After the underdog soccer staff on the middle of Apple TV Plus’ comedy Ted Lasso experiences a devastating loss towards its greatest rival, participant Sam Obisanya is interviewed in regards to the failure. “We lost, very badly, but we tried,” he says. “We gave it everything we had, and for me that is OK, because what’s worse is not to try at all. To try is scary, because you can end up losing a lot. But you have to put your heart out there, otherwise what’s the point?”

That’s just about the mantra for the second season of the critically beloved sequence, the place the writers are specializing in the significance of combating complacency and accepting tough challenges. Inspired by a series of NBC Sports commercials, the present grew to become an unlikely hit final August, when its relentless optimism and kindness felt like a comforting blanket within the midst of a raging pandemic and civil unrest. But now the writers and characters are pushing into deeper territory, making the blanket really feel extra like a cocoon that gives the protection and safety to let its viewers expertise private development.

At the start of season 2, the AFC Richmond staff is secure, however in a rut. The staff has tied its final six video games, which is each irritating and perplexing to Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), the American soccer coach who’s nonetheless sometimes baffled by the foundations of British affiliation soccer. Individual characters are simply as caught. Ted hasn’t addressed the panic assault he skilled on the finish of season 1, staff proprietor Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) is relationship a person who’s secure however boring, and former Richmond star participant Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) is coasting by retirement, watching actuality TV and consuming wine with yoga mothers who don’t know he’s well-known.

Ted Lasso’s season 1 battle is just about cribbed from the 1989 Charlie Sheen film Major League, with Rebecca bringing on an ignorant American to tank the staff simply to spite her ex-husband. But after Ted wins her over together with his relentless appeal and home-baked cookies, the present lacks an exterior menace. Instead, the main target has turned to characters serving to one another confront their issues, irrespective of how difficult that may be.

The greatest catalyst for the introspection is sports activities psychologist Dr. Sharon Fieldstone (Sarah Niles), who helps gamers get by the yips and follow confidence-building mantras. She instantly sees by Ted’s dissembling non sequiturs, revealing that his perpetually perky angle is protecting up deep ache and nervousness. Her stern, matter-of-fact demeanor makes her an ideal foil for Ted, a rock for him to crash towards in his perpetual quest to put on everybody down with humor and kindness.

Like in the actual world, making an attempt to vary issues within the present isn’t simple or painless. Warnings about poisonous relationships go unheeded, and a style of fame results in abusive conduct. On the sector, gamers fold underneath the burden of management, or lose their edge as a result of they’re making an attempt to keep away from battle. Yet the characters and the present’s writers perpetually argue that it’s value telling the reality, combating to be higher, and uplifting these round you. It is perhaps simple to only revel within the return to normalcy after 18 months of sacrifice and trauma, however Ted Lasso makes a case for at all times pushing to be higher.

Having a powerful theme and testing its characters strengthens the present, which might get a bit saccharine in low-conflict episodes like season 2’s tribute to Love Actually. The writers lampshade their use of rom-com tropes, with Ted quoting The Princess Bride and Jerry Maguire, and generally they lean too closely on the style’s tendency to have all the things work out neatly. A plot involving Sam main an on-field protest offers a powerful lesson on tips on how to be an empowering ally, however it additionally appears too breezy contemplating the precise penalties athletes who’ve taken political stances have confronted, to not point out the racist abuse suffered by Black English soccer gamers.

Much like in Friday Night Lights, a staff sport is what brings the characters collectively, however the on-field motion is much much less essential than how the characters relate to the sport and one another. While there’s loads of precise romance within the present, the relationships being constructed are simply as usually platonic. Ted Lasso is a kind of antidote to poisonous masculinity, a present the place males aren’t afraid to hug and cry, however that doesn’t make them any much less more likely to get up for themselves or the folks they respect and love.

Perhaps the very best embodiment of that mannequin is Roy, who’s consistently cursing and growling, but additionally expresses stunning tenderness together with his niece, Phoebe (Elodie Blomfield) and girlfriend Keeley Jones (Juno Temple). Goldstein does improbable bodily work, at all times seeming to take up extra space than his body ought to permit. He’s capable of shoot somebody down with a withering stare, which makes it much more charming when he eagerly tries to share the plot of The Da Vinci Code with Keeley.

Sudeikis shines by foolish materials, like a riff on Miss Nelson is Missing! the place he places on a imply persona to attempt to encourage the staff, and the extra heart-wrenching stuff, like the easy ache of fielding a name from his son, who forgot his college lunch, and being an ocean away from doing something to assist. Watching Ted wrestle together with his psychological well being is agonizing, compelling, and powerfully relatable.

Wadingham is the third true star of the present, mastering each witty remarks and bodily humor, in scenes just like the one the place she demonstrates how she psychs herself up for conferences by posing like a towering werewolf. She performs notably properly off Keeley, at all times having a superb reply to even the crassest questions. The staff’s director of operations, Leslie Higgins (Jeremy Swift), thrives with an elevated position this season, as a humble however charming drive of stability. Sharon taking up his workplace offers limitless gags the place he can just about pop up in any scene as a part of his never-ending quest to discover a place to work.

Ted Lasso’s emotional arcs are like a shot in a cup of sizzling chocolate — they supply somewhat chunk that makes the entire expertise hotter. The present’s lighthearted appeal was precisely what many viewers wanted final summer season, however a extra secure world is permitting the writers to take extra dangers and lift the stakes. True to their message, once they put their coronary heart on the market, they delivered a successful present.

Episode 1 of Ted Lasso’s second season is now streaming on Apple TV Plus. New episodes arrive on Fridays.