There’s a lot that Ted Lasso season 4 has going for it. Honestly, I’ve been enjoying it from the moment it started. It’s a different kind of pace, but it’s still the same Apple TV hit it’s always been, just with some new faces.
However, there’s one aspect that I love so much that I need to talk about — and that’s the usage of two specific characters way more.
I love that Henry and Michelle are a bigger part of the show
I genuinely love that Henry (Grant Feely) and Michelle (Andrea Anders) are bigger parts of this show, for so many reasons.
Keep in mind that I really do love this series as it was. This show did not need to add any new characters, like the whole girls’ team, or bring in any new storylines for characters we already love. Heck, you could have given me a whole Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) compilation, and I would have been fine with that. That would soothe all the questions I had at the very beginning of season 4.
But the inclusion of Ted’s (Jason Sudeikis) son and ex-wife in the show is only going to make things more interesting.
Already, from the first episode, we see that Ted and Henry have a very special relationship. Since they were sort of distant for a time because Ted was in the United Kingdom, it’s clear that Ted now wants to spend much more time with his son. And while Henry is approaching that teenage phase, he clearly didn't want his dad to go back to England without him, which is why I was so happy when Henry willingly went along with Ted’s idea of moving them all to England.
This, in turn, will lead to not only amazing character growth for Ted but for his whole family as well.
It allows the characters to interact with the ones we all know and love
During the first three seasons of Ted Lasso, we were introduced to Henry and Michelle, but really only as plot points for Ted himself, which is totally fine. I like that the first three seasons were more about Ted and that we got to watch him grow into himself more, both as a confident man and as a coach.
But once you get to that point, what is really the use of these characters? That’s where bringing them to England comes in handy. Ted and Michelle have already worked through the co-parenting thing, as we see in the premiere, and she willingly flies over to England so her son can be with her dad once again.
That’s serious growth from her, as well, considering she was the one who wanted the divorce from Ted, not the other way around. She wanted space, but she’s willing to uproot her whole life so her son can be closer to her dad, whom she wants to be successful, too. That’s beautiful.
With that in mind, the characters have so much more leeway to interact with the ones we love so much. We already got a little interaction in season 4 episode 3, “Richmond’s Got Talent,” where Henry greets Phoebe (Elodie Blomfield) before they go to school together. Can you imagine what would happen if they became close friends? And then Roy had to deal with Ted’s son as well as his sassy and wonderful niece? I would die.
There’s also the fact that Michelle could interact with other characters that Ted has met, like Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), who most likely has a very different view of Ted than Michelle does. It’s those kinds of interactions that make me really curious as to where they will take the show. And I, for one, can’t wait to see more.
What I really want is to see them interact the whole time. I would love to see Michelle watching Ted coach and be in his element, especially with a women’s team, because she’s seen him be a great father. Now, it’s something completely different, and I think that would be major growth.
I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I have a feeling Ted Lasso season 4 is going to introduce me to a new kind of dynamic between these three that I never expected to love. And I am here for it.
You can watch all current episodes of Ted Lasso season 4 on Apple TV. New episodes are released weekly on Wednesdays.
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