Your “serious” male characters in television typically end up being emotionally stunted, but not Roy Kent! Or any of the characters on Ted Lasso for that matter. From season 1 of Ted Lasso until now, we’ve seen Roy (Brett Goldstein) grow from a man no one could talk to into someone who has really been opening up and sharing what makes him angry—but in that very unique Roy Kent way.
He’s still screaming at people, but he’s doing it in a way where he’s sharing what is upsetting him—but you have to figure out what is going on first. And in the second episode of season 3, Roy is really challenged by everyone around him. He’s returning to his old team of Chelsea, a lot of people find out about what happened between him and Keeley Jones (Juno Temple), and Trent Crimm (James Lance) is forced to share an office with him.
And while all of this might seem like a lot on Roy’s plate, he does manage to navigate it all and tell people how he feels about it with ease, which isn’t something that would have happened in season 1. So, seeing how much Roy has grown throughout the years and how he’s willing to share what’s going on with him with others is really surprising. And it’s nice to watch how the show reveals those moments with its characters.
He’s opening up!
Old Roy Kent would have said nothing to anyone about Keeley, and then if they found out, he’d have threatened them. Well, new Roy Kent does the same thing, but the difference is that he’s more willing to talk about his emotions about it … while also threatening someone with violence if they share it. When Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster) learns that Roy and Keeley broke up, the two have a conversation that is a lot sweeter than it would have been even last season.
The two now share this pain of not having Keeley in their lives, even if Roy was the one to initiate their breakup. But it still hurts, and you can see it in how he hasn’t told anyone and what happened when he does see Keeley again, to tell his niece about their break-up. Old Roy would have definitely refused to even talk about it, but he does open up to Jamie (who he almost punches in the face when the entire team figures it out without Jamie saying a word).
Yes, their breakup becomes a source of locker room gossip because it’s Isaac (Kola Bokinni) who figures it out and tells Jamie in the first place. But still, Roy takes their breakup being public information in stride and doesn’t react in the most Roy Kent of ways, and that’s growth!
Roy and Trent have a heart to heart
Roy Kent doesn’t like journalists and he sure doesn’t like Trent Crimm. This episode, we learn why. Trent is writing a book on the team, and Roy is furious about it, made all that much worse when he is forced to share an office with him. The two are at a standstill throughout the episode, with Roy screaming at the team not to talk around Trent Crimm, but then, by the end of the episode, we learn why.
When Roy was just a kid starting his football career, Trent wrote a piece on him and was very mean to Roy in it. Roy reads it back to him, asks him if he knows who wrote it, and then points out that he was just 17 years old and it wrecked him. Trent apologies, says that he was trying to be “edgy,” and the two have an understanding they didn’t before.
Again, this is very different from how the old Roy would have handed it. He wouldn’t have politely (for Roy) read it out. If anything, he would have fought him. But the two have a nice moment because of it, and that is what happens when you let your characters grow and change.
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I hope this continues to happen with Roy. I hope he keeps opening up and growing, because it’s really nice to see how he’s willing to talk with people, even if it hurts him in the end.
(featured image: Apple TV+)
