Ted Lasso recap: Episode 8, ‘The Diamond Dogs’

Ted and Roy struggle with relationship problems in Ted Lasso episode 8, while Rebecca’s scheming finally catches up to her.

Ted Lasso episode 8 picks up In the aftermath of the Liverpool away game and all-night celebrations, everyone is nursing a hangover or dealing with the consequences of their actions. Ted struggles to figure out how he feels after his one-night stand with Sassy, Rebecca kicks the hot waiter out of her bedroom and Nate sleeps inside the bus to ensure he doesn’t miss it.

Between having a panic attack at the karaoke bar and sleeping with Sassy, Ted got divorced. He consults his “The Diamond Dogs” — his newly assembled group consisting of Nate, Coach Beard, and Higgins. Surprisingly, they’re great at handling tricky situations. Ted needs to cut himself some slack, plain and simple.

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Later, Rebecca asks Ted to accompany her to a meeting with minority club shareholders, the Milk sisters. When they show up at the bar for the meetup, Rupert and his new fiancee, also named Rebecca, are waiting for them. Rupert coaxed Bex into buying out the Milk sisters for their 2.9% ownership in the club. When they get married, Rupert will technically be a part-owner once again.

He takes every opportunity at the bar to be nasty to Rebecca and even makes some thinly-veiled racist remarks toward Sam as if we needed more reason to hate him.

The gathering culminates in Ted and Rupert making a wager over a game of darts. If Ted wins, Rupert has to stay far away from the owner’s box while Rebecca is still in charge. If Rupert wins, he gets to choose the starting line-up for the season’s final two games.

Ted wins and humiliates Rupert in the process. In a brief speech, Ted says he has been ridiculed his entire life by men who think they know everything and therefore trade natural curiosity for judgment. Had Rupert not been so arrogant, maybe he would have asked Ted if he’d played lots of darts in his life. Ted would have said, yes, I used to go to the sports bar with my father every Sunday and play darts until he died when I was 16.

It’s great to see Ted knock the smug smirk off Rupert’s face, although he still leaves with Bex on his arm. Rebecca is delighted when she returns to the office and proudly tells Higgins what happened at the bar as he comes to deliver some unfortunate news.

More than 10,000 seats are unsold for the final games of the season. Rebecca tells Higgins to leave them for visitors, but he implores her to do something because otherwise, Manchester will snatch them up, and the crowd will be a sea of blue. Knowing that will piss Rupert off, Rebecca tells Higgins she doesn’t care.

It’s the final straw for Higgins, who has grown attached to Ted throughout the season. He tells Rebecca she’s not going to feel any better by continuing to punish Rupert. He doesn’t want to be part of her scheming anymore and quits. Assuming he’ll be back to grovel for his job again, Rebecca doesn’t seem all that phased, especially when there’s a knock on her door seconds later.

Instead of Higgins, it’s a pissed-off Keeley who has discovered Rebecca hired the photographer to take pictures of her and Ted much earlier in the season. Realizing Rebecca has been playing games this whole time, Keeley tells her to tell Ted the truth, or she will.

Ted Lasso episode 8: Roy and Keeley take the next step in their relationship.

Beyond the Rebecca/Ted drama, Keeley and Roy begin navigating their budding new relationship. Since their steamy kiss, there hasn’t been much progress since Roy isn’t the best communicator and leaves Keeley perplexed about whether he genuinely likes her.

So, when Jamie shows up at Keeley’s house to thank her for everything she taught him when they were together, Keeley finds herself drawn to him, and they sleep together again.

The next day, Roy asks Keeley out on a date. He wants to take things slow because he’s had one-night stands in the past, and they always make him feel terrible after. In the spirit of honesty, Keeley tells Roy she slept with Jamie again. Considering Roy hates Jamie, he’s pissed. Keeley tells him to get back to her when he can figure out how he’s feeling.

So, Roy consults the Diamond Dogs, and their message to him is: get over it and grow up! He and Keeley haven’t even officially started dating. They’re not exclusive. It sucks he hates Jamie, but he shouldn’t let that get in the way of them pursuing a relationship if they genuinely like each other.

Roy returns to Keeley, and they agree to go on a real date. It goes well as Roy tells her what his “private business” was he blew her off for the other night. It turns out Roy does yoga with a group of 60-year-old women. He helped one woman struggling with a divorce and also went out to brunch with some drag queens. Roy keeps getting better, doesn’t he?

Keeley and Roy share another kiss that’s interrupted by a slimy photographer. Roy takes the memory card from him. That’s how Keeley finds the old pictures of her and Ted.

Ted Lasso episode 8: Final thoughts.

It was so refreshing for Keeley to tell Roy what happened between her and Jamie right away. I loved that Ted, Beard, Nate, and Higgins also told Roy to grow up and get over it. Rather than dragging out the storyline and having Keeley hide it from Roy for several episodes, it was handled maturely, and now we can see their relationship get started. I appreciated Ted Lasso not going the cliché route.

As for Rebecca, I knew her scheming was going to come back and bite her eventually. I’m not looking forward to the truth coming out because I love all of the characters! I know it will break Ted’s heart when he finds out, but I’m hoping the season will end with them in a good place, and maybe next season, Ted and Rebecca will genuinely be on the same team.

What did you think of Ted Lasso episode 8? What will happen when Rebecca tells Ted the truth? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

New episodes of Ted Lasso air Fridays on Apple TV Plus.