Divorce is not easy—not for the adults going through it, but especially not for kids who then have their lives upended by it. I would know; I am but a child of divorce, and one thing that Ted Lasso has consistently gotten right is how hard it is on kids to talk to their parents about this stuff. Henry Lasso has been a character we knew about but didn’t get to see much of through most of the previous seasons, but season 3 started with him visiting Ted (Jason Sudeikis) in London, and then this week in, “We’ll Never Have Paris,” we got to see him have an honest talk with Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) about it.
As Ted is going off the rails trying to convince Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) to help him hire a private investigator to see if his ex-wife Michelle is getting engaged in Paris, Henry is left sitting at a table without his father, just as their favorite band is playing. A street musician starts to play “Hey Jude” by the Beatles, and when Henry is trying to get Ted’s attention, he’s too busy thinking about Michelle.
Ted runs off to talk to Rebecca about it and it leaves Beard and Henry alone together, and in a surprisingly sweet moment, Beard uses the Beatles and “Hey Jude” to talk with Henry about his parents. And it’s emotional because I understand what Henry is going through. The Beatles were a thing between me and my dad, and I also had to deal with my parents’ divorce. So, I understand Henry’s reluctance and eventual opening up to Beard.
It really shows not only the power of the music but of Beard’s willingness to listen.
The Beatles have that power
Yes, on paper, this is a cheesy conversation. But Henry is a kid, bnd when you’re a kid with parents lost in their own divorce, it can be hard. Having “Hey Jude” playing was clearly a move by the writers to help Beard relate Henry’s love of his dad and the Beatles to each other, but it worked and it worked well.
The song was written by Paul McCartney for Julian Lennon, after his parents got divorced, and McCartney wanted Julian (who they called Jude) to know he was always there for him. It became an anthem, with fans around the world loving the song and singing along to it. One of my most cherished memories is seeing McCartney in concert and singing the song with my dad in a packed stadium, and that’s something that Henry clearly wanted with Ted.
But he was too busy worrying about Michelle. It all comes together when Ted returns, but Beard first gives Henry some great advice. He talks with him about the song, saying to Henry that he can take his sad song and make it better. And in that moment, Beard is Henry’s Paul McCartney, because he knows that Henry needs him.
Dads and the Beatles
This season of Ted Lasso has been weirdly hard for me to watch for reasons that are in no way the fault of the show. One of the previous episodes included the John Fogerty song “Centerfield,” which was my father’s ringtone for years. Then, in “We’ll Never Have Paris,” I was listening to a conversation about a kid who loved the Beatles because of his dad and was reminded of my own love for them because of my dad.
It, to me, is a reminder that there are things your parent can share with you because they love it that just stay with you. I will always have the Beatles because my dad decided to sing “Blackbird” to me as a kid. I will always think of him when I hear “Centerfield.” And, like Henry, I will always want my dad to be there with me to celebrate those moments. It took Beard highlighting it for me to realize that as someone who lost my dad, those moments of joy hurt a little more now.
And Ted missing them because he’s too worried about things out of his control? It is hard to watch, but both Henry and Ted have Beard to remind them of what’s important and it’s beautiful to see.
(featured image: Apple TV+)
