‘Ted Lasso’: Roy & Keeley Hit a Rough Patch in ‘Headspace’ (RECAP)
[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 2 episode 7, “Headspace.”]
“The truth will set you free. But first, it’ll piss you off.”
Those wise words come from Dr. Fieldstone (Sarah Niles), who speaks them to Ted (Jason Sudeikis) in his third (!) therapy session. Appointments one and two? Yeah, they don’t go well. But in “Headspace,” her statement also applies to Roy (Brett Goldstein), who hits a rough patch with Keeley (Juno Temple) without fully understanding her side of things. Eventually, he does get it — but first, in true Roy fashion, he’s just pissed off.
Meanwhile, all the attention Nate is getting after Richmond won its quarterfinal starts to go to his head, and Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) struggles with whether she wants to meet her perfect-guy Bantr match, who we now know is Sam (Toheeb Jimoh).
Ted heads to his first appointment with Dr. Fieldstone, but after several minutes of rambling — about the couch, about the trinkets on the doc’s desk, about the pollen count in the U.K. — he gets up and says, “I can’t do this.” The following day, he goes back… but that only ends in an impassioned rant against therapy, so, yeah, Ted needs time. He goes to Dr. Fieldstone the next day, and she tells him she was offended by what he said — just because she is being paid to listen to her patients doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about them, just like he cares about his players but is being paid to coach. Ted apologizes for his behavior, but Sharon shrugs it off, saying it happens. “Fight or flight is a natural response,” she says. “You just happened to do both.”
Meanwhile, Keeley’s struggling in her relationship with Roy. Now that Roy’s working for Richmond, she can’t get space from him: He’s there when she wakes up in the morning, when she gets her breakfast, when she gets coffee, etc. After an argument stemming from Roy’s excitement about the book he was reading — and his need to inform Keeley about it as she tries to watch TV — he gets his jacket and slams the door. Thankfully, Roy begins to understand as he goes about his coaching duties; a botched play from Jamie (Phil Dunster) makes Roy realize that sometimes players — and girlfriends! — need space. He goes back to Keeley and apologizes (drawing her a bath and leaving her alone — swoon!), and all is well.
Nate’s (Nick Mohammed) gotten a bit of a big head since winning the match and being deemed “The Wonder Kid” (which originated from him fumbling the term “wunderkind” in his first post-game interview). He’s also frustrated because his father doesn’t think much of his accomplishments — and that cocktail of triumph and despair explodes as he berates Colin (Billy Harris), who’d told a joke at his expense the other day.
“You’re like a painting at Holiday Inn,” Nate tells the already-insecure player. “You don’t inspire, you don’t move people. You’re there. You do the job, so just do the job.” Ouch. Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) thinks it was over the line, too. “You were rude to Colin,” he says, confronting him in his office. “It was personal, and weird. Do better.” Nate apologizes to Colin in front of the team and lands at the center of a group hug… but later, after being given kit that says “Wonder Kid,” Nate takes it as an insult and threatens the new kit man, who had the idea for the gift. “If you ever do anything to humiliate me again, I’ll make your life f–king misery,” he says, giving him the kit back and slamming the door behind him. Yikes, Nate. Yikes.
Ted Lasso, Fridays, Apple TV+