‘Ted Lasso’ Stars Break Down New Hurdles for Richmond’s Lady Greyhounds in Episode 3

The Lady Greyhounds are expanding the team in Ted Lasso‘s latest episode as the titular soccer coach (played by Jason Sudeikis) and cohorts, Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds) and Beard (Brendan Hunt), hold open tryouts. Warning: Spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 4, Episode 3!

The efforts yield mixed results but welcome some new faces to the crew as single mom Lizzie (Faye Marsay) steps onto the pitch, as well as Alice’s most-wanted recruit Gemma (Abbie Hern). Even Ted’s favorite park player, Shannon (Shannon Hayes), makes the cut, but not Dani Rojas’ (Cristo Fernández) sister, Maria (Paloma Cinco), despite Beard’s hopes.

But with the new additions comes fresh baggage as Hern promises there will be more digging into Gemma’s past with Alice, particularly around the reason there’s such animosity between them. “They both really, really, really love football,” Hern explains. “They love the sport, they love the world, they just have different ways of showing it.”

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Those differences will be thrown into contrast as the season proceeds, but until then, Hern adds, regarding tensions between Alice and Gemma, “They’re gonna have to come together and figure out how to set those differences aside and work together.”

Meanwhile, Marsay’s Lizzie is bringing her maternal instincts to the pitch when it comes to her teammates, but there’s more than meets the eye for this single mom. “When she first joins the team, when she first comes into work, she’s been in mother mode, so it kind of just comes out, and I think as we go along in the season, that becomes less [obvious].”

In other words, the newly-introduced character is going to go through a bit of an onscreen evolution. “She just wants to be part of the gang, I think,” Marsay explains, adding,  “Perhaps she’s felt excluded and a bit lonely.”

And that’s not to mention the added pressure on the women’s team’s shoulders with riled-up shareholders, which rattled up Keeley’s metaphorical feathers. While Rebecca had to try and sway investors back towards supporting the women’s side of things, Higgins’ (Jeremy Swift) report projecting the team’s potential successes and risks is what causes the biggest problem, and he’s forced to approach that with a different perspective after the fallout.

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“He’s constantly been reality checking,” Swift explains, adding, “It’s the opposite end of the Keeley spectrum financially… We don’t want to bring the men’s team down whilst trying to elevate the women’s team, and yet this is how business works unfortunately.”

Will Keeley’s can-do attitude help steer the crew back on their course? There was certainly hope as Rebecca made progress with sponsors. But stay tuned to see how things progress as the real fun’s only just getting started this season.

Ted Lasso, Season 4, New Episodes, Wednesdays, Apple TV