Welcome to Wrexham season 1, episode 3 recap: Rebuilding

In episode three of FX’s Welcome to Wrexham, the new game season is looming over the heads of new team owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds.

With their advisory executive staff beefed up, they now find themselves needing to cajole a CEO and a head coach to lead, as well as convince star football players to jump aboard the revamped Wrexham.

Welcome to Wrexham season 1, episode 3 recap: Top down acquisitions

At Fox Studios in Los Angeles, Rob and Ryan are walking around the sets and find a studio building where they shot Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place.

There’s a plaque that goes back to the 1980s listing the notable shows and movies shot inside. When the two guys scratch at the plaque they find out it’s not bronze or metal but just made out of cleverly painted rubber.

In Wrexham, we’re introduced to Shaun Winter, an avid team supporter and a third-generation painter of houses. He hates his job and the magnolia color that the affordable housing units he paints use.

As a Deadpool cosplayer walks down the Wrexham streets, the townspeople—from old women having afternoon tea to men buying burgers—debate about how they feel now that half the coaching staff have been released from their jobs.

After a Zoom meeting between Ryan, Rob, Humphrey Ker, and advisor Shaun Harvey, they are astounded to have scouted and signed new CEO Fleur Robinson. She’s an executive who’s worked in the football industry for 26 years.

With almost 100 applicants for the manager (read: head coach) position, the management really wants to get Phil Parkinson, a coach with championship-caliber experience and a record of taking bad teams and improving them so that they get promoted up the league pyramid.

But after considering a nifty acquisition offer from Ker, Phil Parkinson refused.

Rob however gets on the phone with Phil and uses both his signature Philly persistence and charm offensive to win him over, getting him to sign even if Wrexham is two leagues down from the teams he’s used to coaching.

With Fleur Robinson as CEO and Phil Parkinson as manager, Wrexham has scored major staff acquisitions and are on a very good roll.

Welcome to Wrexham season 1, episode 3 recap: Moments of athletic quality

We spend some time with Wrexham superfan Shaun Winter and his two young boys at their house.

Shaun explains that he and his wife have split up and that the football club is one of the things that he and his boys have left as a common bonding experience. Both parents get half a week with their kids.

As the pre-season training begins for the players the news that Phil Parkinson has accepted the role of manager spreads among the fans. Phil’s stellar reputation precedes him and many are overjoyed at him joining the club.

In an interview with Phil, he details his life growing up in a family of football fans and how much he loves the sport. Assessing the players and the club infrastructure, he confesses that he sees a lot of work for Wrexham to even start looking like serious contenders.

At pre-season practice, Phil and his assistant coach Steve put the players through their paces, seeing plenty of holes in their cohesion and athletic ability.

What Phil is looking for are moments of quality playing during times of crisis in the game.

Welcome to Wrexham season 1, episode 3 recap: Super Paul Mullin!

Their next move is the acquisition of a star player and the Wrexham fans have been begging Rob and Ryan to sign Paul Mullin. Over a Zoom meeting, the owners and executives mull over the hows of actually making it happen.

In her wheelchair Kerry Evans, a full-time disabled volunteer of the club, explains how much she loves the team and so she is surprised that the club management has asked her to continue doing her job but this time as a paid employee.

Despite her misgivings and doubts, her friends and family convince Kerry to take the job as the official Disability Liaison Officer. She’s in charge of making the stadium and office facilities accessible to all the mobility and sense disabled.

“I never ever dreamed it was possible to be able to go back to full employment,” Kerry tearfully declares.

In LA, Rob and Humphrey continue the debate over Paul Mullins and the cost of signing him. They get what they want, paying a premium for Paul to go down to Wrexham’s level, signing with the team because he wants to be closer to his family.

Wrexham plays a home game versus Notts County, starting their 14th season in the lowest of the pro leagues.

As the townspeople crowd into the stands they are excited for their new coaches but especially for the marquee signing of superstar player Paul Mullin.

The episode ends as the players enter the field and Paul looks cautiously happy as the crowd chants his name.

Welcome to Wrexham season 1, episode 3 recap: Review

This is likely the most affecting and emotional episode so far in the first season.

With its primary focus on the fans and how the club figures into their lives the high points for me were the stories of Kerry Evans, a disabled woman in a wheelchair who was previously volunteering full-time at the club, and blue-collar house painter Shaun Winter.

As Rob and Ryan have brought notoriety and resources to Wrexham, they’ve also opened up opportunities and roles that weren’t previously there.

So the transition of Kerry to full-time employee makes quite a lot of sense in an American inclusiveness vibe. Making her the Disability Liaison Officer was a no-brainer and a genuinely touching moment for the documentary.

With Shaun Winter, the house painter father who’s been newly separated from his wife, sharing the moments of football with his two boys (a four and an eight-year-old) drives home the point that being passionate about Wrexham is a real family affair.

For the Winters we get to experience how the love of the game’s been passed on from father to son. It’s an especially emotive moment when Shaun points out to his kids where their grandfather’s ashes were scattered on the Wrexham Racecourse stadium grounds.

As all those things are going on with the town’s fans, the dovetailing of the executive side of the narrative makes us feel that big events are happening all the while.

See, the arc about how they are able to sign veteran star player Paul Mullin also has something to do with family. Though they paid a premium to bring Paul over to the team what really clinched the deal is how the move has now enabled Mullin to be closer to his family. He can now take less than an hour’s drive to Liverpool where his wife and children reside.

The cliffhanger start of the game versus Notts County was a stroke of editing genius.

Especially since we’ve seen how, in episode two, less than elite players can make horrid, rookie mistakes during crucial moments in the game. That red card on Paul Rutherford that eventually got him his walking papers serves as a stark reminder.

What a suspenseful to the end of episode three, making us wait to see if all the changes and new things will play out for the team in a win.

Did you feel good about all the new staffing and player acquisitions in episode 3?

New episodes will premiere on both FX and Hulu every Wednesday at 6:01 ET.