The recent Ted Lasso episode “Sunflowers” takes place in the Dutch city of Amsterdam—hence its evocative, Van Gogh-esque name—after the Richmond team suffers yet another pretty devastating loss in a friendly match against Ajax.
With the team still reeling from the abrupt—though some might say not unexpected—departure of Zava and the absolute mess that happened on the pitch against West Ham, Ted decides to give everyone a night of absolute freedom to enjoy the city as much as they can and clear their minds. Something that he himself also clearly needs.
The following article contains spoilers for Ted Lasso season 3, episode 6
What follows is one of the more delightful episodes Ted Lasso has ever released. The team arguing over where to go, Dani and his tulip, Leslie and Will hitting up a jazz club, Ted on some dud drugs that still helped him discover a spark of tactical genius that might save Richmond’s season, Roy and Jamie absolutely squelching my heart under the wheels of their bikes. And Trent and Colin finally having their heart-to-heart moment and finding a sense of queer community in each other. I love them a normal amount, I swear.
Of course, Rebecca also gets her moment—and it’s not the quiet stroll through the streets of Amsterdam she expected to have when Keeley left at the beginning of the episode to chase the northern lights with her new love interest Jack aboard her private jet.
After falling into a canal, Rebecca ends up spending the night with a mysterious and still unnamed man (played by Dutch actor Matteo Van Der Grijn) who offers her a chance to shower and warm up in his houseboat. The two have dinner, talk about past relationships ending and how it’s sometimes a blessing rather than a curse, and do their best to delay the night’s end.
One of the things that the Man With No Name tells Rebecca about is the concept of “gezellig,” a word that doesn’t have a direct translation in English because it encompasses a microcosm of different feelings—”every kind of contentment a person might be feeling, whether that comes from joy, fun, familiarity, comfort, or coziness,” as The Mary Sue’s own El Kuiper described it.
And “gezellig” is precisely what every character in Ted Lasso experienced during “Sunflowers.” Contentment of a particular and specific brand for each group, from seeing a windmill after having learned how to ride a bike to having a pillow fight in a hotel lobby. Everyone is still basking in its afterglow in the last scene of the episode, where they regroup on the bus that is going to take them to the airport and then home.
It’s all part of the growth Richmond is going through, both as a club and as individuals. And “gezellig” perfectly summarizes the lesson that Amsterdam taught them: their strength is in the relationship they share with each other and in the moments in which they are together. Which is why I’m sure they’ll manage to get past Zava’s absence and carry on with the rest of the season.
(featured image: Apple TV+)
