Ted Lasso

Season 2 of Ted Lasso concluded with Nate Shelley lashing out at Ted during half-time of the final match with vile accusations of wrongs committed by the coach against his young protege.

Nate's tortured irrationality had been building over the season, and he would not be mollified by Lasso. Even a team-win using Nate's defensive strategy was not enough to cool his resentment.

He reserved his most hurtful gesture for Lasso's hand-drawn "Believe" sign introduced earlier in the season. It had been posted in the lockerroom and used by the team as a totem.

Though viewers did not see him do it, it was suggested that Nate tore the sign in two and left it on Lasso's desk, a contemptible act, intended to demoralize and, perhaps more importantly, to humilate a man who seemed to be roundly loved and admired for his humanity if not his coaching savvy. Nate both loved and hated Ted Lasso.

Many of us are familiar with how spiteful jealousy fuels irrational acts -- some of us more than others. What the show did so well was contextualize Nate's anger, the pain behind the attack. We understood the young man's misery and how pettiness grew out of it. It was a hurtful and weirdly human act; it made sense to me. To paraphrase the great Chris Rock, "I'm not saying Nate should have done it, but I understand."

And that's why this show was so brilliant.