This article contains spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 4 Episode 9.
Watching Ted Lasso Season 4 requires a considerable amount of goodwill, even if audiences should not have to extend that much grace to a series that was once at the top of its game. In 2021, the show received 20 Emmy nominations, the most any freshman comedy had received at the time, surpassing Glee’s 19 nominations from 2010. Now, the penultimate episode of Season 4, Mae Rides The Bus, encapsulates almost everything that has gone wrong with the latest season across storylines that repeatedly point back to Season 3 as the beginning of the show’s downfall – and perhaps the point at which it should have ended.
When Season 4 was announced with focus on a women’s team, my hopes were high. As a fan of women’s football in England, I was excited by the prospect of a show with Ted Lasso’s reach bringing the sport to a wider audience. The women’s game still lacks the visibility it deserves, despite the increased attention following the Lionesses’ two Euros victories in 2022 and 2025 as well as their run to the World Cup final in 2023. Ted (Jason Sudeikis) returning to Richmond to reinvent the Lady Greyhounds the Richmond way had enormous potential.
Yet, with only one episode left, almost none of that potential has been realised. Instead, those behind the series seem intent on weakening whatever legacy Ted Lasso has left. The writers’ room appears to have forgotten how to craft the compelling, character-driven stories that made the series so beloved, relying instead on miscommunication tropes, rushed storylines that skip over meaningful development, and an apparent fear of pandering to any particular subsection of its audience. In trying not to give audiences what they expect, the show has forgotten why those expectations surrounding the series’ canon exist in the first place.
Mae Rides The Bus is therefore an apt title, but one that ultimately sets the episode up for disappointment. Mae (Annette Badland) has been an essential part of Ted Lasso since its first season as the landlady of The Crown and Anchor, gradually becoming a mother figure to Ted and, in this season, a mentor to Henry (Grant Feely). Her connection to AFC Richmond has always been clear, but her devotion to the Lady Greyhounds carries a particular poignancy because she was never given the chance to play professionally or recreationally herself. The FA banned women from playing football in England from 1921 to 1971, effectively closing the door on whatever dreams she may have once had.
When Ted learns that Mae cannot drive to Bristol for the team’s latest away game, he invites her onto the team bus, giving her the chance to experience moments she never thought possible as she lives vicariously through the players she loves. She bonds with the team and, later, Ted asks her to deliver the half-time speech. Mae talks about growing up in a time when women could not pursue their passion for sport or follow their athletic dreams. Ted Lasso is a Bill Lawrence series to its core and, as such, has always thrived on its sentimentality. While it is an emotional episode, the scenes lack any subtlety, offering the audience a treat before putting Mae down. After Richmond win the all-important match and seal their promotion to the WSL, Mae celebrates with the travelling fans before dropping dead in the stands. “It’s the hope that kills you” has never before been taken so literally, or so unnecessarily.
It is difficult to see what narrative purpose Mae’s death serves. She does own shares in the team, which could prove significant now that Zelda (Tracey Ullman) has been revealed as the person buying up shares in AFC Richmond, but that hardly justifies killing off one of the show’s most beloved supporting characters, who was just coming into her own. More than anything, it feels like a waste of Badland, who brought far more to Ted Lasso than the writers ever seemed to fully appreciate, given that they were hellbent on making her the mouthpiece of others this season.
If Mae’s death wasn’t already a questionable decision, the show then dedicates the episode to Anthony Head, who played Rupert, following the actor’s death from complications of pneumonia in June. Perhaps the choice is connected to the episode’s focus on Rupert: Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) and Higgins (Jeremy Swift) remain convinced that he is the one buying up the shares, despite his lawyers insisting that he is not involved. Yet, for anyone watching, the identity of the person behind the takeover has been obvious for some time and the show might as well have written “villain” on Ullman’s forehead. Altogether, the timing and execution make the episode feel like another decision that was not thought through.
That lack of patience extends to Roy (Brett Goldstein) and Keeley (Juno Temple). After Season 3 separated the fan-favourite pairing for reasons that did little for either the narrative or their individual character development, Season 4 has rushed them back into each other’s orbit. Their reunion should be satisfying, but the episode’s two-month time jump removes any opportunity to watch them actually rekindle their relationship. The show skips straight to the revelation that Keeley is pregnant, leaving the audience to fill in the rest of the gaps themselves.
Temple delivers the season’s strongest performance so far, displaying Keeley’s nervousness, excitement, and awe aptly. She is not aloud to watch Richmond games for health reasons, so Roy takes it upon himself to explain what is going on in the match through items from her make-up bag. Keeley sits in tears, her eyes shining with adoration for the man she loves and knows will make a good father. Still, it is difficult not to wonder whether the show is rushing this pairing towards an ending that would come with a final season. Roy’s involvement in Ted Lasso is already limited – he remains with the men’s team, though a stay-at-home dad storyline is not implausible – and the pregnancy feels like a final hurrah despite another three-season plan in the works.
Their storyline should also provide an opportunity to bring Rebecca back into focus. She has spent much of the season on the sidelines, barely involved with the women’s team, while her internalised misogyny was forgotten almost as quickly as it appeared. Much of her story has instead revolved around selling a romance that few viewers seem to believe in. Waddingham does what she can, once again demonstrating that her performances are often stronger than the material she is given. Keeley’s pregnancy could give the series a reason to revisit Rebecca’s infertility. That seems unlikely, given the repeated insistence that Matthijs (Matteo van der Grijn) and Jelka (Fleur Bremmer) are enough for her, although a later scene with Ted already complicates this idea.
And then there is Ted and Rebecca, once the heart of Ted Lasso. Things may have felt off between them during Season 3, but they still shared the screen and remained important parts of each other’s lives. Season 4 has almost completely removed that connection despite Rebecca travelling all the way to America to offer Ted his current role. The pair have barely interacted since Episode 2, with neither playing a meaningful part in each other’s storylines, effectively bringing an end to “Biscuits with the Boss” and the show’s most compelling pairing.
Episode 9 finally brings them together, albeit briefly, when a devastated Rebecca goes to tell Ted about Mae. Few words are exchanged, but the look between them says everything. Rebecca knows she is about to shatter Ted with the news, and he immediately recognises that something is wrong. Their chemistry remains undeniable, which makes the decision to keep them so far apart throughout the season all the more baffling. Those behind Ted Lasso may not appreciate the divide between those who want Ted and Rebecca to remain friends and those who hope their relationship develops into something more, particularly given the insistence that they are platonic soulmates. But reducing their most meaningful relationship to occasional moments of recognition leaves a connection that once gave the series much of its emotional weight feeling increasingly hollow. It’s also doing Sudeikis and Waddingham a disservice, as they do some of their best work when they are opposite each other.
Mae Rides The Bus had the potential to be the season’s saving grace but ultimately favoured cheap shock value, leaving its audience to fill in the gaps created by its time jump and wonder what the point of bringing the series back was. With one episode left to go in Season 4, Ted Lasso has a lot of making up to do, but little time left to do it.
