Early in Ted Lasso season 3 episode 2, “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea,” we get a surprising scene: Ted walks into Rebecca’s office to find the journalist Trent Crimm (James Lance), formerly of The Independent, now just regular ol’ independent. It turns out Trent wants to shadow AFC Richmond and write a book about them. Rebecca and the others are fervently against the idea, but Ted, having infinite faith in every human being he’s ever met, cheerfully agrees.
Note: this article contains spoilers for Ted Lasso season 3, episode 2.
A quick recap about Trent, in case you forgot: at the end of season 2, Trent wrote a story about Ted’s panic attack, but then got fired when he revealed to Ted that his anonymous source was Nate. Trent’s relationship with AFC Richmond has always been tense—which makes perfect sense, because he’s a journalist. A journalist’s job is to tell the truth, warts and all, and that will usually make for an uneasy relationship with the subjects they’re writing about.
Of course, season 2’s finale also raised some ethical questions about Trent’s writing pursuits. It’s a big journalism no-no to betray an anonymous source’s trust by revealing them to anyone, but was it ethical for Trent to write the story in the first place? Was a story about Ted’s mental health (relying on a source who isn’t even a mental health expert) relevant to the public interest, or was it a sensationalist hit job on an already beleaguered public figure?
So you can see why Rebecca, Keeley, and Higgins are against Trent writing an entire book about the team. Sure, his profile on Ted back in season 1 turned out to be surprisingly positive, but Trent has shown that he’s willing to throw people under the bus for the sake of getting a better story.
We see a little more of this history when Roy confronts Trent in the Chelsea locker room showers. Roy pulls out a snippet of a story that Trent wrote way back when Roy was 17, in which he calls Roy an “overhyped, so-called prodigy whose unbridled rage and mediocre talent rendered his Premier League debut a profound disappointment.” Yikes. We find out that Trent’s article cut Roy deeply—and may have even influenced his decision to leave Chelsea after a rough match against Arsenal.
But Trent takes full responsibility for the hurtful bit of writing, saying that he thought he was being edgy. He and Roy reconcile.
All signs point to a Ted Lasso Style Redemption Arc™ for Trent, but I have to wonder—will that be boring? (Full disclosure: I’ve seen the first four episodes, so I know a little of what’s coming, but I’m in the dark about where it’s all headed.) I’ll admit that I’m a lot less interested in Jamie Tartt now that he’s nice. Sometimes a redemption arc is satisfying; other times it just makes a character boring.
It’s good that Trent seems to be learning that for writers, there’s a difference between being critical and being shitty. But I hope that his character stays complicated. It won’t just make his role as a journalist more realistic—it’ll keep him interesting as a character.
(featured image: Apple TV+)
