Ted Lasso Review: Midnight Train to Royston (Season 2 Episode 11)

Ted Lasso Season 2 Episode 11, “Midnight Train to Royston,” is the penultimate episode of the second season, and it’s so narratively rich and full of possibility that it seems incredibly unfair that we’ll only get one more episode. There’s just so much ground to cover!

However, if I get to pick one narrative thread that Ted Lasso Season 2 truly, desperately needs to resolve in its final episode it’s whatever in the world is going on with Nate. He’s been growing increasingly awful all season and, for me, his decision to leak Ted’s deeply personal mental health struggles to the media is shockingly cruel. Almost unforgivable even.

Now, knowing Ted Lasso, he’ll forgive Nate anything — he forgave Rebecca pretty much immediately for hiring him under false pretenses and trying to sabotage his success — but how are we, the audience, meant to do the same when Nate has displayed so little self-awareness of how absolutely terrible his behavior is?

From his (truly wild) insistence that he should be the big boss because he’s made a couple of good calls like twice to his decision to kiss Keeley, a woman who is obviously nuts about her boyfriend and who has never displayed any romantic interest in him whatsoever, everything about Nate at the moment is off the rails. 

And at some point, the show is going to have to admit that there’s more going on here than just Nate’s uncomfortable relationship with his dad. Who is this guy and how did we get here?

One of the best things about this season is that Sam has gotten to play such a much larger role in virtually everything than last season. From his growth as a team leader to his romantic relationship with Rebecca, he’s been a true highlight of Season 2.

Is it really possible that Sam might leave Richmond? I mean, if a billionaire football enthusiast from Ghana wants to pay him buckets of money while he’s prioritizing making Africa a powerhouse World Cup contender, then I think anyone would think about it. 

But Sam has come much into his own this year — as a player surely (he scores his first hat trick in this episode) but also as a man willing to stand up for his beliefs even when it’s hard — it’s hard to imagine him not being around next season. 

Elsewhere, Keeley gets the chance to be featured in a Vanity Fair shoot about up-and-coming businesswomen. She’s adorably nervous about it since it’s the first opportunity she’s had to really do an interview that’s focused on her, herself, rather than some persona or look she’s adopted.

And for a moment, it feels as though Ted Lasso will make this subplot about anything other than Keeley — Nate’s out of nowhere decision to kiss her while they suit shop for him (?!?!), her revelation of Jamie’s love confession — but by the end of the episode, I can’t help but feel that this is all an affirmation, not just of good Roy and Keeley are together, but of how much both of them have grown over the course of the show.

It’s hard to imagine the Keeley that we met in the series’ pilot being this emotionally honest and mature with a man she’s dating. And it’s equally difficult to picture Season 1 Roy Kent being as open and supportive with anyone as he is with Keeley here — or realizing that his extended conversation with Phoebe’s teacher wasn’t cool. 

I know we’ve all been trained by media and pop culture to look for the trick, to expect that happy relationships are forever teetering on the brink of ruin, but maybe, just maybe a show like Ted Lasso is here to model a different way. That’s what I’m choosing to believe is happening here — that all of this is about the two of them growing as people, not growing apart.

I suppose it’s a testament to how well Ted Lasso has woven Dr. Sharon into the fabric of the team and the show at large that I’m genuinely surprised and upset that she’s leaving. (Now I won’t be surprised if she comes back, as I think a significant portion of AFC Richmond benefits from the presence of a team psychologist, but that’s not the point.)

Maybe I’m just a big sucker for emotional vulnerability but everything that happened during this episode between Ted and Sharon — her dislike of goodbyes, his reaction to what he sees as being abandoned by yet another person he’d decided to trust, their late-night drinking before her train, their relationship has just been so surprisingly rich and good. (And in ways I never expected back in the season premiere.)

Stray Thoughts and Observations:

• Did I scream when I realized the Greyhounds learning the *NSYNC “Bye Bye Bye” dance? Yes, yes, I did. I love this team so much.
• “So I should keep my top on?” “Maybe for one shot.” (Truly, Roy and Keeley, y’all. The best.)
• THE SOLDIER IN DR. SHARON’S GLASS. Have I mentioned how much I love that’s sort of Ted’s unofficial way of claiming someone as one of his people?
• I love that Ted and Rebecca have the kind of friendship where she felt comfortable coming to him to talk about her relationship with Sam. (And that’s regardless of how I feel about any larger shipping questions between the two of them.)
• Among all the other things I’m furious with Nate about — we still don’t know what he and Rupert were talking about at Rebecca’s father’s funeral. And now he’s behaved so poorly I’m willing to believe it’s almost anything.
• God bless Roy and Coach Beard for trying to give Nate some perspective. 

What did you think of this episode of Ted Lasso? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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New episodes of Ted Lasso stream Fridays on Apple TV+.

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