10 hours ago, Schweedie said:
Ooh, I never even had the thought that Barbara might've seen this before with Jack and being wary of it. That would be interesting.
Same here--makes me think, she might see Jack/Keeley and then look at her snow globe collection, thinking, "Well, she'll be shipping me off again soon."
7 hours ago, Schweedie said:
Oh, one of my favourite moments has to be when Roy chipped in with how Beard and Ted would be called Sharp Dressed Men and then going "God I hate what you've fucking done to me". And then after his second pun, "Make it stop." (A sort of callback to season one's, "He thinks he's mad now, wait until we win him over." "He'll be furious.")
Also, I really loved how Roy's plan for one guy with a string connected to multiple people was essentially what they ended up doing (without the actual string). Jamie as the guy connecting everyone.
I love that line from season 1 too! And also Ted and Beard's excited reactions in season 2 when Roy had to ask the Diamond Dogs for advice.
And that's a a great catch with Roy's plan and Jamie's plan! I really loved Jamie putting that together, the rest of the team getting behind it, and then seeing it play out in the second half of the game. As the best player on the team (and, as was pointed out, one who was briefly coached by Pep,) it makes total sense for him to take more of a fulcrum position, helping to coordinate the other players as everyone sort of pivots around him.
It really struck me that the coaches were sort of treating Jamie like Zava during training throughout the week. They didn't have him switch positions with another player because they just assumed he wouldn't want to do that. Pre-Zava, Ted never would've allowed that. And crucially, the Jamie of season 3 is very much not Zava, and all of the coaches should've know that. I still love how it came together in the resolution, but I thought it was a misstep that the coaches were excluding him from the technique in the first place.
I love the whole scene of Total Football being introduced to the players--it just kept flowing in fun and interesting ways. Beard's presentation was great, and all the players were really vibing with it, plus you got Jan Maas chiming in with extra bits of context. Then it's announced that they're going to be doing Total Football and everyone gets nervous and unsure about it. Then Roy barks out his "this is what we're doing" speech, talking about how hard they're gonna train until they finally bring it to the pitch in a few months. Then Ted says they're gonna use it at Saturday's match, and we get Roy's, "That's fucking mental." Just start to finish, so great.
The team showing up to help clean up the restaurant was lovely, and I especially like that the coaches weren't there. It was something the players decided to do entirely on their own, taking the Total Football philosophy to heart. Sam's dad was predictably great, too. As someone mentioned upthread, I loved, "Don't fight back. Fight forward."
I'm not sure what they're doing with Nate, either. It seems like his screentime would be better spent on the football side of things, either with Rupert or circling around Richmond. For me, his two most interesting episodes so far this season have been the premier and the one where Richmond played West Ham. I don't know why we're spending so much time on him and Jade.
But I do have to say: 1) As soon as he went into the bathroom, I was going, "Don't spit on the mirror, please don't spit on the mirror," so I'm glad he didn't do that again. And 2) he's lucky he tripped and his box got squashed. I don't think Jade would've been into that at all. Just a straightforward, "Would you like to go out with me?", no frills, was definitely the way to go there.
Random bits I loved:
- Rebecca ordering tiramisu and to-go bottles of wine (plus one for the server!) when she realized Jack was paying for the meal
- Higgins' reaction when Isaac corner-kicked the ball into his window and he spilled hot tea on himself
- Jamie running easily ahead of the pack during Roy's conditioning training--all that hard work is definitely paying off
- Will pretending to be Beard
- The fans being so excited to watch a training where the Richmond players ran until they puked
- The device of showing the progression through the week with all the restaurants/shops opening every morning--it was just nice, and I loved the various music that accompanied these little scenes.
- Ted pointing out that they could just get Roy a plastic whistle--hee!
- Richard bringing a few bottles from his wine cellar--not the best, but good ones!--to Sam's restaurant
- Bumbercatch fixing the neon sign
- That little scene in the locker room where they were all passing the water bottles around and getting them to Will
- Trent's gleeful excitement after the match and the reactions to it--I loved, "What a fucking dork," "Yeah, but he's our dork."
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