Editor’s notice: The under incorporates spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 3.The Ted Lasso episode, “We’ll Always Have Paris,” was… quite a bit. In an hour of tv, we see a video leak, a freak-out of a doable proposal, a love story on high of one other love story, and naturally, a heavy dose of our favourite AFC Richmond gamers within the locker room. However, this specific episode was onerous for Keeley (Juno Temple), who has already been given the brief finish of the stick this season. With an intimate video of her being hacked and leaked for the general public, Ted Lasso gave a commentary on this real-life situation, however how they dealt with it leaves quite a bit to be desired.
To recap one in every of many subplots on this episode, a personal video Keeley as soon as despatched to somebody — who’s later revealed to be Jamie (Phil Dunster) — is leaked and uncovered to the broader public together with different feminine celebrities in a hack akin to the one in 2014. Jack (Jodi Balfour), her girlfriend and boss, thinks extra about defending her model than comforting Keeley. She sends Keeley a lawyer-produced apology assertion after which tries to concoct one other one for her, each of which Keeley says she is not going to learn — she would not must apologize. Jack then walks out, implying the dissolution of their relationship. So, was Keeley proper? Should she apologize?
Does Keeley Need To Apologize?
No, she would not — she was violated. Something that was personal and for one particular person was taken from her with out her consent and unfold the world over to see. We are in a world post-Pam and Tommy, post-2014 leak, the place, hopefully, most people has come to grasp that celebrities deserve their privateness as a lot as anybody else, and the concept there is a value to pay for being well-known solely provides extra license to dehumanize individuals. The dehumanization intensifies once we contemplate that in Ted Lasso, it is largely feminine celebrities who have been hacked and uncovered.
Let’s return to 2014 when hackers launched a plethora of intimate images of feminine celebrities on 4chan. Many actresses, fashions, and public figures have been topic to being diminished to simply semi-nude pictures that they took, which they’ve absolutely the proper to do. However, as with many issues that plague our society, the response to it missed the mark. While many individuals noticed what a extreme violation it was, there have been some who felt the necessity to chastise these of us for taking bare images of themselves. Instead of trying on the misogyny on the coronary heart of the problem, this poisonous nook of our society critiqued the victims of such acts moderately than have a look at why somebody would need to leak personal images within the first place.
‘Ted Lasso’ Takes the Easy Way Out
In the episode, the AFC Richmond workforce will get a whiff of what had transpired with the hack. It works much less like a scene on tv with characters speaking to one another and extra as a vessel for numerous speaking factors to collide with one another. We get the man who thinks that nobody ought to take nude images. We get the man who defends the ladies. We get the man who’s someplace in between. The closest factor we get to the hackers getting any focus is when Jamie says, “The solely individuals accountable are the dickheads who steal your sh*it and put it on-line.” But it is undercut instantly when he says: “That’s why I delete all of the images on my telephone.” This train in social commentary is hamfisted with one of the best of intentions. As the workforce decides to undergo their photos and delete them, it would not really feel like a pure dialog with individuals, however only a present giving its view on the matter that ends with the conclusion that in case you are well-known, your personal images needs to be deleted.
It appeared like Ted Lasso wished to enter into the dialog about fame and humanity and privateness and rape tradition, however fell terribly brief. The leak is simply contained to how embarrassing it’s to have these photos out on the earth. We did not get an examination or a dialogue of the violation of privateness that Keeley, or every other feminine celeb, is entitled to have. By saying “delete images,” Ted Lasso is accepting the concept these girls haven’t got a proper to privateness. By saying “delete images,” it is letting the hackers off the hook. By saying “delete images,” the present provides up a possibility to delve deep right into a societal situation with care and nuance.
Ted Lasso clearly felt like this drawback was a part of the social material and wanted to be mentioned, nevertheless it determined to go the route of least resistance and uphold the established order. By advocating the deletion of images, what they’re advocating is the dearth of motion wanted to combat again in opposition to society’s concepts of girls as simply sexual objects. For a present that is about positivity and forward-thinking, it is unusually defeatist. It’s tantamount to rape discourse advocating girls ought to stroll with others at night time, watch their drinks, or stroll to their vehicles with keys of their fingers. It’s on the ladies to not be violated, nevertheless it’s not on the lads to not violate. Ted Lasso‘s stance surrounding the hack is starkly conservative and refuses to even look at the misogyny inherent in these hacks.
So, what’s subsequent for Keeley? What’s in retailer for her after the occasions of this storyline? It’s onerous to see what the present may have for Keeley contemplating all that she has been by to date. But, it is turning into clear that Keeley should discover a technique to rise like a phoenix and rise above the obstacles that she has confronted in each her private {and professional} life. If not, then what is the supposed aim of placing Keeley by all this hassle if it is not for character development?
New episodes of Ted Lasso Season 3 premiere each Wednesday on Apple TV+.