Ted Lasso's Season 3 Finale Pulls A Guardians Of The Galaxy Move To Get Us Emotional
This post contains spoilers for the "Ted Lasso" season 3 finale.
Throughout the three season run of "Ted Lasso," the incredibly popular series ended up hitting on a lot of different levels. Starting out as a comedy first and a rousing sports drama second, the show touched on unexpected issues about anxiety, acceptance, and inequality. The emotional stakes on and off the field kept getting higher and higher, to the point where a lot of season 3 was overshadowed by an unnecessary rivalry between the fictional AFC Richmond team and Manchester City that culminated in an unconvincing arc for Nate, who switched sides, became evil, and then received a hollow redemption.
Moving from a straight fish-out-of-water comedy in season 1 to an effective dramedy in season 2, the final season of "Ted Lasso" was on shaky ground from the start, with too much attention paid to winning the Premiere League instead of staying true to the heart and humor of the show. The best episode of the season proved that when the main storyline was completely abandoned in favor of a quick jet over to Amsterdam. There, the team blew off steam and bonded with each other while Rebecca fell in love with the world's most interesting man on board his quaint, idyllic houseboat.
The final episode, "So Long, Farewell" sticks the landing though by adding some key emotional touches — like a reference to the last shot in "Cheers" and an impromptu musical interlude that pays tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1959 musical, "The Sound of Music." The finale also pulls on the heartstrings in an egregious attempt to make us cry uncontrollably.
Did they have to play that song?
Maybe if you're of a certain age, the entire AFC Richmond team serenading Ted with a show-stopper from "The Sound of Music" could bring tears to your eyes. I'm personally just not one of those people. But playing Cat Stevens in a perfectly placed needle drop? That's going to get me every time. And judging by the response to "Ted Lasso" fans hearing the song in question, I wasn't the only one that got a little misty.
Ted and his boss Rebecca are already saying a heartfelt farewell when the light, slightly off-time acoustic guitar of "Father and Son" by Stevens starts to play at the perfect time. Appearing on the timeless singer-songwriter's classic 1970 album "Tea for the Tillerman," the song tells the story of a boy on the verge of adulthood who has to tell his father he wants to break away from him and start his own life. On any other artist's album, "Father and Son" would have been the best track on the record, but the heartfelt tune was overshadowed by the smash hit single "Wild World."
"Father and Son" found an entirely new audience though when James Gunn added it to the soundtrack of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and incorporated it into the most emotional scene in the entire film. Star-Lord a.k.a. Peter Quill has just gone to battle with his real father, Ego the Living Planet (Kurt Russell), forcing his adopted dad Yondu (Michael Rooker) to sacrifice himself to save Peter. "He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn't your daddy," Yondu yells just before he dies. Unexpectedly, Yondu receives an official Ravager funeral celebration to the tune of "Father and Son" during an inexplicably large display of space fireworks.
The link between Ted Lasso and Cat Stevens
What makes that song selection even more heartbreaking in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" is the fact it was the first song on Peter's Zune player, meaning it was the last song that Yondu listened to while he was still alive. There's a running theme in "Guardians" about fathers and sons that carries over into the last episode of "Ted Lasso." The main reason Ted wants to go back to Kansas is to be there for his own son, Henry (Gus Turner).
There are some similarities between Cat Stevens and Ted Lasso, too. Stevens was a wide-eyed, idealistic artist that broke through the psychedelia of the counter culture to become a truly rare, authentic artist. Songs like "Father and Son," "The Wind (Of My Soul)" and "Peace Train" would be in danger of sounding extraordinarily cheesy and cliché in the hands of any other artist, even during the Woodstock era. To the same end, Ted's boundlesss positivity and inspiring aphorisms would be absolutely eye-rolling coming from anyone else. There's a purity of heart about both of them that cuts through all the noise.
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and this last season of "Ted Lasso" were both far from perfect, but they delivered a satisfying ending with a big emotional payoff using the exact same song. "So Long, Farewell" gives most of its characters a fitting wrap-up, but using "Father and Son" to make us feel something was an unforgivable, low blow that should have come with a warning up front.