Ted Lasso S2E4: The Family We Make Along the Way

Brett

Welcome back to the dog track greyhounds This is Richmond Til We Die, an episode by episode conversation about the Apple TV plus show Ted Lasso, where we explore the characters, their relationships to each other and how they're able to make us laugh until we can hardly read one moment, and then feel with the deepest parts of our hearts the next. For this episode our conversation is all about season two, Episode Four titled Carol of the Bells. It was written by Joe Keeley, directed by Declan Lowney and edited by AJ Catoline.

Marisa  

I'm Marissa and I'm high on Christmas.

Christian  

I'm Christian. I spent all day trying to write a festive rap. But I got writer's block and the only Yuletide words I could get to rhyme were mistletoe and mofos. So I stopped.

Brett   

Yeah, doesn't sound very festive. I'm Brett and I'm looking forward to the day when I my likenesses hopefully adapted to some type of claymation stop motion video.

Christian  

And we have a special guest today. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

Sure. I'm Stacy. And the Ted Lasso Christmas episode is the only episode of anything that I've watched three times.

Brett   

Wow. That's incredible. We're honored to have you here. That means you're like an expert in this episode.

Marisa  

Yes.

Brett   

You're also Christian's wife?

Christian  

Yes. She's been referred to probably on every episode. And much like Sweet baby Jesus, We know it's Christmas Because you're here.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

Wow. Just wow. And this, my friends is why the eye roll emoji Is my emoji for our relationship.

Brett   

Christian you're wearing a festive get up this evening. Would you like to? Is it soccer related? I think maybe I see some.

Christian  

You'll notice a couple of cross axes. Yes, I do. My suddenly festive Portland Timbers long sleeve t shirt.

Brett   

It is very festive. It is very subtlyPortland Timbers FC. 

Christian  

Yeah, I'm trying to use it to cheer me up. Because they just recently lost the MLS Cup final. In a very, it's a hope that kills you type of way. They did not score a goal for 93 minutes. And then a 94th minute, they finally scored a goal to tie the match. But then after 2 15 minute periods of extra time, they lost in the penalty kicks and so is very sad. Now, if you'll remember to the episode is the hope that kills you did say at the end of the episode, you might be sad. But there's something that's worse than sad. And us being alone and sad. And nobody in here is alone. And a couple of days after this game. My father in law sent me a text and it was very nice and empathetic. And he said I saw that the timbers lost. I'm sorry to hear that. But I had fun hanging out and building a fence with you the other day. And so I thought that was nice soccer bringing people together because I don't know my father in law would not watch soccer apart from me. So then it was very nice of him to pick up the phone and console me.

Brett   

That was very nice. I also have something that might help console you can I give it to you? Yeah, it is a prize. So Marissa and I got you a little something to cheer you up and to make good on a promise that I made and I think maybe our first episode oh man of last season so go ahead and unwrap the present the surprise present

Christian  

Hmm. It is my own copy of Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Soccer Tactics, which is a book I do not own yet so now I can

Brett   

I'm glad that you still don't own it because that was true last March but I wasn't sure this past March so I wasn't sure if you had gotten it yet.

Christian  

That was true from our first episode. Thank you for remembering there's a very sweet gift from both of you.

Marisa  

Brett, will you please tell us what is going on in this episode?

Brett   

I would be delighted. We are immediately bellybutton deep and Christmas cheer as the team is celebrating with the Secret Santa gift exchange in the AFC Richmond locker room on Christmas morning. It's boozy and musi and all kinds of groovy. And it wouldn't be Christmas without a proper miracle. This time in the form of an immaculately consented gift to bail out Jamie Bless his heart tart.

Christian  

Ted does FaceTime Christmas with his family, which is as suboptimal as it sounds, as he's losing himself in the bottom of a bottle helped along by one of the bleaker sequences of It's a Wonderful Life. Rebecca shows up to show him that Christmas cheer is still on the menu

Marisa  

Qilian Roy's plans for a sexy Christmas get thrown off when Phoebe spends the day with them after her mom is called into work. She's bummed about that as well as the fact that she's been on the receiving end of ridicule for breath that is so horribly bad. No number of Christmas scented candles because ever cover it up. And so the search begins for a dentist which on Christmas is harder to find than a room in Bethlehem in during the census.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

You know who does have plenty of room at house Higgins, having extended an open invitation for anyone on the team to join them for Christmas dinner. Most of the squad shows up with Nerf guns, video games, food and plenty of holiday cheer. It's the quintessential Christmas

Brett   

after searching near and far. Well up and down Roy's booty block. A dentist is located in Phoebe's bad breath mystery is solved along with Royden Keeley. She pays a visit to her little friend who has been giving her a hard time. She's honest about how he hurt her feelings, extends the hand of forgiveness to him and goes along her merry way.

Christian  

Ted and Rebecca spend the day delivering gifts to kids whose letters to Santa have been intercepted, and whose families could use an assist getting gifts under the tree. And instead of ending the evening at Elton John's epic Christmas party, they join the rest of the team and sing the night away in the street House side of the Higgens home as Santa's sleigh zips across the night sky.

Marisa  

And that's all the recap we're going to give you by the way. Great job, Stacy. It's nice to have you here. You know, usually I'm way out numbered by these ding dongs. Yeah, it's

Brett   

Christian in the end our dog Graham so Yeah, usually three, three v one. Yeah, three v one.

Marisa  

But I can usually handle it.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

I'm happy to help level the playing field. Yes.

Brett   

And up the IQ courses.

Christian  

So how did everybody feel about summer Christmas the first time you saw it,

Brett   

I loved it. I was so ready. I was excited. I thought it was great. I didn't care that I watched this episode in the middle of August. It was fabulous. And I couldn't wait to watch it again in November in December,

Christian  

There was a lot of energy because for some reason, this was one of the episodes that a lot of pictures kind of got really stuck when they were filming. And so people knew that a Christmas episode was coming. We also knew it wasn't coming at Christmas time because the season was gonna be over. So there was a lot of anticipation as to when this was actually going to happen. What do you think about it, Marissa?

Marisa  

I was thrilled. Well, you know, I like Christmas. It's alright, or whatever. We get into Christmas quite a bit early in our house. Anyway. We're the you know, November 1 decorators. So sorry about that Christian. But I was especially excited to hear that we were gonna or to see from those hints that there'll be some music in the Christmas episode. And it was really exciting to hear Hanna watching him sing, baby, please come home because she like, totally killed it. And I would buy a Christmas album of hers.

Brett   

She did Darlene Love justice.

Christian  

We're kind of used to summer Christmas things at our house because my family was on the West Coast. We live in the Midwest. So we travel to see them during the summer and my mom sets up all the Christmas stuff and we do my family's Christmas then. So we don't have to travel and it's horrible to travel in the winter. So this was you know, it's like we already had one pant leg on but it also came at a good time because work was like bad for you. And this was a happy moment. This was

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

definitely a bright spot. I'm distracted because when do we put the other pant leg on?

Christian  

Well, it's always a negotiation between are we gonna wear pants or have no pants Christmas?

Brett   

This shouldn't be a negotiation

Christian  

about as the Lord leads.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

No, but this episode did bring me so much joy that when I had an especially bad day, slash week slash month at the hospital slash pandemic, I did something that I rarely do just stop being a big TV watcher and sat down and watched just this episode all by myself. And it brought me joy the second time around as well

Christian  

It's like an epi-pen full of serotonin.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

That was a terrible analogy.

Marisa  

Like leave the doctoring to Stacy. Please don't ever offer medical advice to anyone.

Christian  

How did everybody feel when you saw claymation Christmas pop on the screen?

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

I thought it was a nice little gift they dropped for us around the holidays. I was glad it wasn't any longer.

Brett   

 Oh, yes. All right. Yes. In case you missed it on the day that we were recording. There was a Ted Lasso, Christmas Special. Or again. Another one is a whole just five minutes of Ted's weird mustache. Go, we will put that in our show notes. If you haven't seen it. By the time you listen, everybody's totally seen it. I bet everyone has seen it. But if you haven't, they can see it again. You can watch it again.

Marisa  

We'll stash the stache in the notes. Hey, oh.

Christian  

So this episode largely made us feel happy. But there were sad people in it like Ted is in a really tough place. And you can imagine that some of the players like feel sad or out of place. And that's why they show up at the Higgins home. It is refreshingly honest to for them to portray sadness at Christmas, because a lot of people feel sad for a lot of different reasons. And it's kind of like, when Ted feels sad, then it kind of makes it feel like for everybody else. It's okay to feel sad at the holidays.

Marisa  

I'm glad that at least you know, at this point in the season like this, this is kind of like an episode, where we can take a little bit of a little bit of sad Ted, but we don't like stay there, right? It's not like let's watch TED be depressed at Christmas. So I really appreciated that he doesn't linger there for too long. And that we're able to see some redemptive qualities of what it's like for someone who has been sad or experiencing a lot of the same things that Ted has, we're Rebecca comes and gets them. And she knows what it's like the year after divorce on Christmas. And she doesn't want him to be drinking and watching. It's a Wonderful Life over and over and over again. Because that that is not a wonderful life on a single day to do that. Don't do that.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

I think the other thing that it's good that they recognize as being lonely at Christmas, because the holidays are such a lonely time for so many people. And they not only show us what loneliness looks like, but then also show us what some solutions to that might be. So, you know, you mentioned Rebecca coming and kind of rescuing Ted from his loneliness. I also love that the Higgins family gives all of the athletes on the team opportunity to have a place to go to deal with their loneliness. And I think that the scenes there were some of the most emotional times for me, we have always kind of opened our home on the holidays for anybody who might have a need for somewhere to land. And much as that scene was portrayed some of our favorite memories and craziest memories. And oh, man, let's go grab another table sort of memories come out of those times when we're trying to make the holidays less alone for someone.

Marisa  

Yeah, I really appreciate that everyone, everyone is welcome. That there also isn't this just kind of welcome and like hop into our tradition, but let's share each other's traditions and all the way you know, going into food and everyone knows how much I love food. So I thought that was a really important way to show kind of the different traditions and the different places that people are coming from. And I just love that whole moment.

Brett   

 Yeah, I think the power of reaching out like you said and connection is so big. And in moments like that. It's it doesn't take much when Rebecca shows up for TED to kind of perk up you know, like, and it's a beautiful callback when she has spelled out hi Ted with the tensile on the ground. It's a reminded me of in the first season when Ted has the players spell out Hi boss, like Sesame Street Style on the practice pitch. So I love that that was how she got him to come to his window and yell at her on the ground, which is a reversal of their typical roles. 

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

And I love that she didn't just pick them up and pretend like everything was fine, right? Like they could have totally played it that way. Like Hi Ted. Let's go do something fun. Pretend like Christmases cool alone here without your family for the first time ever, but instead she dives in. She says, I remember, divorce Christmas sucks, and have that I have that moment of connection that I feel like is the emotional intelligence that this show has that so many others do not?

Marisa  

Yeah, I think it definitely shows that it's better when you do ask right or when you enter into those spaces with people who who need you to, like, pull them out of their loneliness, or depression or sadness or whatever. Like, it's, it's better to not just like, act like everything's fine, right? Because so many of us have reasons to be sad or hurt or lonely or missing people at Christmas. And so it's a very, it's a very real experience. And I love the way they portrayed it.

Christian  

And missing animals too. It's, it's a call back and like kind of a joke, but it is true. You see the picture of the Higgens cat like Cindy Crawford, and that was legend that I mean, like that was a thing and it pets are a part of those family celebrations, like our dog gets Christmas pajamas, and is like in the pictures and stuff. And so when we look through pictures, and like, I mean, like milk isn't here. I mean, that is there lots of reasons to be sad. And sometimes they're not obvious to us. Like it can just be that underlying sadness. And we don't know why it's there. But it's cool that, you know, we talk about service and like loving people as something that's good for other people. But it's also something that's good for us. I mean, it was healthy and fun for the Higgins family to open up their home. That was a good experience for their kids. We felt that like that for our kids. Like, it's such a blessing when we have people and especially like folks from other cultures in our home to just feel like wow, our kids world just expanded and is bigger. And there's something that they understand outside of, especially on the holidays, like, Oh, like this is all about us getting gifts or whatever. And Ted and Rebecca like they go in, they serve and that serving brings them life, which is a cool thing to see. And it's okay to say I'm going to serve because it's healthy for me like that's one thing in recovery circles, like it's one of the 12 steps. And so yeah, like, if you're feeling down, try serving like that could be good for you.

Brett   

I love the way like when the realization dawns on TED of like, what they're about to do. And you know, when Rebecca opens our trunk, and he's like, I'm holding this bag. Oh, yeah. Like, it's such a it's such a sweet moment. And I love the just all the TED Becker moments in this particular episode, it gives you the warm fuzzies, for sure.

Christian  

Also, a moment pulled right out of Jason Sudeikis life, he and Ashley Nicole Black, the writer. They met, doing something like this Second City  in Chicago, they do this exact same thing except a little bit better, because not only do they deliver gifts to kids, they also help the parents out with tangible needs. So like money for bills or food or for whatever they need. And they do 24 hour improv fundraiser every year to raise money for this. And it's actually gonna air between the time we record this and the time that we release it. But if you go kind of like, follow the trails, there are ways to donate to that and find it. We'll put that in the show notes as well. So it's just fun that Jason and Ashley like we're able to fold this into a fun Christmas episode.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

And can we just mention the surfboard table here, because that was one of my favorite little, like, tiny moments that I was, it reminded me, you know, we definitely, we have a fairly big dining room space. And we have definitely put like table to card table to fold up table sort of like into end when we've had some of these larger gatherings. And so I think it was, it could feel very TV, right? Like, of course, all these people show up and they have this great time. But for me, it was very real, like we have done that in our home. You know, when I have medical students that rotate with me, one of my goals is to show them not just how to be a doctor but also to show them how to be a wife and a mother and to find all that balance and so we always try to have them over for a meal or a couple of times and we've literally had like an epic Nerf gun war at our home with a medical student who is like a CrossFit expert. So I mean that felt so real and then we've done the end to end table like that felt so real. So it was just really neat to watch the, the open home Christmases that we have had. It kind of play out in a TV show. And I don't know, I can really be like that. It's kind of cool. 

Brett   

One other really cool thing Stacy, that I learned about that long tracking shot over the table is that it's a callback to a silent film called wings that was made in 1927. And it was put in that shot was put in specifically because Jason requested it. And there's a lot of cool trivia about it. But one of the things that stuck out to me reading the Wikipedia stuff was that it was the first film ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture at the very first Academy Awards. So back to sunlight cinematic gold there with that shot and Christian for you. There's a Star Wars tie in. Yes, I knew you would appreciate this. The original negatives of the film are lost, but when the film was restored, a company called Skywalker Sound did the sound effects for for the restored version and that of course for you listeners who may not know it is the sound design arm of Lucasfilm.

Christian  

Were the movie purists mad about like all the laser beam sounds that they put in?

Brett   

No. A lot of folks like critics like approved like, it was a good yeah, it was received well. When you open your home, especially being in a in a college space with young students who are coming from all over the country and different countries, you know, you different cultures are introduced into your household, like, like I learned new things. And I know for our children, like you said, it expands like their worldview too. And so a little bit of this. We saw this happen, right right at the beginning of the Higgins family Christmas when Sam shows up. Yeah. Because when Sam shows up and he says he needs to go to the restroom, and he was in the neighborhood. Higgins later asks him like, oh, what does Christmas make you think of Sam and Sam says, colonization, and it gets it's like, of course,

Christian  

Sam just keeps shooting fish in the barrel without his mouth. Bam, Sam's got him which it's a there's another example of like, you know, something that could make somebody sad, you know, like this kind of like Western opulent Christmas when you're used to something else. One of the traditions that we have in our house that we've really grown to love is since one of our daughters is from Ethiopia. Orthodox Christianity is the the more practiced form of Christianity in that country, and they're on a different calendar. And so Orthodox Christmas is usually a couple of weeks after December 25. And so we have a second Christmas celebration with Ethiopian lasagna and oranges and popcorn and those traditional foods.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

And yes, he did say Ethiopian Lasagna.

Christian

It's a revelation, we should probably link that

Brett   

The Hannah Giorgis recipe?

Christian  

Yes. The Hannah Giorgis recipe. From the moment we cooked it became a family favorite. And Berbere is like, that's our secret sauce and everything now chili, lasagna, and now it's a very Christmassy spice for us. But it is, it's just a good reminder that like, the way that Christmas is celebrated really that like we celebrated it for a long time. There are people around the world who are celebrating Christmas and have other religious remembrances and celebrations during that time that they're celebrating faithfully. And I think like, it should be noted that Moe Jeudy-Lamour  who plays Zoreaux grew up in a home where his mother had converted to Judaism. And so Hanukkah is, you know, a big deal for him. Like that's something that he celebrates. And there was talk at one point in time of him bringing some like traditional Hanukkah food, and that didn't end up working, how it went in. They ended up doing the routine callback, which was still cool, and he's still done. But you know, like it is I think it should just be highlighted that even like around that table. There were other traditions represented that we didn't get to see.

Brett   

Yeah, I loved seeing all the players come in at the beginning and bring in the bring in those traditions and bring in the foods that reminded them of home like we talked about that in season one like how a taste of something or a smell of something can remind you of home like TED talks about the barbecue sauce, right and so we have Danny bringing the traditional punch che that's already been spiked with tequila. And can I just say the romance for lack of a better word between Mrs. Higgins and Danny in this episode I think I ship it and Gerard coming in bringing like the stinky cheese. Supermodel we should talk about that. So and then the the moment that plays for there's more further awkwardness between Sam and Higgins when he first gets there because that moment that plays for such a great laugh when Sam says that he's brought Jollof and that it's a just traditional dish made with goat meat and you can see Higgins get very nervous and he says but I made it with chicken. He got his goat meat Later, later, so it all worked out the universe provided Yes, yeah. And

Christian  

people out there who are skeptical about goat meat. It is super good the Ethiopian dish tibs. It's like goat meat with jalapenos and other peppers. It is amazing. And if you can't find goat me a lot of times you can find it at like international grocery stores in your town. But if you can't, then lamb can kind of serve as a proxy for that if you ever want to try out some traditional dishes.

Marisa  

They talked about all these great family traditions around the table. But there is something that I'm kind of looking forward to, maybe you know, in a few years, not a few years, like 1015 years when our children are gone. Starting a new tradition called sexy Christmas Brett, what do you think about it

Brett   

because you know what happens as time passes you get more sex.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

You look way better.

Brett   

We had on sexy December 28 is a thing that I would like to try to find a way to implement, but I have no good ideas.

Marisa  

I was already trying to look at babysitters for so

Brett   

I feel like sexy December 28 is like New Year's Eve the few times that we've had like built in babysitting.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

Christian, we have a big like whiteboard color coded calendar for our crazy family. And he today looked up and lamented that the children were going to spend December 29 through 31st with my parents so that we were going to be unable to celebrate and doesn't just always work like that, like you make big plans and you have these maybe Qilian or I don't feel it as much as we do because they don't have kids all the time. But I feel like the more you want an event or some alone time to happen, the more likely it is that it's not going to happen because of children. It's cosmic justice.

Marisa  

It is how children roll.

Christian  

To her credit, Keeley handles everything very gracefully when Roy shows up with Phoebe and Keeley forgets to check her texts because she's guzzling the chocolate,

Brett   

That's what I do. And I listened to Ella Fitzgerald too. So I can't fault her for that.

Christian  

It's a new Christmas tradition. She doesn't pout, and she doesn't try to figure out a way to get Phoebe out of there. She just says okay, like, Well, I was expecting one thing and we will do something else that's really tough to do in general. But then especially at the holidays when you have your own expectations and things happen or you're trying to negotiate or like meld expectations between families or individuals in a family trying to figure out what traditions are going to be there's a good lesson in there of just kind of like taking a deep breath and making it work the best you can

Brett   

unflappable Keeley the unplanned way. Yep. And I love that her first reaction after she liked the process she takes that beat is like she apologizes to Phoebe and she's I'm sorry, you can't spend Christmas with your mom, like, you know, that's a big deal for a kid. And you know, we find out that she's actually more upset about something else. But I'm sure she's upset about that, too.

Marisa  

She's upset about being bullied. And like this, like this whole bird. Like is like making her feel bad because of her breath. And let me just say like, bullies start early, like starting in preschool. Our daughter's getting bullied for like, carrying the same water bottle of school every day. Like when are you when are you going to get a new one? Or like, I like those pants? Or like, why are you wearing that shirt?

Christian  

The Mean Girl vibe shows up. Unfortunately, far too early that we have found and we've in some ways have gotten off easy because as our oldest has like, navigated in to high school. I think at that age when that type of bullying can happen like she's kind of been like spared of that. And so it like it's really tough when it happens and it makes you appreciate the times that it doesn't because it can be like it is super hurtful to kids.

Marisa  

I do think that Roy and Keeley together are great, like future parents whether that's you know, down the road for them. I don't know. But I do love that there's some sort of meeting in the middle that happens with this reconciliation or forgiveness that happens for Bernard, even though he doesn't ask for it. Phoebe does the right thing she does the rightest thing,

Christian  

right does find a way to channel his rage. Yes in a helpful way. Like you know, walking around the neighborhood. It's good to get exercise in oxygen and figuring out a way to go see the pharmacist and then to you know, indulge her in the craft. Like all that stuff is good and Clearly his anger is simmering. But to his credit, he finds some constructive ways to deal with the rage.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

And that's part of I think, our generation of parenting to like, it's very recognized that as the helicopter parents, we want to swoop in and fix it or beat the kid up, or whatever our response might be. So I think creative solution was nice, rather than just the sweeping fix it right move on, which this really taught Phoebe a lot of lessons that she would have missed out on. If Roy had said, Hey, you guys sit here and watch a movie, I'm going to go take care of this situation. So I appreciated that.

Marisa  

And I gave Bernard a chance to learn something, too, rather than just you know, getting beat up by a middle aged dude.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

And I did notice when the knock on the door happens, you can hear Bernard dad in the background saying,

Brett   

give him a quid and tell him to bugger off. Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

So obviously, he's probably not being shown how to show love to others in his home. And so I feel like that's an opportunity that we have to be reminded that bullies are bullies because they're hurting. And his home probably is not a particularly loving home. And so an opportunity instead of just shaming him and beating him up. He has an opportunity to apologize. And that kind of comes full circle. Also, can we just talk about the Roy pooping his pants.

Brett   

I was hoping we get to this. That moment and light when Roy smells Phoebe's breath and says, I think you might be dying. We had to pause it and just like wait, because we were like falling off the couch. cackling eyeline gets funnier and funnier every time.

Christian  

That one and the little girl who says, Mom, there are two white people at the door and they're smiling. That one is aging. Well, and I one thing I appreciate about how they handled those sequences, you see that that first one and you're like, Oh, they're going to a black neighborhood and like giving gifts, but then you kind of like get that little dig. And then when they go and walk around. Roy's neighborhood is incredibly diverse. Like you you kind of get both sides. And so then in a city like London that has just a ton of diversity and it's an amazing international city as they're doing sort of that montage of all these kids opening the doors. It kind of is shows the diversity of London and you have you know, like the black kid with like the lawyer parents and stuff and so I just appreciated how they didn't stay in the tight box but they painted a more vivid picture of the world where I think more people just felt like they had a place

Brett   

one of the themes they like should have slapped me in the face right when we first watched this episode, but I didn't catch the pun. Until rewatch but the episodes called Carol of the Bells right and it's really like a carol of the doorbells there are so many doorbell montage is of like different neighborhoods like the the higgins's Doorbell rings several times like and then we have kind of Roy and Phoebe saga. And then we have Ted and Rebecca's journey and so there's there's so many doorbells and so I love that literally one of them is intersperse with the Carol of the Bells that's in home alone. You know, it's the John Williams arrangement of it with the children like singing the lyrics to that song. So I thought that was a really nice tie in that I totally should have caught the first time but didn't

Marisa  

and it's okay, I'll still let you stay here tonight.

Brett   

Thanks. I appreciate it.

Christian  

And Brett who's the one non child who opened the door.

Brett   

The person who opens the door is the dentist Dr. Rogers played by Claire Skinner who a fun fact y'all she is the real life mom of the actor who plays the Ussie Guy aka Tommy who's played by Bill Skinner. And I love that we get a re the return of the Ussie Guy but that his real life mom is here playing the dentist who's gonna solve Phoebe's problem and have this Christmas miracle.

Christian  

We talk about the most soccer things and least soccer things in that episode. Let's talk about the most and or least medical thing in this episode. How do you rate the diagnosis and solution to the bad breath?

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

Um, it was fair, I give it a fair. So halitosis, the medical terminology for bad breath is can indeed be a medical condition. And the the idea that decreased saliva so she'd started her anti histamine which dried out her mouth decreased her saliva that does allow for the opportunity for increased bacterial growth. And that's what often gets stinky. So that piece of it is realistic. I don't know that jumping straight to a medication to treat it would necessarily be the way to go. But it's an option. It wasn't, it wasn't wrong.

Brett   

And before we move on from the miracle worker, Dr. Rogers, I just want to say shout out to the folks who have to work on the holidays, or who get to work on the holidays, like y'all are doing the real work, and we appreciate you.

Christian  

Yeah, we've had times in our lives. We've obviously seen Stacy work on the holidays regularly. But then also people have like, stepped in to give an assist. My mom was a nurse and the some of the, like Jewish nurses at the hospital she worked out would volunteer to take Christmas mornings so people can be home with their kids. And I know that people that I've worked with Stacy have whose kids are older and out of the house on Christmas morning so that we could be together as a family and that is always super appreciated. So shout out to everybody who keeps the hospitals going and the fire departments going and the pharmacist who opened his his store like that was a really kind thing that I know that people do sometimes

Brett   

And came in clutch with the poster board. 

Christian  

I bet you love Christmas music more than anybody I know. This episode of Ted Lasso had an avalanche of Christmas music so you're gonna have to pick your spots. We're not going to be able to cover it all. I'm going to jump in before you do. Okay, fine. I would just like to say I freaked out in a very good way. When this episode started with Christmas and Hollis by Run DMC, one of the few there aren't there are not a lot of good, festive rap songs. And that is one of the few that is good. There's also not a lot of Portland and Oregon representation in rap music. There's one line in protecting Nick by the Wu Tang Clan. And the other high watermark for Portland and Oregon and rap music is that a satin Trailblazers jacket is worn throughout the video for Christmas and Hollis so you can see that in the original video and you can see it in the SNL parody that Chance the Rapper does from 2016

Brett   

Nice and speaking of that original video, there is a Santa that flies through the air at the end so it's a nice tie in

Christian  

it is a good call. I mean, what do you like? I learned all of it.

Brett   

I liked it all. I'm gonna zag when I should dig a little bit. I wanted to point out the buskers who are singing Last Christmas. It is an unpopular opinion, I think for some folks, but I like last Christmas. I think it's a good song. It doesn't annoy me. I think it's a fun song. And the buskers sound really, really great singing it. And so I love that. That's one of our cute Ted Becca moments in this episode early on. But also, I learned that all three of the buskers here are our real musicians, you know, they're they're, they're professional musicians at varying stages in their careers. So we have the British artist Adam Taylor, aka DMT. The other fellows name is Tom Prendergast, and those two frequently collaborate with one another. And then the woman who's singing her name is Leona, and she is an actual busker from Sheffield, and she she had a viral video on Tik Tok. And she made it to the final in Seaso10 of The Voice UK. So I just thought it was really neat that Ted Lasso was again able to bring in like legitimate buskers and legitimate artists to kind of play this street busker role. Like we had Colin in season one. I thought that was really nice. That's a nice touch.

Marisa  

I mean, is there any better song to highlight the decorating and preparation montage of sexy Christmas then Ella Fitzgerald singing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas cuz I think that she's amazing. And that's like one of the best ways to start the holiday season is listening to a little Ella,

Christian  

one of my favorite photographs of all time is of Ella Fitzgerald. And she is singing in a club. And in the like the cameras kind of like behind her. So you see the light coming out from behind her head. And in the front row, you have Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. And you think about like how great of musicians they are, and they're just enchanted by her and the look on their face, is just wonderful and mesmerizing. And to have that musical moment, like captured in a photograph is incredible.

Marisa  

She she's just one of those artists that you know, the more that I learn about voice or hear singers, I just I'm always amazed with the amount of things she can do with her voice, the amount of colors and textures that she can, like bringing out in a song. And it's always just kind of seamless. There's really like two other vocalists that I attribute that quality to, and one would be the late great Whitney Houston. And then or defer maybe once or twice. But then someone else who is a rising star, well, she's already a star, but she just keeps rising because she's so amazing. And she just got announced that she is going to play Elphaba and the movie of wicked is Cynthia Erivo. So I just love her. I think she has the same abilities as Ella to just kind of, like, make you feel all the feels and do it all do it all.

Christian  

Speaking of women who can make you feel all the fields with their voice and watching them sings again, in this episode. This time, she does take on Christmas, baby, please come home. She has some help from Ted et all. And it's a little creepy. So we'll just put that to the side. But I do find it interesting that we talked about in season one how when she sings let it go and karaoke that most people like you know, do whatever you want to do with your life, but really don't try to sing Let It Go because it's such a hard song to sing. Yes, there are a very few people that can do it. So it's amazing that she does. And so she takes on Idina Menzel and then, in this episode, she goes toe to toe with Mariah Carey. So let's go around the table in season three. What diva? Do you want to hear? Hannah Waddingham sing?

Marisa  

I'm ready to say I'm ready for my answer. Ding okay. I think it's probably because we've listened to this album a lot, because it just came out. And maybe because she's also from England. But I'm gonna say Hannah should cover something of Adele's in season three.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

I have to echo Marissa is Whitney Houston. Yeah, you just there's nothing like that voice. And it's just it's a big voice that Hannah would be well matched for. I mean, as well matched as you can to Whitney Houston. Yes.

Brett   

But I'm going to double down on Whitney because I would love to hear Hannah sing something from Whitney's repertoire,

Christian  

It would be amazing. For the energy, I would like to see her try to take on something from the Celine Dion catalog. Because I do believe that with her acting chops, that Hannah could really do some fun things with that. I do also think it would be interesting to see or try to take on something from Beyonce because we think of Beyonce as, you know, a personality, but I was listening to her Coachella performance a couple days ago. And we just kind of she's she's become so iconic that I think we forget how well and powerfully she can sing live in what she could do on the stage. And so that would be an interesting one for me.

Brett   

Hannah Waddingham cover of love on top.  Let's manifest that.

Christian  

Let's do it people.

Brett   

One other musical number that stood out to me. There's a time like you said Christian. I noticed there was only really one sacred song like a song that's about baby Jesus. And that was silent night and Roy plays it from his phone. Allah love actually, you know, in Love Actually, it's played on a boombox but Roy accused it up on his phone while Phoebe is kind of doing the cue cards. And it's just this you know, canned version of the song that's playing in real life. And so I just thought it was a really nice touch that the one sort of sacred song we have playing in this episode is when Phoebe is offering forgiveness and grace to Bernard and kind of encouraging Bernard to to be a better person. We've talked on the show before about how well people do apologies. And so Brennan's apology was kind of mad, but the way that Phoebe encouraged him to apologize was really brilliant and he's young, he can grow into better powers. And so I'm very I'm glad that Phoebe and Roy And Kiely helped him on his journey.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

Because I bet he's never seen an apology come from an adult figure in his home. So yeah, you know,

Brett   

you're probably right yeah, start somewhere. Speaking of Love Actually, there's a big love actually reference there's tons of tie ins to Love Actually, in this episode.

Marisa  

There are tons of times to live actually in that was one of my favorite movies. It really began kind of this highlighting of Christmas rom coms, right 2003 really like the 21st century is really gotten this whole like Christmas rom com thing down. And I'd have to say at the time when the movie came out, my sister in law and I like love, love, love the movie, like watch it all the time.

Christian  

But did you actually love it?

Marisa  

We thought we did. Wow. We did love it. One person in my close to me in my life has always said from day one that he does not like it and it's problematic is my brother, who I should just trust with like pretty much everything in my life because he's almost always right. Andy, I know you're listening. So you're welcome. But upon rewatch, and like getting older, and like realizing how problematic some of the things in there are, it's, it's it's a little harder to watch now, I guess, I should say like, almost 20 years later, but still, there are some good nuggets in there some fun film moments like the card scene that's become so iconic. And a little bit of trivia for you just two days ago, the house where that was shot is up for sale now and you can buy it for a cool 3.4 million pounds or something like that.

Christian  

And the price comes down to 3.1 million I might be in

Marisa  

Alright, well we can we'll look at it together. And you know, that might be our like little vacation house we can share with this

Christian  

episode. The British people got about half of the jokes. And then the people from the United States got about half the jokes. But the British people autumn hadn't seen a Christmas story. And so they didn't really get the leg lamp thing. And I think that would be offsetting and maybe a little bit upsetting if you had no idea what was going on in this just

Marisa  

fishnet stocking leg like a robot table.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

Yeah, that's interesting that that is true. Because when I was watching it, that's exactly what I thought. Like, I wonder if British people have seen this very odd show that we all love. And if not, that's a really weird lamp. Yeah, if

Christian  

they don't get the the TV channel TNT that had a Christmas story on a continuous like 24 or 48 hour loop every Christmas Eve, then they may not have picked that up. So Christian,

Brett   

I didn't notice much soccer in this episode, but I'm sure that you still have some things to educate us with and one of your many areas of expertise. 

Christian  

They were in the locker room at the beginning. That's true. And the reason they were you might seem weird to Americans that like they're in the locker room hanging out on Christmas Day, but it's because Boxing Day, the day after Christmas is one of the biggest days on the soccer calendar in England. In fact, most countries take a break like a winter break during Christmas and England does the opposite. I think this year they have like teams have like two games a week for three weeks around like Christmas and New Year's which is a lot when you're used to playing like more like one game a week and so they were getting ready for their Boxing Day fixture and they mentioned that and the next day they were gonna play soccer. The other little thing is, is very soccer that Rebecca knows Elton John, because they both on football clubs on John is part owner of Watford so they probably met each other I like an owner's meeting or a match or something.

Brett   

It's also very Love Actually that she didn't go to Sir Elton's party because doesn't um, what's his toes? Like? Not go to Elton John's party?

Marisa  

Yes. That's a whole bit in there to his character. He goes, and then he comes back.

Brett   

That's right. Okay. That sounds convincing. What was something that was less convincing?

Christian  

I didn't have a less convincing, but there's something that gave me pause, and I looked it up seeing all of those players at Higgins house, there's a limit on foreign players that you can have on your team. And that's true in most countries, because they do want to protect spots for their domestic players. But the limit is a lot higher than I remembered. You can have 25 First Team players at your club, and up to 17 of them can be from other countries. So I think they're still doing okay. One of the reasons that this is becoming a big problem is because of Brexit. There used to be loopholes where you could have it was easier to get players with European Union passports on your team without them being considered foreign players. But that is starting to not be the case.

Brett   

Another fun fact, speaking of all of the the players from different countries is when Jeremy swift as Higgins is naming all of those cities those are the real hometowns of the players He's talking about actors. Yeah, that is cool of the actors. Yes. The actors who are playing the players. Good job. Good. Go Team.

Christian  

Good thing. It's cool time. And Brett you can't cheat by just reciting the lines to all of the songs we haven't mentioned yet. So what is your favorite quote from this episode?

Brett   

This line should be in a song in a Christmas song because it's so wonderful and Christmassy is when Higgins is making a toast at the end of dinner. And he says, to the family we're born with and to the family we make along the way and we've talked about the scene already a lot in in our episode, but that's just such a heartwarming idea. And it always makes me get a little misty. I'm like Higgins like you're gonna make me cry.

Christian  

It is. Yeah,

Marisa  

let's be and I think it's, it's, it's really just kind of encapsulates, you know, the Ted Lasso world and how we've learned like the Ted Lasso like internet world and fans, right? It's just kind of feels like the family that we're making along the way, which sounds really cheesy and like I almost made myself vomit. I'm sorry. I especially liked a line you know, I'm not gonna go with Keeley or Becca. It's a surprise. But it's when Jamie is so wowed by the moment that they throw the gift together for him. And he think he's gonna say something really sweet and like meaningful or you hope you might and he he almost gets it right. Tiny Tim style. And he says, God bless me, everyone.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

It is Jamie quintessential

Christian  

Jamie is hired trying really hard, but not quite hitting the mark.

Brett   

What about you, Christian? What co Did you like?

Christian  

Let's do it. Let's do it. Ted. Hold me closer Tiny Dancer, Prancer and Vixen because it just takes something so nice and spices it up a little bit for us. And it's no surprise that we have a couple of quotes from that opening scene because it is such a great open both because it's funny, and we have some really awesome wardrobe choices.

Marisa  

Can we just talk about Isaac in his sexy Santa suit?

Brett   

I'm surprised we haven't gotten here yet. But it's amazing. I want one. Yeah, he's if you know how to get one like email us. I will wear it.

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

Yes, you will. In an elevated chair with the spotlights on you will And yeah, he's hilarious. And just like just cool enough in that moment. It's brilliant.

Brett   

And it's really sweet. That Bumbercatch knitted Cullen a scarf that yes, it does have a Welsh dragon on it.

Christian  

it kind of got cut because the scarf is so stinking long, but when he does like kind of like wrap his his boots up in it, you can see that it's got a Welsh dragon on it, which is an awesome touch Bumbercatch.

Brett   

Alright, Stacy, you're gonna bring it home for us. What was your favorite quote from this episode?

Dr. Stacy Dashiell  

Okay, well, I'm going to tie into the med Lasso and the fact that we are still in a pandemic, I think when the first season dropped. The writers as that was coming out, they didn't, we're not writing in a pandemic and did not always, especially in the beginning, know the audience they were writing to, but for this season, they do. And so my quote comes from the dentist when they're in her home. And Keeley says,” because she's nice and smart, and science is real.” And I think that encapsulates who I am in this pandemic, or would sure like to be and I think so many medical professionals have this. I think we want to like cry this from the mountaintops sometimes . We ARE nice, and we're smart and science is real, and we just want this challenging time to be handled in the best way that challenging times can be handled. And I appreciate the writers shout out to all of the scientists out there

Brett

Okay, that's our show. We'll be back on the dog track in just one week with our conversation about Episode 10 titled, the hope that kills you. You can check out the show notes for links to learn more about the cool and interesting stuff we mentioned in this episode.

And you can keep the conversation going on Twitter and Instagram. Our handle is @TedLassoPod. It's a great way for us to connect with each other and for y'all to share your insights on the show.

Brett   

Richmond Til We Die is brought to you by Gin and Kerosine Productions. It was produced by me, Brett Callan, Marisa Callan and Christian Dashiell.

Brett Callan also had the pleasure of editing, mixing and composing the music for this episode. If you enjoyed our conversation, please take a moment to subscribe to Richmond Til We Die on whatever app you are using to listen to this episode.

One more quick reminder that if you have access to an Apple device, we'd love it. If you could head over to the Apple podcasts app and give us a quick five star review. It'll help more people find the show. Thanks for listening. Until next time, cheers y'all

Transcribed by https://otter.ai