Ted Lasso Review: Carol of the Bells (Season 2 Episode 4)
If ever any series was essentially built to do a Christmas episode it’s Ted Lasso. And Season 2 Episode 4, “Carol of the Bells,” does not disappoint, offering a heartfelt half-hour of joy, humor, and the found family fuzziness that so often represents the best of this show.
Any one of “Carol of the Bells” primary three plotlines would probably be enough heartwarming fun to carry the day, and taken together they should all rights be too saccharine to be believed. And yet, like everything else about this show, the magical alchemy of Ted Lasso makes them all work, injecting just enough bite to keep the episode from collapsing into holiday goo.
From the sort of holiday open house at the Higgins abode to Rebecca’s decision to forgo Elton John’s annual Christmas bash to fulfill Christmas wishes for the underprivileged, there’s just so much to love here.
Ted, himself struggling to process his first Christmas post-divorce without his young son, eventually reclaims his Christmas cheer thanks to the relentlessly open hearts of the family he has created in England, and the episode ultimately reiterates the lesson of the film Ted watches at the start of the hour. No man is a failure who has friends.
The Higgins family holiday potluck perfectly highlights the eclectic multicultural mix of players and cultures that have formed the team at AFC Richmond. The group — which appears to be most of the team, absent a few notable exceptions like Jamie — all bring dishes from their home countries and family cultures, ranging from Africa and Ireland to Central America and Mexico.
It’s remarkable how much Higgins himself has grown as a character since Ted Lasso began – would we ever have thought that Rebecca’s toady-esque Communications manager could ever have turned out to be this awesome dude? Not me!
The episode’s best subplot, however, has to go to Roy and Keely’s Christmas attempt to locate a neighborhood dentist to treat Phoebe’s apparently historically bad breath.
Having been bullied at school by a classmate, the girl — who is staying with her uncle for the holiday after her mom has surprise surgery — is distraught over the thought that her breath might actually smell rancid. Most sitcoms probably would have used this as a moment to get preachy about bullying and insist that Phoebe’s fine just the way she is.
Instead, Ted Lasso goes in the other direction, using Phoebe’s death breath as a teachable moment about stepping up for the people you care about and that it’s okay to ask for help when there’s a problem you can’t fix yourself. Sure, the idea of Roy Kent going door-to-door in a posh neighborhood on Christmas Day is deeply hilarious, but Roy doesn’t treat it like a joke, and is, in fact, deadly serious about finding his niece the help she needs.
Roy is my hero, is what I’m saying, and a role model for all men.
In this episode, more than any other since Season 1’s “Make Rebecca Great Again,” I wish I could decide how I feel about Ted and Rebecca’s relationship (or, more accurately, what I want from it.)
Jason Sudekis and Hannah Waddingham have such fantastic chemistry, it’s hard not to ship them a little bit even if you don’t mean to. But their friendship — and their platonic ease and emotional openness with one another — is so, so rare in television these days, and I don’t know if I am ready to sacrifice all that stands for in the name of a romance.
No matter how great I also happen to think such a love story might be.
Stray Thoughts and Observations:
- Though we’re only four episodes into Season 2, one of the best things about this new slate of episodes is how really integrated the rest of the team feels into the stories the show is telling this time around. Just seeing the team at the Higgins’ house — they all really felt like a family, in a way I’m not sure was true last year.
- I really do want to know what Jamie did for Christmas, though. His father’s such a jerk that I can’t imagine Tartt family holidays are something anyone would enjoy.
- There’s so much to love about Roy and Keely’s interrogation of Phoebe, but Roy’s quietly escalating threats of violence toward the child who gave her a rude gift (“Where does Bernard live?) has to take the cake.
- The Love Actually carolers homage! My heart!!
What did you think of this episode of Ted Lasso? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Lacy Baugher
Lacy is a pop culture enthusiast and television critic who loves period dramas, epic fantasy, space adventures, and the female characters everyone says you're supposed to hate. Ninth Doctor enthusiast, Aziraphale girlie, and cat lady, she's a member of the Television Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes-approved. Find her at LacyMB on all platforms.