s father, Ola, who had come to surprise him, sees Sam in this state. Sam then breaks down in his father’s arms.

Ola calms his son down and shares the best way to deal with people like these. He asks him to forgive them and reopen the restaurant.

At the game against Arsenal, AFC Richmond struggles to pull off Total Football until Jamie dares to speak his mind about what they are doing wrong. The team listens, and though they lose, they at least manage to score one goal. The day ends with the team gathering at Sam’s restaurant to fix the place together.

Review

The seventh episode of Ted Lasso season 3 displays the big heart the show has. It’s just as emotional as it is funny, and it offers a heart-warming watch for the week.
Sam’s part and the Total Football training balance the humorous and emotional aspects well. One leaves you constantly cracking up, while the other stuns you for a while.
Nate’s story, at this point, feels out of Ted Lasso’s world. He is having his own little rom-com adventure where Jade’s presence is motivating him to change for the better, which, in turn, is actually working. Nate is attempting to move away from the persona he has built by staying around Rupert.
One still can’t ignore that the show is throwing too many storylines together. The one-hour duration can be blamed. While the show makes the best of these storylines in this episode, whether it can promise the same all the time is questionable.