The Ted Lasso Finale Brings Back Some Unexpected Faces For A Key Scene
The post contains spoilers for the "Ted Lasso" season 3 finale.
The "Ted Lasso" season 3 finale — which very well could be the show's series finale as well — is finally upon us. Considering its length and how many loose ends there were to be tied up, it's safe to say there was room to laugh, cry, and gently judge the show's jokes as per usual. But while you were doing all that, you might have noticed some old characters making a cameo resurgence in the show's final moments.
You see, the one constant couple of the show — yep, you guessed it: Beard and Jane — finally tie the knot at the tail end of the finale episode, which is a pretty major in-universe event. And the guest list is just as wacky as you'd expect, with the entire AFC Richmond crew in attendance as well as two pivotal characters from the season 2 favorite "Beard After Hours." It's a great little callback that revisits some characters that we warmed to over the course of that wild episode. Who exactly are we talking about, though?
Remember when Beard got entangled in a touchy relationship between a woman who kept the trousers of her lovers and that woman's seemingly deadly boyfriend? The one who chased Beard throughout the back alleys of London before actually revealing that he had Beard's wallet the whole time and was just trying to return it? Their names are Mary and Darren, and we get a glimpse of them in their best clothes right before the scene cuts back to Ted on his plane. In the quick shot, Darren even has a baby in a carrier on his chest. Good for them.
A classic episode from a classic film
"Beard After Hours" is absolutely the episode gift that keeps on giving when it comes to "Ted Lasso." The take on the Martin Scorsese classic "After Hours" was done with taste and smarts, expertly catering to the weirdness of Beard and thus the kind of bizarre evening only he could conjure up. It's what makes the original film so brilliant in its execution, playing to the strengths of its lead, Griffin Dunne's Paul Hackett. To have "Ted Lasso" follow suit not only makes sense, but clearly it yielded really strong comedic, dramatic, and emotionally resonant results.
In Hunt's eyes, the episode's intention was to put pressure on a stone to make a diamond, so to speak. The writer-actor told TVLine about the process in September 2021:
"The idea was to really run Beard through the mud, but then at the end give him the release of this. It's not necessarily a happy ending, but certainly an opportunity to shake it all off. And that comes, in a big way, from the fact that me and Joe and Jason, we all had met each other in Chicago back in the day, but we cemented our friendship [doing comedy] in Amsterdam. And in Amsterdam, you learn that a night out dancing is good for the soul. No matter what kind of tough times you're going through, if you can get a night out with friends and really just lose yourself in the music, that's just straight-up good for you, you know?"
Happily ever after
At the end of the day, it's nice to see Beard carving out a life that works for him — even if it means breaking off from his codependencies with Ted. He and Jane are clearly meant to be, so their mystical and magical wilderness wedding feels totally par for the course despite an otherworldliness about it. After all, we've known since "Beard After Hours" that these two were in it for the long haul. Ah, the beauty of storytelling.
Ted Lasso is available to stream now on Apple TV+.