From the start of season 3 of Ted Lasso, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) has been stuck in her own mind and dreams for her future—not that she hadn’t been dreaming of a romance and a family before, but this time, it seems to be all consuming. From the moment she went to see a psychic, she was lost in a sea of signs around her and convinced that this woman knew something about her that she didn’t know—particularly something about her ability to have children.
Rebecca cannot have kids. That was something we knew from her divorce from Rupert (Anthony Head), her relationship with his new wife and child, and how it informed her relationships moving forward. So when season 3 threw a wrench into that, making it so that Rebecca was getting hopeful about her future again, it did have this looming sense of dread attached to it, because we could how she was throwing herself into this idea.
From the matchbooks to hearing “Shite in nining armor” when she’s talking to a man she went on some dates with and his new love, we start to see Rebecca believing everything happening around her, and it points to her thinking that she could have the family she always dreamed of. We know that’s a hard pill for Rebecca to swallow, given her past.
But then again, the psychic said that she would be a mother, and Rebecca took that to mean that she would have her own kids, which is where the pain of Rebecca going back to see her doctor comes from. We not only see her come to the realization that nothing has changed for her, but we also see just how hopeful she really had gotten throughout this journey.
Rebecca’s sense of hope
One thing about all these signs is that they’re all pointing to men from Rebecca’s past. The matchbook is connected to Sam (Toheeb Jimoh), the “shite” is John (Patrick Baladi), and with the mother comments, Rebecca is connected back to her time with Rupert. And to me, that means that all these signs are pointing to a new love for Rebecca.
I do understand the Ted/Rebecca pairing, and I wouldn’t mind seeing them together, but all these elements in Rebecca’s life, her upset, how lonely she feels? All of that just says to me that she is someone who is trying to understand where she is in her own life. All the signs keep pointing to a man, but what about Rebecca? What about her own sense of self and discovery?
Ted Lasso has a unique way of showing what struggles its characters are going through and what they think they want versus what they actually need, and the show’s current arc with Rebecca is showing audiences that she thinks she wants a man and a family, and the reality is that she’s searching for her own sense of happiness within herself and figuring out what that means for her.
I hope, as the series progresses, we continue to see Rebecca grow, and she finds a way to understand that her happiness is not tied to a man or a family, but to herself.
(featured image: Apple TV+)
