This episode perfectly fits Coach Beards personia. The humor and vibe have put this episode amongst my top favorites of the series.
Wow what a utter load of rubbish that was. I actually skipped bits it was that unwatchable. I can let say that for many shows especially one I like !
Awful pointless and stupid. in a series of great episodes this one made me want to give up the show. Why is all I can say, who cares this much about coach beard. God it was terrible. self indulgent crap
Great episode, love beard. Of course some aren’t going to get it, makes the show even better!
Pointless episode. This character is just not interesting enough to have an episode devoted to him.
[9.5/10] Holy hell! I didn’t know that Ted Lasso had an episode like this in it. I loved this: the magical realism, the more freewheeling and cinematic direction, the sense that this episode could work as a standalone short story if it needed to, the chance to delve into a secondary character and find hidden depths and layers we’d never been privy to until now. I am, traditionally, a sucker for a good format bender, and this pushed all my buttons.
I spent much of this episode wondering if this was all really happening. I think that's intentional. The events of Chrs Beard walking it off after the brutal loss to Man City are larger than life. You could buy his story of sleeping too late and hitting his head rolling out of bed...until the flashy pants show up in the coach’s office. But it feels like a dream, from the recurring symbolism of the moon (connected to Ted’s “once in a blue moon” comment?), the club within a church, the heightened dialogue between Coach Beard and the ingenue he runs into at the club. The whole thing stretches the bounds of the show’s reality in a very creative way.
But it's also a mood piece. The episode captures the more liminal experience of a night out where you’re processing your feelings in real time, with the world bending a nd s stretching to reflect Beard’s hopes and anxieties. The way the announcers dig at him specifically on T.V. screens and “real life”, commenting on everything from his football strategy to his self-loathing, puts the man’s heart on display in a way we don’t always see.
Likewise, the self-hatred he cops to is balanced out by the fact that, for all their apparent tempestuousness, he loves Jane and wants her to live him back. His simple prayer, that he knows she won’t cure what ails him, but she makes life more interesting, is one of the sweetest and most sincere descriptions of attachment to someone I’ve heard on television in some time. There is great catharsis when he finally makes it to that mysterious club after no end of trials and travails and finds her waiting for him, having returned his affections, and joining him in unrestrained expressions of joy and self-expressions.
Plus, as much as this is a “day in the limelight” episode a la “Lower Decks” from The Next Generation or “The Zeppo” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it doesn't just focus on Coach Beard. The three mugs from Mae’s pub get their chance to step into the spotlight too. Watching them sneak into an exclusive club, hustle some Oxford boys out of their billiards money, roll around in a limo with their winnings and, with Beard’s help, get to exult on the AFC Richmond pitch in jubilant style gives them some shading and charm we don’t always get for the show’s three-man Greek chorus.
At the end of the day, though, this is Coach Beard’s story, and Brendan Hunt more than lvies up to the extra challenge of having the whole episode focus on him. He nails the comedy of dealing with peculiarly suspicious hotel clerk, the pain and resignation of someone who feels as though he is unworthy and not good enough in his job or in life, and the pure unfettered bliss when he finally let’s go and is able to enjoy himself with the woman he loves. It’s a tour de force performance, and only faces competition from Jason Sudekis for the best outing for an actor in the show.
In brief, I didn’t know Ted Lasso had ambition for this type of thing, let alone the ability to pull it off. This feels more like something BoJack Horseman would try, and I say that lovingly. This is a comfort show, one that has its depth, but tends to go to pretty accessible, life-affirming places. “Beard After Hours” is dark and outre and downright weird in a way that general audiences don’t always jive with. God bless it though -- this may be the boldest and most creative thing the show’s ever presented, and I am all over it.
I am genuinely confused by this episode. I really thought they were going to pull a twist at the end with this all being in Beard's head in some way. The repeated 'dropped keys' part especially added to that (I was thinking he'd been attacked on his doorstep or something - perhaps by Tartt Sr, and the details were filtering through). I'm actually disappointed that it, seemingly, was legitimate after all.
I know this is currently going down and will probably concretely go down as one of people's least fave episodes of Ted Lasso, but I still think much of this is fantastic.
My issue if anything is it's a longer episode than it needed to be. Even though I like these isolated single-character focussed episodes, I don't think such an episode needed to be near three quarters of an hour in length (for a comedy series espe, half an hour would have sufficed.
That aside, great exploration of Coach Beard, and I'm happier for getting an episode where we get to see Coach Beard front-and-centre.
It won't happen btw but my campaign for Gary Lineker and Thierry Henry to get guest actor in a comedy noms at the 2022 Emmys begins now.
Also, thought while I was doing one of my rare TV reviews that I'd say Bill Lawrence shows just have sensational soundtracks. Scrubs was fill to the brim with bangers, and Ted Lasso carries on that trend. Someone get Bill Lawrence on an ep of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs!
I liked this one very much. How amazing that such an episode exists in today’s big money shows? Especially when you only have 12 episodes a season.
It was so much better when beard was shrouded in mystery. Didn’t need to know this much about him.
This episode should win an Emmy.
This looks like one of the two filler episodes they filmed after completion (the Christmas episode was the other). Didn’t add to the season, but provided some back story to coach Beard
I was not expecting that.
Talk about falling down a rabbit hole.
This brought back memories of two movies ("Into the Night" and "After Hours" both 1985 I believe), except, given my enhanced emotional attachment to the main characters in this show, It was much more real and immediate. But, like Halle Berry's character in, "Boomerang," said to Eddie Murphy, "Love should have brought you back last night."
Well, I for one, am glad he's finally gotten resolution on that issue. And, I'm glad it wasn't what I'd expected, which was a much darker trip into a dalliance (or worse) with the club drug scene.
EDIT: I'm so dense...Beard "After hours!" it's right there in the title...this was a fitting homage to the original film, and to coach Beard's story!
I... I think... I think this is a perfect episode.
This episode was so out there and I loved it. Like a Trainspotting diversion. The music in this episode was absolutely pitch perfect from start to finish.
Worst episode yet. Not funny. Not charming. Not meaningful. Not witty. Hiring Thierry and Gary (is that even him?) ain't enough. They should have at least hired Justice for that cross themed club.
... ... ... What the hell was that?
Beard is one of those characters that works great as a supporting character, but I never really need to know more about him - he's best when he's spouting off his soft spoken one-liners, not when the spotlight is on him. This episode proves that.
Shows always take a risk when they attempt a departure from their norm, and this was a big ol' miss for me.
I haven't heard that song in a hot minute, though. Now it's stuck in my head.
I must say I actually loved this episode.
The night club scene with the hula hoop was really good and it hit home cause that is one of the songs I used to hear when I went out during my university days.
Superb. Trippy and moving. A really enjoyable detour from the interesting bits of the season (the football story, Ted, Nate and Rebecca's stories) and the tedious bits (anything involving Roy Kent, one of the worst characters on TV). Coach has been my favourite character since the start, and happy finally to get a glimpse of life behind the Beard.
And at last, an episode with hardly any of Kent's silly whining voice. Bliss (until the final minute).
an episode with a much different aesthetics, yet this could be one of the best Ted Lasso episodes by far
I guess this is one of those strange, one-off episodes some shows have, that are either someone's favorite, or the one everybody wishes they could've skipped.
Overall, I enjoyed it. At a certain point, after so many different things happened, I think I just accepted that the night would get weirder and weirder and my curiosity about what was coming next was bigger than making sense of the episode haha. It felt like a writing exercise where they threw out a bunch of ideas to include and had to never say "no" to any of them.
I don't fully know what "ails" Coach Beard – I want to say he's struggling to make sense of his own existence based on that conversation at the bar. I get the sense that he doesn't belong, or maybe doesn't think/care about belonging, yet can't help but be just another human with his own insecurities and desperation - kinda like a hyper aware human who's resigned at being human? Either that, or everything is just bonkers for an episode.
This episode was too long.
I can't express how much this episode SUCKED
Excellent (filler) episode, some people bottle it all up, some go to therapy and people like Beard just do a walkabout in a big city after drinking "the wrong tea" to push the reset button. Ah ... brings back memories and kudos to the writers for including the third option.
Genuinely thought there was going to be some payoff in the end, like Beard deciding he needs to speak up more when Ted goes on one of his "it'll be alright" rantings, but then the ending came and went. I guess not everything needs some big payoff and maybe this was just to show us the everyday goings on in Coach Beard's mind? And it was so long. This is the amount of time I would have wanted spent on the other storylines. This just felt like a trippy, stoner episode except he was mostly sober.
The three pub blokes' parts were pretty fun lol
the church / dance club scene is one of the best of the entire show
This episode felt like it ended about 12 times… and just kept going.
I like Beard, and he definitely needed some time spent on him. But a haphazard mishmash of improbable situations just doesn’t cut it.
Even at 10x speed with the Benny Hill theme playing this episode would fail to be entertaining.
Absolutely pointless and boring episode.
By far the worst episode of the series so far and one of the worsts I have ever watched.
Absolutely meaningless, no storyline, nothing...
Out of probably a thousand TV episodes I’ve watched, this is the only one that I played at 2× speed. It’s that bad.
Hmmm it was a weird episode, like the rest of the cast was on vacation lol, but anyway i enjoyed last few minutes with the song
Not a big fan of this episode, but coach Beard letting the three guys from the pub go to the stadium and get on the pitch was lovely
Strange character, strange episode. I guess it was fun to watch… but I feel like the look under the hood was not worth it.
Completely pointless and self indulgent. Of all the characters on the show that needed an episode of their own Coach Beard isn't the one. This feels like they were piloting his own series but didn't have a coherent storyline. If this had come earlier in the season I wouldn't have continued.
Absolutely awful episode, completely pointless and worst of all, boring.
Ted Lasso's Coach Beard's After Hours. I don't feel it all adds up in the way other shows' similarly singular, detour-from-narrative episodes like this have done, but still fun.
What a pointless episode. This is becoming less and less about Ted and the football team with each passing episode
Such a great way to end the season. With coach Beard being the 'weird guy we all have in us' having a night like that I think many people can relate to him now even more. Jamie Tartt's dad is a WANKER, so happy that he got his a** kicked. And that present for the bar guys, so cool!
ummmm.....I'm confused. What did I just watch..
Such a weird and silly episode.
That fucking episode made me almost quit Ted Lasso! And I love Ted Lasso! I needed several tries to get through this very episode, It's just out of tune with the rest of the show and so pointless and stupid.
I would understand this episode if we knew Beard but frankly we know nothing about him, at least nothing of importance.
This is the worst episode so far.. It has nothing to do with Coach Beard's script wasn't good enough
Martin Scorsese is going to be proud. :pray_tone1:
It wasn't bad but omg it was so long and I really just don't care that much about coach beard
Looks like Beard ended up in an Atlanta episode
I seriously can’t believe the amount of negative comments on this episode, it’s one of the best piece of TV I’ve seen in a long time.
Such a delightfully entertaining side episode.
This is Ted Lasso meets Atlanta!
I think this is the weakest episode. I love Coach Beard, but giving him this odyssey? We didn't learn anything.
I do not understand the point of this episode. It adds nothing to the series and happens to be the longest. Worst episode yet. Actually the only episode I did not like.
I totally understand why this episode would be divisive. I loved it! More weird episodes in great TV shows, please!
one of those episodes that makes me ask myself... wtf did i just watch?
I have a tripwire for pain, torture, hatefulness. This episode tripped it, big time, and I disliked it. There was no way for me to get past the cruelty.
This is the “hate it or love it” kind of episode. The difficulty with Ted Lasso is that the main thing is so brilliant that this kind of off-road episode can be hard to be appreciated.
There was an episode like that in Atlanta and more recently in Mythic Quest — also on Apple TV+. But I think they missed something here.
In Atlanta it was a real off-road, this one is half way off.
In Mythic Quest the purpose was to give context on the present day or on the background of lesser known character, this one is just a confirmation of what’s been glimpsed all along.
Shout by EdrickBlockedParent2021-09-18T06:21:57Z
I feel I embrace more and more the way they are trying to deconstruct the Ted Lasso myth (the titular character AND the show itself), and I deeply miss standalone episodes like this from television, but this one slipped at some point. I'm not sure where, because it was tailored for Coach Beard and it fit well, but I still was disappointed over the lack climax. It just sunk in and disappeared, calmly. Maybe that was the point, who knows. To make this episode, just like the season, to feel like a conconformist, not-giving-into-the-expectations kind of way, and I respect that.